Pink Floyd All the Songs
Page 73
Before he found himself writing lyrics for Pink Floyd, Nick Laird-Clowes acted as a sort of voice coach for David Gilmour, providing the guitarist with occasional advice on how to record his vocals. One day, Gilmour, who had run into difficulty with a particular song, which happened to be “Poles Apart,” asked Laird-Clowes for some help, confessing that he had no lyrics for [the song].”164 Nick Laird-Clowes explains that he thought for a moment before asking: “‘You went camping with Syd Barrett! When you were 16, you were friends, long before the Floyd. What was he like in those days? I’ve heard all the other things, but what was he like?’ And he [Gilmour] said, ‘I never thought he’d lose that light in his eyes.’ I said, ‘That’s it!’ So I started writing, and then I said, ‘Look, I’ve got this,’ and he said, ‘Oh, I’ve got this,’ and she [Polly Samson] said, ‘I’ve got this.’ And that’s when he said, ‘Congratulations: you’ve co-written your first Pink Floyd song.’”164
Production
“Poles Apart” opens with an arpeggio from David Gilmour on his acoustic Gibson J-200. The guitar is doubled, and is unusual for its DADGAD tuning, an open tuning widely used in Celtic and Irish music as well as folk in general. “I thought it was something new that I had invented,” explains Gilmour. “One day, I was on holiday in Greece and I had an acoustic guitar with me. I just decided to tune the bottom string down to D, and continued to experiment until I arrived at that tuning. Then I mucked around a bit and ‘Poles Apart’ fell out of it a few minutes later.”162
Answering David Gilmour’s two guitars is a very good fretless bass part played by Guy Pratt and some superb Hammond organ from Rick Wright. The verses are sung in a gentle, melancholy voice by a David Gilmour who seems to have regained all his former freshness and energy. He also adds some color and contributes an eminently Floydian touch by playing licks on his Jedson lap steel.
Nick Mason comes in on his Drum Workshop kit in the second verse, delivering a rhythm part in the inimitable style with which Pink Floyd fans are familiar, characterized by a real punch and an unmistakable groove, even in a medium tempo. This is followed by an instrumental section dominated by Wright’s Hammond organ, which serves as both accompaniment and lead. The sonority of his keyboard is sumptuously clear and silky, and his radiant playing provides a reminder of how essential his contribution was, and always had been, to the group. Another instrumental sequence follows (from 2:50) that is presumably highly symbolic. This time a stereo synth loop plays over string sounds produced on the Kurzweil K2000. This forms a sonic basis for the various different moods and effects that follow. We hear someone whistling (at 3:19), the sound of a woodblock being struck (3:24), breathing noises (3:28), a sort of circus music with barrel organ and a bell (a glass?) ringing in the background (from 3:35), the sound of a car pulling up and being parked (3:48), a baby crying (3:55), and finally a car starting up (at 4:00). This amounts to nothing less than an aural screenplay, one whose precise meaning provides plenty of food for thought. Given the nature of the words, Roger Waters and The Wall inevitably come to mind. Certain elements, such as the circus music, the bell, and the baby crying are probably intended to evoke the insanity and anxiety that were lying in wait for Syd Barrett. But as David Gilmour says, “I like to let the lyrics speak for themselves”…
The reprise of the final verse, delivered at a livelier tempo and accompanied by distorted Strat, is followed by a solo from David Gilmour, this time on his 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with, for a change, reasonably modest delay.
Marooned
Richard Wright, David Gilmour/5:29
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric lead guitar, programming
Rick Wright: keyboards, piano
Nick Mason: drums
Jon Carin: keyboards (?)
Guy Pratt: bass (?)
