 Obscured by Clouds (1972) [ larger cover art ] |
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''One two free four''
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime
You shuffle in the gloom of the sick room
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
But mind how you go
And I can tell you 'cos I know
You may find it hard to get off
But you are the angel of death
And I am the dead man's son
He was buried like a mole in a fox-hole
And everyone's still in the run
And who is the master of foxhounds
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 the gloom of the sick room
And talk to yourself as you die
| govna (beantown) | Posted: May 23, 2013 - 10:07 shutter wrote: Always an instantaneous 11 on the volume knob... yours goes to 11? |
| kellsens | Posted: May 07, 2013 - 17:21 Wonderfull song |
| jmsmy (Music Town, Klein, Texas) | Posted: Mar 21, 2013 - 15:19 A mini Prequel to The Wall |
| aspicer (Chicago, IL) | Posted: Mar 21, 2013 - 15:17 A classic! Love this one - lots of memories. |
| Mystery Guest (somewhere else) | Posted: Feb 18, 2013 - 05:07 hkarr wrote: Wow. Hated this song so much I just had to know who did it ... and was shocked it is Pink Floyd. I'm a fan and this may be the only song by them that I can honestly say is really terrible. A big regretful ditto from me.... |
| gjeeg (Syracuse, New York) | Posted: Feb 02, 2013 - 17:50 1972 !!!! |
| DaMoGan (Beer on the east coast, Beer on the west coast.) | Posted: Feb 02, 2013 - 17:50 Ahhh, this really hits the spot on this cold Saturday evening hanging out in my home bar. Did I say cold? I meant cold and wet!  |
| Spiderwoman (Lake Chelan, North Central Washington) | Posted: Feb 02, 2013 - 17:49 This is Pink Floyd?!! The things you grow up on and don't know you don't have any idea about. |
| hidey (NZ) | Posted: Dec 17, 2012 - 12:46 O yes! The deeds of a man in his prime... Thank you Bill!  Heavy rain in Auckland but Free Four has cheered me up good & proper! |
| hkarr | Posted: Dec 17, 2012 - 12:46 Wow. Hated this song so much I just had to know who did it ... and was shocked it is Pink Floyd. I'm a fan and this may be the only song by them that I can honestly say is really terrible. |
| JIan (Phoenix, AZ, USA) | Posted: Dec 17, 2012 - 12:42 Relayer wrote: Damn I love Gimour. He can do no wrong in my book. Yes, Waters wrote 70% of the Floyd Music, but Gilmour created the all important Pink Floyd "sound". Without Gilmour, all the Floyd albums would be dry and irritating (like Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking). I am sure that last comment will stir up the p!ssed off Waters fans. This Floyd fan agrees!  |
| crispynz1 | Posted: Oct 15, 2012 - 19:20 Ghiaap wrote: Another lame tune ...... 3 Another lame listener. 2  |
| Ghiaap (Haarlo, The Netherlands) | Posted: Sep 14, 2012 - 06:09 Another lame tune ...... 3 |
| sajitjacob (Christchurch NZ) | Posted: Aug 29, 2012 - 16:47 Laaaahndon, No! IIIIeeeeessex! fredriley wrote: Using 'f' for 'th' is very common in the Sahf-East of the UK, especially London, so the intro could well be the speaker's natural accent. This is evident also with famous Lahndan musicians such as Lily Allen and Damon Albarn (wiff his ahtrageous Sahf Lahndan accent). The Cockney dialect is strange, right enough, though a lot of Cockney rhyming slang has made its way into common English due to the influence of TV and radio. Know what I mean, john? ;-) |
| Relayer (Gainesville, FL) | Posted: Jul 13, 2012 - 08:26 Damn I love Gimour. He can do no wrong in my book. Yes, Waters wrote 70% of the Floyd Music, but Gilmour created the all important Pink Floyd "sound". Without Gilmour, all the Floyd albums would be dry and irritating (like Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking). I am sure that last comment will stir up the p!ssed off Waters fans. |
| ofanansky | Posted: Apr 25, 2012 - 05:53 "the memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime" those lyrics affected the trajectory of my life |
| fredriley (Nottingham, UK) | Posted: Apr 25, 2012 - 05:47 drivingunit103 wrote: ...I have often wondered if the intro - "one,two,free,four" - is a tongue in cheek to a peculiar piece of English dialect. The three has been shortened to "free" as some words with the "th" have been. Case in point - The Kinks - Low Budget. One particular line in that song "I fought you said that" instead of "I thought you said that". My mom was born "within the sound of Bow Bells" and goodness knows they have a strange way of conversing - rhyming slang, back slang etc. Came to Canada in '56 so I lost the accent pretty quick... Anyway - just wondering Using 'f' for 'th' is very common in the Sahf-East of the UK, especially London, so the intro could well be the speaker's natural accent. This is evident also with famous Lahndan musicians such as Lily Allen and Damon Albarn (wiff his ahtrageous Sahf Lahndan accent). The Cockney dialect is strange, right enough, though a lot of Cockney rhyming slang has made its way into common English due to the influence of TV and radio. Know what I mean, john? ;-) |
