Talk:Echoes (Pink Floyd song)/Archive 1

Early titles
From : "Return to the Sun of Nothing (Echoes) was done early on. Roger's original title for 'Echoes' was 'We Won the Double'. Return to the Son of Nothing was eventually redone and renamed 'Echoes'.

Factual enough? Nothing was also parts 1-36, and that was the original name for Meddle -Fizscy46 20:20, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * No, not factual. Your source is wrong. Andy Mabbett 20:33, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * Or yours is - Fizscy46 00:44, 13 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * Here's two of my sources, . Hope they help. Andy Mabbett 10:50, 13 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * Huh... interesting, very interesting.
 * Just something I noticed, the source I listed seems to appear on most of the Pink Floyd album pages (Including Meddle for this case). - Fizscy46 16:34, 13 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I rearranged a few bits to make it look better in my opinion. Do this to the others? Also fixed a few links. RttlesnkeWhiskey 10:38, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Looks nice. I'd agree with "progressive rock" about as much as I agreed with "space rock" but it's not a big deal. --G0zer

Does anyone else hear coughing or some other noises around 1:12 or 1:13?

Regarding 2001
Can you describe how to sync the two up, so we can experience this? -- Karada 15:21, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Just set it up so that the first ping of the song occurs as "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" shows up on the screen. [[User:Livajo|&#21147;&#20255;|&#9786;]] 04:30, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * YouTube has many syncs of this as well ExpandingMind 22:18, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I've put the section on the band denying that the sync is intentional back in. While linking to the sync page is good, it doesn't mean that you have to take out so short a section. Brother Dysk 12:56, Jan 6, 2005 (UTC)

Why are we deleting the 'How to sync it up' section??? Why would anyone visit this article otherwise? Hello!!!
 * Well, I'd have to say they visit because many consider this the best Pink Floyd song (I'm one of those). I still don't think this part should be removed. ExpandingMind 22:18, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I hotly dispute the claim that "Echoes" was intentionally designed to be part of 2001 and that Pink Floyd was ever offered to do the score for the film. More from me later. Djproject 20:15, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
 * It's a matter of record, especially interviews in the early 90's discussing Waters's backmasked message to Kubrick on Amused to Death, that Waters did turn Kubrick down when the director asked him if he could use the "Atom Heart Mother" suite when scoring A Clockwork Orange. I've often suspected that if Waters ever did say something along the lines of regretting turning Kubrick down, it was in reference to this incident, and had nothing to do with 2001, and if you have info supporting that, I'd love to hear about it. - dharm a bum 23:16, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

I played Echoes alongside the "Jupiter" section from 2001. There's little correspondence between the changes in the music and the visuals in the movie.--MackORell 13:05, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Assuming your timing was right, I'm surprised you didn't notice that they go rather well together - at points it seems almost as good as a visualization plugin for an MP3 player, I quite enjoy watching it. At very least, if synced correctly the song should end at the exact same moment as the film.
 * That said, "Echoes" was recorded long before VCRs were around making the technology to reproduce the film in the studio very difficult. I highly doubt that it's intentional, as enjoyable as I may find it to watch, just an entertaining coincidence. - dharm a bum 19:35, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

I tend to think the "2001" bit in the article actually underplays the correspondence with its weaselly verbiage. Roger Waters is literally quoted as saying that not scoring the film was his "greatest regret"--uh, how does that accord with your post-war commie conspiracies? The two segments match up *to the second* (when do you turn on the song? The instant the title card "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" appears...the song's last note vanishes almost to the millisecond "written and directed by Stanley Kubrick" appears.) I suppose it's most likely a coincidence, but the preposterous "Dark Side"/"Wizard of Oz" nonsense tends to discredit this as well, even though this is exponentially more likely a deliberate thing--even if it's MOST likely not deliberate.

Why on Earth would it BE deliberate, in the pre-VCR days? Maybe Waters dreamed of actually projecting the end of the film during live performances--"The Wall" was initially conceived as ROCK THEATER--the starting-point, creatively for Waters, was imagining the concert. You can see psychedelic-era Floyd shows, and there's amateur psychedelic stuff projected--compared to which the end of "2001" is the "Godfather" of psychedelic shows. Maybe it was Waters' dream to arrange "psychedelic rock theater"/"2001" for "Echoes" performances, but it never came together, legally (Kubrick famously would have flat-out denied Floyd the right to project the end of "2001" at shows, were he ever asked.) I'm not saying he was asked, but it's plausible.--67.184.180.81 (talk) 17:16, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Phantom of the Opera plagarism
There was an interview with Waters in 1992, after Amused to Death was released, where he says that after trashing on Andrew Lloyd Webber in "It's a Miracle" he was staying in a rental house in the USA. He noticed they had "Phantom of the Opera" in their CD collection and decided to throw it on, as he claims he'd never heard ALW before and wanted to make sure he hadn't made an idiot of himself by trashing on him. He put it on, and not only had he decided that ALW was shite within a few minutes, he realized the overture was "Echoes"; he said that life was too short to bother with a lawsuit. That's why I removed the section saying he wrote the lines about ALW in "It's a Miracle" as payback, as this interview seems to indicate he'd already recorded "It's a Miracle" before discovering the plagarism. If anyone demands it I can dig up the interview, but I'm short on time at the moment. - dharm a bum 06:33, 23 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd really like to see the interview, but only out of curiousity. I think that somebody should put a clip of the overture from phantom of the opera and a clip of the beginning of echoes to let people compare the two for themselves SOhio142 02:41, 21 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I think that's a great idea. --63.25.104.164 (talk) 14:54, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree with you both. It would be nice to have both sound clips but how much time and effort would that take??V Schauf (talk) 13:55, 7 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Roger Waters's is misquoted in this section. He said life is too long to bother with a lawsuit. Doesn't make much sense but I checked the cited source.