Recorded
Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London: January 1993
Astoria, Hampton: February–May, September–December 1993
Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London: September–December 1993
The Creek Recording Studios, London: September–December 1993
Technical Team
Producers: David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Keith Grant (The Creek), Chris Thomas (mixing)
Assistant Sound Engineer: Jules Bowen (Astoria)
Genesis
According to Andy Jackson, this fourth track on The Division Bell was originally given the working title “Cosmic 13” before being renamed “Marooned.” We could venture to establish a link between the two titles by recalling that in April 1970 the astronauts of the Apollo 13 mission (the inspiration behind the working title) found themselves adrift in space following a technical incident. They were forced to take refuge in the lunar module before eventually making it safely back to Earth. If the above hypothesis is correct, this wonderful instrumental could have been intended to convey the extreme anguish felt by those astronauts marooned in space. David Gilmour would provide a very different explanation, however: “We called it ‘The Whale Piece’ for ages [because of certain sonorities]. ‘Maroon’ came up as a colour at one point in discussion for some title of something. ‘Maroon’ became ‘Marooned’ and it seemed to fit that tune […] There’s no particular huge significance to ‘Marooned’; it’s just an appropriate title.”165
Either way, this track credited to David Gilmour and Rick Wright shares the cosmic atmosphere of the great albums, from Meddle to The Dark Side of the Moon to Wish You Were Here. In his book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, Nick Mason describes “Cluster One” and “Marooned” as follows: “[…] the truly significant thing was that each improvisation represented a kick-start to the creative process. And by allowing ourselves to play whatever came into our heads, with no taboo or no-go areas, I had the impression that we were expanding a field of vision that had become increasingly narrow over the past two decades.”5 David Gilmour plays one of his most dazzling solos, which goes a long way to explaining why “Marooned” received the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental (the only Grammy ever won by Pink Floyd!).
Production
“Marooned” opens with a seaside atmosphere and seagulls mewing in the sky. “It had the scent of the sea about it, this tune,” David Gilmour would explain, “[…] probably from the sound of the guitar doing the whale-type thing.”165 A keyboard, probably the Kurzweil K2000, then comes in, enhanced by abundant reverb. After a few very cosmic-sounding bars, Gilmour’s guitar surges in over a background of synth pads and bowed double bass (both also produced on the K2000), various keyboards, and a bass guitar most likely programmed using Cubase. Although this instrumental is based on harmonies composed by Rick Wright, who also plays an excellent acoustic piano part, the bravura role falls to the guitarist, who plays an improvisation of incredible intensity and inspiration for more than 4:30. “Dave played a storm on it,” Andy Jackson has said. “Fantastic.”141 In addition to the overdrive obtained from his Chandler Tube Driver, the particular sound Gilmour obtains on his “Red Strat” derives from an effect he was using for the first time: a DigiTech Whammy WH 1 pedal that enabled him to do octave bends! “It’s a great little unit, but I haven’t even begun to explore half the things it does,” explains Gilmour. “The fact that it allows you to bend a note a full octave is quite shocking. It’s so odd.”162 It was nevertheless this effect that provided the inspiration for “Marooned.” “I think we basically wrote the first version of it the day I got the pedal,” the guitarist has said. The most astonishing thing is how quickly he was able to put his solo together, confirming that “I probably took three or four passes at it and took the best bits out of each.”162 Gilmour gives a fantastic demonstration of his talents as a guitarist on this track, the sound of his Strat hanging in the air thanks to very present delay and spacious reverb. Nick Mason, meanwhile, provides an excellent accompaniment, his Drum Workshop kit sounding with plenty of warmth. “Marooned” ends in a meditative mood (on a chord o
f C, whereas the piece is in the key of E) generated by the ethereal sounds of the various keyboards. This second instrumental credited to Wright and Gilmour is without doubt one of the triumphs of the album.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
The instrumental “Marooned” has rarely been performed live. One of the notable exceptions was at an event held at Wembley Stadium in London on September 24, 2004, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster, when Gilmour performed the piece on his legendary Stratocaster no. 0001!
Part of the video for “Marooned” was filmed in the Ukrainian city of Pripyat, not far from Chernobyl. Images taken from the International Space Station are followed by shots of Pripyat set in a desolate landscape intercut with Soviet footage dating from before the Chernobyl disaster. There are also sequences of a man hiding in the abandoned buildings and a young girl gazing about uncomprehendingly.
