When David Gilmour reflects on his career, he is – and should be – extremely proud of his achievements. From his past with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has established himself as one of the forefathers of British rock, helping to shape it into the incredible and dynamic thing it is today. With so much achievement under his belt, you’d think it would be hard to pick a favourite track. But when it comes to their seminal record, The Dark Side Of The Moon, one clear choice stands out.
The 1973 album can easily be seen as Gilmour’s crowning glory. When the band first set out to make the record, the aim was simply to find some focus again and dedicate themselves to moving forward. After the sad departure of Syd Barrett and the splintering of that close personal relationship, the group needed a way to productively process things. And what better way to do that as a prog rock back than to progress?
As Barrett began to drop back from the band, Gilmour took his seat at the helm, helping to steer the band as he took on the role of not only their guitarist but producer, too. But even though they all knew he was supremely talented, no one could have guessed just how experimental and incredible the place he took them to would be. After a few records as a transitional period, The Dark Side Of The Moon feels like the group well and truly finding their feet as Gilmour helped them climb up and up to new heights.
The album features no end of incredible tracks. ‘Money’ is spiralling and groovy, and ‘Time’ is vast and cinematic. But no song has quite the power and might as ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’, the album’s centrepiece track and obvious masterpiece. It’s no wonder that it’s always stood out as one of Gilmour’s favourite songs of all time.
The track remains one of the band’s biggest and best known, but for Gilmour, his love for the song is deeply personal. The material was written by the band’s late keyboard player, Richard Wright, and built out of his music and improvised vocals from Clare Torry. As the song crescendos into a big, cinematic high point, there is still a feeling of spontaneity, as if the entire piece is driven by nothing by feeling. Gilmour backs it all up on a pedal steel guitar, tying it together with a neat bow.
But really, this song is Wright’s moment to shine. When they performed it live in the 1970s, Gilmour clearly knew that, as he also took on organ duties to allow the keyboard player to focus solely on one instrument and put all his energy and feeling into it. It was a moment when Gilmour got to step back and bask in the talent of his friend and bandmate, remaining awed by this incredible track he’d created.
For Gilmour, the track bottles the feeling of playing with Wright and captures their musical chemistry. “There’s something that’s specifically so individual about the way that Rick and I play,” he said, adding, “You can’t get someone to learn it and do it just like that. That’s not what music’s about”. He feels the same about their track ‘Echoes’ as he refuses to play it live now Wright is no longer there to play it with him, claiming no one could ever do it the same and refusing to do a lesser version.
Plenty of fans would agree with Gilmour’s choice of his favourite track, ‘The Great Gig In The Sky,’ as it is still perhaps the piece of music that most defines the group. But to him, it will always define a close friendship.
