Any Colour You Like
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| The Dark Side of the Moon | ||
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| Album by Pink Floyd | ||
| Released | March 2, 1973 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road June 1972-January 1973 |
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| Genre | Progressive rock, electronic music, musique concrète, song cycle | |
| Length | 43:00 | |
| Label | Harvest (UK) Capitol (US) |
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| Producer(s) | Pink Floyd | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| Tracks | ||
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"Any Colour You Like" is the eighth track (or seventh, depending on the release date of the album)[1] from English progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is instrumental and was written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
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[edit] Composition
The piece itself features no lyrics, and consists of a synthesized tune which segues into a guitar solo (some scat vocals are added later on, these were more prominent in live versions but are still audible in the studio cut). It is approximately 3 minutes, 25 seconds in length. The song used advanced effects for the time both in the keyboard and the guitar. The VCS 3 synthesizer was fed through a long tape loop to create the rising and falling keyboard solo. David Gilmour used two guitars with the UniVibe guitar effect to create the harmonizing guitar solo for the rest of the song. "Any Colour You Like" is also known (and is even listed on the "Dark Side" guitar tablature book[2]) as "Breathe (Second Reprise)" because the song shares the same beat (albeit somewhat funkier and uptempo) as the album's song "Breathe." It has also nearly the same chord sequence just transposed a whole step lower from E minor to D minor. The origin of the title is unclear, though it is commonly stated that it is an allusion to Pink Floyd's 1969 track "Green is the Colour" from the album "More", a song similar in style and composition to "Any Colour You Like."[citation needed] Another possible origin of the title comes from an answer frequently given by a studio technician to questions put to him: "You can have it any colour you like", which was a reference to Henry Ford's apocryphal description of the Model T: "You can have it any color you like, as long as it's black."
While the song is instrumental, it has been speculated that the song ties to The Dark Side of the Moon concept by concerning the lack of choice one has in the human society, while being alluded to thinking that he does. It is also speculated that the song is about the fear of making choices.
[edit] Live versions
On earlier Pink Floyd bootlegged versions of the song, there was no keyboard solo, and the song served as a long jam piece called "Scat Section" or "Scat". Gilmour frequently sang along with his guitar solo and the band's female backing singers would sometimes come up on stage and sing as well.
In 1975, it was often extended, sometimes up to nearly fifteen minutes. Gilmour and the backing singers often sung along with it.
In 1994, it was considerably modified, to be more keyboard-heavy, though not extended, as in all earlier performances.
In 2006, 2007 and 2008, Roger Waters performed it on his The Dark Side of the Moon Live tour.
[edit] Personnel
- David Gilmour - Guitar, scat vocals
- Richard Wright - Organ and Synthesiser
- Roger Waters - Bass
- Nick Mason - Drums and Percussion
[edit] Notes
- ^ The track number depends upon the edition of the album; earlier releases merge the two tracks "Speak to Me" and "Breathe", for instance.
- ^ Schuetz, David and Denault, Matt (1995). Echoes FAQ #1 (htm). FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
