Cymbaline

Last updated
"Cymbaline"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album Soundtrack from the Film More
PublishedLupus Music
Released
  • 13 June 1969 (1969-06-13) (UK)
  • 9 August 1969 (US)
RecordedMarch 1969
Genre
Length4:49
Label
Songwriter(s) Roger Waters
Producer(s) Pink Floyd

"Cymbaline" is a Pink Floyd song from the album Soundtrack from the Film More . [1] [2]

Contents

Lyrics

Its lyrics vividly tell the tale of a "nightmare", which was the title of the song when it was first introduced in Floyd's The Man and The Journey Tour shows. The lyrics include a reference to the character Doctor Strange, who was popular at the time due to the psychedelic nature of his adventures and who had appeared on the cover of their previous album A Saucerful of Secrets .

Recording

The recording of "Cymbaline" on the album is different from the one in the film [3] (the latter version is heard on a record player in a bedroom).[ citation needed ] The vocals are a different take, though both versions are sung by David Gilmour. [3] The lyrics are also different in one place, [3] changing the line, "will the tightrope reach the end, will the final couplet rhyme," to, "standing by with a book in his hand, and it's P.C. 49."[ citation needed ]

The song features a sparse arrangement of nylon-string guitar, bass, piano, drums, bongos, and Farfisa organ entering when Gilmour does a scat solo.

The Pink Floyd website credits the woodwind parts (tin whistle or flute) to Nick Mason's wife, Lindy Mason. [4]

Pink Floyd played "Cymbaline" from early 1969 until their last show of 1971, and it was the longest-surviving More piece in the band's live shows. [5] It was dropped from their act along with "Fat Old Sun" and "Embryo" when they began performing Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, an early version of The Dark Side of the Moon . [6]

Live performances

When the band performed the song live, they made the following changes to the song:

Personnel

Covers

The song has been covered by fellow English space rock band Hawkwind. The 1996 CD reissue version of their eponymous debut album (1970) includes "Cymbaline" as track 13, in the bonus tracks section. [7]

Fluteplayer Hubert Laws released an instrumental version on his 1969 album Crying Song.

A German progressive rock band RPWL covered the song under the title of Nightmare in their 2016 album RPWL Plays Pink Floyd's The Man and the Journey.

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References

  1. Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN   1-84195-551-5.
  2. Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN   0-7119-4301-X.
  3. 1 2 3 Mabbett 2010, p. 76.
  4. "Musicians (Studio)". Pink Floyd Music (1987) Limited. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  5. Povey 2007, p. 151.
  6. Povey 2007, pp. 151, 164.
  7. "Hawkwind - Hawkwind". Discogs. 1996. Retrieved 8 August 2017.