[6][12]”The Great Gig In The Sky” was a complete 90 degree turn from the previous songs, it involves only Richard Wright on piano and a singer hired by Pink Floyd called “Clare Torry”. Clare worked out that instead of singing lyrics she could just use her voice as the instrument, resulting in what is possibly the most famous Pink Floyd song other than “Another Brick In The Wall pt2”. Clare Torry was uncredited during the initial release but now is credited on any of the copies released after 2005. The song itself is about death. With “death” in mind, the sounds made by Clare are supposed to symbolise the agony, sadness and eventual acceptance of coming to terms with dying.
Albeit a very sombre song, I find that the “Great Gig” is one of those songs you can’t help but fall in love with. In my own thoughts, I believe that, after coming right after “Time” this is where the lesson of wasting time in the previous song catches up with us and we… well…die. Though considering the song clocks in at a staggering 4:44, I believe this song symbolises death as a journey, possibly into the afterlife and not symbolising it as the end of everything, since this song wouldn’t exist if that were the case.