 * Roger was apparently having a bad day, because that's not the only thing he said that made sense. "Echoes" isn't in 12/8, either.  There is a transitional section before the third verse in which Gilmour constantly plays muted triplets a la "Good Vibrations", which gives it a 12/8 feel, but that's clearly not the part Roger is talking about, anyway.  The main body of the song is solidly in 4/4, including the section under dispute.
 * --63.25.104.164 (talk) 14:54, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
 * (Heh. That was me, and I obviously meant to say "that's not the only thing he said that didn't make sense"!)
 * --Ben Culture (talk) 20:12, 2 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Having watched the director's cut of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (with new footage) I can hear how a desending and ascending bass line in Echoes is the same as in Phantom of the Opera. The director seems to make a reference to this as a London bus, passing Abbey Studios in the new footage has a poster advertising the Lloyd-Weber musical on it. Matt B-G 203.161.104.34 (talk) 01:44, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Meaning
The quote “the potential that human beings have for recognising each other’s humanity and responding to it, with empathy rather than antipathy.” in the interview cited seems to me to be a comment on Dark Side rather than Echoes; in fact, I can't find a single mention of the song on that page. If this is correct, it should probably be moved... Caterpillar 36 16:34, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree; the article as linked with the quote is definitely referring to DSotM, not "Echoes". On the other hand, the quote could very easily be applied to the lyrics of "Echoes": Strangers passing in the street, by chance two separate glances meet, and I am you and what I see is me... and so on.
 * I think the first step would be to confirm that the external source is correct, and didn't misattribute Waters's quote to DSotM rather than "Echoes", or is potentially taken out of context and possibly has a piece of the interview like "... antipathy. We'd explored the idea in songs like "Echoes" before...", you get what I mean?
 * I'll scan the books I have to see if the quote appears anywhere else. Commenting out the text from the article using the markers until this can be confirmed wouldn't be a bad idea, either. - dharm a bum 08:29, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Commented out. Here's the only other source I found in a quick search for the quote - it describes it as a comment on Echoes, but doesn't really give a source... . It's an interview in Rolling Stone, right? So is that a possible source? Caterpillar 36 15:51, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I haven't had any luck so far finding the original Rolling Stone interview online (their own website only has interviews back to 1997), and it's not in any of the books I have on hand, but I'm still looking. Note that it's the Wikipedia article that says it's from a Rolling Stone interview, and that may not be correct. This is the best database of interviews I know of online but there are few or none from the correct period. The other source you found is pretty mediocre - full of misspellings and the inaccurate comment that it was the first time they really wrote together ("Atom Heart Mother" comes to mind, for instance). The search continues... - dharm a bum 22:28, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that source I cited definitely wasn't meant to be used, just as evidence that there may be a better source out there somewhere. And holy shit, I found some stuff on the site you linked! Wonderful, this is progress. I didn't find the exact quote, but I looked around for "empathy" and I found a few useful ones!:
 * "The song Echoes, a long, drawn-out piece, has a lyric about strangers passing on the street that's become a recurrent theme for me, the idea of recognizing oneself in others and feeling empathy and a connection to the human race." -
 * "I look back to a song like "Echoes" (from the 1971 Floyd album Meddle), which has the lines "Two strangers passing in the street/By chance two passing glances meet/And I am you/And what I see is me." It's that connection that is central to all my work -- not just with other men, women, and children, but with whatever you want to call God. " - and
 * It certainly looks like this element should be kept in and some of those articles referred to. Caterpillar 36 23:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC) (whoops, that was definitely me)

Why was the meaning section deleted? The quote "the potential that human beings have..." was originally said about the song Echoes and he later said that about DSotM. But that is the point of the song. He has also stated (for example if you watch the Dark Side of the Moon documentary) that Echoes was the first step towards what was finally realized in DSotM. The source that was used for that quote either misquoted him or incorrectly sourced it but that quote was Roger Waters describing the meaning of the song Echoes. - Anon
 * For why, read the discussion above. It's just commented out for the time being until we can find a good source, since the one used in the article will confuse anyone going to it and not seeing a mention of "Echoes" anywhere at all. I'm sure it applies to "Echoes" as well myself, we just need to find a good source, especially since it's a direct quote. - dharm a bum 22:28, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Apparently he says the quote or something very close to it in the "Dark Side of the Moon" documentary. I'm trying to get a transcript though of what exactly it is. If anyone else has this movie or can get a copy of it then that would be helpful (though the film is probably not the original source for the quote). -Anon 4/21/06

Fretless bass played by Mr Gilmour
Jaco Pastorius was not the first fretless bass player? Most of music magazines that I read from 1984 to 1994, reported that Pastorius innvented the fretless bass guitar.Brian Wilson 15:03, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Pastorius invented the instrument in the late 1960's, so this in no way pre-dates him. However, I can't find anything to support whether or not the actual instrument used here by Gilmour is fretless. BotleySmith 00:58, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Organs
The only organ they used was Farfisa? Farfisa is just an Italian manufacter, it sounds very strange to me that Hammond organs are almost never mentioned in Wikipedia, as most of articles regarding prog rock bands state. Brian Wilson 15:24, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Where do we claim that they used Farfisa exclusively? "Wright plays brief phrases on the Hammond organ, which slowly increase in intensity." BotleySmith 01:02, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Alternate lyrics
perhaps this section ought to be condensed -- the three transcriptions are largely similar, and they all seem to be refinements of the longtime echoes faq entry. there are quite a few sections in the faq reconstruction that simply aren't supported by recently propagated, clearer recordings of the source material.

additionally there is a very clear recording not mentioned here, from 15 may 1971 in london, which i think casts a good deal of doubt on the berlin transcription, and would provide an exellent complement to the rome transcription.

anyone? --G0zer 21:08, 20 April 2006 (UTC)


 * i have added a transcription of the 15 may 1971 recording. i still think this section could be improved. different people hear different things in different records of different shows. the best would be to allow readers to hear for themselves. it would be trivial to provide an audio file of a recording i have, but i'd like to request a copyright review first.

the wikipedia fair use guidelines identify four major factors used by u.s. copyright law to determine fair use of a work.


 * 1) i believe that the purpose of including the clip is clearly a nonprofit educational use.
 * 2) the nature of the copyrighted work is somewhat problematic. it is taken from a recording which cannot be verified as authorized nor as unauthorized, since the maker of the recording is not known. the provenance of the recording over the past 35 years is also not known.
 * 3) the clip i propose is 0m:51.273s in length. this makes it approximately 2.7% of the duration of the commercially released recording.
 * 4) i believe the effect of this inclusion upon the market for the commercially released recording and composition would be practically nonexistant. it is an old, low-fidelity recording of a very small excerpt of the composition. its only value is as a reference source for the development of the song's lyrics.

To me this sounds like Monster v. Turner but I am by no means an expert. --G0zer 18:29, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't know much about copyright law, but I know that when Pink Floyd was going through FAC I needed to add music clips, and the guidelines I was given for fair use audio clips was less than 30 seconds in low-quality (sub-128kbps) OGG format. Now this clip is a little longer, but I think that considering the overall length of the song, the informational purpose it's being used for and the fact it could in no way noticeably impact sales of the song make it reasonable to consider fair use. - dharm a bum 20:57, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm more than willing to buy the rest of the changes to 15 may 71 in edit 54783811, but "an in that..." doesn't make any sense and I've replaced it with the more plausible "and". Unless a really clear recording surfaces, people are never going to agree on what they're hearing. I think this underscores the need for an audio sample. Perhaps someone has server space in a jurisdiction where this is very clearly permissible? --G0zer 03:02, 24 May 2006 (UTC)


 * This, to me anyway, seems like fair use. ExpandingMind 22:23, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I've been a long-time watcher of this page and of the Pink Floyd syncs. Quite frankly, nobody will ever be able to convince me that they weren't done intentionally. You don't need to be inebriated to see the match-ups, only open-minded. I have a copy of 2001 that has the entire movie dubbed over with music from Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, and Meddle. Anyway, I think that the alternate lyrics should still be listed on this site as a means of comparison and as a way for people to be able to decide for themselves whether or not the sync is merely coincidence or intentional. ExpandingMind 22:23, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

nag templates
hi, i moved the templates, like "fan site", here. primarily, i moved them because the "fan site" and "review" templates are pretty critical, and unnecessarily. i read through the article, and i agree there's some material that's unencyclopedic (such as the synchronizations section; i would have removed that in particular except that it's sourced, and discussed above here on the talk page). as well, it's been nag-tagged since june of 07, or at least a couple months. you'll notice from the templates at the top of the talk page that this is ranked as a "B", and listed as important (Echoes is in fact an important piece of Floyd's catalogue).

the problem with these "reads like a review" or "reads like a fan site" tags is that the article references the song, and is thus a self-referencing source. it's hard to find much of a corpus of research on the subject because it stands on its own (for example, find a source that indicates Renee Zelweger's ass has a polyester tail on it in Bridget Jones' Diary; yet we would all argue that the movie is an important part of her career – or of Hugh Grant's). thus, tagging the article with those templates doesn't especially help.

careful and informed pruning would be a good idea, however. 69.143.136.139 23:02, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Piano Intro
I'm not going to make an issue but I recently made some important changes (all small edits) to this article only to find they had been undone within a matter of hours by someone giving no valid reason. I shan't embarrass that person but would like to request that they discuss with me any point with which they have issue. I shall concentrate on one correction which I made which was undone. The article stated that the opening ping on Echoes was the second highest note on the grand piano, which is a B. Well the Steinway Model B Grand which I have in front of me does indeed have a B in this position but the one which is recorded on Echoes is an octave down from this which is why I changed it to "the second highest B". Throughout the article I made subtle changes all of which I can justify. Please do not undo these again. Thank you. NH 79.121.143.143 (talk) 03:40, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Hey, NH -- that was me who undid your changes. At the time a few of your edits seemed suspicious to me, but I apologize -- now that I review them again, they are mostly quite well-founded.  One thing that threw me off was a grammar error that you inadvertently introduced at one point ("which is double-tracked and panned hard left and right and slowly increase in intensity"), as well as the B-natural thing, in regard to which I misunderstood your intention.  There are still a few copy-edits I would have made to ensure that your meaning is clear, but then again much of the article is still in need of that anyway!  Apologies again -- Goldenband (talk) 05:04, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Good man! You're right about my inadvertent grammatical error. It had been bugging me too! I'm very new to Wickipedia and it's quite tricky editing sentences and keeping the flow. Probably comes with practise. I'm a huge Floyd fan and have absorbed a lot of knowledge of PF over the years as well as a lot of musical equipment of the same type they used eg Farfisa Compact Duo. I've notice one or two people have been discussing whether the sound it makes on certain tracks is a synth but I don't want to be too picky! Thanks for your thoughts and no harm done NH 79.121.143.143 (talk) 06:11, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Aphrodite-1971-08-06 Echoes.ogg
Image:Aphrodite-1971-08-06 Echoes.ogg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 05:25, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
 * ✅ -Verdatum (talk) 18:27, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Synthesizer(s)
For some reasons, I was sure that they used synths in Echoes, right the drone sound that in the article is reported to have been created by Waters with his bass. Anyone has any clue? Brian Wilson 20:48, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I'll look for an exact citation, but I've heard Gilmour comment that Obscured By Clouds was the first Pink Floyd album to use synthesizers. BotleySmith 20:04, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
 * obscured by clouds was for sure the first use of the VCS3 synth. i think it is unlikely that any synth was used on echoes. --G0zer 20:15, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Maybe in the "Main theme" off the 'More' album they use a synth (I guess a minimoog) for those notes resembling a sort of wha-wha, which was an oscillator with a ADSR modulated cutoff frequency. Possibly the same occurred in 'Let there be more light' from "A saucerful of secrets". Earlier synths didnt have any keyboard, so when musicians are interviewed, they use to refer to "oscillators" but actually they mean such kind of synths. I cant believe that they didnt use even some self-made oscillators in Ummagumma's "The narrow way"; maybe they just want to keep "confidential" such info, I am a musician myself and I can understand/agree with this policy. Brian Wilson 22:08, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I believe that the sounds you mentioned on More and Saucerful are just pedal-filtered Farfisa organ. As for the oscillators on Ummagumma... well, if you want to call THOSE synthesizers, then Pink Floyd were using synths as far back as their first album, because the ascending sine wave during the refrains of "Bike" (You're the kind of girl...) was produced by an oscillator made to change pitch with varispeed. But that's really not what we'd consider a synth nowadays, just an electronic pulse altered with tape effects — same thing with "The Narrow Way". Watch "Echoes Pt. 2" from Live At Pompeii: you'll see Roger playing the bass with Dave's metal slide bar to make the noise in question. BotleySmith 20:00, 25 May 2006 (UTC)


 * So, Pink Floyd have NEVER used minimoog? hmmmmm...... The pedal you mention could have been just a wha-wha, sort of phasing effect that is controlled by the potentiometer inside the pedal and not by its oscillator. To me it seems a synth envelope-controlled sound, but I need to listen on a great Hi-Fi equipment, that I don't have for now :( Brian Wilson 22:35, 25 May 2006 (UTC)


 * There no such envelope-controlled oscillators (ie. none that aren't simply phased or varispeeded with tape effects/pedals) in the Floyd catalogue until O.B.C. — there are sources, which I will attempt to dig up, that back me up here. However, Richard did use a Minimoog onstage — from the 1974 tour until The Wall shows. BotleySmith 03:28, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Here's a source for the claim that the first time they used synth was on Obscured by Clouds, about halfway down the page. - dharmabum 20:21, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

With regard to the above comment
 * the ascending sine wave during the refrains of "Bike" (You're the kind of girl...) was produced by an oscillator made to change pitch with varispeed. But that's really not what we'd consider a synth nowadays, just an electronic pulse altered with tape effects

