Pink Floyd: Fearless

Did someone say it’s Friday, well I better pick a flipside. Pink Floyd’s sixth album “Meddle,” which I have on reel-to-reel tape (remember this?), was considered by many their finest album prior 1973’s release of “Dark Side of the Moon.” The album was released on EMI’s Harvest Records in October 1971. As I’ve said in the past, my favorite early Floyd album was their third LP “More.” But I digress.

Not known for single releases, Pink Floyd’s labels in the early years often released the obligatory 45 rpm record in conjunction with album releases. These were more prominent with their first LP, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” which differed in the choice of songs from the British release. For “Meddle,” only one single was issued in North America: “One of these Days” backed with “Fearless.”

As the album was issued on Harvest (through Capitol), it was unusual that the single was issued on Capitol. This was probably done because Capitol was the better known, parent label. This was probably done because radio programmers were very superficial. Our selection is the album version of “Fearless,” as the single edit is not available on YouTube.

Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the song also features a chant of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” several places in the song, but it is prominent at the end. This was supplied from a recording of fans of the Liverpool Football Club. “You’ll Never Walk Alone’’ became the official theme song of the club because of the hit recording by fellow Liverpudlians Gerry and the Pacemakers. Rodgers and Hammerstein received credit on both album and single.

David Gilmour sings lead. His guitar is tuned in Spanish tuning; this open “G” tuning was taught to him by his former mentor and Floyd predecessor Syd Barrett. You occasionally will hear “Fearless” on album radio, as it was one of the favorite selections from “Meddle.”