Death, introduced in the previous songs, is this song’s main motif. “The Great Gig in the Sky” is an immensely emotional song that can bring a grown man to tears. A slow piano progression begins the song with the same chord that ended “Time”, a B minor. As the movement progresses, a bass and a slide guitar enter complimenting the piano. At this point, the previous dorian scale motif enters for a second time. In “Breathe”, the progression was an Em to an A whilst in this song it is a Gm to a C. They are different chords but the order of the chords in the scale are exactly the same. From explaining this, some people could see how a band playing 2 chords for the main part of the song with no lyrics could be very boring. Originally, this is how Pink Floyd was originally going to have the song in the final mix. At some point, they all agreed that this song was missing something. The producer, Alan Parsons, knew a female vocalist named Clare Torry and asked if he could bring her in. They agreed and they brought her to the studio and in to a recording booth. The band told her to improvise while she sung and to think about death and terror. As soon as the drums hit, she sang scat through the whole song with a spine shaking aura. She came out of the booth very embarrassed while the band stood there in awe. Although there is singing on this song, it still is considered an instrumental. Clare Torry used her voice more as an instrument than as a poetic singer. A series of “Oooo”s and “Aaaa”s with an unmistakable range of pitches give you more goose bumps than any amount of lyrics would ever be able to do. When the song winds down, the organ, guitar, and the drums come to a halt leaving Clare singing with the just the bass and piano. It ends with a sad Gm chord which ends the first side of the album. The madness has just begun.

The next song involves a concept that is easier to understand and see. The song “Money” is obviously about becoming famous and making lots of money. Sounds effects kick off this song just like the last one. It opens with 7 different sounds of cash registers moving left and right through the stereo.
“...originally recorded at an antique shop for a demonstration tape showcasing the quadraphonic sound that...was then being hyped to consumers as the heir apparent to stereo”. (Pg. 175 Schaffner)
The lead bass line follows the timing of the sounds with a bluesy feel and tone. The guitar then follows the bass line until the entire band explodes in to the mix. Like the majority of this album, the mood of this song isn’t positive at all. It truly shows the greedy, hypocritical, and evil side of money. For example, in the lyrics, “New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I'll buy me a football team.” and “I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set / And I think I need a Lear jet.” it really shows the side of money where possessions are all that matter. The more selfish side is expressed when Gilmour sings, Money, get back. / I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack” and “Money, it's a crime. / Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.”. The overall sarcastic tone that is taken with the lyrics only could be put to an awkward 7/4 time signature (7 beats to a measure) in a blues like mood. Since the song is upbeat and awkward to dance to (not an even beat), you can tell the perspective they are writing from is from the man who eventually goes mad. The song concludes with the words, “Money, so they say / Is the root of all evil today / But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're giving none away”. At this point of the album, the concepts of death, lost time, and selfish greed have entered this man’s head. All these motifs so far are about one person’s relationship to objects or concepts like time and dying. The next song expresses a point about all people.

“Us and Them” is a jazzy yet haunting song musically and lyrically. The overall theme of this song is the relationship between people, mainly with fighting and war. Roger Waters, the lyricist for the album, says, “The lyrics are so direct and linear. Those fundamental issues of whether or not the human race is capable of being humane.” For example, in the lyrics
“Us, and them / And after all we're only ordinary men. / Me, and you. / God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.” it talks in defense of ordinary people and asking the question if we really have control over everything we do. Human nature versus personal motives are very different and this song makes that clear. The verse for the song has a very jazzy, slow, and smooth mood to it while the chord progression does something very unique. Instead of the bass changing notes with the chords, it stays on a solid D note. The rest of the band plays a progression consisting of four different chords. First, a D chord to an E chord which maintains a relaxing progression. Then, a F major flat 5 (F Mb5) enters and sends an eerie and unsettling shiver down your back while soon resolving to a G chord. Without that one unnerving chord in the movement, this song wouldn’t have too much to offer. The lyrics dealing with fighting and war such as “Down and out / It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about. / With, without. / And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?” really compliment the highly original chord progression. The chorus moves in to the relative minor scale, B minor scale, of the D major scale which the verse is in. It is a widely used technique for many musicians and is usually looked at as a cheesy method of songwriting. Somehow, the Floyd make it work using a choir of four female vocalist, guitar, bass, organ, piano, drums, and vocal harmonies with the lyrics done by Gilmour and Wright. It is a musical explosion to say the least. The message Rogers was trying to convey was that sometimes people don’t know what “the fighting’s all about” whether it be with words or guns. Are “Me and You” and “Us and Them” all that different or do we make it seem different? The primal urge of fighting and violence may be our only flaw in our everyday lives such as the dissonant F Mb5 chord in the middle of the verse.

Time to get funky. This song is definitely no where near as deep as any of the previous songs. So far we have encountered death, loss of time, greed, and violence. This song leads the listener in to a more uplifting and happy state of mind. The song “Any Colour You Like” (yes, colour is spelled with a “u” for this song) is an extremely psychedelic jam song that is yet again another instrumental. Most importantly, this is the third and final reoccurrence of the dorian scale chord progression. In this case, it is a Dm chord to a G chord. The most important part about the dorian scale motif is the versatility of how it works with each song. “Breathe” was the first occurrence of this chord progression and this song set a relaxed and soothing feeling. Second, “The Great Gig in the Sky” had a very melancholy mood that still brings me to tears. Lastly, “Any Colour You Like” has an extremely uplifting and energetic style with a great groove. Notice all three songs had the same “2 chord” to “5 chord” progression but each evoked varied emotions. The song continues with a series of solos from Wright on the VCS3 synthesizer and Gilmour on the guitar. The end of the song has a quick series of chord changes that leads directly in to the song of madness.

__________________
Is this where we come in?