Pink Floyd and the album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’

Milestones are fun touchpoints for remembering popularly received albums. Originally released on March 1st, 1973, the eighth studio album for Pink Floyd was first shared with the world. The Dark Side of the Moon would land the first of a wider recognition in North America for one of England‘s premier progressive rock bands.

(Shown here is the cover art for The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd‘s eighth studio album).

Speak to Me opens The Dark Side of the Moon with, as quoted from here, a “heartbeat, followed by sounds representing things that can drive you to madness: spoken bits, a clock ticking, a cash register, coins clinking, synthesizer, then at the end, a mad shriek.” The song is preliminary to the second album track, with writing credit going to Pink Floyd‘s drummer, Nick Mason.

Presented here with the Speak to Me introduction included, Breathe (In the Air) is the second track from The Dark Side of the Moon. With writing credits granted to Richard Wright and David Glimour, there are interesting facts about the song related here. “This song is about an older man speaking to a baby, [describing] the unfortunate working life the baby will have to face.” While implying a message to do what inspires us, while interestingly being synchronized to parts of the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939).

With a synthesizer as the lead instrument for On the Run, as noted here, the song is also considered an early example of technology driven music. “This song deals with the pressures of travel, which Rick Wright said would often bring fear of death.” The song is clearly an instrumental without lyrics.

(Time was the fourth track on the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. The song was released as a single in the United States).

Time “is about how time can slip by, but many people do not realize it until it is too late. Roger Waters got the idea when he realized he was no longer preparing for anything in life, but was right in the middle of it. He had just turned 28.” As noted here for the previous and next quote, “[t]his song takes on the topic of mortality.”

The Great Gig in the Sky continues the exploration of “life…gradually descending into death,” as noted here. With writing credits recognizing Richard Wright and Clare Torry, the song includes an “angrier and more intense first half” getting into realizing death is coming. The second half that is “is gentler, as the dying person gives into the inevitable and fades away.”

(Money was the sixth track on The Dark Side of the Moon album. The song’s release as a single helped make it a hit for Pink Floyd in the United States).

Money charted as high as number 13 in the United States, as indicated here. “This song is about the bad things money can bring.” I had a pretty cool teacher in the ninth grade that encouraged students to practice learning to type accurately and faster on typewriters synchronously with this song.

(Us and Them earned some modest success in the United States and Canada when released for the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon).

Us and Them serves as the longest song on The Dark Side of the Moon album, running at 7-minutes and 49-seconds. The song originally “came up with while [Richard Wright was] working on the soundtrack to the 1970 movie Zabriskie Point.” The movie in its original form was rejected for that album, with the song incorporated into the effort for this album.

(Any Colour You Like is the eighth song from Pink Floyd‘s eighth album, The Dark Side of the Moon).

As mentioned here, the instrumental Any Colour You Like was named in recognition of “a catch phrase used by former Pink Floyd road manager Chris Adamson. When asked for a guitar, Adamson would respond, “Any colour you like, they’re all blue.”” The songfacts.com website further mentions that this song is a reprise of the song Breathe (In The Air) from earlier in the album.

Brain Damage “is probably about insanity, something the band was quite familiar with,” as noted here. “Ex-singer/guitarist Syd Barrett‘s experiments with hallucinogens caused his unfortunate fall in the late ’60s.” The song lyrically invokes the album title, The Dark Side of the Moon.

Frequently played on the radio immediately after Brain Damage, Eclipse again reprises the song Breathe (In The Air) from earlier in the album. The notion here expresses a relatable descent into the insanity suggested by Brain Damage, with the notion of an eclipse being a metaphor for descent into insanity.

(From left, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Richard Wright of Pink Floyd).

The primary musicians for The Dark Side of the Moon were David Gilmour of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, Nick Mason of Birmingham, England, Roger Waters of Bookham, Surrey, England, and Richard Wright of Hatch End, London, England. Additional musicians on the album included Dick Parry of Kentford, Suffolk, England, Clare Torry of Marylebone, London, England, Doris Troy of Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, Lesley Duncan of Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England, Barry St. John of Glasgow, Scotland and Liza Strike of the United Kingdom.

Matt – Wednesday, March 1, 2023