I’m not a big Pink Floyd fan. Being in my mid-30’s, I am required by law to own a copy of Dark Side of the Moon. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the album. I’ve heard other stuff such as The Wall and The Final Cut, but they don’t appeal to me as much. My question is this: did Pink Floyd ever record a song that can be even remotely considered upbeat? Is/was the band member’s lives in England so depressing that ALL their music is so negative (or, at least, negative sounding)?
Of course DSOTM did give me one of my favorite lines:
“You lock the door
and throw away the key.
There someone in my head,
but it’s not me.”
Mostly, I’d say Roger Waters writes extremely depressing lyrics, mostly. PF music can be very uplifting: play “Run Like Hell” in the car and see if you can NOT speed.
Man, that Waters was depressing. But without him, PF will never be the same again.
Ah, hell, I was just at a Roger Waters concert last June (during his “In The Flesh” tour). It seems that the “depression level” of a Floyd song seems to be your point of view/how you’re feeling at the time. For instance, depending on my mood, “Wish You Were Here” can be very, very uplifting. And “Comfortably Numb” can be interesting (in a good way), and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Parts I and II both) are always enjoyable.
So I guess it’s not so much a matter of Floyd being depressing, but mellowing (sorta).
Actually, that’s some of Syd Barret’s earliest, acid-inspired work (I think it may have been written even before Roger joined the band, but I’m not completely sure). Wasn’t part of “Dark Side…” though.
Unfortunately, Syd started out, um, damaged and it’s said he wasn’t improved by Just Saying Yes. I’m sure that one of the Floyd Fans here can give you the blow-by-blow but suffice it to say that he could no longer stay in the band. This is triply sad, because a human being was unable to realize his full potential, a great talent was (mostly) lost (real good solo work but not enough of it), and because he may be nuts but he’s the only cheerful one in the band. They were able to maintain their momentum through Dark Side but lost it after that. I stopped caring about them many albums ago. However, I have something to say to Roger Waters:
Your school days were half a bloody century ago! GET OVER IT!
[slight hijack] I have a brother-in-law who plays mostly Pink Floyd at his parties. He has every album. He wonders why I get bummed out and want to leave around 10 p.m. I like Floyd but when I’m in a partying mood, I want upbeat Dammit. Leave the PF for midnight or later when everyone wants to mellow a bit. Pink Floyd all day is a bit much.[/end hijack]
Sound like you want more rockin stuff from Pink Floyd. Get The Wall. It is definitely a more percussion heavy, pounding beat album. That beat from Another Brick in the Wall kind of acts as the musical theme of the album. Those kids with the lower class british accents hollering angry words is cool. The song Young Love.
I’ve got a room of musical tunes
some rhyme, some ching
most of them are clockwork
let’s go into the other room
and make them work
I believe that Syd Barret wound up with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, more than likely exacerbated by his penchant for ingesting large amounts of psychedelic drugs.
By the way, I think Jefferson may be a big contender with Pink Floyd for most depressing band. I have * The Worst of Jefferson Airplane * and I think there’s exactly one happy tune on the album.
If you’re looking for a non-depressing PF song, try “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” or “One of These Days, I’m Going to Cut You into Little Pieces”. Of course the last misses being depressing because, aside from the title line, it’s an instrumental.
Listen to “Atom Heart Mother” at full volume. There’s something both earthy and mellow about the whole album, and it may even make you giggle. Highly unlikely to depress you unless you hate cows!! Some real gems on there too, like “Summer '68” and “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast”.
I’m only a fairly new fan of Pink Floyd, but the reason why I became a fan was just because of the depressing songs.
Some months ago I was utterly depressed about something when I heard The Wall:
And I can feel one of my turns coming on
I feel, cold as a razor blade, tight as a tourniquet
dry as a funeral drum
Walk to the bedroom, in the suitcase on the left
you’ll find my favorite axe
Don’t look so frightened this is just another phase
one of my bad days
Would you like to watch TV, or get between the sheets
Or contemplate the silent freeway, would you like something to eat?
Would you like to learn to fly (at which point you hear shattering glass, he’s throwing something out of the window).
After that I thought that there are a lot more people who have it worse than I do, especially since after this song he sings why oh why his girlfriend left him, and in a sick way that totally cheered me up. Now, whenever I hear Pink Floyd I get happy. Maybe it’s just me being weird.
And it can’t be much fun for them, beneath the rising sun,
With all their kids committing suicide ( hylarious)
What Opal said. Stick to the Piper-era stuff if you want less depressing. “Candy and a Currant Bun” is kinda bouncy. And “See Emily Play” is at least upbeat and musically clever, not to mention sorta dreamy/trippy.
For awhile in college I listened to a lot of Final Cut, like daily, even when I wasn’t stoned. I finally stopped and returned it to a guy on my floor. I told him it was starting to depress me WAY to much. He commented that he didn’t find it depressing, but liked listening to it because it kept him grounded in reality. Not sure what his reality was…
I’m with a lot of the posters on this board. I never really listened to Floyd for happy music, more just to mellow out. Which they are perfect for.
Syd Barrett was the upbeat (albeit crazy) one. A lot of the stuff written during his time with the band is a lot more upbeat as is the early Roger Waters stuff: Grantchester Meadows, San Tropez, Seamus, the aforementioned Bike, See Emily Play, Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict, Arnold Layne, etc… Syd’s solo stuff was upbeat but fairly childish (“Effervescing Elephant” comes to mind). Seeing a friend and former bandmate succumb to psychosis- and the hallucinogens probably didn’t help- could be considered a downer.
I’ve always thought “Not Now, John” off The Final Cut
has a bouncing upbeat tune, but yeah, Waters’s musical oeuvre really reeks of rich British pop star self-pity. My dad died when I was really young, too, but you don’t see me getting rich writing songs about it. (Damn, what an idiot I am. If I had just learned a few guitar chords…)
IMHO, the real star of PF has always been David Gilmour and his glorious guitar playing. I have all of Gilmour’s solo work on CD.
