Dark side of the moon

October 15th, 2008

The Dar k Sid e O f The Moon b y Pink Flo yd Main facts of the album: 

Released: 17 March 1973 in the U.S. and 24 March 1973 in the UK

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Recorded June 1972 – January 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London, England

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Length 42:59

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Label: Harvest, Capitol, EMI

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Producer: Pink Floyd

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All lyrics were written

by Roger Waters.

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Genre: Progressive Rock

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Has sold over 40 million copies worldwide

Retrospective

1

Pink Floyd Profile

1

Song by song...

2

Reception and Impact

5

Influences

5

Trivia

6 6

Volume 1 Issue 1 Editor: Diego Fino

Retrospective The Dark Side of the Moon explores the nature of the human experience and according to Waters, "empathy".

Songs are about birth and being a child with new earthly experiences and deals with growing older

Content:

Credits

History of rock Second Paper Assignment Analysis of classis rock album

and the awesomely fast approach of death. Also songs explore thoughts of religion and death. Also mocks greed and consumerism, and addresses ethnocentrism. In the end the album ends with a grand statement about free will and causality.

All of those aspects could make people get insane if they don‘t fight and just they give up to the issues of the contemporary world.

All four members of Pink Floyd - bassist and princi-

pal lyricist Roger Waters, guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright - participated in the writing and production of the album, which is a rarity among later Pink Floyd albums.

However, it is the first of five consecutive Pink Floyd albums with lyrics credited only to Waters.

The album is notable for its use of musique concrète and conceptual, philosophical lyrics, as found in much of Pink Floyd's other work.

Pink Floyd Profile Created in 1965 in Cambridge, England, Pink Floyd is considered one of the top classic rock bands ever, with more than 200million albums sold since 1967 and four Grammy nominations.

The band helped define the Progressive Rock genre and was one of the

first to use pyrotechnics, video, and light shows in their stage acts. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The original members were Syd Barrett (guitar, vocals), Roger Waters (bass, guitar, vocals), Bob Klose (guitar), Rick

Wright (keyboards, wind instruments), and Nick Mason (drums). Later, David Gilmour (guitar, vocals) got into the band.

The current members are David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Rick Wright. In July 2005, the group, performed at the London Live 8 concert.

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T he Da rk Si de Of T he Moon by Pi nk Floy d Speak to me/ Breathe

Dark Side Of The Moon - 30th Anniversary SACD - Back

‗Speak to me’ is the introductory theme of the album, the first sound we hear is a repetitive beating, a heartbeat representing the beginning of life. Next we start to hear various sounds that appear later in the album.

First the ticking clocks of ‗Time,‘ followed by the quotes listed above, cash registers from ‗Money,‘ laughter from ‗Brain Damage‘, a plane from ‗On the Run,‘ and a woman scream-

ing (Clare Torry‘s screaming from ‗The Great Gig In The Sky‘).

Since this sound collage segues directly into ‗Breathe‘ via the use of a sustained backwards piano chord, they are usually played together on the radio and the two are conjoined on most CD versions of the album.

song is considered to be a representation of birth, with a relief from labour. Its lyrics, composed by Roger Waters, beseech the listener to pause in their seeminglyendless labours and take notice of more meaningful pursuits in life. The song begins appropriately with the word ‗Breathe‘ just as that is a person‘s first action in life.

The narrator of ‗Breathe‘ gives advice about life. The

On the Run “Breathe, breathe in the air - Don’t be afraid to care, Leave but don't leave me ”

The first of the ―pressures of modern life‖ delved into on the album is travel in ‗On the Run.‘ ‗On the Run‘ is clearly an apt title for this theme.

mental and has no lyrics.

For some fans and critics this is the worse song in the album, maybe this could be because song is non-vocal but it‘s supported in instrumental like other Pink Floyd songs.

Before it got this name it was known to the band as ‗The Travel Sequence.‘ This, like several other songs on the album is instru-

Us and them

Dark Side Of The Moon - Back

The song is strong in the chorus, with female vocals; another major topic is the song have a duration of nearly 8 minutes, where there are different changes of pace.

The song focuses on one of the biggest obsessions of Roger Waters, war (he lost his father in World War II)

Through the use of sound clips and effects, the song does take on meaning however.

It is 7 minutes, 51 seconds in length, making it the longest song on the album.

When performed live throughout the 70s, it was even slightly longer, though in later tours, it was sometimes up to a minute shorter.

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The great gig in the sky The song was called either "The Religion Song" or "The Mortality Sequence" during recording. The music of the song represents the spectrum of emotions associated with death. It is both somber and uplifting and even pained at times.

