Off to The Great Gig in the Sky

Ever imagine making your own set of music to be played at your funeral, or perhaps more appropriately your wake? Oh c'mon, I know there are some of you out there with just the right mix of love for music and obsessive compulsive traits to have thought about this. And, now that we have gotten over that hump, might we also admit that we all had "Great Gig in the Sky" by Pink Floyd in that imaginary set? It is perfect, isn't it?

First there is the opening voice over of reassurance:

And I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do; I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it—you've gotta go sometime.

And then of course comes by Clare Torry's amazing performance which one imagines as a sort of vocal catharsis in response to loss. Just listening to the song and thinking of someone you lost even a long time ago can really bring back serious emotions--both sadness and beauty.

Well, one person who might well have imagined that song playing as people said their final farewells to him, Richard Wright, keyboardist for Pink Floyd and the dude who crafted that amazing song, has left us.

I am pretty sure that anyone who stops by this space is old enough to have a Pink Floyd memory. I am going out on a limb that many of them might sound a bit something like this. My close friends and housemates when first at college laying in the middle of our living room on the floor in an altered state having just . . .well do I really need to say what we were doing . . . with all four speakers on, listening to Atom Heart Mother or Dark Side or pick your Floyd album and feeling like these guys were so damn smart and cool and insightful and . . . well, I am guessing you know what I mean.

I don't necessarily play the Floyd a lot these days, but I did give my boys a side of Dark Side tonight, ending with "Great Gig." And since all of my Floyd is on vinyl, we will turn to the Tube for a fine rendition and wish Mr. Wright Godspeed and offer our best thoughts to his friends family.