| "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" | |||||||||||||
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| Song by Pink Floyd from the album Wish You Were Here | |||||||||||||
| Released | 15 September 1975 | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | January – July 1975 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Progressive rock, art rock | ||||||||||||
| Length | 26:01 (all parts) 13:30 (parts I–V) 12:31 (parts VI–IX) |
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| Label | Harvest, EMI (UK) Columbia, Capitol (US) |
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| Writer | Wright, Waters, Gilmour | ||||||||||||
| Producer | Pink Floyd | ||||||||||||
| Wish You Were Here track listing | |||||||||||||
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"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and David Gilmour. The song is a tribute to former band member Syd Barrett, although it was not originally explicitly written with him in mind.[1] It was first performed on their 1974 French tour. It was recorded for the 1975 concept album Wish You Were Here. The song was intended to be a side-long composition like "Atom Heart Mother" and "Echoes", but was ultimately split into two parts and used to bookend the album.
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According to David Gilmour and Nick Mason on the Wish You Were Here episode of In the Studio with Redbeard, the band recorded a satisfactory take of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", but because of a new mixing console which was installed at Abbey Road Studios, it needed to be re-recorded because excessive 'bleed' from other instruments could be heard on the drum tracks.
We originally did the backing track over the course of several days, but we came to the conclusion that it just wasn't good enough. So we did it again in one day flat and got it a lot better. Unfortunately nobody understood the desk properly and when we played it back we found that someone had switched the echo returns from monitors to tracks one and two. That affected the tom-toms and guitars and keyboards which were playing along at the time. There was no way of saving it, so we just had to do it yet again.—David Gilmour, An Interview with David Gilmour by Gary Cooper[2]
With the invention of 16-track and 2-inch tape there was the belief for quite a while that there would be something wrong with editing tape that big. Consequently whenever we played these pieces, they had to be played from beginning to end. Particularly for Roger (Waters) and myself being the rhythm section, which would be laid down first, this was [chuckling] a fairly tough business because the whole thing had to be sort of right.—Nick Mason, In the Studio with Redbeard
In another incident, Syd Barrett wandered into the studio (heavyset, with a completely shaved head and eyebrows) while the band was recording Wish You Were Here, although Nick Mason has since stated that he is not entirely certain whether "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was the particular song being recorded when Syd was in the studio. Because of his drastically changed appearance, the band could not recognize him for some time.
When they eventually recognized Barrett, Waters was so distressed he was reduced to tears.[1] Someone asked to play the song again and Barrett said a second playback wasn't needed when they'd just heard it. Apparently, when "Wish You Were Here" was played, "He [Barrett] stood up and said, 'Right, when do I put my guitar on?'" keyboardist Richard Wright recalled. "And of course, he didn't have a guitar with him. And we said, 'Sorry, Syd, the guitar's all done.'"[3]
Roger was there, and he was sitting at the desk, and I came in and I saw this guy sitting behind him--huge, bald, fat guy. I thought, "He looks a bit...strange..." Anyway, so I sat down with Roger at the desk and we worked for about ten minutes, and this guy kept on getting up and brushing his teeth and then sitting--doing really weird things, but keeping quiet. And I said to Roger, "Who is he?" and Roger said "I don't know." and I said "Well, I assumed he was a friend of yours," and he said "No, I don't know who he is." Anyway, it took me a long time, and then suddenly I realized it was Syd, after maybe 45 minutes. He came in as we were doing the vocals for Shine On You Crazy Diamond, which was basically about Syd. He just for some incredible reason he picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him. And we hadn't seen him, I don't think, for two years before. That's what's so incredibly...weird about this guy. And a bit disturbing, as well, I mean, particularly when you see a guy, that you don't, you couldn't recognize him. And then, for him to pick the very day we want to start putting vocals on, which is a song about him. Very strange.