The themes of old age and religion lead us into the next song on the album, ‗The Great Gig in the Sky.‖ This next ―pressure‖ explored is

death. Waters was quoted, "Are you afraid of dying?

The fear of death is a major part of many lives, and as the record was at least partially about that, that question was asked, but not specifically to fit into this song.‖ This song was initially called ―The Mortality Sequence,‖ and has no lyrics, but with vocals by Clare Torry. ‗The Great Gig in the Sky‘ is also the last song on the first side of the LP,

which some believe furthers the representation of death.

"Money" is notable for its introductory passage of cash registers ringing and coins clinking, recorded specifically for the album. ‗Money‘ is clearly narrated from the point of view of someone who greatly desired money and material possessions. "Money" was re-recorded for the 1981

Pink Floyd album A Collection of Great Dance Songs because Capitol Records refused to license the track to Columbia Records in the US. As a result, David Gilmour re-recorded the track himself playing all of the drums, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar and vocals.

Reprise)" because the song shares the same beat as the album's song "Breathe."

song. Drugs certainly could qualify as a ―pressure‖ making this song fit in with the rest of the album. Both of these interpretations may also be true in conjunction, as drugs were indeed what led Syd Barrett into madness, at least partially.

The title also ‗The Great Gig in the Sky‘ seems to be a positive portrayal of death.

The name certainly has religious undertones, suggesting an afterlife in heaven.

The idea of a ‗Great Gig in the Sky‘ does seem to trivialize heaven, which most religious people take too seriously to call ‗The Great Gig in the Sky.‘

Dark Side Of The Moon - CD

Money "Money" is the sixth track from British progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is the only song on the album to hit the top 20 in the United States charts.

On the original LP, it opened the second side of the album. It was written by Roger Waters.

“And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do I don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?

There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime.

I never said I was frightened of dying”

Any colour you are The piece itself features no lyrics, and consists of a synthesized tune which segues into a guitar solo. It is approximately 3 minutes, 25 seconds in length. The song used advanced effects for the time both in the keyboard and the guitar. "Any Colour You Like" is also known as "Breathe (Second

One interpretation is that the song encapsulates the transition into madness, as it precedes ‗Brain Damage,‘ which is about madness.

Another theory is that the song is about drugs, as it is considered a ―psychedelic‖

Dark Side Of The Moon - 30th Anniversary SACD - Label

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T he Da rk Si de Of T he Moon by Pi nk Floy d Time "Time" is the fourth track from British progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon, and the only song on the album credited to all four members of the band.

Dark Side Of The Moon - 30th Anniversary SACD - Front

Beginning with an effects loop of various clocks ticking and chiming, opens the next song ‗Time.‘ The next ―pressure‖ that Waters explores is that of time; the theme being that the clock is

ticking for all of us. Also added into the mix in the background is the sound of a heartbeat, implying that even our own heartbeat, that which keeps us alive, is also ticking against us, counting down until we die.

The song is a memento mori describing the phenomenon in which time seems to pass more quickly as one ages, often leading to despair in old age over missed opportunities of the past.

The lyrics in this song are relatively straightforward, but still powerful and thought provoking.

Brain damage “The lunatic is on the grass.

The lunatic is on the grass.

Remembering games, and daisy chains and laughs, Got to keep the loonies on the path”

The next song on the record is ‗Brain Damage‘ which is about madness, the result of all the ―pressures‖ we have been exposed to throughout the whole album. Waters: "That was my song; I wrote that at home.‖ Waters‘ personal connection with this song is possibly the reason he chose to sing it instead of

Gilmour. It was sung by Roger Waters. David Gilmour took over as lead vocalist when the band performed it live on the band's 1994 tour (as can be seen on Pulse).

and are commonly played together on the radio, giving the impression that they are one song. The incorrect title is derived from a recurring lyric in "Brain Damage," and the title of the album.

The song is often mistakenly labeled "Dark Side of the Moon" alongside "Eclipse" because the two run together

Eclipse

Dark Side Of The Moon - Front

"Eclipse" is the tenth and final track from The Dark Side of the Moon. Like Waters said everything our lives can work together in harmony; this is true only if we keep the ―pressures‖ of life in check.

We must constantly deal with these ―pressures‖, and fight the urge to let them

depress us or take a hold of us. Otherwise madness will take over our lives, and the sun will be ―eclipsed by the moon.‖ Solar eclipses only occur when the sun, moon and Earth are in perfect alignment, which is quite rare. This is a metaphor for the ―pressures‖ in life causing madness, as in rare

situations these ―pressures‖ can cause a person to snap into madness.

