The Great Gig in the Sky

Richard Wright, keyboard player and founding member of Pink Floyd, died yesterday, age 65, after a short battle with cancer.

I am so sad about this as Pink Floyd has always been a huge inspiration to my writing and art.

I'll be flying my inflatable pig and listening to Darkside of the Moon, Meddle and Atom Heart Mother all day to commemorate his life.

Free Four

I haven't listened to 'Obscured by Clouds' for years and I wasn't sure why I chose it as the first Floyd album to listen to today.

But then I got to 'Free Four' and realised. Here are Roger Waters' lyrics:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.