please note that there is no need for a varispeed or a tape effect to change the frequency of an oscillator, it is done by mean of a simple  potentiometers.--Doktor Who 19:29, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Please note also, that Botley Smith is right when he correctly states that the rising and descending tone on "Bike" is exactly what he says. You, however, are wrong when you try to assert that the Farfisa/Wah combination on More's Main Theme is a synth.NH79.121.143.143 (talk) 03:23, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Composition section Original Research
It looks like the bulk of the composition section is Original Research. A technical analysis of the song is not appropriate unless you are referencing the technical analysis or a Reliable Source. At the moment there seems to be some back and forth editing about specific details, that, without a reference, are entirely arguable. I am going to tag the section, and pending discussion, in a few days, I believe I will seriously trim it down. -Verdatum (talk) 15:33, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Hi, Verdatum. I'm quite sure that I and others can provide ample sources for the material you mentioned, but I myself can't do it within "a few days" -- real life obligations and all that.  OTOH it could still use some copy-editing, and I agree the section could be shorter.  Could you focus more on the copy-editing for now, and then nudge us as necessary to get things referenced? Goldenband (talk) 17:38, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * If you claim to need more time, I'm in no hurry. Out of curiosity, could you give me an idea of what these sources would be?  I'd love to find a musicological type analysis of this and other Pink Floyd songs.  Further, if you know of any sources, I'll happily get them and cite the thing myself.  Arguments about what note it starts on, and replies describing figuring it out by trying it on my piano rather alarm me. -Verdatum (talk) 18:08, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Hi again. I agree that the composition section is rather waffly (no offence to whoever wrote it!) and reads rather like a review. However, I would disagree about the importance of the pitch of the opening note. On the studio version it is definitely a "B". However, in the Pompeii version it is a semitone higher on "C". The reason for this is the difference in frame rates between film and video/DVD when it is transferred. On part two, Wright can be seen playing a B minor chord on the Farfisa, yet it comes out as C minor for this reason. Perhaps I'm being too pedantic but when I first looked at this page I think it was stated that the "ping" was C# which is clearly wrong! Regarding the middle "seagull" section, I think it is important to make the point that NO synthesizers were used on it. Gilmour has said in interviews that the first album they used Synths on was Obscured by clouds and that they didn't actually realise that the VCS3 had to be set up to play musical notes, hence it is only used for "drones" on that album. All the sounds on that section are produced by the instruments themselves (except for the rook squawks) as described. The only way I can think of to show this is by doing a video on Youtube with the Grand Piano going through the Leslie and with the Vox Wah-wah plugged in back to front etc! Whether that would be acceptable as proof is another matter. All the best. NH79.121.143.143 (talk) 19:24, 18 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I think the obvious solution to this is to not mention the key of the piece at all. I don't see how it adds much to the understanding or appreciation of the song to know what key is struck.  It can instead just say "a key on the piano".  As a stretch it might be acceptable to discuss notes in relativistic terms (e.g. "Up a minor third", or "modulates to the dorian scale a perfect fifth up") unless such language unreasonably bogs down the article
 * I think the Gilmore interview you're talking about may be from the live from pompeii video. I think I'll rewatch it sometime this week and see what facts can be used from it.
 * Your idea for a video on youtube demonstrating the sound production is unfortunately classic Original Research. Any time you have to put together an experiment to prove something, it's OR.  The proper way to support facts regarding the production of something is through things like production notes and interviews.  If secondary sources do not exist that discuss like music production techniques of a song, then it is generally not appropriate for a tertiary source such as Wikipedia to discuss it.  Still, there is enough floyd fanatasism out there, that it wouldn't surprise me at all if such sources existed.  But as an example, look at the article on Revolution 9 by The Beatles.  It links to websites people made that discuss the song second-by-second, but since it's not reliable info, it doesn't bother to discuss it within the article. -Verdatum (talk) 20:17, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair enough. I must admit I would personally rather see no information than wrong information. The Gilmour interview which I mentioned was not from Pompeii but from a magazine article years ago which I have...somewhere! It would take a month of Sundays to find it but I realise information needs to be backed up. I'll probably do the Youtube video anyway as I had intended to even before I looked at Wickipedia. Just for fun. I've got nothing better to do!NH79.121.143.143 (talk) 20:42, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Heh, I approve. Likewise, I think I'll rewatch Live at Pompeii just for fun :) -Verdatum (talk) 21:24, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Thought I'd watch it again too. It's indisputable that the entire film is running fast. In the Us and Them section Gilmour asks Wright if he's "doing the rundown from D to B...in the middle eight" Wright then plays this and again it comes out a semitone higher. NH79.121.143.143 (talk) 16:55, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed that Pompeii is running fast, by about a semitone, as a result of converting film to PAL by speeding the film up from 24 to 25 fps (and then doing a PAL to NTSC conversion for the American release). I was quite annoyed when I noticed that the DVD has the same problem (as my old VHS tape did), there's really no reason for that at all. Goldenband (talk) 23:48, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Yeah! I taped the original hour long Pompeii (different intro and audio mix) off the TV on a Betamax tape in 1983 and that's a semitone high too. I suppose I got a little perturbed when I saw that someone had put on Wickipedia that PF played Echoes in a different key live! At least they've returned The Wall to its original key on the DVD, though the picture jerks on my copy. But that's another story! NH79.121.143.143 (talk) 03:02, 20 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Ok, I removed the interpretive content. I left the claims that describe specific facts about music production, though they should ideally have citations so the claims are verifiable.  I tried to leave the facts and still keep the paragraph flow as coherent as possible.  I'd still love to see a musicological evaluation/critique of the piece, I just don't know if such content exists as a reliable source. -Verdatum (talk) 19:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

It's not in 12/8 time!
See my comments in the "plagarism" section. I just want to re-iterate this: "Echoes" is NOT in tweleve-eight time!  Roger Waters, in his comments about Andrew-Lloyd Webber, states that it is, but he is simply mistaken (he said several other things in that interview that don't entirely make sense). The main body of "Echoes", just about whenever there is a steady drum beat, is in "Common Time", 4/4 time. In fact, the very riff Waters believes was plagarized is a sequence of straight sixteenth notes! (This isn't the first time a member of Pink Floyd was mistaken about time signatures -- see the "Money" Talk page about Gilmour erroneously saying "Money" is in seven-eight time, instead of seven-four.)

I'm 90% sure this comment wasn't necessary, but I'd hate to see someone get a bug up their butt and provoke an edit war, just because Roger Waters had a bad night's sleep one night before an interview (with a nasty, small-minded British journalist who thought a good way to open the interview was, "So, where's Syd?").

--63.25.104.164 (talk) 15:20, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Graphic showing dynamics of "Echoes"
This has been removed three times by one editor and replaced by two different editors. It would thus seem that there exists currently a consensus that it should be in the article, and I suggest that any editor seriously seeking to change that consensus should discuss it here. I will advise Wikiproject Albums of this debate. -- Rodhull andemu  13:19, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I think the problem might be that the image itself at Image:EchoesDynamics.png doesn't have a detailed fair use rational or a source as required by the licence used. --JD554 (talk) 14:17, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * (ec)It has much the same rationale as for the similar graphic in Layla, which is a Featured Article and passed its last review in 2006. At that time there was no comment beyond its caption. But the FUR can be fixed if necessary. -- Rodhull andemu  14:37, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The fair use rational doesn't follow the guidelines at WP:NFURG. There is a template there which can be of use when writing a rational. --JD554 (talk) 14:51, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Nothing there says a template is required, but I have added one, which contains exactly the same information as before. -- Rodhull andemu  15:01, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * If you find the image problematic, you may wish to consider discussing it at Non-free content review, which was established precisely to resolve such disputes. --Moonriddengirl (talk) 14:34, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * non-free issues aside, I personally have always felt the image to be a bit over the top in terms of Original Research, regardless of the relaxed view of OR issues in terms of images. I just never felt strongly enough about it to try to get the image removed. -Verdatum (talk) 14:38, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Not quite sure what you mean by this; its provenance is now established, the exercise is repeatable, so it satisfies verifiability policy. How can it be WP:OR? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rodhullandemu (talk • contribs) 14:44, 29 September 2008
 * It is certainly verifiable, but demonstrating dynamic variance by converting the song into a waveform and displaying that waveform is Synthesis of data. For it not to be OR, someone else (a WP:RS) has to create a source that discusses the dynamic variance and do so specifically by discussing the graphical representation of the track. -Verdatum (talk) 18:06, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Obviously I disagree. WP:SYN prohibits taking two sources and drawing a conclusion which is not directly implied by those sources. The policy specifically states "Summarizing source material without changing its meaning is not synthesis; it is good editing", and I would argue that the image is a summary specifically directed to the dynamics of the piece and in that respect does not change its meaning. Perhaps WP:OI is more to the point here when it states "Wikipedia editors are encouraged to take photographs or draw pictures or diagrams and upload them, releasing them under the GFDL or another free license, to illustrate articles. This is welcomed because images generally do not propose unpublished ideas or arguments, the core reason behind the NOR policy." In this case, the dynamics of "Echoes" are already published in the form of a CD track and can be heard by a listener. The image merely depicts what already exists in visual form and is not WP:OR, in my view. -- Rodhull andemu  18:20, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Yup, I expected others to have a position like this, which is again, why I didn't press the issue sooner. I believe both opinions are valid.  I personally don't feel the waveform image adds to the article, but I don't feel it particularly detracts from the article either, so at this time, I'm fine with whatever happens. -Verdatum (talk) 18:37, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

