Matilda Mother

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"Matilda Mother"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Released	August 5, 1967
Recorded	February 1967
Genre	Psychedelic rock
Length	3:08
Label	Columbia/EMI (UK) Capitol (US)
Writer(s)	Syd Barrett
Producer(s)	Norman Smith
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn track listing
Lucifer Sam (2)	"Matilda Mother" (3)	Flaming (4)

"Matilda Mother" is a song by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, and is featured on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Written by Syd Barrett from a surrealistic perspective, the song is essentially a fairy tale that is being read to a child by his mother. The song is sung mostly by Richard Wright with Barrett joining in on the last verse.

The song begins with a very characteristic, unusual bass and organ interlude featuring the bass doing double stop licks. Roger Waters repeatedly plays the B on the 16th fret of the G-string by varying the lower note from D to F sharp on the D string. Unlike many older beat and pop songs, the guitar rarely plays chords. Most unusually for rock music (even psychedelia), Rick Wright provides an organ solo in the F# Phrygian Dominant #6 scale, which is an offshoot of the Phrygian dominant scale with a raised sixth instead of a natural sixth. The song ends with a simple E mixolydian-based waltz with wordless vocal harmonies of Rick Wright and Syd Barrett.

[edit] Personnel

• Syd Barrett - Guitar and Vocals
• Richard Wright - Keyboards and Vocals
• Roger Waters - Bass
• Nick Mason - Drums and Percussion

v • d • e Pink Floyd

David Gilmour • Richard Wright • Nick Mason Syd Barrett • Bob Klose • Roger Waters Discography Studio albums: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) • A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) • Ummagumma (1969) • Atom Heart Mother (1970) • Meddle (1971) • The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) • Wish You Were Here (1975) • Animals (1977) • The Wall (1979) • The Final Cut (1983) • A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) • The Division Bell (1994) Soundtracks: Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1968) • More (1969) • Zabriskie Point (1970) • Obscured by Clouds (1972) Live: Ummagumma (1969) • Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) • P*U*L*S*E (1995) • Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81 (2000) Compilations: Relics (1971) • A Nice Pair (1973) • Masters of Rock (1974) • A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981) • Works (1983) • Shine On (The Early Singles) (1992) • 1967 Singles Sampler (1997) • Echoes (2001) Films Live at Pompeii • The Wall • Delicate Sound of Thunder • La Carrera Panamericana • London '66-'67 • The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon • P*U*L*S*E • The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story Related articles Alan Parsons • Storm Thorgerson/Hipgnosis • Steve O'Rourke • Contributors • Live performances • Trivia • A Tree Full of Secrets • Pigs • Publius Enigma • Dark Side of the Rainbow • The Man and the Journey • List of ROIOs