S.O.D. "The Great Gig in the Sky" by Pink Floyd

9/30/2015     Let's hear it for female vocalists!!!  Leslie Duncan, Doris Troy, and Liza Strike are backing vocalists for the group and are featured on many records.  For this song however, as a suggestion by album engineer Alan Parsons,  25 y/o songwriter and session vocalist Clare Torry was brought in not really knowing what she was supposed to do.  Even the band was a bit stumped on which direction to go with the music and vocals. After a few tries with "yeah yeah yeah" and "baby baby", which wasn't what the band wanted, Torry made the decision to turn her voice into an instrument.  Even though the improvisation was remarkable and the band was stunned by her performance, she was apologetic and never thought her vocals would make the cut.  After the album was completed, Torry spotted it at a local record store and made a purchase, seeing her name was credited.  

     The music was composed by then keyboardist Richard Wright and began as an organ instrumental with spoken words from the Bible entitled "The Mortality Sequence" or "The Religion Song."  It is considered to be one of his greatest achievements.  From the 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon" which spent more weeks-916-on the Billboard album charts than any other album in history.  Coming in 2nd and nowhere close to this was Johnny Mathis's Greatest Hits at 490 weeks.  Third was the soundtrack from My Fair Lady.  Enjoy this tune, it is truly amazing.