Recorded 4 November 1968 | Length 3:35 | |
B-side "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" Released 17 December 1968 (1968-12-17) Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock Label Columbia (EMI) (UK)
Capitol Records (Canada) | ||
"Point Me at the Sky" is the fifth United Kingdom single by the British band Pink Floyd, released on 17 December 1968. The song was an early collaboration by bassist Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour. The single was not released in the United States, but was in Canada, Japan, and some European countries.
Contents
The vocals on the verse of the song are sung by Gilmour, and the bridge vocals are shared between Gilmour and Waters. Musically, the song starts out quietly and then becomes a heavy piece of psychedelic rock.
Oddily enough, the acronym of the verse in the refrain "Point Me At The Sky And Tell It Fly", if read backwards gives "Fit A Stamp", a reference to LSD, in a similar way to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles. The two songs are also show many similarities in the melodic and harmonic developments.
Promotional U.K. copies and some foreign releases mistakenly printed the title "Point Me to the Sky" on the label and or sleeve.
Other releases
"Point Me at the Sky" has since become the rarest of all officially released Pink Floyd recordings. It was not intended for album release, resulting in the recording being mixed in mono only.
A different performance of "Point Me at the Sky" was recorded and broadcast by the BBC in late 1968; this version was included in The Early Years 1965–1972 box set in 2016.
The single did not chart in the U.K. The B-side, "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", became far more popular, as it was later included on two different Pink Floyd albums and played regularly at concerts through the early 1970s.
It was left out of the 1971 collection Relics, though it was re-issued on the 1992 CD collection The Early Singles, a bonus disc in the Shine On box set. The song was eventually released in the United States in 1978 on a now rare promotional album, "A Harvest Sampler" (catalog number SPRO-8795/6). This album contained an otherwise unavailable re-channeled stereo version which was derived from the mono mix.
The first widespread release of "Point Me at the Sky" occurred in 2016, when it was included with the The Early Years 1965–1972 box set and the sister release Cre/ation: The Early Years 1967–1972, a 2 CD highlight compilation of the full box set.
Video and photos
The group made a promotional film for the song in which they posed in goggles and flight outfits with a vintage aeroplane, registration G-ANKB (a De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth) A still picture from this photo session was included in promotional materials given away with the U.K. single and on a picture sleeve version released in The Netherlands. Alternate still shots from the same session appeared in the artwork for the 1973 LP A Nice Pair and the booklet for 1992 remastered CD of A Saucerful of Secrets. The film also features another vintage aircraft, G-ADBO (an AVRO 504N), plus scenes of trains at Paddington Station.
Personnel
Legacy
Roger Waters has called "Point Me at the Sky" a "notable failure" of the post-Barrett era. Following its lack of chart success, the band decided to stop releasing singles in the U.K. altogether and concentrate only on albums, since, according to Waters, "we were no bloody good at it."