Great Gig in the Sky. On this day, in 1973, Clare Torry recorded the astonishingly compelling (and wordless) vocals for the fifth track of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon . Band members tried the piece with various sound effects, including NASA recordings of astronauts, but at the last minute, asked a female vocalist to ‘wail’!
Listen to the compete track here: THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY CLARE TORRY
madame scientist's not-so-mad musings 
I was thinking about this earlier today. Thank you.
Delighted to hear that, Michael Griffith !
Every time I hear that I flash back to being a teen laying on the floor with a full size stereo speaker on each side of my head. Good times.
thanks for putting a big smile on my face, Rajini Rao
You are so welcome, Jeff Jockisch 🙂
And she wailed like no other before or since. An amazing and very moving song!
John Poteet, that one line of yours brings on a flood of pleasant memories.
Very nice…
Rajini Rao I haven’t seen this clip before. It’s nice to see what ‘s going on behind the scene . Thanks!
“Great Gig in the Sky,” even sans words, was one of the most motivational pieces of music that got me through my undergraduate years. Later, “Learning to Fly” similarly got me through primary flight training, even as I doubted my ability to do it.
I’m a big Pink Floyd fan and Great Gig in the Sky is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing Rajini Rao. I think it’s interesting to know who were some of the “voices” reading the flashcards. http://youtu.be/qqYmssLgu1I
Lovely Rajini Rao – I could use this as a wonderful alarm clock song.
Thanks for that behind-the-scenes clip of where the voices in the album came from, Chad Haney ! I wonder who did the maniacal laughter? That still sends chills down my spine!
In Universal Studios, they just opened a new rollercoaster called Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. For a rollercoaster enthusiast, it’s a great ride that allows you to pick from a collection of about 30 rock songs that you can listen to while you ride. When I went for the New Year, our tour guide told us that there are a secret 100 songs you can access by entering a code, and it just so happened that Great Gig was one of them. I can tell you earnestly that I’ve never enjoyed a rollercoaster ride as much… the power of those vocals has no match! The best Pink Floyd song ever, imo!
What a cool idea..roller coaster ride with the Pink Floyd! I may change my mind about amusement parks 🙂
I was belting it the entire ride, goodbumps abound! The same old, same old can get just that… old, but this was refreshingly original, not to mention powerful. This is easily top 5 best songs I’ve ever heard, and the album is flawless.
While I certainly ackowledge Roger Waters’ brilliance…I still believe that David Gillmore has always been the more talented musician and singer.
It’s a little off topic, but this is my absolute FAVORITE version of “Comfortably Numb” from the 1988 Delicate Sound of Thunder tour. —Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb 23rd August 1988.wmv
Pink Floyd is never off topic, Dano DeBroux 🙂 Interesting version, thanks!!
Rajini: Awesome! I’ve found it rare to come across a true Pink Floyd fan…that’s not of retirement age. They were such a DEFINING band…and one I think hasn’t been recognized as true innovators in defining a genre of music.
Dano DeBroux I would like to think I’ve got quite a few years ahead of me before retiring. I’ve been a big Pink Floyd for some time. Pink Floyd and a lot of the bands in the 60s have created music that I highly doubt will be eclipsed. If you look at the Wiki for Dark Side of the Moon it mentions that some of the techniques used by Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons were ahead of their time. As for your other comment, I won’t argue who’s better; Gilmore vs. Waters. However, IMHO Pink Floyd albums after Roger Waters left simply can’t compare to the Roger Waters era. Likewise the Sid Barrett era is not as good, again in my opinion. Nevertheless, I have a “Momentary lapse of reason” poster that I took home from Italy. They were plastered all over so I peeled one off a wall.
Nothing to say, many and many flying hours with Pink Floyd in my youth 🙂