Pink Floyd: Any Colour You Like

Today’s Friday Flipside, “Any Colour you Like,” comes from Pink Floyd’s 1973 landmark album “Dark Side of the Moon.” It was the “B” side to the LP’s hit single, “Money.” This instrumental was composed by three of the band’s members: guitarist David Gilmour, keyboardist Richard Wright, and drummer Nick Mason.

Bassist Roger Waters, the unofficial leader of the band, contributed bass but not to the writing the song – one of the few he did not have a part in during these years. For some strange reason, David Gilmour’s name is in all caps on the American single release.

This instrumental starts with Richard Wright playing an EMS VCS 3 synthesizer. This British made synth had three oscillators with one being a low frequency oscillator. The VCS 3 was used by a host of acts notably The Who and The Alan Parson’s Project.

In addition to a dry signal, the synth track was channeled through a tape loop of considerable length to give the keyboard its characteristic delay. This is on both ends of the song which has David Gilmour’s guitar and him scat singing in unison with the licks he is playing. Because of this, the working title of the song was “Scat Section.” In some references, the song is referenced as “Breathe (Reprise).”

The chorus effect on Gilmour’s guitar was created with Univox Uni-Vibe pedal. Like with most of “Dark Side of the Moon,” the stereo separation on this song is part of “Any Colour you Like’s” attraction.