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V olu men 1, nº 1

Reception and impact The Dark Side of the Moon is the third best selling album of all time worldwide (not counting compilations and various artists soundtracks), and the 20th-bestselling album in the United States. Though it held the No. 1 spot in the USA for only one week, it spent a total of 741 consecutive weeks, approximately fourteen years, on the list until 23 April 1988, the longest duration of any album in history, only to be removed by a rule change.

To this day, it occupies a prominent spot on Billboard's Pop Catalogue Chart, reaching number one when the 2003 hybrid CD/ SACD edition was released and sold 800,000 copies in the U.S. alone. On the week of 5 May 2006, The Dark Side of the Moon achieved a combined total of 1,500 weeks on the Billboard 200 and Pop Catalogue charts..

In 2003, Rolling Stone listed The Dark Side of the Moon 43rd on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

It is also #2 on the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time, a list of 200 albums made by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers "in celebration of the art form of the record album".

Sales of the album worldwide total over 40 as of 2004, with an average of 8,000 copies sold per week and a total of 400,000 in the year of 2002 — making it the 200th best-selling album of that year nearly 3 decades after its initial release.

film appear to synchronize with the music and lyrics.

All band members (save Roger Waters) and engineer Alan Parsons have firmly stated that the phenomenon is a coincidence. This effect has often been called Dark Side of the Rainbow.

"Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun", which appeared on their album Paul's Boutique; (continue on page 6)

Dark Side Of The Moon - SACD - Pink Floyd

Trivia [1] There are many curiosities around this pink Floyd album, below I‘ll show some of the most interesting and weird things that people has found or has used.

Dark Side of the Rainbow When the album is played simultaneously with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, numerous images from the

TIME The Beastie Boys sampled "Time" for their song

“On February 311, 1995 the opening sequence of “Time” was played as a wakeup call for the crew of space mission STS-69”

Pink Floyd and The dark side of the moon has influenced on This band or artists were influenced by PF: David Bowie, Genesis, The Nazz, Queen, Phish, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Yes Progressive metal band Dream Theater has covered the album live in its entirety several times. They have also released one of the performances on CD and DVD.

On 2 November 1998, the band Phish covered the album in its entirety, as part of the second set of their show that night, in West Valley City, Utah.

In 2000, The Not So Bright Side of the Moon was released by The Squirrels featuring a full cover of the entire album.

In 2003 the New York dub collective the Easy Star All Stars released their dub reworking Dub Side of the Moon.

The Group "Voices on The Dark Side" released the album "Dark Side Of The Moon A Cappela", which is a complete a cappela version of the album.

Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

Trivia [2] Continued from Page 6) ON THE RUN The Chicago Bulls NBA team uses "On The Run" for visiting-team player introductions.

THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY The song was mentioned

by Jack Black in the movie School of Rock in which Jack Black asks the backup singer to listen to "the vocal solo on The Great Gig in the Sky." The song was used in the film C.R.A.Z.Y. and in the

Dark side of the moon

by Pink Floyd Analysis of classic rock album Second Paper Assignment History of rock Mr. Guillermo Perez Editor: Diego Mauricio Fino Phone: 320 83 20 ext.: 4623 Mobile: 300 679 04 92 E-mail: maolibrarian@gmail.com

film Pirates of Silicon Valley.

and Horses entitled "Cash and Curry" (1981).

MONEY

The cash register sound from the song was also used in the movie Requiem for a Dream.

In the movie The Wall, during a short break in the song "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", there is a classroom scene in which the teacher mocks a poem Pink is writing. What the teacher reads out loud is from the lyrics to "Money".

The song is heard during the sales montage in an episode of the BBC situation comedy Only Fools

ECLIPSE On March 10, 2004, the song was used to wake the Mars probe Opportunity. It was chosen in recognition of the transit of the Martian moon Phobos. This is not the first time Pink Floyd has been played in outer space.

References About.com. Pink Floyd [Online] Available on: http://classicrock.about.com/od/bandsandartists/p/pink_floyd.htm About.com. Pink Floyd. [Online] Available on: http://classicrock.about.com/od/artistsoz/ig/Pink-Floyd.--4f/ index_t.htm AMENDOLARE, Vincent. The dark side of the moon. [Online] Available on: http://users.wpi.edu/~vamend/ general.htm WikiProject. The dark side of the moon. [Online] Available on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon#Concept WikiProject. The dark side of the rainbow. [Online] Available on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon#Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow

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