Mother (Pink Floyd song)
| "Mother" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Pink Floyd from the album The Wall | |
| Published | Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd |
| Released | 30 November 1979 (UK) 8 December 1979 (US) |
| Recorded | April–November 1979 |
| Genre | Progressive folk, progressive rock |
| Length | 5:32 |
| Label |
Harvest (UK) Columbia (US) |
| Writer(s) | Roger Waters |
| Producer(s) | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters |
"Mother" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appears on The Wall album, released in 1979. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.
"Mother" is 5:35 in length. The majority of the song is in G Major, though the chorus is predominantly a plagal cadence in C Major. The song is notable for its varied use of time signatures, such as 5/8 and 9/8. Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason found these time-signature changes difficult to learn, and, with the band recording on a very tight schedule, ceded the drumming duties to session drummer Jeff Porcaro.
The song begins quietly with solo voice and a single acoustic guitar, and gradually expands its instrumentation to include, by the song's end, reed organ, piano, drums, electric bass, and electric guitar. The song has a minimal introduction, consisting only of a sharp inhalation and rapid exhalation before the first verses are sung by Roger Waters. With exceptions (as noted above), the majority of the verses are in 4/4, or "common time".
David Gilmour sings a chorus in 12/8 (or "compound quadruple meter"), in a narrative response to the first set of lyrics. Then a guitar solo follows. Waters sings another verse, which is once more followed by Gilmour's chorus (with different lyrics). Finally, the song concludes with an arrangement stripped back down to one acoustic guitar and Waters's voice, and a ritardando in which Waters sings, "Mother did it need to be so high?", a reference to the metaphorical wall constructed by the character Pink. The song ends on the subdominant, C Major, which may create an "unfinished" or "dissatisfying" feeling.
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