It’s hard to remember now, since for a long time we’ve heard a lot about the Pink Floyd feud between Roger Waters and David Gilmour, but there was a long stretch in the ‘70s when the band was somehow both massively successful and yet somewhat anonymous, at least in terms of their individual members. They didn’t appear on album covers, and they switched off the lead singing duties, so they didn’t necessarily have a frontman, per se.
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That’s one of the reasons Rick Wright’s contributions to Floyd often get a bit lost in the shuffle. The keyboardist was as responsible as anyone for the band’s trademark atmospheric sound on classic albums like Meddle and The Dark Side of the Moon. Beyond that, he also rose to the occasion many times as a songwriter. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at five times when Wright’s writing added a great deal to the Pink Floyd catalog.
1. ”Summer ‘68” (from the album Atom Heart Mother, 1970)
Floyd was still struggling to find their identity as recording artists in 1970, a few years after the departure of their original leader, Syd Barrett. They were lost somewhere between long, proggy song suites and shorter, pop-based material. Atom Heart Mother was a kind of combination of both, with the title track gobbling up the whole first side, joined by a few shorter songs and another behemoth (“Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast”) on Side Two. Those shorter, individual songs, one each written by Wright, Gilmour, and Waters, are the best parts of the album. “Summer ’68,” sung and composed by Wright, is a high point, as it effortlessly combines dreamy acoustic sections with moments of high pomp and circumstance.
2. “Echoes” (from the album Meddle, 1971)
The first thing you hear on “Echoes” is Wright’s piano reverberating through amplifiers that make it sound otherworldly. This landmark track was credited to all four Floyd members (Wright, Waters, Gilmour, and Nick Mason) and is an example of how they combined improvisatory flights of fancy with studio wizardry to mesmerizing effect. Wright’s organ is one of the song’s constants, hovering over the proceedings like a spooky overseer. And his Farfisa solo late in the track is one of the distinguishing elements of this monumental effort. If you’re looking for the dry run that paved the way to the success of The Dark Side of the Moon, look no further than this track, and Wright’s composing plays a key role.
[RELATED: Planetary Misalignment: The Meaning Behind “Echoes” by Pink Floyd]
3. “The Great Gig in the Sky” (from the album The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)
Even though Roger Waters was composing all the lyrics by the time of The Dark Side of the Moon, Wright was still playing a key role in composing the soundscapes that serve as a foundation for those words. “The Great Gig in the Sky,” an instrumental piece written by Wright, was meant to evoke both the placidity of one’s final repose and the torment of not knowing what lies after death. There are sections where the whole band is involved, and then there are quieter parts where it’s just Wright playing plaintively behind singer Clare Torry. Torry, who eventually received a songwriting credit in conjunction with Wright, used her voice as a wordless instrument, as she and Wright create one of the most indelible moments on the record.
4. “Us and Them” (from the album The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)
Many folks give credit for the success of this song to Roger Waters and his simple yet cutting lyrics about the inanities of war, and deservedly so. Yet those words couldn’t have found a better match than the music composed entirely by Wright. He originally wrote the song when the band was asked for music for the 1969 movie Zabriskie Point, only to have it rejected by the film’s director Michelangelo Antonioni. His loss was Floyd’s gain, as Waters remembered the piece and thought it perfect for Dark Side. Wright combines elegantly sad chords in the verses with urgent, furious music in the refrains.
5. “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (from the album Wish You Were Here, 1975)
In the late ‘70s, Roger Waters assumed more control over the direction of Pink Floyd’s music, and Wright would largely be relegated to being a backing player before being fired from the band. (He would later resurface when Waters left and David Gilmour became Floyd’s de facto leader.) As it turns out, Wright’s final songwriting credit with the band before the firing was one of his most unforgettable efforts with Floyd: “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.” Lyrically, Waters attempts to pay tribute to Syd Barrett while also making sense of the decline of his mental health. The music, written by Waters, Gilmour, and Wright, manages to capture all those conflicting feelings. And in the suite’s final moments, Wright gets the last word with beautiful synthesizer work that acts as a kind of gentle benediction for his friend.
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