The Great Gig in the Sky

Fender 'Duo 1000' double-neck steel guitar (1962), purchased in Seattle in October 1970 by David Gilmour, and used on 'Great Gig in the Sky'; displayed at the Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains exhibition

The song began life as a Richard Wright chord progression, known variously as "The Mortality Sequence" or "The Religion Song". During the first half of 1972 it was performed live as a simple organ instrumental, accompanied by spoken-word samples from the Bible and snippets of speeches by Malcolm Muggeridge, a British writer known for his conservative religious views. By September 1972, the lead instrument had been switched to a piano, with an arrangement very similar to the final form but without vocals and a slighty different chord sequence in the middle. Various sound effects were tried over the track, including recordings of NASA astronauts communicating on space missions, but none were satisfactory. Finally, a couple of weeks before the album was due to be finished, the band thought of having a female singer "wail" over the music.[2]

As the band began casting around for a singer, album engineer Alan Parsons suggested Clare Torry, a 25-year-old songwriter and session vocalist. Parsons had previously worked with Torry, and had liked her voice on a Top of The Pops covers album.[3] An accountant from Abbey Road Studios contacted Torry and tried to arrange a session for the same evening, but she had other commitments, including tickets to see Chuck Berry that evening, so a session was scheduled for Sunday evening between 7 and 10pm.[4][3]

The band played the instrumental track for Torry and asked her to improvise a vocal. At first, Torry struggled to divine what the band wanted, but then she was inspired to pretend that she herself was an instrument.[3] She performed two complete takes, the second one more emotional than the first. David Gilmour asked for a third take, but halfway through Torry stopped, feeling she was getting repetitive and had already done the best she could. The final album track was assembled from all three takes. The members of the band were deeply impressed by Torry's performance, yet she left the studio with a standard £30 flat fee under the impression that her vocals would never make the final cut[3] given the general lack of response from the band.[5] She only became aware they were used when she saw the album at a local record store, spotted her name in the credits and purchased it. A 2005 out-of-court undisclosed settlement in Torry's favour included giving her vocal composition credit.[3]

Richard Wright:

Great Gig in the Sky? It was just me playing in the studio, playing some chords, and probably Dave or Roger saying "Hmm… that sounds nice. Maybe we could use that for this part of the album." And then, me going away and trying to develop it. So then I wrote the music for that, and then there was a middle bit, with Clare Torry singing, that fantastic voice. We wanted something for that bit, and she came in and sang on it.[6]

Roger Waters:

It was something that Rick had already written. It's a great chord sequence. "The Great Gig in the Sky" and the piano part on "Us and Them," in my view, are the best things that Rick did – they're both really beautiful. And Alan [Parsons] suggested Clare Torry. I've no idea whose idea it was to have someone wailing on it. Clare came into the studio one day, and we said, "There's no lyrics. It's about dying – have a bit of a sing on that, girl." I think she only did one take. And we all said, "Wow, that's done. Here's your sixty quid."[7]

Alan Parsons:

She [Torry] had done a covers album; I can remember that she did a version of "Light My Fire." I just thought she had a great voice. When the situation came up, they started head-scratching, saying, "Who are we going to get to sing on this?" I said, "I've got an idea – I know this girl." She came, and in a couple of hours it was all done. She had to be told not to sing any words: when she first started, she was doing "Oh yeah baby" and all that kind of stuff, so she had to be restrained on that. But there was no real direction – she just had to feel it.[8]

David Gilmour:

Clare Torry didn't really look the part. She was Alan Parsons' idea. We wanted to put a girl on there, screaming orgasmically. Alan had worked with her previously, so we gave her a try. And she was fantastic. We had to encourage her a little bit. We gave her some dynamic hints: "Maybe you'd like to do this piece quietly, and this piece louder." She did maybe half a dozen takes, and then afterwards we compiled the final performance out of all the bits. It wasn't done in one single take.[9]

Clare Torry:

I went in, put the headphones on, and started going 'Ooh-aah, baby, baby – yeah, yeah, yeah.' They said, 'No, no – we don't want that. If we wanted that we'd have got Doris Troy.' They said, 'Try some longer notes', so I started doing that a bit. And all this time, I was getting more familiar with the backing track. […] That was when I thought, 'Maybe I should just pretend I'm an instrument.' So I said, 'Start the track again.' One of my most enduring memories is that there was a lovely can [i.e headphone] balance. Alan Parsons got a lovely sound on my voice: echoey, but not too echoey. When I closed my eyes – which I always did – it was just all-enveloping; a lovely vocal sound, which for a singer, is always inspirational.[10]

Chris Thomas, who was brought in to assist Alan Parsons in mixing the album, mentions that they were actually in mixdown at the time. On the DVD Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon, various members mention that they had this song and weren't quite sure what to do with it. Wright further mentions that when she finished, she was apologetic about her performance even though those present were amazed at her improvisation.[11]

In 2004, Torry sued Pink Floyd and EMI for songwriting royalties, on the basis that her contribution to "Great Gig in the Sky" constituted co-authorship with Richard Wright. Originally, she had been paid the standard Sunday flat studio rate of £30 (equivalent to £400 in 2019[12]). In 2005, prior to a hearing in the High Court, an out-of-court settlement was reached. Although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed,[13] on all pressings after 2005 the composition is co-credited to both Richard Wright and Clare Torry.[1]

On Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon, it is pointed out that during the recording of the album, in which death and life had been a consistent theme, the members of the band went around asking questions and recording responses from people working inside Abbey Road at the time. Among the questions, they were asked "Are you afraid of dying?" The responses of doorman Gerry O'Driscoll and the wife of their road manager Peter Watts were used, as well as other spoken parts throughout the album ("I've always been mad", "That geezer was cruisin' for a bruisin").

