Speak to Me

This article is about the Pink Floyd song. For the Geoff Moore album, see Speak to Me (album). For the Roxette song, see Speak to Me (Roxette song).
"Speak to Me"
Song by Pink Floyd from the album The Dark Side of the Moon
Published World Copyrights Ltd.
Released 1 March 1973
Recorded June 1972 – January 1973
Genre Instrumental, musique concrète, experimental
Length 1:07
Label Harvest
Writer Nick Mason
Producer Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon track listing

"Speak to Me" is the first track[nb 1] by British progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon, on which it forms an overture.[1][2] Nick Mason receives a rare solo writing credit for the track; Roger Waters subsequently claimed this was a "gift" to Mason, one which Waters came to regret after his acrimonious departure from the band.[3][4] A live version is included on Pulse.

Composition

The song itself features no lyrics (although it contains parts of the conversation tapes that Pink Floyd recorded, as well a short snippet of Clare Torry's vocal performance on "The Great Gig in the Sky"), and consists of a series of sound effects. It leads into the first performance piece on the album, "Breathe". As a result, they are usually played together on the radio, and most later re-releases merge the two songs together.

Sound effects

Noticeable sound and instrument effects include:

Spoken parts

“ I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years. I've been over the edge for yonks. Been working with bands so long, I think. Crikey... ”
“ I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us are. It's very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad. ”

Personnel

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ Some CD pressings merge "Speak to Me" and "Breathe".
Citations
  1. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mabbett, Andy (2010). Pink Floyd - The Music and the Mystery. London: Omnibus. pp. 160p. ISBN 978-1-84938-370-7.
  3. ↑ "Dark Side of the Moon — Text from interview with Roger Waters". Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  4. ↑ http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/pink-floyd-dark-side-40-years-later-40-205227757.html

External links