Inside The Dark Side of the Moon: The Music, Keyboards and Arrangements

Pink Floyd had been playing much of The Dark Side of the Moon on stage for more than a year before its release in 1973. The songs were conceived as parts of a continuous performance, rather than recorded independently and joined together afterwards. That structure is easy to overlook because the finished LP is so closely associated with its studio effects.

Richard Wright’s keyboards

Wright’s contribution is central to the album. The electric piano chords in “Breathe” set up the relaxed pulse that returns later in the record, while “The Great Gig in the Sky” is built around his piano progression. His Hammond organ adds weight and movement to several sections. On “Us and Them”, the harmony shifts slowly beneath David Gilmour’s vocal and Dick Parry’s saxophone, with extended instrumental passages that retain a clear connection to the song.

The synthesiser is part of the arrangement

“On the Run” uses an eight-note sequence played on an EMS Synthi AKS, with filter movement and additional effects creating changes over its repetition. Rather than playing conventional keyboard chords, the synthesiser becomes the principal rhythmic and melodic device. The footsteps, airport announcements and other sounds reinforce the sense of movement.

The EMS instruments also appear elsewhere on the album, but it is worth distinguishing a programmed repeating sequence from an arbitrary sound effect. Pink Floyd were using electronics compositionally, not simply adding unusual noises between tracks.

Time, metre and the groove

“Time” begins with a collection of clocks and alarms, recorded by Alan Parsons as part of an earlier quadraphonic demonstration. Once the music starts, Nick Mason’s roto-tom introduction leads into one of the album’s strongest rock arrangements. Gilmour’s guitar solo takes up a substantial section of the recording before the return of the “Breathe” material.

“Money” is built around a bass riff in 7/4. The cash-register and coin sounds form a rhythmic tape loop that establishes the pulse before the band enters. The song moves into 4/4 for its instrumental section, making room for Dick Parry’s saxophone and Gilmour’s guitar. It is a good example of the group making an unusual time signature sound entirely natural.

The voices and the final side

Clare Torry recorded her wordless vocal for “The Great Gig in the Sky” in January 1973, improvising over Wright’s piano-led arrangement. Her performance is a major part of the track’s identity, and she is now credited as a co-writer following a later settlement.

On side two, “Us and Them” uses pronounced contrasts between quiet verses and fuller choruses. “Any Colour You Like” brings Wright and Gilmour to the foreground instrumentally before “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse” deliver Roger Waters’ most direct statements of the album’s themes. The final return of the heartbeat connects the ending to the opening.

Why the album works as one piece

There are memorable songs on The Dark Side of the Moon, but its shape matters just as much. Repeated musical ideas, crossfades, spoken voices and effects give the record a continuity that is difficult to reproduce by selecting individual tracks. The studio is essential to that continuity, but the band had already worked out much of the structure in live performance. The finished LP combines both approaches unusually effectively.

Explore The Dark Side of the Moon

Research: Abbey Road session documentation; Pink Floyd Archives UK LP discography.