Astronomy Domine

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"Astronomy Domine"

Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Released	August 5, 1967
Recorded	April 11-13, 1967
Genre	Psychedelic rock
Length	4:12
Label	Columbia/EMI (UK) Capitol (US)
Writer(s)	Syd Barrett
Producer(s)	Norman Smith
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn track listing
	"Astronomy Domine" (1)	Lucifer Sam (2)

"Astronomy Domine" is a song by British Psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd. The song, written and composed by original vocalist/guitarist Roger 'Syd' Barrett, was the first track featured on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). The lead vocal was sung by Barrett and keyboard player Richard Wright.

The song has a very unusual chord progression for 1960s pop music, which is in sharp contrast to every kind of pop, folk and blues progressions: E E flat G A. The sound of this chord progression in conjunction with the use of the binson echo unit for the guitar had a very distintive psychedelic character.

The track includes their manager at the time, Peter Jenner reading the names of stars through a megaphone for the introduction. "Domine" in the title is correctly pronounced as [ˈdɒmɪneɪ], rather than [dəʊˈmiːn] or [dəʊˈmaɪn].

It was a popular live piece, and regularly included in the set, appearing as the first track on the live side of the album Ummagumma in 1969. By this time, David Gilmour was singing the lead vocals together with Wright, the song had been extended to include the first verse twice, and the instrumental in the middle included a very quiet organ solo before getting louder again back to the last verse.

It was dropped from the live sets in mid 1971, but eventually reappeared as the first song in some sets on the band's 1994 tour. A version from a concert in Miami appears as the B-side on the "Take It Back" single, and a version from one of the London concerts appears on the live double CD P*U*L*S*E. David Gilmour played the song at some of his appearances during his 2006 tour, again sharing the lead vocal with fellow-Floyd member Rick Wright.

The track is also featured on the 2001 Floyd compilation album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.

VoiVod covered this song in their 1989 album Nothingface.

[edit] Alternative and live versions

The Ummagumma live disc has an extended version of the song, somewhat reflecting the band's progressive style at the time. Verses are repeated and the keyboard section is extended leading to an 8 minute version of the song. Vocals are sung by Richard Wright and David Gilmour instead of Syd Barrett and Wright. This version can also be found on the American release of A Nice Pair, a compilation album made in 1973.
The P*U*L*S*E version reverts back to the original 4 minute length, with Gilmour again taking lead vocals.
The song was also played by David Gilmour's solo band (which includes Rick Wright) at the Abbey Road Studios sessions, which has just recently been released as part of a CD/DVD On An Island package.