The Great Gig in the Sky

"The Great Gig in the Sky"
Song

"The Great Gig in the Sky" is the fifth track on The Dark Side of the Moon, the 1973 album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It features non-lexical vocal music by Clare Torry. The song is frequently regarded as one of Richard Wright's greatest achievements.

Composition

The song began life as a Richard Wright chord progression, known variously as "The Mortality Sequence" or "The Religion Song". During 1972 performances of The Dark Side of the Moon song cycle (prior to the album being recorded), it was simply an organ instrumental accompanied by spoken word samples from the Bible and snippets of speeches by Malcolm Muggeridge, a British writer known for his conservative religious views. By the time the band came to record the song for Dark Side, the lead instrument had been switched to a piano rather than an organ. Various sound effects were tried for the track, including recordings of NASA astronauts communicating on space missions, but none were satisfactory. Finally, a couple of weeks before the album was due to be finished, the band decided to try having a female singer "wail" over the music.

Clare Torry's vocals

As the band began casting around for a singer, album engineer Alan Parsons suggested Clare Torry, a 25-year-old songwriter and session vocalist. Parsons had previously worked with Torry, and had liked her voice on a compilation album of covers. An accountant from Abbey Road Studios contacted Torry and tried to arrange a session for the same evening, but she was initially unenthusiastic. Torry was not a particular fan of Pink Floyd, and she had various other commitments, including, she later admitted, tickets to see Chuck Berry that evening. Eventually, however, a session was scheduled for the following Sunday.

The band played the instrumental track to Torry, and then with very little further direction asked her to improvise a vocal. At first, Torry struggled to divine what the band wanted, but then she was inspired to pretend that she herself was an instrument. She performed two complete takes, the second one more emotional than the first. David Gilmour asked for a third take, but halfway through Torry stopped, feeling she was getting repetitive and had already done the best she could. The final album track was assembled from all three takes. The members of the band were deeply impressed by Torry's performance, but were so reserved in their outward response that she left under the impression that her vocals would never make the final cut. She only became aware they were used when she saw the album at a local record store, spotted her name in the credits and purchased it.

Quotes from those involved

Richard Wright:

Great Gig in the Sky? It was just me playing in the studio, playing some chords, and probably Dave or Roger saying "Hmm… that sounds nice. Maybe we could use that for this part of the album." And then, me going away and trying to develop it. So then I wrote the music for that, and then there was a middle bit, with Clare Torry singing, that fantastic voice. We wanted something for that bit, and she came in and sang on it.

Roger Waters:

It was something that Rick had already written. It's a great chord sequence. "The Great Gig in the Sky" and the piano part on "Us and Them," in my view, are the best things that Rick did – they're both really beautiful. And Alan [Parsons] suggested Clare Torry. I've no idea whose idea it was to have someone wailing on it. Clare came into the studio one day, and we said, "There's no lyrics. It's about dying – have a bit of a sing on that, girl." I think she only did one take. And we all said, "Wow, that's that done. Here's your sixty quid."

Alan Parsons:

She [Torry] had done a covers album; I can remember that she did a version of "Light My Fire." I just thought she had a great voice. When the situation came up, they started head-scratching, saying, "Who are we going to get to sing on this?" I said, "I've got an idea – I know this girl." She came, and in a couple of hours it was all done. She had to be told not to sing any words: when she first started, she was doing "Oh yeah baby" and all that kind of stuff, so she had to be restrained on that. But there was no real direction – she just had to feel it.

David Gilmour:

Clare Torry didn't really look the part. She was Alan Parsons' idea. We wanted to put a girl on there, screaming orgasmically. Alan had worked with her previously, so we gave her try. And she was fantastic. We had to encourage her a little bit. We gave her some dynamic hints: "Maybe you'd like to do this piece quietly, and this piece louder." She did maybe half a dozen takes, and then afterwards we compiled the final performance out of all the bits. It wasn't done in one single take.

Clare Torry:

I went in, put the headphones on, and started going 'Ooh-aah, baby, baby – yeah, yeah, yeah.' They said, 'No, no — we don't want that. If we wanted that we'd have got Doris Troy.' They said, 'Try some longer notes', so I started doing that a bit. And all this time, I was getting more familiar with the backing track. […] That was when I thought, 'Maybe I should just pretend I'm an instrument.' So I said, 'Start the track again.' One of my most enduring memories is that there was a lovely can [i.e headphone] balance. Alan Parsons got a lovely sound on my voice: echoey, but not too echoey. When I closed my eyes — which I always did — it was just all-enveloping; a lovely vocal sound, which for a singer, is always inspirational.

