PINK FLOYD - ECHOES

ECHOES

PINK FLOYD

SONGWRITERS: DAVID GILMOUR; GEORGE WATERS; NICHOLAS MASON & RICHARD WRIGHT

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: MEDDLE

LABEL: HARVEST RECORDS

GENRE: PROGRESSIVE ROCK

YEAR: 1971

 

         "Echoes" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, and the sixth and final track from their 1971 album Meddle. It is 23 and a half minutes long and takes up the entire second side of the original LP. The track was composed by combining a variety of different musical themes and ideas, including instrumental passages and studio effects, resulting in a side-long piece. The music was written by the group, while Roger Waters' lyrics addressed themes of human communication and empathy, which he returned to in later work.

           The song was performed live regularly by Pink Floyd from 1971 to 1975, including a performance in the film Live at Pompeii(1972). It was used for the opening shows on the 1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour but dropped from subsequent performances. David Gilmour revived "Echoes" for his 2006 On an Island Tour, which featured Richard Wright, but retired the piece after Wright's death in 2008. The studio recording was used in the film Crystal Voyager(1973) while an edited version is included on the greatest-hits album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd(2001).

       "Echoes" has been regarded by critics as an important song that transitions between Pink Floyd's early experimental material as a cult band, and later mainstream success. Several publications have remarked it as one of the best songs by the group. The group have mixed views of the track, but it was a particular favourite of Wright's.

Overhead the albatross

Hangs motionless upon the air

And deep beneath the rolling waves

In labyrinths of coral caves

The echo of a distant time

Comes willowing across the sand

And everything is green and submarine

 

And no one showed us to the land

And no one knows the where's or why's

But something stirs and something tries

And starts to climb toward the light

 

Strangers passing in the street

By chance, two separate glances meet

And I am you and what I see is me

And do I take you by the hand

And lead you through the land

And help me understand the best I can?

 

And no one calls us to move on

And no one forces down our eyes

No one speaks and no one tries

No one flies around the sun

 

Cloudless everyday

You fall upon my waking eyes

Inviting and inciting me to rise

And through the window in the wall

Come streaming in on sunlight wings

A million bright ambassadors of morning

 

And no one sings me lullabies

And no one makes me close my eyes

So I throw the windows wide

And call to you across the sky.