Grantchester Meadows (song)
| "Grantchester Meadows" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Pink Floyd from the album Ummagumma | ||||
| Released | October 1969 | |||
| Recorded | June 1969 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic folk Experimental |
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| Length | 7:26 | |||
| Label | Harvest Records | |||
| Writer | Roger Waters | |||
| Producer | Norman Smith | |||
| Ummagumma track listing | ||||
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"Grantchester Meadows" is a song from the second half of the experimental Pink Floyd album Ummagumma.[1] It was written and performed entirely by Roger Waters. The song features Waters' lyrics accompanied by an acoustic guitar, while a tape loop of a skylark chirps in the background throughout the entire song.[2] At approximately 4:13, the sound of a honking goose is temporarily introduced, followed by the sound of it taking off.[3]
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[edit] Lyrics
The lyrics describe a pastoral and dream-like scene at the Grantchester meadows in Cambridgeshire, England.[4] This is where fellow band member David Gilmour grew up and former member Syd Barrett lived. This type of pastoral ballad was typical of Roger Waters' compositional approach in the late sixties and early seventies. It was a style that he was to continue on his first album outside of Pink Floyd - Music from "The Body" (in collaboration with Ron Geesin) and "If" from Atom Heart Mother. It is one of the many Pink Floyd songs that are praises of the English countryside.
[edit] Sound
The song is noted for its use of stereo effects and sound panning to create an illusion of space and depth. This is most noticeable when listening with headphones. The background chirping birds flicker across the channels. The honking goose is first heard in the extreme left channel and the noise of its flight slowly panning to the right. Similarly, considering the song's idyllic setting, a fly can be heard buzzing close to the listener, and around from mid-right to mid-left channel, at the beginning and end of the song, followed by someone's footsteps coming in from far left and slowly panning to the right, as if walking down a flight of stairs and across a room to finally swat and kill the fly with a loud "smack" in the center (an ending that segues into the following song, "Several Species...").
[edit] Live
"Grantchester Meadows" was incorporated into Pink Floyd's The Man and the Journey concert suite as "Daybreak". It was performed live during the 1970 US tour, often opening the show. Live renditions of the song included David Gilmour on a second acoustic guitar and providing harmony vocals during the chorus, as well as Richard Wright playing two piano solos—one after the second verse's chorus and one during the coda (these solos were later played on the Farfisa organ).
This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd,[5] and would have been the only song from Ummagumma to be included on the compilation.
[edit] Personnel
- Roger Waters — classical guitar, vocals and tape effects
- David Gilmour — second guitar, chorus vocals (live performances)
- Richard Wright — keyboards
[edit] References
- ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
- ^ Pink Floyd Grantchester Meadows — Extended Edition, YouTube.
- ^ Pink Floyd — Grantchester Meadows, LastFM.
- ^ Pink Floyd, Grantchester Meadows Lyrics.
- ^ Guthrie, James. "James Guthrie: Audio: Building A Compilation Album". Pink Floyd. http://www.pinkfloyd.co.uk/echoes/ae/james.html. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
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