When asked what he thought of Wish You Were Here, Barrett said it sounded a "bit old". He subsequently slipped away during celebrations for Gilmour's wedding to Ginger Hasenbein, which had taken place earlier that day.[5] Gilmour confirmed this story, although he could not recall which song they were working on when Syd showed up. (One of the photographs in Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd appears to have been taken that day (page 211); it is captioned: Syd Barrett at Abbey Road Studios, 5 June 1975).[6]
As neither the original vinyl release (1975) nor the CD re-release actually delineates precisely the various divisions, the make-up of the Parts below is based on a comparison of the recorded timings with the identifications in the published sheet music. Without benefit of the publication, it is easy to perceive Parts I and II as Part I, Part III as Part II, and so on, with the extensive postlude of Part V (at 11:15) as the beginning of the fifth section.
Part I (Wright, Waters, Gilmour; from 0:00 – 3:54) begins with the fade-in of a dense G-minor synthesizer pad created with an EMS VCS 3, ARP Solina, a Hammond organ and the sounds of wet fingers rubbing the rims of wine glasses (recycled from an earlier project known as "Household Objects"). This is followed by plaintive Minimoog passages followed by a lengthy, bluesy guitar solo played by David Gilmour on a Fender Stratocaster (neck pickup) using a heavily compressed sound and reverb. The harmony changes from G minor to D minor at 2:29, then to C minor, and back to G minor. This is repeated again, and the part ends with the synth pad fading into the background.
Part II (Waters, Gilmour, Wright; from 3:55 – 6:26) begins with a four-note theme (B♭, F, G, E) repeated throughout much of the entire section. This theme leads the harmony to C major (in comparison to the use of C minor in Parts I and II). Nick Mason starts his drumming after the fourth playing of the four-note theme, which is the point where the riffs get into a fixed tempo, in 6/8 time. The chord leads back to G minor (as from Part I), followed by Eb major and D major back to a coda from G minor. This part includes another solo by Gilmour.
Part III (Gilmour, Wright, Waters; from 6:27 – 8:41) begins with a Minimoog synthesizer solo by Richard Wright. This part includes Gilmour's third guitar solo which is bluesy in tone, and ends with a fade into Part IV. When performed on the Animals tour, Gilmour added distortion to the guitar for this solo (This bluesy guitar solo is often dropped in live performances whilst the rest of part III is still played—notably Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse.)
Part IV (Waters, Gilmour, Wright; from 8:42 – 11:14) Waters is the lead vocalist, with Gilmour, Wright and female backing vocalists on harmonies.
Part V (Waters, Gilmour, Wright; from 11:15 – 13:40) Part IV is followed by two guitars repeating an arpeggio riff for about a minute with the theme of Part II. A baritone saxophone overlays the sounds, played by Dick Parry. It ends as the saxophone changes from a baritone saxophone to a tenor saxophone. After, a time signature switch from 6/8 to 12/8 creates the appearance that the tempo speeds up, though the arpeggio guitar part in the background remains unchanged, in the background. The sax solo is accompanied by an ARP string synthesizer keyboard sound. A machine-like hum fades in and segues into "Welcome to the Machine".
Part VI (Wright, Waters, Gilmour; from 0:00 – 4:55) begins with a howling wind from the preceding song "Wish You Were Here". As the wind fades away, Gilmour comes in on the bass guitar. Waters adds another bass with a continuing riff pattern. Then Wright comes in playing an ARP String Ensemble Synthesizer and after a few measures, several rhythm guitar parts (Gilmour played the power chord rhythm part using his black Fender Stratocaster before switching to lap steel guitar for the solo in live performances from 1974 to 1977. Snowy White did the rhythm guitar parts on this track on the band's 1977 "In the Flesh" tour) and drums come in, as well as a Minimoog synthesizer to play the opening solo. At the two minute mark, Wright's Minimoog and Gilmour's lap steel guitar play notes in unison before Gilmour does a lap steel guitar solo (the lap steel had open E minor tuning) with some counterpointing from Wright's synthesizers. It lasts for about 3 minutes (4 when played on the band's "In the Flesh" tour) and Gilmour played each section an octave higher than the previous one. The highest note he hit on the lap steel/slide solo was a B-flat nearly 3 octaves above middle C, followed by a reprise of the guitar solo from Part IV (which was played by Snowy White live on Pink Floyd's 1977 tour so David Gilmour could switch from the lap steel guitar back to his Fender Stratocaster). The song then switches time signatures to 6/8 (found in Parts II-V), giving the appearance of a slower tempo and the vocals return.
