Stargazer

"Stargazer" is the fifth track on Rising, 8:26, written by Blackmore and Dio and produced by Martin Birch. It features the Munich Philharmonic, with Fritz Sonnleitner as concert master and Rainer Pietsch conducting, and a Vako Orchestron. Blackmore recalled starting with a 28-piece orchestra but finding the backing too flowery, so parts were removed. A gypsy violinist was to play afterward but the tape spool ended, so it was not recorded. It opens with a Cozy Powell drum solo, and Blackmore's solo after the second verse is in B Phrygian dominant. A rough mix of 9:08 on the 2011 deluxe edition opens with a Tony Carey keyboard intro.

Dio called the lyric a morality tale told by a slave in Egyptian times: a wizard and astronomer obsessed with flying enslaves people to build a tower and dies in a fall. He said the next song, "A Light in the Black", continues the story. It was the first song played at the UK Monsters of Rock festival by two different bands, Rainbow in 1980 and Dio, abbreviated, in 1983. A Gibson poll ranked it the 17th greatest heavy metal song, and Rolling Stone in 2023 ranked it 14th of 100, calling it the man's finest vocal performance on record. AllMusic called it a bombastic, strings-enriched epic.

Dream Theater covered it for a special edition of Black Clouds and Silver Linings in 2009, and Mundanus Imperium and Adrian Barilari, in Spanish, also covered it, according to search results. We do not know which version of the song our upload is.