Pink Floyd Lyrics, Themes & Meanings: Eclipse (A Piece For Assorted Lunatics)

Eclipse (A Piece For Assorted Lunatics)
Performed live 21 January 1972
* Unrecorded (in this form)

OVERVIEW
The extended conceptual piece that would eventually become the album The Dark Side of the Moon was originally devised in late November or early December of 1971 in preparation for a new British tour starting on 20 January 1972. Over the course of just six weeks, the concept and the bulk of the music was written and rehearsed. On 20 January the 42 minute piece now entitled Eclipse was ready to be unofficially premiered, but because of technical problems, only the first half was performed. The following night it was performed in full for the first time. The piece's official debut, to which the press were invited, came nearly a month later on 17 February 1972 at the Rainbow Theatre.

The Dark Side of the Moon album was a highly technological piece of work, and the most noticeable overall different between it and Eclipse is that the latter is devoid of the numerous sound effects, speech samples, and made-up-in-the-studio synthesizer tracks which create much of the album's distinctive sound. It has a heavier rock 'n' roll feel tempered by slower tempos in many places. In addition, the earliest performances lacked the stirring finale (also called Eclipse) added in February. For more information, see the Overview section in the Dark Side of the Moon entry.

The full title listed at the top of this entry is as printed on the official sheet music released by EMI. Rather than trace the development of songs here, I have given the full story of each song in its respective entry in The Dark Side of the Moon (with the exception of Ecclesiastes).