| shutter (You can't get here from there) | Posted: Apr 25, 2012 - 05:45 Always an instantaneous 11 on the volume knob... |
| AndreasL (Calden, Germany) | Posted: Apr 09, 2012 - 04:37 remembering my youth and cellarpartys by candlelight... |
| WonderLizard (2,755.46 mi. due east of Paradise) | Posted: Mar 08, 2012 - 12:01 krysthal wrote: When he first joined the band, Pink Floyd members used to instruct David Gilmour to play more like Syd Barrett (meaning slower, smoother and with tape delay) because he would play too much like Jimi Hendrix. You can still hear some of that "Hendrix" coming out of Gilmour in his earlier tracks with Pink Floyd. David would later develop his signature lyrical solo style. I love Gilmour's style. A post-Floyd Gilmour anecdote: he goes over to Ringo's house to help out with Ringomania. Ringo's engineer plays him the basic tracks and vocals for one song. Gilmour listens then records four different solos. Sez a grateful Ringo, "Which one should I use?" To which Gilmour replies, "Why don't you use them all?" Sure enough—the engineer played all four tracks together: perfect harmony, perfect timing. The guy's too much. BTW, you can watch all this unfold in the DVD that comes with Ringomania. |
| drivingunit103 (around the 4 western provinces) | Posted: Dec 20, 2011 - 09:48 ...I have often wondered if the intro - "one,two,free,four" - is a tongue in cheek to a peculiar piece of English dialect. The three has been shortened to "free" as some words with the "th" have been. Case in point - The Kinks - Low Budget. One particular line in that song "I fought you said that" instead of "I thought you said that". My mom was born "within the sound of Bow Bells" and goodness knows they have a strange way of conversing - rhyming slang, back slang etc. Came to Canada in '56 so I lost the accent pretty quick... Anyway - just wondering |
| That_SOB (In at least 2 places at once) | Posted: Dec 20, 2011 - 09:36 I wish I were there. . . |
| drivingunit103 (around the 4 western provinces) | Posted: Dec 20, 2011 - 09:32 ...love the intro. A solid 8 |
| Oidos (Behind the Zion Curtain) | Posted: Dec 04, 2011 - 05:54 Great song. I also recommend Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast from Atom Heart Mother. |
| krysthal (Toronto, Canada) | Posted: Nov 18, 2011 - 15:48 When he first joined the band, Pink Floyd members used to instruct David Gilmour to play more like Syd Barrett (meaning slower, smoother and with tape delay) because he would play too much like Jimi Hendrix. You can still hear some of that "Hendrix" coming out of Gilmour in his earlier tracks with Pink Floyd. David would later develop his signature lyrical solo style. |
| tbor79 (arlington va) | Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 11:15 great track off of a terribly overlooked album |
| jmsmy (Music Town, Klein, Texas) | Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 11:15 Another preveiw to The Wall. |
| donnyballgame (41*53'36.29N 87*38'20.43W) | Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 11:13 Phlegmaticman wrote: I only like really old Pink Floyd songs. I only really like old Bon Jovi. he he |
| Phlegmaticman (270 miles south of Paradise, CA) | Posted: Sep 16, 2011 - 11:11 I only like really old Pink Floyd songs. |
| Cynaera (South of Neanderthal) | Posted: Jun 29, 2011 - 20:27 Cynaera wrote: I love this song, and I also love "Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum (it's especially fun to hear in the movie "Saving Grace" with Craig Ferguson.) I have a story about "Free Four," somewhere on this thread. I still remember that old Webcor reel-to-reel recorder - it was burgundy and gold, and the logo looked like a hood ornament for a Buick... Ah, the good old days...   Okay, I looked, but couldn't find a prior post, so I'll just tell my story here. I had an ancient reel-to-reel Webcor, and Dad had worked magic and hooked it into a stereo unit with an FM radio, so I spent a lot of time recording music from an FM station out of Salt Lake CIty. It was the first time I'd ever heard "Kentucky Woman" by Deep Purple, or "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen" by the Raiders, or "Heavy Disguise" by Strawbs - or this song by Pink Floyd. I recorded all that stuff, and more. I might actually still have the reels, somewhere... My point is that once I heard this song, I was forever open to anything musical, and I can't listen to this song without zapping into the past and grinning. |