(At 0:39)

And I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it – you've got to go sometime.

— Gerry O'Driscoll, Abbey Road Studios janitorial "browncoat"[14][15]

(At 3:33, faintly)

I never said I was frightened of dying.

— Patricia 'Puddie' Watts, wife of road manager Peter Watts[15]

In a contemporary review for The Dark Side of the Moon, Lloyd Grossman of Rolling Stone described "The Great Gig in the Sky" as a track [Pink Floyd] could have "shortened or dispensed with".[16] However, in a readers poll from the same magazine, the track was selected as the second greatest vocal performance of all time behind "Bohemian Rhapsody".[17]

An early incarnation of the song, titled "The Mortality Sequence" and lacking the vocals later contributed by Clare Torry, was performed by Pink Floyd throughout 1972. In its final version, "The Great Gig in the Sky" was performed live from 1973–1975, and from 1987–1994. During the band's 1974–1975 tour, David Gilmour played both pedal steel guitar and the Hammond organ, allowing Richard Wright to concentrate solely on piano (his keyboards were arranged where he couldn't play both). Gilmour's pedal steel for "Great Gig" was located accordingly beside Wright's Hammond. Starting in 1987, additional touring keyboardist Jon Carin took over the Hammond parts. Up to three singers performed the vocals, each taking different parts of the song. On the 1974–75 tour, vocal duties were handled by Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams, both former members of the Blackberries.[18] Torry joined Roger Waters to perform the song live during three dates of K.A.O.S. On the Road in 1987.

On the Delicate Sound of Thunder video, the vocals are shared by Rachel Fury, Durga McBroom and Margret Taylor. Clare Torry returned for the Knebworth '90 concert. The 1994 live album P•U•L•S•E features a version sung by Sam Brown, Durga McBroom and Claudia Fontaine. When the Floyd's manager, Steve O'Rourke, died in 2003, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason played "Fat Old Sun" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" at O'Rourke's funeral.[19]

A short clip of the song was used in a 1974 TV advertisement for Dole bananas.[20] A re-recorded version was used as the backing music in a UK television advertisement for the analgesic Nurofen in 1990. The band was not involved in this version, but Clare Torry again did the vocal with Rick Wright on keyboards, Neil Conti on drums and Lati Kronlund on bass.[21]

'Rick wrote that music. He remade it for them. It's down to the writer. If my name had been on that track too it wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't do it. But that's Rick's business. I didn't approve of it, but I have no control over it.'

— David Gilmour, [22]

The Clare Torry section was used in Good Morning, Night, an Italian movie about the 1978 Aldo Moro kidnapping and assassination.

In the film School of Rock, Dewey (Jack Black) assigns the Clare Torry section to Tomika (Maryam Hassan) as homework, but it is only mentioned and not heard.

The Clare Torry section was prominently used in the trailer for the 2018 movie Roma, written and directed by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón.

On the Easy Star All-Stars' Dub Side of the Moon album, there are two different dub music versions of the track, "The Great Gig in the Sky" (Track 4) and "Great Dub in the Sky" (Track 11).

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs an instrumental version, arranged by Jaz Coleman and conducted by Peter Scholes, on the 1995 album Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd.

Phish does a live cover on track 6 of disc 3 of Live Phish Vol. 7.

Seattle local band The Squirrels did a full-length parody "tribute" of The Dark Side of the Moon in 1999 titled The Not-So-Bright Side of the Moon. Their version of "Great Gig" has vocalist Baby Cheevers singing after guitarist Joey Kline says "Sorry, the girl didn't show up!"

On the 2009 Flaming Lips remake of Dark Side, Peaches performs Clare Torry's vocals and Henry Rollins recreates the interview samples.

The progressive metal band Dream Theater performs this song in their "Official Bootlegs: Covers" series, with Theresa Thomason taking over vocal duties.

The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps, from Canton, Ohio, played an arrangement of the song with multiple trumpets performing the vocal part for their Drum Corps International world championship winning 2016 show "Down Side Up."

The Australian Pink Floyd Show performed the song with Ola Bieńkowska doing a near-exact replica of the vocal.

• David Gilmour – pedal steel guitar
• Richard Wright – piano, Hammond organ
• Roger Waters – bass
• Nick Mason – drums

with:

• Clare Torry – vocals

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics