In 1969, David Gilmour wrote and recorded his first composition for Pink Floyd, a three-part instrumental and lyrical trip called “The Narrow Way.” Released on the band’s fourth album Ummagumma—and their second without former singer Syd Barrett—the Gilmour suite was the only Pink Floyd track ever recorded featuring the guitarist performing on his own.
Throughout “The Narrow Way,” which clocks in at 12 minutes and 17 seconds, Gilmour handles the vocals and guitar, along with bass, piano, percussion, organ, mellotron, and drums. Though Ummagumma faired well on the UK Albums chart at No. 5 and even broke onto the Billboard 200 at No. 74, Gilmour expressed regret over his solo track.
“Well, we’d decided to make the damn album, and each of us to do a piece of music on our own,” said Gilmour in 1983, “It was just desperation really, trying to think of something to do, to write by myself. I’d never written anything before, I just went into a studio and started waffling about, taking bits and pieces together. I haven’t heard it in years. I’ve no idea what it’s like.”
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Closing side two on the album, the first two parts of “The Narrow Way” are instrumentals, performed by Gilmour.
Ummagumma also featured the band’s collective compositions “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” and “A Saucerful of Secrets,” along with Roger Waters‘ “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” Richard Wright’s four-part “Sysyphus,” and Nick Mason’s closing “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party.”
A live version of the Barrett-penned “Astronomy Domine,” which originally appeared on the band’s 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, also opens the album.
[RELATED: 3 Songs You Didn’t Know David Gilmour Wrote for Other Artists]
Along with his Ummagumma contribution, Gilmour also expressed dissatisfaction with their follow-up album Atom Heart Mother from 1970. “I think both are pretty horrible,” said Gilmour to Der Spiegel in 1995 of both albums. “Well, the live disc of ‘Ummagumma’ might be all right, but even that isn’t recorded well.”
‘Part III’
By the third part of “The Narrow Way,” Gilmour inserts lyrics. Within its somber tone, the song falls between hope and darkness and a subtle meditation on mortality.
Following the path as it leads towards
The darkness in the north
Weary stranger’s faces show their sympathy
They’ve seen that hope before
And if you want to stay for a little bit
Rest your aching limbs for a little bit
For you the night is beckoning
And now you can’t delay
You hear the night birds calling you
But you can’t catch the words they say
Close your ears and eyes, be on your way
[RELATED: 6 of David Gilmour’s Favorite Pink Floyd Songs]
Sex and a New Dragonfly Species
In 2015 scientists discovered a new species of damselfly, similar to a dragonfly, under the genus, Umma, in Africa. They named the damselfly Umma gumma after the Pink Floyd album.
The term ummagumma was also a slang for sex first made up by the band’s friend Iain “Emo” Moore.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
