Released 5 August 1967 Length 3:05 | Recorded 20 March 1967 | |
Published Magdalene Music/Essex Music Genre Psychedelic rock, proto-punk Label EMI Columbia (UK)
Tower (US) | ||
"Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" is a song by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, from their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Contents
Lyrics
This song was Roger Waters' debut songwriting credit, continually building in speed until the end and featuring frantic guitar playing by Syd Barrett and manic keyboard parts by Richard Wright. The song's title is a reference to John 5:8—"Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk". Its morbid lyrics are quite unlike anything else on the album, the rest of which was penned by Barrett, but is characteristic of much of Waters' work; the clinical motif would recur in compositions like "Free Four" and "Comfortably Numb". Similarly, "Sheep", contains more Biblical quotations adapted by Waters to fit the song.
The song parallels the title track to Waters' 1992 solo album Amused to Death by beginning with the phrase "Doctor, Doctor."