Pink Floyd—“Careful With That Axe, Eugene” [Live]
Live at Pompeii (Recorded October 1971; Seagull bootleg 1989).
What did you dream?
It’s alright, we told you what to dream.
This song is a masterpiece. A perfect glimpse of what made Pink Floyd such a remarkable band. It starts with multiple clocks chiming, each having been recorded individually in an antique store, and then mixed together. Following this is a beautiful drum solo by Nick Mason, echoing and hesitant, almost.
The song bursts forth with Gilmour’s vocals, then lapses back a little as Wright moves us through the bridge. Vocally, the song was delivered perfectly. Gilmour’s voice was made for injecting the dismayed urgency that the lyrics convey, while Wright’s voice sets out the underlying carelessness, the slow sadness.
Honestly, I love everything about this song. The guitar solos, the female vocalists, Waters’ intriguing use of his bass to produce the sound a ticking clock would make. It’s inventive, gorgeous, and - truth be told - topically, strikes far too close to home for me.
Time by Pink Floyd.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
My sleeping is so messed up right now. One night’s all it takes, I guess, and now I’m waking up at three-thirty in the morning. Thank God I’ve had a few days off work.
On the flipside, it has been kind of pleasant having a few hours to myself in the dark morning. There’s something appealing in knowing that everyone sane is asleep, except you.
Yesterday when I woke up I spent the early hours doing some chores and baking coconut bread. Today I’ve just been hanging out with my cat listening to Floyd, working myself up for a trip downtown later.
Fearless by Pink Floyd.
You pick the place and I’ll choose the time
And I’ll climb that hill in my own way,
Just wait a while for the right day.
And as I rise above the tree line and the clouds,
I look down, hear the sound of the things you said today.
This has always struck me as being one of the best love songs ever written. It’s layered, it’s elegant, it doesn’t seem forced in the slightest; the song rings with honesty. It expresses the sentiment of being truly at home with the one you love incredibly poignantly.
I admire its ability to marry itself to the theme of the album (heavy social/political commentary that’s similar in style to Orwell’s Animal Farm), but at the same time to take that concept and shine a ray of hope over it.
Roger Waters crafts a beautiful allusion over the course of this album, further securing his status as one of the best lyricists of our time. In Dogs, he beseeches us - and himself, I’m sure - to take heed, to beware of “losing control” and getting “dragged down by the stone”. In Pigs on the Wing II, hope blossoms, evolving the album’s content from mere criticism almost to the status of fable. With love, one doesn’t have to “feel alone or the weight of the stone”.
Pigs on the Wing II by Pink Floyd.
You know that I care what happens to you,
and I know that you care for me, too.
So I don’t feel alone or the weight of the stone,
now that I’ve found somewhere safe to bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home -
a shelter from pigs on the wing.
I can’t offer this song the position of Best Floyd Song Ever, but let’s give it the Best Floyd Song For Right Now award.
I remember the first time I listened to The Wall. This song blew me away. I was laying in bed, and I felt as though I could see everything that was happening; every detail of the song came to life so vividly in my imagination: every expression on his face, all the glass shattering, the cars rushing past down below the balcony as he teetered on the brink of his madness.
When I finally watched The Wall I enjoyed it, but it was impossible for that scene not to be a disappointment. I had it so perfectly visualized in my mind.
Roger Waters, you were at your most awesome on this album. We thank you.
One Of My Turns by Pink Floyd.
Would you like to learn to fly? Would you? Would you like to see me try?
