Published World Copyrights Ltd. Genre Sound collage Label Harvest | Released 1 March 1973 Length 1:07 | |
Recorded June 1972 – January 1973 | ||
"Speak to Me" is the first track on British progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon, on which it forms an overture. Nick Mason receives a rare solo writing credit for the track, though recollections differ as to the reasons for this. Mason claims to have created the track himself, whereas Rick Wright and Roger Waters stated the credit was a "gift" to Mason to give him some publishing income (subsequently regretted by the latter, following his acrimonious departure from the band). A live version is included on Pulse.
Contents
Composition
The song itself is a sound collage, which features no lyrics (although it contains parts of the conversation tapes that Pink Floyd recorded, as well a short snippet of Clare Torry's vocal performance on "The Great Gig in the Sky"), and consists of a series of sound effects. It leads into the first performance piece on the album, "Breathe". As a result, they are usually played together on the radio, and most later re-releases merge the two songs together.
Sound effects
Noticeable sound and instrument effects include: