Pink Floyd Lyrics, Themes & Meanings: One Slip

One Slip 5:03
(written by Gilmour, Manzanera)

Lyrics:
A restless eye across a weary room
A glazed look and I was on the road to ruin
The music played and played as we whirled without end
No hint, no word her honor to defend

I will, I will, she sighed to my request
And then she tossed her mane
While my resolve was put to the test
Then drowned in desire, our souls on fire
I led the way to the funeral pyre
And without a thought of the consequence
I gave in to my decadence

One slip, and down the hole we fall
It seems to take no time at all
A momentary lapse of reason
That binds a life for a life
A small regret, you won't forget
There'll be no sleep in here tonight

Was it love or was it the idea of being in love?
Or was it the hand of fate
That seemed to fit just like a glove?
The moment slipped by
And soon the seeds were sown
The year grew late
And neither one wanted to remain alone

One slip, and down the hole we fall
It seems to take no time at all
A momentary lapse of reason
That binds a life to a life
The one regret, you will never forget
There'll be no sleep in here tonight

This song, considered one of the more important on the album, is a regretful and speculative song of hindsight concerning a sexual encounter which resulted in pregnancy, thus binding 'a life to a life.' One Slip also included a lyric which provided the album with its title. Phil Manzanera, the guitarist from the band Roxy Music, was a key contributor on this tune.

Dave Gilmour: "Phil Manzanera's a friend of mine; most of the music for One Slip came from him. We spent a couple of days throwing ideas around and this was the one that fitted the album best. I personally get uncomfortable going out on choruses. I tend to avoid it. We didn't quite do it on One Slip, which was going that way. In the end we did a chorus then went out with an instrumental. To me, [the former] is so much the pop formula that I try to avoid it." [TAP 47]

Jon Carin: "When Dave gets involved with different people and situations, it brings out different aspects of his personality. Working with Phil Manzanera on One Slip, he wrote lyrics that he might not have ordinarily written." [Schaffner 289]

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