| spacemoose | Posted: Jun 14, 2011 - 01:18 God, this is one of my favorite songs of all time. Back when I was a young man in my prime, I was living in Valdez Alaska, I had a beat up old ford pickup that I bought for $200 (and sold for $50 when it stopped working). I was driving with my girlfriend, Karyn Hair, a jack-mormon I lived with, and this song came on the radio. I thought "wow, this is a brilliant song", so I drove to the radio station (which was like a 2 minute drive, Valdez ain't that big), to find out what was playing. It turned out a guy I used to wash dishes with was DJ'ing. I thing his name was paul, but this is 20 years ago, so maybe I'm confused. Paul used to turn me on to all sorts of great music. He lived in a little camper van, washed dishes all summer in Alaska, listened to world music on his short wave radio, and would drive down to Guatemala or Belize for the winters. This is now one of the memories of my old age, which inevitably pops into my head when I hear this song. Nice to hear it on the radio. Bill, if I can suggest a good segue for after this, how about Camper Van Beethoven's version of "O' death"? |
| Det (Lower Saxony Germany) | Posted: May 13, 2011 - 11:26 since i was 15 -(i am a lot older now) this is still a good one I...  like it.... |
| gesmith54 (Seatlle, Wa) | Posted: May 13, 2011 - 11:13 I woke up this morning with this song in my head... Can't believe you just played it. |
| greenlake | Posted: May 13, 2011 - 10:42 classic floyd....true fan knows this song when it begins! |
| xtalman (What dimension?) | Posted: Mar 11, 2011 - 07:59 Walrus_Gumbo wrote: Hey Bill, I dare you to play "Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict" off of Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma" LP. That ought to shake up your listeners!  Hoo boy that goes back to some very hazy days. |
| haresfur (Bendigo Australia) | Posted: Feb 23, 2011 - 14:16 jyoull wrote: You've got to hear it in the context of the entire album, then it all makes sense. Better yet, watch the film. There's always a bit of tension between the music and the director's vision in an album written as a sound track. |
| bam23 (Berkeley) | Posted: Sep 18, 2010 - 20:24 Walrus_Gumbo wrote: Hey Bill, I dare you to play "Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict" off of Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma" LP. That ought to shake up your listeners! For some of us it would being back strange and beautifully bizarre memories, or something similar to memories. Let's just stick with bizarre. |
| Cynaera (South of Neanderthal) | Posted: Aug 17, 2010 - 19:34 I love this song, and I also love "Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum (it's especially fun to hear in the movie "Saving Grace" with Craig Ferguson.) I have a story about "Free Four," somewhere on this thread. I still remember that old Webcor reel-to-reel recorder - it was burgundy and gold, and the logo looked like a hood ornament for a Buick... Ah, the good old days... |
| countyman (Pittsburgh) | Posted: Aug 01, 2010 - 18:55 Chunnamark wrote: I thought the same exact thing! I thought is was Norman Greenbalm for sure! I went all the way back to the first page of comments and found this error. It's Norman Greenbaum. |
| HazzeSwede (Vinyl Land) | Posted: May 30, 2010 - 01:49 kurtster wrote: 9 to a 10 after all these years ... Ok OK OKey !! nine to ten it is.  |
| Cynaera (South of Neanderthal) | Posted: May 14, 2010 - 06:52 I remember my dad gave me an ancient Webcor reel-to-reel tape deck, and I was recording music from a radio station out of Salt Lake City. I had "Kentucky Woman" by Deep Purple, and right after it was this song by Floyd. And then "Heavy Disguise" by Strawbs, and then "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen" by (GASP!) The Raiders. Well, I never said my taste in music was predictable!  I miss those days... Thanks for playing this one! |
| shutter (You can't get here from there) | Posted: May 14, 2010 - 06:44 Crank it up!!!! |
| sirdroseph (Tokyo) | Posted: Apr 28, 2010 - 09:10 Another of my rotating favorite Floyd tunes!!  |
| jmsmy (Music Town, Klein, Texas) | Posted: Apr 12, 2010 - 12:10 another great pink floyd song about being stuck in a rock band |
| Businessgypsy (Deepest, Darkest Florida) | Posted: Mar 27, 2010 - 17:59 Walrus_Gumbo wrote: Hey Bill, That was my introduction to Pink Floyd as a little sprog in South Louisiana, followed by Careful with that ax, Eugene!I dare you to play "Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict" off of Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma" LP. That ought to shake up your listeners! |
| ddbz (The Midwest) | Posted: Mar 11, 2010 - 21:26 yes! the vocals not lyrics......... the FUN |
| GriffinMN (Minneapolis) | Posted: Mar 11, 2010 - 21:25 There you go! Or the first side of AHM! Breakfast anyone? Bill - I have NEVER found a radio station that played the pantheon of PF! I love it. Love it. |
| Walrus_Gumbo | Posted: Mar 11, 2010 - 21:21 Hey Bill, I dare you to play "Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict" off of Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma" LP. That ought to shake up your listeners! |
| xtalman (What dimension?) | Posted: Feb 08, 2010 - 08:34 kurtster wrote: 9 to a 10 after all these years ... I am in full agreement!! |
| IrieTom (Brunswick, NY) | Posted: Feb 08, 2010 - 08:31 I'd like to second that motion johnsf wrote: It's great to hear Pink Floyd. Please consider adding Wot's... Uh the Deal? as it's one of my favorites from this album. |