Chris Thomas, who was brought in to assist Alan Parsons in mixing the album mentions that they were actually in mixdown at the time. On the DVD Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon, various members mention that they had this song and weren't quite sure what to do with it. Wright further mentions that when she finished, she was apologetic about her performance even though those present were amazed at her improvisation.

Lawsuit

In 2004, Torry sued Pink Floyd and EMI for songwriting royalties, on the basis that her contribution to "Great Gig in the Sky" constituted co-authorship with Richard Wright. Originally, she was paid the standard Sunday flat studio rate of £30. In 2005, prior to a hearing in the High Court, an out-of-court settlement was reached. Although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed all pressings after 2005 list the composition to Richard Wright and Clare Torry.

Spoken parts

(At 0:38)

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 got to go sometime.

— Gerry O'Driscoll, Abbey Road Studios janitorial "browncoat"

(At 3:33, faintly)

I never said I was frightened of dying.

— Patricia 'Puddie' Watts, wife of road manager Peter Watts

Live performances

An early incarnation of the song, titled "The Mortality Sequence" and lacking the vocals later contributed by Clare Torry, was performed by Pink Floyd throughout 1972. In its final version, "The Great Gig in the Sky" was performed live from 1973–1975, and from 1987–1994. During the band's 1974–1975 tour, David Gilmour played both pedal steel guitar and the Hammond organ, allowing Richard Wright to concentrate solely on piano (his keyboards were arranged where he couldn't play both). Gilmour's pedal steel for "Great Gig" was located accordingly beside Wright's Hammond. Starting in 1987, additional touring keyboardist Jon Carin took over the Hammond parts. Up to three singers performed the vocals, each taking different parts of the song. On the 1974–75 tour, vocal duties were handled by Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams, both former members of The Blackberries.

On the Delicate Sound of Thunder video, the vocals are shared by Rachel Fury, Durga McBroom and Margret Taylor. Clare Torry returned for the Knebworth '90 concert. The 1994 live album P•U•L•S•E features a version sung by Sam Brown, Durga McBroom and Claudia Fontaine. When the Floyd's manager, Steve O'Rourke, died in 2003, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason played "Fat Old Sun" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" at O'Rourke's funeral.

Commercial re-use

A short clip of the song was used in a 1974 TV advertisement for Dole bananas. A re-recorded version was used as the backing music in a UK television advertisement for the analgesic Nurofen in 1990. The band was not involved in this version, but Clare Torry again did the vocal with Neil Conti on drums and Lati Kronlund on bass.

'Rick wrote that music. He remade it for them. It's down to the writer. If my name had been on that track too it wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't do it. But that's Rick's business. I didn't approve of it, but I have no control over it.'

— David Gilmour,

Cover versions

On the Easy Star All-Stars' Dub Side of the Moon album, there are two different dub music versions of the track, "The Great Gig in the Sky" (Track 4) and "Great Dub in the Sky" (Track 11).

An orchestrated version, arranged by Jaz Coleman and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Peter Scholes, appears on the 1995 instrumental album Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd.

Phish also does a live cover on track 6 of disc 3 of Live Phish Vol. 7.

Seattle local band The Squirrels did a full-length parody "tribute" of The Dark Side of the Moon in 1999 entitled The Not-So-Bright Side of the Moon. Their version of "Great Gig" has vocalist Baby Cheevers singing after guitarist Joey Kline says "Sorry, the girl didn't show up!"

The Flaming Lips have covered the song in their 2009 remake of The Dark Side of the Moon, with singer Peaches performing Clare Torry's vocal segment of the track and Henry Rollins recreating the original interview samples.

In their "Official Bootlegs: Covers" series, progressive metal band, Dream Theater, performed this song, as part of their full-length cover version of the entire album, with Theresa Thomason taking over vocal duties.

Personnel

• Richard Wright – piano, Hammond organ
• David Gilmour – pedal steel guitar
• Roger Waters – bass
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion

with:

• Clare Torry – vocals

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics