Recorded in November and December 1972, "Angie" was written primarily by Keith Richards. The song is an acoustic guitar driven ballad which tells of the end of a romance. The song is noted for its poignant lyrics concerning lost love and the grieving involved. Singer Mick Jagger gives a wrenching performance for the recording, while Stones-recording regular Nicky Hopkins plays the song's distinctive piano chords. The strings on the piece (as well as "Winter") were arranged by Nicky Harrison.
Released as a single in August 1973, "Angie" went straight to the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached number five on the UK singles chart.
Questions about the song's origins have never ceased. Despite wide-ranging rumors that "Angie" was written by Jagger about a relationship he had with David Bowie's wife Angela, Jagger denies this. Richards claims to have come up with the title and chord sequence a year before production on the album began. In the liner notes to the compilation disc Jump Back, Richards says, "I'd recently had my daughter born, whose name was Angela, and the name was starting to ring around the house. 'Angie' just fitted."
The Rolling Stones have frequently performed the song in concert; it was included in set lists on their 1973, 1975 and 1976 tours, and on every tour since their 1982 European tour.[1] Concert renditions have been released on the albums Stripped and Live Licks.
Two music videos were shot to promote the song.
In 2005 the German party CDU used the song for its election campaign for Angela Merkel; the Rolling Stones had not given Merkel permission to use the song.[2]
"Wish You Were Here" is the title track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. The song's lyrics encompass writer Roger Waters' feelings of alienation from other people. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. The main riff came to David Gilmour at home[citation needed] while playing on an acoustic guitar, the riff became something which he continued to play in-between takes at Abbey Road Studios where it caught the attention of Roger Waters. They collaborated to complete the song, as Waters had already written some lyrics. In 2004, the song was ranked #316 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Composition
In the original album version, the song segues from "Have a Cigar" as if a radio had been tuned away from one station, through several others (including a radio play and one playing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony), and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning. The radio was recorded from Gilmour's car radio.[1] Gilmour performed the intro on a twelve-string guitar, processed to sound like it was playing through an old transistor radio, and then overdubbed a fuller-sounding acoustic guitar solo. This passage was mixed to sound as though the guitarist was sitting in a room, playing along with the radio; it also contains a whine that slowly changes pitch—emulating the heterodyne between two drifting AM radio signals.
The intro riff is repeated several times and reprised when Gilmour plays further solos with scat singing accompaniment. At the end of the recorded song, the final solo crossfades with wind sound effects (reminiscent of "One of These Days" from the 1971 album Meddle), and finally segues into the second section of the multi-part suite "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
Other versions
"Wish You Were Here" later appeared as the 5th track on A Collection of Great Dance Songs (with the radio intro following the end of a heavily edited Shine On You Crazy Diamond) and as the 23rd track on the Echoes compilation (with the radio intro following "Arnold Layne", and at the end crossfading with "Jugband Blues").
A live recording included in the 1995 live albumP*U*L*S*E was issued as a single/EP. As of 2006, this is the last single released by Pink Floyd to date (although promos of Echoes, The Wall Live and "Money" (2003 edit for the 30th Anniversary Issue of Dark Side of the Moon) have been released).
"Wish You Were Here" made its stage debut on the band's 1977 tour, which featured a performance of the entire album at every show. It was not played live by the band for nearly ten years after this, yet became a concert staple after its reappearance in 1987 — and was performed at nearly all subsequent Pink Floyd concerts. In the original 1977 concert performances, Gilmour would play his Fender Stratocaster instead of acoustic guitar whilst Snowy White played a 12-string Ovation acoustic guitar. At some of these shows (all of the US shows, notably), Mason tuned an actual transistor radio on stage to a local radio station, seguing into the pre-recorded bit from the album to start the song and Rick Wright would perform an extended piano coda as the wind effects played. When Pink Floyd were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[2], Gilmour and Wright (Mason was in the audience) performed the song with the assistance of their presenter Billy Corgan on rhythm guitar. In 2004, Waters and Eric Clapton performed the song at the Tsunami Aid concert, and in 2005's Live 8, Waters rejoined his former bandmates (albeit for this one-off show) in London to perform it, along with 3 other classic Pink Floyd songs.
Written by the band in 1969, it is said by the band members themselves to have been inspired by a riff featured in a song by Purple contemporaries It's a Beautiful Day, called "Bombay Calling"[1]. The riff was played on violins and much faster in tempo.
"Child in Time" is an essentially simple composition, featuring an organ intro, three power chords, and a two minute long solo. Lyrically dark, Vocalist Ian Gillan utilizes his full vocal range and goes from quiet singing to loud, high-pitched, banshee-esque screaming. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore comes in with a slow solo, which builds up to a fast-pace playing and then ends abruptly, with the whole song cycle starting over again. Blackmore is normally associated with playing a Fender Stratocaster, however, he played a Gibson ES-335 on the studio version of the song.
A staple of the Deep Purple live concerts in 1970–73, the song has not been featured regularly at concerts since the reunion of the line up in 1993. Gillan cites many personal reasons for leaving the song out, but it is likely that, given his advancing years, the song is becoming increasingly difficult to perform without sampled vocal backings. Its last appearance in Deep Purple's live set was at Harrogate in 2002. In that performance, high-pitched guitar was used to cover up Gillan's now-limited vocal range during the "screaming" parts. A similar technique is used on current live performances of "Space Truckin'".
In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, was the catalyst behind the formation of the band. The concept was to create a band to perform songs written by former Who roadie and drummer/singer John 'Speedy' Keen. Townshend produced the single, arranged the strings, played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains, and recruited eccentric GPO engineer and jazz pianist Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman (a friend from art college), and 15-year-old GlaswegianJimmy McCulloch.
Originally titled Revolution but later renamed to avoid confusion with the Beatles' 1968 song of that name, "Something in the Air" captured post-flower power rebellion, marrying McCulloch's sweeping acoustic and glowing electric guitars, Keen's powerful drumming and yearning falsetto, and Newman's felicitous piano solo.
The single reached No. 1 on the UK charts just three weeks after release, holding off Elvis Presley in the process. The scale of the song's success surprised everyone and there were no plans to promote Thunderclap Newman with live performances. Eventually a line-up - augmented by Jim Pitman-Avory on bass and McCulloch's elder brother Jack on drums - played a handful of gigs. Personal records say the band played live only five times, although Keen referred to a two-month tour, playing "everywhere". In the UK, a follow-up single, "Accidents", came out only in May 1970 and charted at No. 44 for a week. An album, Hollywood Dream, peaked in Billboard at No. 163. Thus, the song and the band were forever linked as a one hit wonder.
"Something in the Air" has been used extensively in television, most notably on an advertisement for British Airways which featured PJ O'Rourke. More recently, a version of the song was used in the advertisements for the mobile phone service provider TalkTalk. (A similar advert for TalkTalk shown at the beginning of advert breaks during Big Brother features the opening bars). The song was also featured in the pilot episode of the American television show Aliens in America and in the third season episode Bad Earl of My Name Is Earl. A version of the song recorded by Ocean Colour Scene was previously used by telephone provider Ionica. In 2008, this song appeared in a Coca-Cola commercial in Taiwan.
