Sunday 1 September 2013

Time (Pink Floyd, 1973)

This timeless classic comes from "The Dark Side of The Moon" and in the original album version also includes a final reprise of "Breathe" for a 7 minute total running time. There are at least three good reasons to love this song as many generations actually did. First: the music. Both the ballad (verse and chorus) and the instrumental passages are perfect, with their low swinging and sad tempo. Second: the lyrics. These are in the well known Roger Water's pessimistic vein and describe the eternally lost battle of man against time. Third: the sound. The sound engineer Alan Parsons did a great work here (and not only here), adding effects, polishing each note and each second of the track, from the intro clocks to the stunning passage from the "Breathe" coda to the following song "The Great Gig in The Sky".

 
"Time" was also released in a 7" single edit of 3' 33".
I highly recommend the album version, of course.

"Time" is a pearl in Pink Floyd's career, a strong song with a studied alternation of tight, even claustrophobic moments and bright, melodic openings. And, last but not least, it's a moving song, about something concerning everybody:

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

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