One of These Days

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For other uses, see One of These Days (disambiguation).
“One of These Days”
“One of These Days” cover
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album Meddle
B-side Fearless (US & Italian single)
Seamus (Japanese single)
Released October 30, 1971 (US)
November 5, 1971 (UK)
November 29, 1971 (US single)
1971 (Italian single)
1971 (Japanese single)
Format 7"
Recorded July 19-21, 23-25, 1971
Morgan Studios, London
August 1971
AIR Studios, London
Genre Progressive rock, psychedelic rock
Length 5:57
5:32 (US single)
Label Harvest (UK)
Capitol (US)
Writer(s) David Gilmour
Roger Waters
Rick Wright
Nick Mason
Producer Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"The Nile Song"
(1969)		 "One of These Days"
(1971)		 "Free Four"
(1972)
Meddle track listing
"One of These Days"
(1)		 "A Pillow of Winds"
(2)

"One of These Days" is the opening track from Pink Floyd's 1971 album Meddle. Save for the spoken line "One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces" the song is instrumental and features double-tracked bass guitars played by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. One of the two bass guitars sounds quite muted and dull compared to the other. According to Gilmour, this is because that particular instrument had old strings on it, and the roadie they had sent to get new strings for it preferred to wander off and see his girlfriend instead[1].

The track opens with a "wind sound" emulated by means of a delayed wind drum slowed down to half speed. The ending solo on the left speaker is David Gilmour playing a regular guitar solo dueling with himself, via multi-tracking, playing slide on right speaker. At approximately 3:03 minutes into the song, a similar sound is heard to the theme tune of the popular science fiction television series Doctor Who.

The threat, a rare vocal contribution by Nick Mason, was recorded through a ring modulator and slowed down to create an eerie effect. It was aimed at Sir Jimmy Young, the then BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 DJ whom the band supposedly disliked because of his tendency to babble. During early 1970s concerts, they sometimes played a sound collage of clips from Young's radio show that was edited to sound completely nonsensical, thus figuratively "cutting him into little pieces".[2] The bootleg compilation A Treeful of Secrets contains a demo version of "One of These Days" in which the Jimmy Young collage loops in the background during the song. However, the authenticity of this demo has not been confirmed.[3]

According to John Peel, Waters has described "One of These Days" as a "poignant appraisal of the contemporary social situation".[4] Gilmour has stated that he considers the song the most collaborative piece ever produced by the group.

When the song was played on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, a piece of film was produced by the programme makers, featuring rotoscoped pierrots and gibbons dancing against various backgrounds.

Contents

[edit] Live performances

The song was a concert staple on the band's 1971-1973 and 1987-1994 tours. The Live at Pompeii version was retitled as "One of these Days I'm Going to Cut You into Little Pieces", the full spoken threat. In this version, Nick Mason loses a drumstick and keeps playing with one hand whilst retrieving another without missing a beat.

It was resurrected for the group's 1987/1988/1989 A Momentary Lapse of Reason world tour and 1994 The Division Bell tour. It was included on the "Delicate Sound of Thunder" and "P•U•L•S•E" albums and videos released respectively in 1988 and 1995, performed by David Gilmour on lap steel guitar, Tim Renwick on rhythm guitar, Guy Pratt on bass, Rick Wright and Jon Carin on keyboards, Nick Mason and Gary Wallis on drums and percussion. The only difference between the original track and the 1988/1995 versions is the addition of a wah-wah effect during the picked delayed bass solo in the middle of the track and a long melodic slap riff between the intro and the main delayed slap bass parts, as well as an additional rhythm guitar part from touring guitarist Tim Renwick.

[edit] Personnel

Delicate Sound of Thunder/P•U•L•S•E tours

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Blue Man Group covers this song during their "How to be a Megastar 2.0" tour. They use their Tubulum instrument to simulate the double-bass guitar effect.
  • The German progressive trance project Haldolium released a cover version of this song on a 12-inch picture-disc in 2001, at Free Form Records, that was a success throughout the worldwide (goa-)trance scene. The version was heavily inspired by another interpretation of this song, done by the German E.B.M./dark wave band "Girls under Glass" and released 1995 on their album "Crystals & Stones".
  • A 1991 computer virus called "Little Pieces" clears the victim's screen and displays the message "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces" McAfee summary
  • In the Sluggy Freelance story arc "Fire and Rain," the only arc to feature a "soundtrack" of sorts, Oasis makes a reference to the song, stating that she is "gonna cut [Zoe] into little pieces." Under the dialogue is a caption reading "'One of These Days' by Pink Floyd." [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ February 1993 Guitar World interview with David Gilmour
  2. ^ 'One of These Days' section Echoes FAQ, Ver. 4.0
  3. ^ A Tree Full of Secrets CD#3 Track Listing The Pink Floyd RoIO Trading Pages
  4. ^ Meddler The Pink Floyd RoIO Database
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