Fact #84902
When:
Short story:
Pink Floyd begin recording the song Great Gig In The Sky in >EMI Studio 2, Abbey Road, London, UK. It will appear on their album Dark Side Of The Moon,
Full article:
Roger Waters : Are you afraid of dying ? The fear of death is a major part of many lives, and as the record was at least partially about that, that question was asked, but not specifically to fit into this song. I don't remember whose idea it was to get Claire in, but once she sang it was great. One of those happy accidents.
Alan Parsons (engineer) : I had worked on a session before with Claire and suggested that we tried her out on this track.
Claire Torry : I received a phone call to come in and do a session for Pink Floyd. It didn't mean much to me at the time, but I accepted and was booked: 7-10pm, Sunday, January 21, Studio 3.
When I arrived they explained the concept of the album to me and played me Rick Wright's chord sequence. They said, 'We want some singing on it.' But didn't know what they wanted, so I suggested going out into the studio and trying a few things. I started off using words but they said, 'Oh no, we don't want any words.' So the only thing I could think of was to make myself sound like an instrument, a guitar of whatever, and not to think like a vocalist. I did that and they loved it.
I did three or four takes very quickly, it was left totally up to me, and they said, 'Thank you very much.' In fact, other than Dave Gilmour, I had the impression that they were infinitely bored with the whole thing, and when I left I remember thinking to myself, That will never see the light of day. If I'd known then what I know now I would have done something about organizing copyright or publishing. I would be a wealthy woman now. The session fee in 1973 was £15, but as it was Sunday I charged a double fee of £30 which I invested wisely, of course.
Alan Parsons : I think one has to give Claire credit; she was just told to go in and 'do your thing', so effectively she wrote what she did. She wailed over a nice chord sequence. There was no melodic guidance at all apart from 'a bit more waily here' or 'more somber there'. The vocal was done in one session - three hours - no time at all, then a couple of tracks were compiled for the final version.
Roger Waters : The slide guitar was just something that Dave was into at the time. A brilliant sound.
Alan Parsons (engineer) : The song sounded very good even before vocals were added to it. It was recorded with Rick in Studio 1 while the rest of the band were in Studio 2. We put a little practical joke over on Rick, making him think the band were playing live when he was actually listening off tape, and when he looked up at the end of the song all of us were standing watching him from the door. They were great ones for carefully planned practical jokes.
(Source : interview with Peter Henderson in Mojo)
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Alan Parsons (engineer) : I had worked on a session before with Claire and suggested that we tried her out on this track.
Claire Torry : I received a phone call to come in and do a session for Pink Floyd. It didn't mean much to me at the time, but I accepted and was booked: 7-10pm, Sunday, January 21, Studio 3.
When I arrived they explained the concept of the album to me and played me Rick Wright's chord sequence. They said, 'We want some singing on it.' But didn't know what they wanted, so I suggested going out into the studio and trying a few things. I started off using words but they said, 'Oh no, we don't want any words.' So the only thing I could think of was to make myself sound like an instrument, a guitar of whatever, and not to think like a vocalist. I did that and they loved it.
I did three or four takes very quickly, it was left totally up to me, and they said, 'Thank you very much.' In fact, other than Dave Gilmour, I had the impression that they were infinitely bored with the whole thing, and when I left I remember thinking to myself, That will never see the light of day. If I'd known then what I know now I would have done something about organizing copyright or publishing. I would be a wealthy woman now. The session fee in 1973 was £15, but as it was Sunday I charged a double fee of £30 which I invested wisely, of course.
Alan Parsons : I think one has to give Claire credit; she was just told to go in and 'do your thing', so effectively she wrote what she did. She wailed over a nice chord sequence. There was no melodic guidance at all apart from 'a bit more waily here' or 'more somber there'. The vocal was done in one session - three hours - no time at all, then a couple of tracks were compiled for the final version.
Roger Waters : The slide guitar was just something that Dave was into at the time. A brilliant sound.
Alan Parsons (engineer) : The song sounded very good even before vocals were added to it. It was recorded with Rick in Studio 1 while the rest of the band were in Studio 2. We put a little practical joke over on Rick, making him think the band were playing live when he was actually listening off tape, and when he looked up at the end of the song all of us were standing watching him from the door. They were great ones for carefully planned practical jokes.
(Source : interview with Peter Henderson in Mojo)