Time (Pink Floyd song)
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| “Time” | |||||
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| Single by Pink Floyd from the album The Dark Side of the Moon |
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| A-side | "Us and Them" | ||||
| Released | 1973 | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road June 1972-January 1973 |
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| Genre | Progressive rock | ||||
| Length | 7:05 5:56 (without Breathe Reprise) 3:33 (single edit) |
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| Label | Harvest, EMI (UK) Harvest, Capitol (US) |
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| Writer(s) | David Gilmour/Nick Mason/Roger Waters/Richard Wright | ||||
| Producer | Pink Floyd | ||||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | |||||
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| The Dark Side of the Moon | |||||
| Tracks | |||||
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"Time" is the fourth track[1] 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. It is noted for its long introductory passage of clocks chiming and alarms ringing, recorded as a quadrophonic test by Alan Parsons, not specifically for the album.
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.
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[edit] Composition
Each clock was recorded separately in an antiques store. This is followed by an eerie two-minute passage dominated by Nick Mason's rototoms and backgrounded by a tocking sound created by Roger Waters picking two muted strings on his bass. With David Gilmour singing lead on the verses and with Richard Wright singing lead on the bridges and with female singers providing backup vocals, the lyrics of the song deal with Roger Waters's realization that life was not about preparing yourself for what happens next, but about grabbing control of your own destiny. A guitar solo from Gilmour provides the refrain over the same chord progressions as the verse and chorus. A reprise of the album's earlier "Breathe" brings the song to a close, before it segues into "The Great Gig in the Sky". When the tom drums were recorded, there were only 3 available so the band had to tune the drum after each hit to get the right pitch and then mix the hit into the song. "Time" is at the tempo of 120 bpm, which switches to half time (60 bpm) at the chorus. This is at the same tempo of a clock.
The song is the second longest on the album[2], after "Us and Them", and is renowned for Gilmour's guitar solo after the first verse, which is often considered to be one of his best.
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"Time" - Problems playing the files? See media help.
[edit] Personnel
- Roger Waters - Bass
- David Gilmour - Guitars, vocals
- Nick Mason - rototoms and drums
- Rick Wright - Hammond Organ, Rhodes electric piano, Minimoog synthesizer and vocals
[edit] Pop culture
- The song's opening is used at the end of the trailers for the second series of Life on Mars.
- The song's opening was used as the main menu music for the video game Destruction Derby 2.
- The Beastie Boys sampled "Time" for their song "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun", which appeared on their album Paul's Boutique.
- 3rd Bass sampled the introductory clocks for "Steppin' to the A.M." from their Cactus Album.
- The Killers covered this song multiple times during their Hot Fuss tour after having their song On Top segue into it.
- The song was used on a few occasions in the Cantonese language re-release of Bruce Lee's first adult starring role, The Big Boss
- The Prodigy sampled the alarm bell for their tracks "Claustrophobic Sting" and "Wake Up Call"
- On February 3-11, 1995 the opening sequence of Time was played as a wakeup call for the crew of space mission STS-69.
[edit] Alternative and Live versions
- A live version of the song can be heard on the P•U•L•S•E concert DVD and CD.
- Another live version was played on the Delicate Sound of Thunder CD and concert video. It does not include the "Breathe (Reprise)" section at the end.
- On the Roger Waters solo In the Flesh: Live tour DVD and CD, a version sung by him is played.
[edit] Cover Versions
- This song was covered on the Echoes of Pink tribute album in 2002 by Melissa Quade.
- A cover version of Time by Kelsey Wood (who was 14 years old upon its release) appears on the 2003 Pink Floyd tribute album A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd
- Dream Theater covered this song also with entire Dark Side of the Moon album in 2006 (live).
[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.
- ^ This includes the reprise of "Breathe". When subtracting that song, it reduces the running of Time down to 5:56, thus making it the third-longest song on the album (right behind "Money").
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