{"id":11409,"date":"2022-10-14T09:15:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T13:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/?p=11409"},"modified":"2022-10-27T16:22:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:22:01","slug":"buttkickin-halloween-songs-embryo-pink-floyd-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/2022\/10\/14\/buttkickin-halloween-songs-embryo-pink-floyd-1968\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Embryo” — Pink Floyd (1968)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"All is love, is all I am
\nA ball is all I am
\nI’m so new compared with you
\nAnd I am very small<\/em><\/p>\n

Warm glow, moon bloom<\/em>
\nAlways need a little more room<\/em>
\nWaiting here seems like years<\/em>
\nNever seen the light of day…<\/em><\/p>\n

I try to avoid the obvious Pink Floyd<\/a> songs here and often fail<\/a>, but that probably speaks volumes towards how the band’s music strikes such an invasive, pervasive chord with fans.<\/p>\n

So here we go again with Embryo<\/strong>, a song that was a live-performance staple in the very early 1970s, but never included on any of the band’s proper studio albums. Nonetheless, fans can find a few live versions in The Early Years 1965-1972<\/em> collection, but the 1983 Works<\/em> compilation features a studio demo recorded in 1968. And that one we are featuring today.<\/p>\n

This song is spooky, man.<\/p>\n

Ostensibly the subject matter is straightforward enough: it’s an embryo. This intrepid cluster of cells is barely anything at all, but it’s starting to feel the most primitive of emotions, the barest scintilla of consciousness. And slowly but inexorably, it’s growing. Time is glacier, utterly frozen at first, but exponentially melting away in linear fashion.<\/p>\n

You could probably interpret the song too many ways. Quite often the cancerous tumor theory gets bandied about. Your mileage may vary. But what makes Embryo<\/strong> worthy of inclusion here are the sparse, moody, haunting arrangements and vocals. Written by Roger Waters and sung by David Gilmour, this is an ominous minor-key exercise in strip-mined existential contemplation. Simple acoustic guitar, organ, piano, and mellotron form the void of the womb, enveloping us in a gossamer veil of an unlit unknown. Over uncountable moments we drift, with barely a form, into the early morning hours just before the sunrise of Existence.<\/p>\n

Emblematic of confusion and vulnerability at their most primeval, yet accepted with neither fear nor apprehension, Embryo<\/strong> embodies the bridge from oblivion to existence in tangible musical form. And yet, the song is also a chilling reminder that this bridge inevitably returns for all, the final toll to be paid for the now vanishing gift of existence.<\/p>\n

All around I hear strange sounds
\nCome wow, wow, wowing down
\nRed the light and dark the night
\nThis love, my life is near<\/em><\/p>\n

Warm glow, moon bloom
\nAlways need a little more room
\nWaiting here seems like years
\nNever seen the light of day…<\/p>\n