Released: June 2, 1972

Songwriter: Roger Waters

Producer: Pink Floyd

[Intro]
One, two, free, four!

[Chorus]
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime
You shuffle in gloom of the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die

[Verse 2]
Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long, cold rest
You get your chance to try in the twinkling of an eye
Eighty years, with luck, or even less

[Verse 3]
So all aboard for the American tour
And maybe you’ll make it to the top
And mind how you go, and I can tell you, ’cause I know
You may find it hard to get off

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 4]
You are the angel of death
And I am the dead man’s son
And he was buried like a mole in a fox hole
And everyone is still on the run

[Verse 5]
And who is the master of fox hounds?
And who says the hunt has begun?
And who calls the tune in the courtroom?
And who beats the funeral drum?

[Chorus]
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime
You shuffle in gloom in the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die

[Instrumental Outro]

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd was a British rock band who managed to carve a path for progressive and psychedelic music in a way that was uniquely fascinating at the time and has remained equally momentous in the modern age. The name “Pink Floyd” came from two blues musicians that founding member Syd Barrett idolized—Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

The band was formed in 1965 London by Barrett (guitars, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass), and Richard Wright (keyboards). Sometime after releasing their debut album, 1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the group saw the addition of a second singer-guitarist, David Gilmour. This acted largely as a means of replacing Barrett, who was forced to leave in 1968 for mental health reasons, resulting in Waters taking over as the main vocalist.

The band broke into the mainstream with 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, an album that became one of the best-selling and most influential records in music history. Their follow-up efforts, 1975’s Wish You Were Here and 1977’s Animals, also sold well. However, the band started to see some in-fighting while making their next album, a rock opera about how Waters felt frustrated and detached from his audience. Waters seemingly became extremely controlling, firing Wright over disputes about touring and his contributions to the album. The result, 1979’s The Wall, became the best-selling double album of all time. It spawned iconic songs such as the #1 hit, “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2,” and the melodic “Comfortably Numb.”