Point Me at the Sky

"Point Me at the Sky"
Single by Pink Floyd
B-side "Careful with That Axe, Eugene"
Released 17 December 1968 (1968-12-17)
Recorded 4 November 1968
Genre
Length 3:35
Label Columbia (EMI) (UK)
Capitol Records (Canada)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Norman Smith
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"Let There Be More Light"
(1968)		 "Point Me at the Sky"
(1968)		 "The Nile Song"
(1969)

"Let There Be More Light"
(1968)		 "Point Me at the Sky"
(1968)		 "The Nile Song"
(1969)

"Point Me at the Sky" is the fifth United Kingdom single by the British band Pink Floyd, released on 17 December 1968.[1][2] The song was an early collaboration by bassist Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour.[3] The single was not released in the United States, but was in Canada, Japan, and some European countries.

The vocals on the verse of the song are sung by Gilmour, and the bridge vocals are shared between Gilmour and Waters.

Promotional U.K. copies and some foreign releases mistakenly printed the title "Point Me to the Sky" on the label and or sleeve.

Other releases

"Point Me at the Sky" has since become the rarest of all officially released Pink Floyd recordings. It was not intended for album release, resulting in the recording being mixed in mono only.

A different performance of "Point Me at the Sky" was recorded and broadcast by the BBC in late 1968; this version was included in The Early Years 1965–1972 box set in 2016.

The single did not chart in the U.K. The B-side, "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", became far more popular, as it was later included on two different Pink Floyd albums and played regularly at concerts through the early 1970s.

It was left out of the 1971 collection Relics, though it was re-issued on the 1992 CD collection The Early Singles, a bonus disc in the Shine On box set. The song was eventually released in the United States in 1978 on a now rare promotional album, "A Harvest Sampler" (catalog number SPRO-8795/6). This album contained an otherwise unavailable re-channeled stereo version which was derived from the mono mix.

The first widespread release of "Point Me at the Sky" occurred in 2016, when it was included with The Early Years 1965–1972 box set and the sister release Cre/ation: The Early Years 1967–1972, a 2 CD highlight compilation of the full box set.[4]

Video and photos

The group made a promotional film for the song in which they posed in goggles and flight outfits with a vintage aeroplane, registration G-ANKB (a De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth[5]) A still picture from this photo session was included in promotional materials given away with the U.K. single and on a picture sleeve version released in The Netherlands. Alternate still shots from the same session appeared in the artwork for the 1973 LP A Nice Pair and the booklet for 1992 remastered CD of A Saucerful of Secrets. The film also features another vintage aircraft, G-ADBO (an AVRO 504N[6]), plus scenes of trains at Paddington Station.

Personnel

  • David Gilmour – electric guitars, electric slide guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (verses, second half of choruses)
  • Roger Waters – bass, backing vocals, lead vocals (first half of chorus and final verse)
  • Rick Wright – Hammond organ, Farfisa organ, piano, glockenspiel, backing vocals
  • Nick Mason – drums, maracas, temple blocks

Legacy

Roger Waters has called "Point Me at the Sky" a "notable failure" of the post-Barrett era.[7] Following its lack of chart success, the band decided to stop releasing singles in the U.K. altogether and concentrate only on albums, since, according to Waters, "we were no bloody good at it."[8] The song was played by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in 2018.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  2. ↑ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
  3. ↑ Harvest Records. "Label credit on single". Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Grow, Kory (28 July 2016). "Pink Floyd Detail Massive 27-Disc 'Early Years' Box Set". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  5. ↑ "Air-Britain : G-ANKB". Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "Aircraft G-ADBO, Av Roe And Co Ltd AVRO 504N C/N K2354". Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  7. ↑ The Pink Floyd Story: Which One's Pink? (television production). BBC. We all tried to write singles. 'Point Me at the Sky' was one notable failure.
  8. ↑ "Omnibus – Pink Floyd". November 1994. 60 minutes in. BBC. Missing or empty |series= (help)
  9. ↑ https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nick-mason/2018/the-half-moon-london-england-3bed3048.html
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