On the Run (Pink Floyd song)
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| The Dark Side of the Moon | ||
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| Album by Pink Floyd | ||
| Released | March 2, 1973 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road June 1972-January 1973 |
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| Genre | Progressive rock Electronic music Musique concrète Song cycle |
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| Length | 43:00 | |
| Label | Harvest (UK) Capitol (US) |
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| Producer(s) | Pink Floyd | |
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"On the Run" is the third track[1] from British progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is an instrumental that deals with the pressures of travel (which Rick Wright said would often bring fear of death), and is a VCS3 synthesizer-led piece. When the band performed this song in concert, a model airplane would fly from one end of the arena to the other, appearing to crash in a brilliant explosion. The same effect was used in the A Momentary Lapse of Reason tours with a flying bed.
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[edit] Composition
This piece was created by feeding an 8 note sequence into the EMS VCS3 and speeding it up, with a white noise generator adding the high hat sound. The band then added guitar parts, created by dragging a microphone stand down the fretboard, and panned left to right. There are also some other synthesizer parts, made to sound like some type of vehicle passing, giving a Doppler effect. The 8 note sequence (D, F, G, F on octave below Middle C, and D, middle C, D, E on Middle C octave) is played at a tempo of 180, and modulates upwards occasionally. Near the end we hear an explosion which gradually gets quieter, leading up to the chiming clocks marking the introduction of the song 'Time'.
When the Dark Side of the Moon suite was performed in 1972 (before the album was released), it went under the title "The Travel Sequence" and was, instead of a complex electronic instrumental, a more simple guitar jam, without the use of synthesizers and other electronic instruments. A short clip of this is played on the DVD "Classic Albums: The Making of Dark Side of the Moon" and can also be heard on all performances of Pink Floyd playing the album live in that year.
[edit] Voices
- At 27 seconds into the piece, the sound of a female voice on a loudspeaker can be heard. Some think it to be an airport public address system, saying "Get your tickets and your passports at the ready, we make a brief stop at customs and then we begin. Now boarding flight 215 to Rome from Colorado Fields." The talking continues for nearly thirty seconds, but some of it cannot be heard because a helicopter like noise is played over it.
- At 1:54, Roger the Hat, a Pink Floyd roadie, says: "Live for today, gone tomorrow. That's me", then laughs. The laughter on the CD version sounds markedly different to the laughter on the record.
[edit] Trivia
- When the album is listened to along with the film The Wizard of Oz Dorothy sings "Over the Rainbow" while "On the Run" is played. This forms an interesting contrast. The initials of the titles in both songs are OTR. Also, if the viewer uses his/her imagination, it seems that Dorothy is watching "planes" fly overhead.
- The Chicago Bulls NBA team uses On The Run for visiting-team player introductions.
- When the band perfomed the song live on the post Roger Waters tours, all (except Wright and touring keyboardist Jon Carin) disappeared from the stage
[edit] Alternative and Live versions
- A live version of the song can be heard on the Delicate Sound of Thunder concert video. This version did not appear on the CD release.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The track number depends upon the edition of the album; some releases merge the two tracks "Speak to Me" and "Breathe," for instance.
