40 Year Itch : Top 20 US Singles March 3, 1973

 We still had a common goal, which was to become rich and famous.
-Roger Waters


THE TOP 20 FOR MARCH 3, 1973

1 Killing Me Softly With His Song Roberta Flack
2 Could It Be I'm Falling In Love The Spinners
3 Crocodile Rock Elton John
4 Love Train The O'Jays
5 The Last Song Edward Bear



6 Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) Deodato
7 Do It Again Steely Dan
8 Rocky Mountain High John Denver
9 Dueling Banjos Eric Weissberg
10 Daddy's Home Jermaine Jackson

11 Dancing In The Moonlight King Harvest
12 The Cover Of The Rolling Stone Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show
13 Do You Want To Dance Bette Midler
14 Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend Lobo



15 Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) Gladys Knight and The Pips
16 You're So Vain Carly Simon
17 Aubrey Bread
18 Danny's Song Anne Murray



19 Space Oddity David Bowie
20 Break Up To Make Up The Stylistics

40 Year Itch : Dark Side of the Moon - side 2

And now on to side two...

1. Money 

 Roger Waters and Nick Mason built the synchronized tape loop for "Money" using pennies on strings and coins swirling around a mixing bowl. Session musician Dick Parry made the saxophone safe for progressive rock for years thanks to his down and dirty solo.

2. Us And Them

The longest song on the album --at 7 minutes 46 seconds, "Us And Them" was originally composed by Richard Wright for the 1969 Antonioni film Zabriskie Point. The spoken word section includes the behavioral science phrase "short, sharp shock", which also inspired the title of Michelle Shocked's second album. Paul and Linda McCartney, recording Red Rose Speedway at the time, agreed to be interviewed but offered nothing usable.

 3. Any Colour You Like 

 Recorded as a touch of relief to the tightly arranged album, the instrumental "Any Colour You Like" is the last Pink Floyd song to appear without a songwriting credit for Roger Waters while he was still a member.

 

4. Brain Damage 

 A nod to former member Syd Barrett, Roger Waters's "Brain Damage" even recalls how towards the end of the Barrett era, Syd seemed to be playing a different tunes from the rest of the band:

    And if the band you're in starts playing different tunees/
    I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

Syd Barrett in 1975

5. Eclipse

A grand ending to the album, "Eclipse" leaves listeners with a bit of curious wisdom :

Everything under the sun is in tune/
 But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

Roger explains.
" I think it's a very simple statement saying that all the good things life can offer are there for us to grasp, but that the influence of some dark force in our natures prevents us from seizing them."

During the fade out, with the heartbeats still audible, you can hear an orchestral version of  The Beatles' "Ticket To Ride" faintly playing--due to a mastering error.

40 Year Itch : Dark Side of the Moon - side 1

[Purchase]

Why has Dark Side of the Moon --released in the US on March 1st, 1973--sold in such spectacular numbers--more than 35 million copies in all? Let me tack a crack at the answer:
    Coming on the heels of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Apollo Missions, the album title--and its cover by Storm and Po at Hipgnosis-- promises a perfectly timed journey for the ears and the mind. The engineering of the album made it the definitive test record for new stereo systems. Pink Floyd had encapsulated everything great about progressive rock in songs that averaged just over 4 minutes in length.
Ultimately, the credit belongs to the ten songs. To the lyrics that captured something so universal that high school students and college professors, American loners and African party goers could relate.



1. Speak To Me

I've always thought that by starting Dark Side of the Moon with complete silence, Pink Floyd was testing its album buyers's abilities to gently place the needle on the record. Considering how many of them must have been blissfully stoned out of their minds, it's little wonder most used copies crackle like a bowl of Rice Krispies. Nick Mason says "Speak To Me" is an overture,  "a taster of things to come", constructed from cross fading all the other pieces on the album. Peter Watts, a road manager and the father of actress Naomi Watts, can be heard laughing .

2. Breathe

David Gilmour achieves that lush guitar sound with the help of a uni-vibe and lap steel guitar. Though it sounds pretty cool in its acoustic form as well.



3. On The Run

An instrumental that deals with the fear and pressure of travel, "On The Run" makes use of the most recent advances in synthesizers and dips into the EMI sound effects library. Floyd's road manager Roger "The Hat" Manifold is heard saying "Live for today, then gone tomorrow, That's Me".



4. Time

The only song credited to all four members of Pink Floyd, "Time" begins with the sounds of clocks recorded by engineer Alan Parsons for a quad demonstration. Nick Mason does a long passage playing roto-toms before Roger Waters sings about something anyone over 30 can relate to: Time moving at a pace so quickly, people feel like they're always falling behind.



5. The Great Gig In The Sky

22 year old session singer Clare Torrey injects the entire album with passion in her performance. Nick Mason says "She was embarrassed by having let herself go so much during one of the takes and came into the control booth to apologise, only to find that everyone was delighted". Torrey was paid 30 pounds for her performance and sued Richard Wright for songwriting credits. The suit was settled in Torrey's favor for an undisclosed amount.

Clare Torrey

Side Two tomorrow....