Part VII (Waters, Gilmour, Wright; from 4:56 – 6:04) contains the vocals, almost identical to Part IV (though half the length) before segueing into Part VIII.
Part VIII (Gilmour, Wright, Waters; from 6:05 – 8:59) brings in Waters to play a second electric guitar for a high-noted sound riff while Gilmour plays the arpeggio riff that bridges Parts VII and VIII. A solid progression of funk in 4/4 plays for about 2 minutes before very slowly fading out as a single sustained keyboard note fades in around the 9 minute mark. Throughout this section, Wright's keyboards dominate, with the use of a Minimoog synthesizer, and a Hohner Clavinet. However, when this section was played live on the band's 1977 "In the Flesh" tour, the sound was filled out by both David Gilmour and Snowy White, who would trade guitar solos in a duet (or known as the battle between Gilmour's black with white pick-ups Strat and Snowy's Goldtop Gibson Les Paul) which would extend this section upwards to between 5 and 10 minutes.
Part IX (Wright, from 9:00 – 12:31) is played in 4/4 time. Gilmour described Part IX in an interview as "a slow 4/4 funeral march... the parting musical eulogy to Syd". Again, Wright's keyboards dominate, with little guitar input from Gilmour. The drums play for half of this part, and the keyboards play for the final minute before fading out. On the fade-out, a short part of the melody of "See Emily Play" (at 12:12), one of Syd Barrett's signature Pink Floyd songs, can be heard. When played live on the 1977 tour, the piano plays the chords on its own before the synthesizer solo was slowly changed from itself (early part of European leg) into half synthesizer and harmony guitar solo by Gilmour (higher notes) and White (lower notes; on the end of the European leg and April and May, 1977 US performances) and then first a bluesy Gilmour solo followed by a harmony guitar solo by Gilmour (higher notes) and White (lower notes; on the June and July, 1977 US performances) finally before ending with the synthesizer solo as on record. Part IX, and the album, ends on G major, a Picardy third.
The song was first performed on the French tour in June 1974 as "Shine On". It was first introduced as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" on the British tour in November 1974. The song was originally performed as one whole suite with some of the parts differing from the album versions with samplings of Syd's solo song "Dark Globe" during the opening of the song.
The multi-part version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was first performed on the band's 1975 North American tour with "Have a Cigar" thrown into the middle of the piece. The 1975 versions were close to the final versions except parts one and nine were still not refined yet.
The band performed the whole nine-part "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" as part of the Wish You Were Here portion of their 1977 In the Flesh Tour, with extra musicians Snowy White on guitar and backing vocals and Dick Parry on saxophones.
Parts 1–5 of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" became a staple of Pink Floyd's live performances from 1987 until 1994. The track opened shows for most of the A Momentary Lapse of Reason and Delicate Sound of Thunder tours of 1987/1988/1989 and the tour closing performance at Knebworth in 1990 with Candy Dulfer on saxophone.[7] The first eleven performances had "Echoes" as the show opener before the band proceeded to play all of Momentary Lapse of Reason in the rest of the first half in a slightly different sequence to the album.
A condensed edition of the track (without the Gilmour solos in both Part 2 and Part 3) would then open the second half of the shows on the group's 1994 The Division Bell and tour (documented on P•U•L•S•E) except on shows where all of The Dark Side of the Moon was performed when "Shine On" opened the first half and in the last month and a half of the tour the band added part 7 to Parts 1–5.
David Gilmour performed almost the whole suite (save part 9) at his 2001 and 2002 semi-unplugged concerts (which were documented on his 2002 David Gilmour in Concert DVD) and has performed Parts 1–2 and 4-5 (in a new arrangement) on his 2006 On an Island solo tour. Part 3 was omitted and Parts 1 and 2 were simplified and more guitar-focused.
Gilmour performed Parts 1-5 on his Live in Gdańsk CD on disc 2 and on DVD in the 4-disc edition of the album. The 5-disc edition and the online downloads available in the 3- and 4-disc editions include Parts 1-5 recorded in Venice and Vienne in 2006.
Roger Waters has also performed the song on his 1999 and 2000 tours documented on his In the Flesh – Live album and DVD which was a condensed parts 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 9. Part 6 on these performances had a lap steel solo from Jon Carin then guitar solos from Doyle Bramhall II and Snowy White. Then on Waters' 2002 tour, he played all nine parts like on record (although part 8 was shortened). An abridged version of parts 1–5 was performed on Waters' 2006/2007 The Dark Side of the Moon Live tour.
Recorded January to July 1975 at Abbey Road Studios, London.
Three different edited versions of the composition have appeared on compilation albums.
The version on this compilation album was cut significantly. Parts III, V, VI, VIII and IX were dropped completely. Parts IV and VII are linked by the guitar solo from earlier in Part IV. Lastly, the riff that links Parts VII and VIII is repeated several times as the song segues into the introductory radio passage from "Wish You Were Here".
The version on this compilation album was also cut, but less significantly. The guitar solo on Part III was dropped. Part VI was shortened. Parts VIII and IX were dropped completely. Linking Parts V and VI is the sound of wind. These are the same wind effects used to bridge "Wish You Were Here" to Part VI of "Diamond" on the original LP. Finally, the riff that links Parts VII and VIII is repeated several times as the song segues into the introductory passage of clocks of "Time".
This version was also cut. Parts VI-IX were dropped completely. Part I was shortened. The guitar solo on Part III was dropped. The saxophone on Part V has an early fade-out. Finally, the machine-like hum that segues into "Welcome To The Machine" in the original album was dropped, the song simply stops and "Brain Damage" begins.
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" features on all the below releases:
Albums
Wish You Were Here (Original release) – Pink Floyd, 1975
A Collection of Great Dance Songs (Edited version) – Pink Floyd, 1981
Delicate Sound of Thunder (live version, Parts 1–5) – Pink Floyd, 1988
PULSE (live version, Parts 1–5 and 7) – Pink Floyd, 1995
Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (Edited version) – Pink Floyd, 2000
In the Flesh – Live (live version, Parts 1–8) – Roger Waters, 2000
A Tree Full Of Secrets (7 different versions) - Pink Floyd, 2004
Live in Gdańsk (live version, Parts 1–5) – David Gilmour, 2008
Wish You Were Here 2011 remastered "Experience" and "Immersion" sets (early live version recorded in 1974) – Pink Floyd, 2011
The Best of Pink Floyd: A Foot in the Door (Edited version, Parts 1-5) - Pink Floyd, 2011
Video/DVD/BD
Delicate Sound of Thunder (VHS, Part 1 only) – Pink Floyd, 1988
PULSE (VHS and DVD, Parts 1–5 and 7) – Pink Floyd, 1995 (VHS) 2006 (DVD)
In the Flesh – Live (DVD, Parts 1–8) – Roger Waters, 2000
David Gilmour in Concert (DVD, Parts 1–5 and Parts 6–8) – David Gilmour, 2002
Remember That Night (DVD and BD, Parts 1–2, 4–5) – David Gilmour, 2007
Live in Gdańsk (DVD, Parts 1–5) – David Gilmour, 2008
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