A Great Day For Freedom
David Gilmour, Polly Samson/4:18
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, vocal harmonies, acoustic rhythm guitar, electric lead guitar, nylon-string classical guitar (?)
Rick Wright: keyboards, piano (?), vocal harmonies(?)
Nick Mason: drums
Bob Ezrin: keyboards(?) piano(?)
Jon Carin: keyboards (?)
Guy Pratt: bass(?)
Tim Renwick: electric rhythm guitar (?)
Gary Wallis: percussion
Michael Kamen: orchestral arrangements
Unidentified Musicians: orchestra
Recorded
Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London: January 1993
Astoria, Hampton: February–May, September–December 1993
Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London: September–December 1993
The Creek Recording Studios, London: September–December 1993
Technical Team
Producers: David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Keith Grant (The Creek), Chris Thomas (mixing), Steve McLaughlin (orchestra)
Assistant Sound Engineer: Jules Bowen (Astoria)
Genesis
The wall mentioned in this song is by no means a reference to Pink Floyd’s ultra-famous concept album. David Gilmour and Polly Samson, who wrote the lyrics to “A Great Day for Freedom,” are casting their gaze on one of the major events of the post–Second World War years: the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. “There was a wonderful moment of optimism when the Wall came down—the release of Eastern Europe from the non-democratic side of the socialist system. But what they have now doesn’t seem to be much better. Again, I’m fairly pessimistic about it all,”162 said the guitarist in 1994, referring to the bloody conflict that had been raging in the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans since 1991. Against the backdrop of the tragic events casting a shadow over parts of Old Europe at this time, David Gilmour and Polly Samson also express their personal feelings on private matters: I dreamed you had left my side… It was clear that I could not do a thing for you, sings Gilmour. This can perhaps be understood as a celebration of the relationship he and Polly were building over the smoking ruins of his marriage with Ginger (from whom he was divorced in 1990).
Production
“A Great Day for Freedom” is a romantic song, which was not common for Pink Floyd. It opens with bass notes on the synthesizer, forming a link with the previous track, “Marooned.” Singing in a gentle, moving voice drenched in long reverb, David Gilmour launches more or less immediately into the vocal line, accompanied by a very beautiful piano part. The first two verses are followed by a refrain that is more radiant, at least in terms of the harmonies and arrangements. This time, resonant synth pads provide additional support for Gilmour’s lead vocal, which is doubled, harmonized by another voice, and probably also colored by a harmonizer. A tambourine with reasonably short reverb is heard, and strings orchestrated by Michael Kamen make their first appearance on the album. These continue through the next two verses, reinforcing the melancholy aspect of Gilmour’s performance. In the fourth verse (from 1:30) the sound of an acoustic guitar with nylon strings is added to the texture, although this seems to be a sampled instrument rather than a real classical guitar. From the subsequent refrain (from 1:47), Nick Mason accompanies his bandmates with some solid drumming consisting of numerous tom fills, supported in turn by Gary Wallis on percussion. In this section we can also hear a distorted rhythm guitar in the background, presumably played by Tim Renwick. At the end of the refrain, Gilmour launches into a solo almost two minutes long, in other words almost half the length of the song. He plays his 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with distortion, but also with a light phasing effect obtained the good old-fashioned way: by using a second tape recorder to capture and play back the signal. Michael Kamen’s strings are sumptuous but never invasive, and serve as a wonderful foil for Gilmour’s lyrical flights of fancy on his Gibson. Gilmour also plays an acoustic rhythm guitar part, most probably on his Gibson J-200 (or could this be Tim Renwick?). Finally, the bass guitar sound poses a problem. It is by no means certain that Guy Pratt is playing that instrument on the track, all the bass-type sonorities that can be made out apparently being sampled sounds or deriving from a synthesizer.
“A Great Day for Freedom” is a nice song composed by David Gilmour alone, but probably under Bob Ezrin’s influence. It is interesting to note that in the absence of Rick Wright as a writing partner, Gilmour has a tendency to compose romantic or melancholy songs, which was a key contribution during the Roger Waters–dominated Floyd years.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
The reference in this song to The Ship of Fools that had finally run aground was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s famous painting by the same name.
Wearing The Inside Out
Richard Wright, Anthony Moore/6:49
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric lead guitar, vocal harmonies
Rick Wright: vocals, keyboards, piano
Nick Mason: drums
Bob Ezrin: keyboards(?)
Dick Parry: tenor saxophone
Jon Carin: keyboards(?)
Guy Pratt: bass
Gary Wallis: percussion
Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyon, Jackie Sheridan, Rebecca Leigh-White: backing vocals
Recorded
Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London: January 1993
Astoria, Hampton: February–May, September–December 1993
Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London: September–December 1993
The Creek Recording Studios, London: September–December 1993
Technical Team
Producers: David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Keith Grant (The Creek), Chris Thomas (mixing)
Assistant Sound Engineer: Jules Bowen (Astoria)
Genesis
“Wearing the Inside Out” (whose working title was “Evrika” [Eureka]) was a red-letter moment in the later part of Pink Floyd’s history. It was the first song to be composed by Wright alone, and the first on which he had sung lead vocal, since “The Great Gig in the Sky” on The Dark Side of the Moon some twenty years earlier. The lyrics were written by Anthony Moore, who had previously penned four songs for A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
In this song, Moore tells of the vicissitudes of a depressive individual both through that individual’s own eyes (hence the use of the first-person singular) and through the eyes of a friend (using the third-person singular). From morning to night I stayed out of sight… The narrator, then, is hiding from other people, and is suffering from such severe depression that he is no longer able to speak. When Anthony Moore describes a flickering screen and a hero with cold skin who curses the world around him, the figure of Pink from The Wall inevitably comes to mind. In any case, this person is moving inevitably toward death, to his suffering. There is a reversal of the usual associations and sensations: Extinguished by light I turn on the night, sings Wright. By this we are apparently to understand that it is the lig
ht (representing contact with other people?) that is the source of the person’s anxiety, and darkness that brings him a modicum of peace.
Does the second half of the song have a different message? Perhaps. The narrator’s depression has admittedly not gone away, but it seems to lift a little as he recovers both the ability to speak and a desire to reconnect with people. (Now he can have the words right from my mouth, says his friend.) An optimistic interpretation of Wright’s song would be that the desire to open up (wearing the inside out could mean to “reveal oneself”) would allow the person to overcome all the betrayals he has suffered, notably at the hands of those close to him… The depression from which Rick Wright suffered in the seventies seems to have inspired the theme of “Wearing the Inside Out” just as it would inspire his second solo album, Broken China, in 1996.
Production
The mood of “Wearing the Inside Out,” conveyed musically by wonderful harmonies and very delicate arrangements, is resolutely peaceful, subdued even. Right from the intro, the sonorities surge up as if out of a dream. Synth pads soar over nonchalant percussion, some of which is programmed and some played “live,” while David Gilmour treats us to a superb accompaniment on lead guitar modulated with volume pedal and DigiTech Whammy. All of this is sublimated by the well-rounded sonorities of Dick Parry, playing tenor saxophone with the Floyd for the first time since Wish You Were Here. Parry had left the music business a few years before. He had sent a Christmas card to David Gilmour, who was considering just then hiring a saxophonist for the album tour. However, even though the sax player had contributed to the group’s biggest albums, he still had to be auditioned. “He told me that he thought he was playing better than he’d ever played,”165 says Gilmour. The audition took place on the Astoria: “[…] he played about three phrases and myself and Bob [Ezrin] said, ‘Fine, he’s still got it.’”165 In the end, given the quality of his playing, the two co-producers thought they could also use him on one of the tracks on the album. “The only one we could think of that would be really appropriate for sax was ‘Wearing the Inside Out,’ so we put him on it. Boom, he’s got that tone. It’s fantastic. You can recognize it straight away.”165