Music / Meddle

Overhead, the albatross hangs motionless upon the air...

A cloud of eiderdown
Draws around me, softening the sound
Sleepy time when I lie with my love by my side,
And she's breathing low, and the candle dies.

— "A Pillow of Winds"

Meddle is the sixth studio album by Pink Floyd, released in 1971 through Harvest Records. Despite the soundtrack album Obscured by Clouds coming straight after this album, Meddle is generally considered to be the direct precursor to The Dark Side of the Moon.

Preceded by Atom Heart Mother. Proceeded by Obscured by Clouds.

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "One of These Days" (5:57)
2. "A Pillow of Winds" (5:10)
3. "Fearless" (6:08)
4. "San Tropez" (3:43)
5. "Seamus" (2:16)

Side Two

1. "Echoes" (23:29)

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Principal Members:

• David Gilmour - lead vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica, sound effects
• Nick Mason - drums, percussion, lead vocals, cymbals, hi-hats, sound effects
• Roger Waters - bass, backing and lead vocals, guitar, sound effects
• Richard Wright - organ, backing and co-lead vocals, piano, VCS3, synthesizer, sound effects

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One of these days, I'm going to trope you into little pieces:

• Alternate Album Cover: U.S. editions used a different tint for the ear pictures as well as putting text on the front cover. Reissues from 1994 on use the U.K. cover.
• Boléro Effect: found on both One Of These Days (bass, organ, slide guitar, drums), and then Echoes has the audacity to do it twice (piano, organ, slide guitar lead guitar, bass, drums at the opening, and then organ, light percussion, bass, guitar, and then the guitar explosion right before everything hits)
• Bookends: A quasi-example: The third-to-last section of "Echoes" features some thematic similarities to "One of These Days". The first track itself begins and ends with wind noises, although the end fades into "A Pillow of Winds".
• Concept Album: Arguably. Many of the songs tie into a loose theme, but it has not been confirmed as one.
• Creepy Crows: In the middle of "Echoes" the music switches to spooky noises with high pitched noises resembling screams and animal/bird calls. About two minutes later crows start to caw in the background.
• Epic Instrumental Opener: "One of These Days", both to "A Pillow of Winds" and the "Meddle" part of the album.
  • "Echoes" has this, too.
• Epic Rocking: "Echoes". (23:29) is the most prominent example, but "One of These Days" (5:57) and "Fearless" (6:08) also qualify.
• Franchise Codifier: After spending the better part of the late 60's doing some musical soul-searching, Meddle established the arena-friendly, jazz-infused Progressive Rock sound that would define Pink Floyd's subsequent albums.
• Gratuitous Japanese: The Japanese release of this album changed the track name of "One of These Days" to 吹けよ風、呼べよ嵐 (fuke yo kaze, yobe yo arashi), or "Blow, Wind! Call Forth, Storm!" Not a totally inaccurate description of the song itself though.
• Grand Finale: "Echoes".
• Limited Lyrics Song: For certain definitions of the word "Lyrics", we have "One of These Days".
  One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces.
  • "Echoes" also has less than 3 minutes of lyrics despite lasting for over 23 minutes.
• Longest Song Goes Last: "Echoes" lasts 23 and a half minutes and occupies the entire second side of the vinyl LP.
• Mind Screw: "Echoes", particularly the line "I am you and what I see is me"
• Minimalistic Cover Art: The album cover is what appears to be a series of abstract colours, which are actually formed from a close-up of an ear underwater.
• Non-Appearing Title: "A Pillow of Winds".
• Once an Episode: "A Pillow of Winds", "Fearless" and "San Tropez".
• One-Word Title: "Meddle", "Echoes", "Fearless", "Seamus".
• Shout-Out: The bass guitar-heavy bridge of "One of These Days" includes a quote from the Doctor Who theme on a keyboard in the background.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Nick Mason "sings" lead on "One of These Days", Roger Waters sings lead on "San Tropez", and Richard Wright sings co-lead vocals on "Echoes".
• Take That!: Roger Waters said that the final, underwater-themed lyrics of "Echoes" were meant as Take Thats against the space rock image they'd been associated with.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: This video from San Tropez. Also upon looking at this video's comment section, the concept of these guys being "non-sexy" flies right out the window.

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