"Time" is the fourth track from the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Mo0n, and the only song on the album credited to all four members of the band, though the lyrics were written by Roger Waters. This song is about how time can slip by, but many people do not realize it until it is too late. Roger Waters got the idea when he realized he was no longer preparing for anything in life, but was right in the middle of it. He has described this realisation taking place at ages 28 and 29 in various interviews.[1] It is noted for its long introductory passage of clocks chiming and alarms ringing, recorded as a quadrophonic test by Alan Parsons, not specifically for the album.
Composition[]
Each clock at the beginning of the song was recorded separately in an antiques store. This is followed by a two-minute passage dominated by Nick Mason's drum solo, with rototoms and backgrounded by a tick-tock sound created by Roger Waters picking two muted strings on his bass. With David Gilmour singing lead on the verses and with Richard Wright singing lead on the bridges and with female singers and Gilmour providing backup vocals, the song's lyrics deal with Roger Waters' realization that life was not about preparing yourself for what happens next, but about grabbing control of your own destiny.[1]
He (Alan Parsons) had just recently before we did that album gone out with a whole set of equipment and had recorded all these clocks in a clock shop. And we were doing the songTime, and he said "Listen, I just did all these things, I did all these clocks," and so we wheeled out his tape and listened to it and said "Great! Stick it on!" And that, actually, is Alan Parsons' idea.—David Gilmour[3]The drums used on the Time track are roto-toms. I think we did some experiments with some other drums called boo-bans, which are very small, tuned drums, but the roto-toms actually gave the best effect.—Nick Mason[3]
According to an interview by Phil Taylor in 1994, David Gilmour had been using a Lexicon PCM-70 to store the circular delay sounds heard in "Time", which could duplicate the kind of echo he used to get from his old Binson echo unit.[4]
The song was performed live from 1972 to 1975 and from 1987 to 1994.
Breathe (Reprise)[]
When the song ends, the reverberations of the final note resound for about a second before the piano of "The Great Gig in the Sky"."Breathe (Reprise)" serves as a coda to Time. It reprises the earlier song "Breathe", with different lyrics. During recording, it was called "Home Again".
When Pink Floyd reunited for the Live 8 concert, they combined "Breathe", and "Breathe (Reprise)", something they had never done before, although the London Philharmonic Orchestra had previously covered the song in this manner on their 1995 album Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd.
The song features on David Gilmour's 2007 DVD, Remember That Night, and in his 2008 CD Live in Gdańsk. These are the only instances of the song being given a separate track number to "Time" on an official release. The Live in Gdańsk version is titled "Breathe (In the Air) (Reprise)" rather than just "Breathe (Reprise)".
Film[]
During live performances, the band back-projected a specially-commissioned, animated film by Ian Emes.[5][6] The film was subsequently included as an extra on the Pulse DVD[5]
Personnel[]
- David Gilmour — electric guitar, vocals
- Roger Waters — bass guitar
- Richard Wright — Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, EMS VCS 3, vocals
- Nick Mason — rototoms, drums
with:
- Doris Troy — backing vocals
- Lesley Duncan — backing vocals
- Liza Strike — backing vocals
- Barry St. John — backing vocals
Use in film and television[]
- The song's opening was used at the end of the trailers for the second series of Life on Mars.
- The song's opening was also used to introduce a 1970s BBC TV schools programme called Biology.
- The song's opening was used at News Commentary of Iran's radio channel Radio Iran.
- The song was used on a few occasions in the Cantonese language re-release of Bruce Lee's first adult starring role, The Big Boss.
- The main part of the song was used as background music for professional skateboarder Mike Maldonado in his part in Jump Off a Building, the second video from skateboard company Toy Machine.
- The song was used in the Cold Case episode "Flashover", originally airing on 21 March 2010. The episode featured songs from Pink Floyd.
- WBZ-TV in Boston, MA used a portion of the song on a live camera video on November 7, 2010 (the first day of standard time in the US) during their 6 AM Sunday newscast.
- The song was used in the British TV show, Misfits (TV series) episode six, season 3.
Alternative and live versions[]
- A live version of the song can be heard on the Pulse concert DVD and CD.
- Another live version was played on the Delicate Sound of Thunder CD and concert video. It does not include the "Breathe (Reprise)" section at the end.
- On the Roger Waters solo In the Flesh: Live tour DVD and CD, a version sung by him, Doyle Bramhall II and Jon Carin is played.
- Live versions with Richard Wright appear on the David Gilmour solo Remember That Night DVD and Live in Gdańsk album. The Live in Gdańsk version segues into the "Breathe (Reprise)" section as a separate track under the title "Breathe (in the Air) (reprise)" rather than just "Breathe (Reprise)".
- Part of the song is still used as a theme for a Bulgarian TV quiz game named "One minute's too long" ("Mинута е много"), which is the oldest Bulgarian TV game.
Cover versions[]
[1][2]The Australian Pink Floyd Show performing in 2006 before a backdrop during the song "Time"*Phish covered this song at a concert on November 2nd, 1998.
- Pretty Lights has remixed this song and frequently plays it live.
- Wrathchild America covered this song on their 1989 album Climbing the Walls.
- 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.
- Weezer covered this song during their 2008 tour of the United States.
- The Killers covered this song multiple times during their Hot Fuss tour after having their song On Top segue into it.
- The Flaming Lips covered this song along with the rest of the album on The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon in 2009.
- Local H frequently covers this song during their live performances, and a studio version appears on their 2010 EP "Local H's Awesome Mix Tape 1."
- Easy Star All Stars covered the song in their cover of the entire album Dub Side of the Moon in 2003.[5]
- Dream Theater covered the song on several occasions during their Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence tour, where they covered several different classic albums such as Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. Among the classic albums covered was Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon album.
- Godsmack recorded the song for their 2012 album Live and Inspired.