The Dark Side Of The Moon, needs no introduction. Anyone, who has learned A-B-C-D of modern music, has gone through the album, or a part of it, atleast once. Dark Side, or DSM as some call it lovingly, was the magnum opus of a certain British band by the Pink Floyd. DSM is a landmark, in every possible way. It stayed in the billboards for a straight 15 year stretch. It has sold 45 million copies internationally. It made the Kings of London Underground a household name. The album cover is considered to be among the greatest ever. It opened new territories in the field of music. But above all that, it had a lot to say. A concept album, with such amount of philosophy infused into it, had never before been created, except maybe The Who's Tommy.
DSM, is a journey. It tells the story of an individual, and his journey. This journey does not begin at biological birth, and does not end at biological death, yet it is a whole life, put inside 45 minutes of music. The individual is represented through the songs. Each song, musically, lyrically, and as a whole, marks a period in the life of the individual.
He begins with Speak To Me, a piece, which is reflecting whatever shall grace and disgrace his life in the coming minutes. It's like, he's a dish of scrambled eggs - scattered, disentagled, confused, yet hell bent on becoming something new. The album begins with the birth of an independent man. An individual who dreams, who sings, who creates. The last part of the song, known as Breath, is where words come in. The man speaks -
Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.
Independence. This is what the man enjoys, yet he knows what lies before him is a precarious road, and he expresses doubts. But he continues on none the less.
The next piece is On The Run, and the man is literally on the run. An instrumental piece, here he is running to find a better place, getting accustomed to the world, and his route goes haywire, represented by the tense and curt chords of Gilmour's guitar. A slight dialogue in the middle of the piece is the only piece of spoken words in this piece -
"Live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me, Hahahaaaaaa!"
The man's first lesson, this shall be.
Once the song ends, there's a long silence, and suddenly a thousand clocks start to ring. A wake up call for the man. The 'tomorrow' mentioned in the last song, is not very far away. The first big factor of life, Time, enters his life -
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Death. And once he realises this, he wants to go back home, resting by the fire
Home, home again.
I like to be here when I can.
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire.
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
The next piece, is another instrumental piece, if you consider a voice to be an instrument. One of the two compositions by keyboardist Richard Wright, and hence, a piano based piece. Probably the most meditative song of the album. The only spoken words in this piece -
"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."
Probably the most important moment of the album, the man learns how to accept death. And so ends the first side of the album. Half of his journey is complete.
The next song begins with the chiming of the cash register. One of the two singles released from DSM, and one of the biggest hits Floyd would ever record. It began with a 7/8th bass intro by Roger Waters, and in came the vocals and the guitars and the drums, Nick Mason pounding it.
Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.
Sardonic it was, bitterness pouring out of this song. And then came in the saxophone solo, and bang! The song shifted into a regular 4/4 beat. There it was, Rockn'roll at its purest form. The man had learned about the second great factor of life, Money. Another chain to curb down his independence.
And slowly the guitar faded out, as the organ set in. Us And Them. Rick Wright's second solo composition of the album, the most beautiful song of the whole album. Its slow, melancholy tune made it clear that the man was trying to fit himself into the society, while a third person, probably a more mature person was sympathetically trying to console him of his loss
Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.
And then anthemically, the third person shouts out
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried.
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside.
And the man decided he couldn't enter this part of the world, it was already dead for him. He shifted into his second meditative state, through a song by the name Any Colour You Like. The only entirely instrumental piece, devoid of any spoken words, it reflected the man's mind, approaching lunacy, finding no other place to release his pent up frustation. The piece has a very ominous tone smeared all over it, with Gilmour's guitar questioning the listener of his integrity towards music. And then suddenly -
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs.
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.
A direct influence on this song was Syd Barrett's mental illness. Barrett was the founder of the Floyds, and his loss was something which influenced three of Floyd's albums, all three considered to be masterpieces. The song here has a playfulness, which the listener may observe, but s/he can never enjoy. Hidden behind this playfulness was incomprehendible life, lyrics like -
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
could connect with anyone, but no one dared to connect with it. The man, had turned crazy in his search for a better life, a better meaning to life. Truly, it was Brain Damage for him. But the song promised a refuge for all the damaged brain ones, the dark side of the moon, which is where the man was going now, and the last song of the album played as he left
All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
And so, the journey of the man ended, from his birth, to his death.
DSM, unlike what my parents claim it to be, that is an album created by nearing-age-30 teenagers on a drug binge, is a highly philosophical album, for me atleast. I've never though had the oppurtunity of hearing it right from the beginning to the end for the first time, because, since the time I can remember, I've heard DSM play in my house (one of the albums my father liked to listen to), so that's one experience I've been devoid of, but never the less, it was this genius piece, that made me fall in love with Pink Foyd, and music. And so this, is just a mere tribute. I hope all Floydians can connect to it, the way I do.
P.S. The whole concept of the story came to my mind today, when I walked from 8B to Gariahat. Heat can do wonders :)
DSM, is a journey. It tells the story of an individual, and his journey. This journey does not begin at biological birth, and does not end at biological death, yet it is a whole life, put inside 45 minutes of music. The individual is represented through the songs. Each song, musically, lyrically, and as a whole, marks a period in the life of the individual.
He begins with Speak To Me, a piece, which is reflecting whatever shall grace and disgrace his life in the coming minutes. It's like, he's a dish of scrambled eggs - scattered, disentagled, confused, yet hell bent on becoming something new. The album begins with the birth of an independent man. An individual who dreams, who sings, who creates. The last part of the song, known as Breath, is where words come in. The man speaks -
Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.
Independence. This is what the man enjoys, yet he knows what lies before him is a precarious road, and he expresses doubts. But he continues on none the less.
The next piece is On The Run, and the man is literally on the run. An instrumental piece, here he is running to find a better place, getting accustomed to the world, and his route goes haywire, represented by the tense and curt chords of Gilmour's guitar. A slight dialogue in the middle of the piece is the only piece of spoken words in this piece -
"Live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me, Hahahaaaaaa!"
The man's first lesson, this shall be.
Once the song ends, there's a long silence, and suddenly a thousand clocks start to ring. A wake up call for the man. The 'tomorrow' mentioned in the last song, is not very far away. The first big factor of life, Time, enters his life -
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Death. And once he realises this, he wants to go back home, resting by the fire
Home, home again.
I like to be here when I can.
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire.
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
The next piece, is another instrumental piece, if you consider a voice to be an instrument. One of the two compositions by keyboardist Richard Wright, and hence, a piano based piece. Probably the most meditative song of the album. The only spoken words in this piece -
"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."
Probably the most important moment of the album, the man learns how to accept death. And so ends the first side of the album. Half of his journey is complete.
The next song begins with the chiming of the cash register. One of the two singles released from DSM, and one of the biggest hits Floyd would ever record. It began with a 7/8th bass intro by Roger Waters, and in came the vocals and the guitars and the drums, Nick Mason pounding it.
Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.
Sardonic it was, bitterness pouring out of this song. And then came in the saxophone solo, and bang! The song shifted into a regular 4/4 beat. There it was, Rockn'roll at its purest form. The man had learned about the second great factor of life, Money. Another chain to curb down his independence.
And slowly the guitar faded out, as the organ set in. Us And Them. Rick Wright's second solo composition of the album, the most beautiful song of the whole album. Its slow, melancholy tune made it clear that the man was trying to fit himself into the society, while a third person, probably a more mature person was sympathetically trying to console him of his loss
Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.
And then anthemically, the third person shouts out
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried.
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside.
And the man decided he couldn't enter this part of the world, it was already dead for him. He shifted into his second meditative state, through a song by the name Any Colour You Like. The only entirely instrumental piece, devoid of any spoken words, it reflected the man's mind, approaching lunacy, finding no other place to release his pent up frustation. The piece has a very ominous tone smeared all over it, with Gilmour's guitar questioning the listener of his integrity towards music. And then suddenly -
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs.
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.
A direct influence on this song was Syd Barrett's mental illness. Barrett was the founder of the Floyds, and his loss was something which influenced three of Floyd's albums, all three considered to be masterpieces. The song here has a playfulness, which the listener may observe, but s/he can never enjoy. Hidden behind this playfulness was incomprehendible life, lyrics like -
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
could connect with anyone, but no one dared to connect with it. The man, had turned crazy in his search for a better life, a better meaning to life. Truly, it was Brain Damage for him. But the song promised a refuge for all the damaged brain ones, the dark side of the moon, which is where the man was going now, and the last song of the album played as he left
All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
And so, the journey of the man ended, from his birth, to his death.
DSM, unlike what my parents claim it to be, that is an album created by nearing-age-30 teenagers on a drug binge, is a highly philosophical album, for me atleast. I've never though had the oppurtunity of hearing it right from the beginning to the end for the first time, because, since the time I can remember, I've heard DSM play in my house (one of the albums my father liked to listen to), so that's one experience I've been devoid of, but never the less, it was this genius piece, that made me fall in love with Pink Foyd, and music. And so this, is just a mere tribute. I hope all Floydians can connect to it, the way I do.
P.S. The whole concept of the story came to my mind today, when I walked from 8B to Gariahat. Heat can do wonders :)
No comments:
Post a Comment