the problem is not of fair use or OR but a technical problem - the data shown is a static representation of the amplitude of the piece, with no frequency or time data included. the OP does not seem to grasp that in this form it may repesent any number of sounds - as an analogy, it is comparable to describing(for example) a lamp to someone who has never seen one by using only its colour or its height! similarly, if you gave a frequency spectrum of 'echoes' commenting on its range (in pitch) it would be equally meaningless given any number of sounds (not even music!) could have a similar representation. why not use a short audio clip of one part of the the piece? (as commonplace elsewhere) you can also argue aesthetically that the dynamics of echoes are nothing compared to many pieces of classical music - yet such comment is not made in those cases. I think it adds nothing to the article and is potentially misleading, so removed Jw2034 (talk) 23:10, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
 * With regard to what the image represents, it's no different from my above analogy to uploading a photograph of a shopping centre and asserting that this image is of the shopping centre in question. It's equally as verifiablein objective terms. In particular, frequency is irrelevant to the dynamics, as is timescale. The image is a relative representation which does not depend on these quantities. The argument about a frequency distribution is irrelevant, as that occurs in a different (Fourier transform) space of the information depicted and would not convey information which would be as useful to a reader of the article. I suggest you take a look at Layla to see how a similar image is used in a Featured Article. As to the argument of using a "short audio clip of one part of the the piece", that is nonsense, given that the object of the graphic is to illustrate the dynamics of the whole piece, as is done in Layla. Meanwhile, as long as there is an ongoing debate about the use of this graphic, further removals of it will be regarded as disruptive edit-warring which might well result in protection of the article as well as blockings. Let's try to negotiate consensus rather than bully our way to what we want. OK? I won't revert for now, but it's customary to allow time for consensus to develop. -- Rodhull andemu  23:44, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I must agree with Rodhullandemu's rebuttal here. The timeframe isn't needed because the article gives the track time.  Frequency is not present in low resolution waveforms, but that is not the point.  The point is to show the dynamic variation between the softest point (silence) and the loudest point through the progression of the song.
 * However, I don't think the comparison to the usage in Layla is appropriate. In that article, the waveform is presented to depict the two different movements.  The concept of the two different movements in the piece is supported by a reference in the main article.  This article merely presents the waveform and sorta says, "here it is, just in case you were curious."  It is not being used to support any verifiable statement about the song's dynamics beyond the primary reference (the song itself).  I believe at one time, the caption was different and made some more definite claims, and I edited them out because they came off as blatent OR, to the point of looking like someone's personal opinion.  Find a reputable source that goes into detail about what aspects of the usage of dynamics in echos are worth noting, or make the song special, and I'll be more than fine with the image. (Excellent find on the layla article, btw.  Thanks for that!) -Verdatum (talk) 16:48, 1 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I didn't want to overplay the reference to the graphic in Layla, because WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS isn't a great argument. I used it as an illustration that a fair-use image representing a piece in its entirety is acceptable in a Featured Article, so it should be acceptable here; the FA reviewers are notoriously picky about such issues and presumably considered policy as part of their review. Meanwhile, if I put a sine wave or white noise on an oscilloscope screen, photograph it and upload it, it's a useful graphical representation of the subject of the article regardless of whether its form is mentioned in the article. However, I will seek out sources for the dynamics to underpin the usage of the image even more strongly. -- Rodhull andemu  17:06, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

the arguement 'because it's on the Layla page, and that's quite good' is a poor one. I don't dispute it is fair use. I think a better, clearer representation is required with explanation if it is to remain - the one on the layla page is given in context with a discussion and adds something to the article, not just slung under the menu box as an afterthought. In this artilce it is misleading, has minimal explanation and is unclear.

my objection still stands that the dynamics of echoes (and layla for that matter) are less dramatic and really nothing special when compared to many classical pieces (eg: Serenade for Strings (Tchaikovsky) - Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48, see ) yet no such discussion is undertaken on such pages. Jw2034 (talk) 20:03, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Just because other articles "don't do things" doesn't mean that we shouldn't here; in the classical music field, for example, 1812 Overture would be a case in point for illustrating the physical dynamics against a description of the same, which is apparent from that article. Meanwhile, the "fair-use argument" must be rendered nugatory against this image on commons. So the debate is now about whether it adds to the article. certainly, the example of Layla shows only the dichotomy between the two sections of that piece, and very little else, in honesty. However, since Echoes is the first major-length i.e. unsectioned, (cf. Atom Heart Mother) piece by Floyd, it deserves some analysis if only to go towards its integrity as a piece. As I said, I will seek out commentary on the musical structure of the piece, but where I live, good libraries are miles away, and it's not all on the web. I know an Oxford University musicologist and ask him to scan and send me some stuff. -- Rodhull andemu  21:33, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Gong track connection
I have been trying to remove a dubious and uncited claim that Gong recorded a song that is intended as a parody of "Echoes". The editor, an anon IP, claims he has seen verification of this on another website, but has yet to insert a link. I posted the following on his talk page: "Regarding your comment that the claim about a connection with Gong should never have been removed from "Echoes": The claim read like someone's guess, and certainly should have been removed without any statement that anyone from Gong ever stated this connection, with appropriate citation. Things are not added or removed from Wikipedia because they are true or untrue, but because of whether or not they are properly sourced. If you have a citable source, please insert it, otherwise the claim will be removed again. I haven't seen the citation you refer to, but if it is not clearly attributed to someone from the group, it may not be acceptable proof. If you want to be doubly sure, post a link to it on the article's talk page and solicit an opinion on whether it's acceptable." I did not remove the text, because I presumed he was going to add the citation, but I did put a "fact" tag on it.

Instead of using this talk page as requested, he removed the tag, and used this edit summary: "Sorry but you just need to hear this Gong's piece to see the clear pitch and tempo signature of Echoes. If you heard it and are not certain, that's one thing. But you acting as a censor is not acceptable. If you delete it again, it will be added again." So now I'm taking the discussion over here.

Well first of all, I've known about that track since 1977 when it was released on the album Gong Live Etc. There is only a co-incidental similarity. You say they have the same "clear pitch" and "tempo signature"? What is the pitch, and what is the tempo? This section we're referring to (in the Gong track) is a rising tone (and has no pitch to speak of), and has no tempo. If you're thinking the rise in pitch follows the same rate as it does in "Echoes", check again; the raise in "Echoes" is even and consistent; the raise in the Gong track is fast at first, and then slows down. Also, the raise in pitch in "Echoes" is an illusion, as new low voices are added as the high voices fade out, so overall the pitch remains the same throughout, which is why it never reaches an end. There is no duplication of this trick on the Gong track. There is another point which you're overlooking: Gong copied this effect from an earlier track of Daevid Allen's, called "Est-ce Que Je Suis" which also appears (in a live version) on Gong Live Etc.. The original version of this song was released in 1971 (not certain what month), and "Echoes" was released in November 1971. Did Daevid really hear the track and release a "parody" version so quickly? It seems unlikely.

But all of this guessing by analysis is irrelevant. The claim does not belong in the article if there is no cited quote from a member of Gong stating that this similarity was intentional. You said you have a quote that proves it, and I invited you to add it. You also said, in a previous edit summary, that Nick Mason's production association with Steve Hillage (6 years later?) proves this connection, which I just can't see as valid. Removing an uncited claim is not "acting as a censor". And as for threatening to add this claim again (presumably without citation), if you keep doing it, you may find yourself blocked. The best thing to do at this point, is find the citation and add it. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 00:45, 20 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Response to Knight:  Knight, I do not want to engage in a confrontational conversation about this Gong song issue, and I regret if I gave this impression.  The reference I added and was mentioning (don't know why you did not see it) was a reference to the Gong's song entry on Wikipedia. I admit it would be circular referencing and hence I can not claim it as fulfilling the verifiability criteria.  The reason I added back this section was that you originally removed this section without first asking for a reference - which I found to be non courteous. I added the deleted part back with the "if you delete it again I will add it again" comment, after which you indeed asked for a reference - which I admit I cannot provide beside the circular pointing to the Gong's page.


 * It is indeed a a guessing by analysis. We clearly disagree on the coincidental or voluntary nature of the similarity between the finale in these tow things - and about the very existence of this similarity. The only version of "Est-ce que je suis" that I know (Live at the Fridge) does not contain anything like this final glissando, but I do not know the very version you are mentioning. I maintain my analysis, we could go on on the discussion - and it could actually be interesting - but in the absence of a verifiable link I again admit that the Wikipedia's criteria were not met originally.


 * Thanks for the response. I didn't ask for a reference when I removed it the first time, because I was not removing it immediately after it was inserted, and assumed it was not likely that the original person who added it would still be around. (And since you restored 5 months after the fact, that seems like a reasonable assumption.) Whenever something is removed as uncited, it's always an invitation to restore it with citation. The proper way to do challenge material is to put a "fact" or "citation needed" tag on it and wait a while, but Wikipedia also invites us to "be bold" and immediately remove claims that are unlikely to be supportable. It was a judgement call on my part, but again, if you had a reference, you would be free to put it in again, so I don't agree that anything non-curteous was done. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 14:24, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Instrumentation
What is this ?
 * A throbbing wind-like sound is introduced, created by Waters vibrating the strings of his bass guitar with a steel slide and feeding the signal through an Italian tape echo unit called the Binson Echorec. This starts increasing in volume as high pitched guitar 'screams' enter, resembling distorted whale song. They were actually created when Gilmour discovered the sound by accidentally reversing the cables to his wah pedal[citation needed]. Early live recordings of Pink Floyd performing the song "Embryo" in 1970 also feature this noise.

The Pink Floyd used oscillators dating from their first album, a Moog or Minimoog is used in Main Theme, from album More. With all due respect, they seem not even capable to remember in which The Wall songs Wright played, so I am not surprised that they deny to have ever used simple oscillators or synth before 1972.--Dr. Who 01:56, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * The technique described is visible in Live at Pompeii IIRC. &mdash;ptk✰fgs 04:53, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * With regard to live performances in general, Pink FLoyd didn't use to take with them the whole arsenal of instruments that they used in recording studios, at least not before DSOTM. "One of these Days" is played very differently in Live at Pompeii: along the first part, Waters plays the same notes that he plays on the original LP, but Wright doesn't plays almost any chords on his organ, indeed such chords are played by Gilmour, that uses a technique similar to many Allan Holdsworth's works, and even to David Sylvian's in Gone to Earth 2nd CD. That technique changes guitars' sound so that it seems a keyboard: the signal enters a volume (loudness) pedal, then goes into an echo unit, the guitarist keeps the volume pedal on "mute" before and while he plays the strings, soon after the attack-delay stage, he increases the loudness on the pedal. The echo is added only to a attack-less sound, the metallic attack-decay of the guitar strings is not heard at all. The result is a sort of synth-like sound. I am not sure if Waters did the same with Echoes, but I am sure that in recording studios they used synths more often than they are willing to admit. Cheers to everyody. :-) Dr. Who 21:46, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, seeing as the live bootlegs from the early 70's (unadorned with overdubs, unlike Pompeii) sound EXACTLY the same as the LP, with no sign of synths in the lineup, I'm reluctant to admit that they went out of their way to produce on regular instruments what could easily have been done on synths. However, I recently come across someone (Danny Carey of the band Tool) who claims to have replicated the "eerie" patch on VCS3 used in the making of "Echoes". Maybe he knows something that I don't. By the bye, Gilmour personally went through the Wall multitracks to confirm who played each note of that album. You can find the result of his search here. BotleySmith 22:15, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * The point is that synths and effects were VERY HEAVY and BIG those days! Maybe only Kraftwerk and Keith Emerson dared to take almost everything with them in live performances. I have myself recorded a whole minisuite almost 15 years ago featuring my Cimar-Ibanez bass guitar (Fender Precision like) treated with a digital reverb (Boss RV-1, 12 bit) and played by mean of .... it's a secret! So, I am not saying that it is impossible, just that there are some subtle differences that I noticed, between those methods. Gigs shouldn't be regarded as a source of information in reference to studio work and techniques. What do you mean with this:"I recently come across someone (Danny Carey of the band Tool)..." ?Dr. Who 22:46, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

this sound could be a taped effect from the doctor who serial 'inferno' about 18 minutes into the first episode, the doctor is transported into an alternate dimension via the tardis console and there is an extraordinary resemblance between the sound effects used in that sequence and this part of the song in question. Since pink floyd has used the doctor who theme song 'one of these days' it is entirely possible that this is a tape effect not instrumentation, pedal effect or synthesizer.Lassiriven (talk) 04:00, 16 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Which sound, specifically, are you referring to? All the sounds in the "sound effects" section are produced by the band using their instruments in an unusual way:
 * Waters - "bowing" the strings of his bass with a metal slide then going through the Binson Echorec
 * Gilmour - plugging his guitar into the output of his Vox wah-wah pedal and the input into the amplifier via another binson
 * Wright - holding down one note on the Hammond organ, whilst pulling out and pushing in each drawbar on the Hammond.NH78.147.100.19 (talk) 00:03, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't it make sense to use another person that was there at the creation of Echoes? Nick Mason wrote that it was from "inadvertently plugging in a wah-wah pedal back to front". Moreover, prior to the "whale scream" the sounds of bass strings could easily been done to make that sound.V Schauf (talk) 19:18, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Good Article Nomination
I have read this article and have been impressed with the article for awhile. I especially like the way that editors here have explained the development of the song from start to finish. I have discussed this article with krobertj and we agree this article deserves Good Article Nomination. There are other reasons why I think this article is deserving of Good Article Nomination: 1. Very good work on Composition section. 2. There are very few grammatical errors, if any. 3. There are some disputes, but there are not editing wars as far as I have been able to check and see. 4. The discussion about the varying arrangements of lead and accompanying vocals is both insightful and very interesting. Is the article great? No, it does need more referencing, but that can easily be done by someone with a Pink Floyd book. It's not considered a Good Article yet; it's not A quality yet, but with some editing, it certainly could BE!! V Schauf (talk) 14:23, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

I DELETED the part at the top of the "Composition" that stated the section needed additional citations. There are currently NO SECTIONS where it states that it needs to be better referenced or cited. V Schauf (talk) 01:11, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I would like to thank the reviewer, Wasted Time R for the remarks. I agree with the reviewer saying to the effect that it definitely isn't a great article (& I said that before). There were good points made. I would agree that we need to get rid of dead links. I have gotten rid of one already. There are 2 points I would like to make: 1. I don't agree with the statement that this article is "poorly referenced". In fact, the article is referenced quite a bit, but it could use more. There is a danger of referencing/footnoting so much that the article is not so much a compilation of editors coming together and writing the article but rather a compilation of books' and magazines' points of view. There needs to be some original thought as well as referencing. 2. I don't agree with the last remark of "not close to being ready". That sounds more like subjective spite than it does objective analysis of what's wrong with the article.

However, I still say "thanks", and I don't think the idea of passing this as good article should be reconsidered until more editing is done (as I started to already). I hope that other editors that care about the article will help in referencing and making the article more consistent in the MOS, Manual of Style that was indicated. V Schauf (talk) 13:54, 22 November 2009 (UTC)
 * As far as what defines a good article, I'm afraid it is indeed intended to be a compilation of books' and magazines' points of view. This is an encyclopedia's job as a tertiary source of information.  Good articles must stick to secondary sources for all information except extremely non-controversial claims.  This is to satisfy WP:V and WP:OR.  I've always had my reservations about the fan-page references, even though, I suspect some of them contain better information than many of the published sources. -Verdatum (talk) 16:23, 23 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Like Verdatum said. A "good" WP article is, at this point, a heavily footnoted regurgitation of what mainstream books, magazines, and newspapers have already said (even when they've got it wrong, which is especially true of newspapers when popular music is involved).  That can be frustrating, and I've walked away from working on music articles several times as a result.  If you do something that is solid but involves some original thought, it's actually best to avoid bringing it to GAN or FAC, and keep it more under the radar instead.  As for "subjective spite", I can assure you that none was involved.  I don't care much about pre-Dark Side or post-Wall Pink Floyd one way or the other, and have been uninvolved with the editors here.  But I've done a lot of GA articles and GA reviews, and I can tell you that this one wasn't close to be ready.  The good thing however is that you can submit it to GAN again and get a different reviewer and a different perspective.  Wasted Time R (talk) 01:47, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

ok, Wasted Time, you make good points on Dec 1, and showed some empathy, so guess what? I think the best plan is to continue to rework the article and would like nothing more than for you to say later, "there's enough improvements that the article qualifies as a Good Article". Now I've seen in Wikipedia where it says to write and edit boldly; there should be some room for creativity b/c this is after all the writing process. But I know that we can split hairs til the "cows come home", and I do agree, there needs to be more research. I predict that within 6 months, you'll like this article better than you do now. 05:19, 10 December 2009 (UTC) V Schauf (talk • contribs)

The Composition section was slightly rearranged tonight and addresses 1 remark made when the article was up for Good Article status. I moved the graphic of the opening notes of the song. It was at the top of the Composition section. The problem was that it left an unsightly gap between the title and the first paragraph of Composition. I think it now looks better, and ends the criticism of this gap that came up earlier. V Schauf (talk) 04:39, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Source #7
Can someone find a better source for this? Sure the source has all of the facts in it, but it is a very insulting and biased form. It says things like "SO HOW'S Syd these days?" and describes Roger Walters as "Roger Waters. He's the one who invented giant inflatable pigs, the one who tortured schoolyards of children by making them sing his catchprase ("We dahn nee nur edercayshun, we dahn nee nur fort corntrawel") This whole part of the article before isn't even intelligent enough to be considered gossip, much less a well written article on the matter. 207.191.210.136 (talk) 22:05, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Echoes (song) vs. Echoes (Pink Floyd song)
Echoes (song) redirects to Echoes (Pink Floyd song). Does this seem backward to anyone else? Shouldn't this entire article be moved to Echoes (song)?Father McKenzie (talk) 04:03, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Correct Titles, please
In the article "The drone vocalizations heard in the final scenes of 2001..." are being mentioned. Not only the practice of calling something one does not understand "a drone" and discrediting its possible meaning and importance is here at work, but the aforementioned "drone vocalizations" actually happen to be "Lux Aetherna", a composition by Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923 - 2006), one of the most complex and demanding masterpieces of choral music ever written. As far as "drone vocalizations" are concerned. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.138.81.180 (talk) 16:23, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. Jenks24 (talk) 21:12, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Echoes (Pink Floyd song) → Echoes (song) – "Echoes (song)" redirects here. yeepsi (Time for a chat?) 20:54, 9 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose it shouldn't have pointed here, there are many songs called Echoes. The lack of a hatnote is also disappointing considering that situation. If something requires disambiguation, it should atleast be disambiguated, and not remain ambiguous. 70.24.251.208 (talk) 06:38, 10 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Our disambiguation guideline does not provide for a notion of "primary among the disambiguated", which the proposed title would signify. That one should (and now does) link to the Echoes dab page. Favonian (talk) 21:05, 16 June 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

C# or B?
I'm not the one who made the most recent edit changing "high C#" to "high B", but I was curious. An earlier edit summary indicates that an official tab book lists the note as C#. Frequency analysis of the first note indicates that it is within 1 or 2 cents of B.

If someone would care to analyze the other notes in the introduction, we can determine definitively whether it is in fact a B, or whether the piano is merely one half-step out of tune and it is a C# sounding B. --G0zer 06:46, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

To my ears, the very first note sounds like a B. But the introduction is improvised overall around the key C# minor (as is a large part of the song). Try putting the album on and playing along on piano and see what you think. It's probably more obvious on Pompeii. --Ritchie333 16:44, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, then I'm afraid you don't have perfect pitch and/or your piano is out of tune. I counted the cycles. It's a B. &mdash;ptk✰fgs 17:33, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's what I just said in the above paragraph. --Ritchie333 17:02, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

I actually thought it sounded like a C, but I asked a friend who uses a tuning machine to make sure he's not out of tune. Using the machine (it's called a "C12 Chromatic", I think), he showed me that the note is, in fact, a B. V Schauf (talk) 20:34, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

The first note is indeed a B6, but the verse chords for guitar are C#m - G#m - F#m - G#7, so it's definitely written in C# minor, that's the classic I-IV-V (I-V-IV-V in this case.) Then there is that funky part where it's going from a B major chord to a C#m. I know at least one of the guitar solos (the first one, not the one in the intro) is also in C#. --Markboydude (talk) 02:29, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Meanings
Can somebody well endowed enough write a meanings section? I really want to know more about this song! Whiskey in the Jar 14:19, 5 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd love to, but my penis just isn't large enough. --63.25.104.164 (talk) 15:02, 21 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Can I forward you some spam that has the answer to your problem? --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 23:49, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

and please add some comment to the cover, what is depicted and why? 125.24.101.22 (talk) 15:27, 5 May 2008 (UTC)


 * The cover art is clear enough to anyone with the UK sleeve, rather than the terrible North American sleeve with washed-out colours. Why did they do that?  Oh, and you have to open up the gatefold so you can see the front and back at once.  It's a picture of an ear, with water ripples representing echoes.  If someone wants to add this to the article, it's better to add it to Meddle rather than the song article. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 23:49, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

I hope there was an unstated consensus against a "Meanings" section. That's not Wikipedia's purpose, and it would be an invitation for people who neither know or care about Wikipedia's purpose to add their own personal interpretations. --Ben Culture (talk) 10:32, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Time Signature -- SERIOUSLY, please, may I have an answer to this?
Our article currently states:

The song changes to 12/8 during the riff after the chorus, while most of the song is in 4/4, 6/8 and 6/4 time.

This isn't clear enough, and may be flat-out incorrect. Let's take the first half: "The song changes to 12/8 during the riff after the chorus" WHAT does THAT mean? WHICH chorus? If the editor was referring to the "funky" section after the two choruses and extended solos, he's wrong. And no part of "Echoes" before that section is in 12/8, either.

The only part I can, at least, condone being described as 12/8 (or 6/8, for that matter), is the B minor section after all the seagull shit, when Rick's organ builds up with ||:Bmin | F#min7 | D6 | A/E :|| (Confused? Try thinking of it as ||: Bmin | A/F# | Bm/D | A/E :||, if that's easier for you.) During this section, Gilmour plays those "Good Vibrations"-style triplets, although Nick Mason and Roger Waters still seems to be thinking in 4/4.

Anyway, so what's what? What's the 12/8 refer to, what's in 6/8, and what's in 6/4? If I don't get some sort of reasonable answer before the end of this year, I might very well remove this dubious "information". As far as I can tell -- after 25+ years of listening -- is that this is a song almost entirely in 4/4, except for a short section you could call 12/8 (although only the guitar is articulating the song in that time signature.

--Ben Culture (talk) 05:49, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

[12/8 & 4/4 are similar - but 12/8 allows for an established triplet on every beat - the Bminor section employs a triplet staccato that is best expressed in 12/8 and not 6/8 because the chord changes happen on the first beat of a bar: kind of like this - the numbers in parenthesis are quavers or eighth notes adding up to 12 in a bar: Beat    Beat        Beat     Beat Bmin  1 (1,2,3) 2 (4,5,6) 3 (7,8,9) 4 (10,11,12) F#min7 1 (1,2,3) 2 (4,5,6) 3 (7,8,9) 4 (10,11,12) D6    1 (1,2,3) 2 (4,5,6) 3 (7,8,9) 4 (10,11,12) A/E   1 (1,2,3) 2 (4,5,6) 3 (7,8,9) 4 (10,11,12)

Echoes; Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite

 * Similar to the Dark Side of the Rainbow effect, at-large rumors suggested that "Echoes" coincidentally synchronizes with Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, when played concurrently with the final segment (titled "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite").''

I'm not so sure it is similar. The band had communicated with Kubrick. At least one good source reports that they wanted to score 2001, but it is hard to tell if this is just a rumor. There seems to be more to this story. Viriditas (talk) 23:38, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 19:56, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

Echoes Cover addition request
I recently made the mistake of making an addition this page without requesting it. I wanted to make an addition to the "cover versions" section to include a cover which has been doing the rounds on the internet. A YouTuber/musician who does many Floyd covers did a full cover of this song. My original edit was removed because the cover wasn't "notable". I'd like to know what makes a cover notable. This particular cover was shared by many blogs and websites and people non other than Pink Floyd drummer himself Nick Mason, receiving high praise from the main man.

I think for a Wikipedia page this detailed it should also include more covers. It looks a bit empty the way it is just now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by WisemanOnceSaid (talk • contribs) 23:24, 23 April 2017 (UTC)


 * Thank you for starting a discussion, I have to oppose per WP:NSONG and WP:COVERSONG. -  Mlpearc  ( open channel ) 23:33, 23 April 2017 (UTC)


 * Thank you for replying. I'm sorry but I don't see how my edit does not meet the criteria in WP:NSONG and WP:COVERSONG. It states: "Songs and singles are probably notable if they have been the subject of multiple, non-trivial published works whose sources are independent of the artist and label." The cover definitely meets that criteria.
 * I'm not trying to be hostile, I'm just trying to learn. More information would be helpful. Thanks. WisemanOnceSaid (talk) 16:41, 24 April 2017 (UTC)


 * I can't seem to reply to you on your talk page so I will reply here. I still think my edit meets the criteria you referred to in a previous comment. Can't we get another editor in here to peer review the edits I am proposing? WisemanOnceSaid (talk) 17:55, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

In order to include a cover, the band/musician should be notable (per Wikipedia's guidelines for notability of musicians). If you can create an article about Ewan Cunningham, and get it to "stick" (i.e. not be deleted), then you might get by with this mention of his cover, but otherwise, it's just a bit of trivia that isn't really encyclopedic, even if Nick Mason liked the cover. WikiDan61 ChatMe!ReadMe!! 18:09, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for your helpful answer. Need more people like you in this space. WisemanOnceSaid (talk) 18:14, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

I've got another source for Ewan Cunningham; it's also the top hit for "pink floyd echoes cover" on Google, so I've added it, and included Dean Ween's cover too. To be honest, this sort of stuff is borderline, like "cultural references" in films and places; some people don't mind it being there (as long as it's reliably sourced), some people think it's off-topic. I personally prefer to include it, because if you don't, somebody will come along and add it anyway, and then you'll get a silly edit war. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  20:01, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Ritchie, I look at it the same way. Have a good day. WisemanOnceSaid (talk) 20:51, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Cover version guideline sets a high bar for inclusion
Note that the guideline at WP:SONGCOVER says that "a particular artist's rendition should be included" if one of the two following cases is met:
 * the rendition is discussed by a reliable source on the subject of the song,
 * the rendition itself meets the notability requirement at WP:NSONGS.

So it's not enough to get a reliable source about a song cover. The source should first be talking about the song itself. The following references fail this point:
 * http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jana-mccall-mn0000809748/songs
 * http://ultimateclassicrock.com/pink-floyd-dean-ween-echoes/
 * http://www.smash.com/musician-covers-pink-floyds-echoes-playing-every-instrument-song/
 * https://twitter.com/nickmasondrums/status/817780905041362944?lang=en

Since these references fail the guideline, the cover versions supported by them should be removed. Binksternet (talk) 21:32, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeah,, they get restored, as it goes. &mdash;  O Fortuna   semper crescis, aut decrescis  20:30, 2 May 2017 (UTC)


 * I don't intend to stop following the guideline in pruning these additions of not-very-important material. Binksternet (talk) 20:59, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Pink Floyd's Echoes genres
I am adding the genre "post-rock", on the page I use as a reference, Echoes is cited as the beginning of this genre. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2800:200:E800:D8C:9C99:4CC7:7FF0:18C9 (talk) 00:25, 25 February 2019 (UTC)


 * Isn't rock an ongoing genre ? If so how can anything be "post" ? -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 00:31, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

Is rock, but in the source besider to be rock, Echoes is cited as a the "post-rock" starting point, obviusly post-rock doesn't exist on 1971 but this song was ahead of what would be the genre years later and Echoes could be a reference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2800:200:E800:D8C:9C99:4CC7:7FF0:18C9 (talk) 00:46, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

Ridiculous chord grammar needs fixing
"with all instruments joining in for two swells of B♭/C# major, A major, and A♭sus4 which resolves to a A♭ major."

D/B minor, and E/F# minor.

1. There's no such chord spelling/chord symbol grammar that allows for Bb/C# major. Do you mean Bb/Db - in other words Bb major/C#(that's Db/C# in the bass)? Whoever has ears, or the knowledge, needs to change this to something that makes sense.

2. Whenever someone finds out what the above is supposed to mean: if you end up keeping C# major it ought to be changed to Db major. Not incorrect originally, but clunky.

3. Same as #1 for D/B minor - which almost makes sense if it weren't for the E/F# minor to follow - again - whoever knows what this section is: please change to something that makes sense!

4. "two swells of C# major, A major, and G#sus4 which resolves to a G#major" should really read "one bar each of C# minor, A# minor, A major, G#sus4 and G#major". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.187.8.152 (talk • contribs) 30 April 2019 ‎


 * Looks like this has been removed. It was all unsourced fancrufty trivia anyway. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  17:46, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Cleanup
I've been cleaning up the article today, checking everything against four main book sources I have access to (Blake, Mabbett, Mason and Povey) and taking out anything that looks like fancruft, and adding some things that are in those sources. It would be nice to see if somebody can cite Dick Parry playing a saxophone solo in later tours. I can't use "heard it on a bootleg" as a source, but no reliable source specifically mentioned it anyway. , can you help? Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  17:44, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Probably not, but I will look. You can never trust that Mabbett character, of course. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:47, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * What about this? Martinevans123 (talk) 17:51, 24 November 2021 (UTC)