When Clare Tolley went into the studio to record her now legendary vocals, Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky” Highlights of 1973 dark side of the moonneither the singer nor the band were particularly impressed with each other. David Gilmour recalled this moment in an interview on the 30th anniversary of the album’s release:
Claire Tory didn’t seem to have much of a role. She was Alan Parsons’ idea. We wanted to ride the girl there and scream with orgasm. Alan had worked with her before so we gave her a try. And she was great. We had to encourage her a little. We gave her a dynamic hint: “Maybe you want to play this song quietly and this song louder.” She probably did six takes, and then we edited the final performance out of all the parts. It wasn’t done in one take.
When asked a follow-up question, “What did she look like?” Gilmore answered, “She looked like a nice British housewife.”
Mr. Tory was not blessed with many stars. “If it had been the Kinks, I would have been overjoyed,” she later said. She also remembers the session quite differently. “They had no idea what they wanted,” she says. When she was told that “no words were needed,” she decided to “pretend to be a tool.” I remember her canceling the session after a few takes, saying, “Let’s just give it a try.”
this Rashomon In addition to misremembering, this scenario also involved legal questions about who composed the song’s melody and vocal concept, which was ultimately ruled in Tory’s favor in 2004, giving her the right to pay royalties.
Even after the huge success of the album and two subsequent tours, she clearly had no intention of becoming a touring member of the band. Still, while Tory may not have matched Gilmour’s physical preference for female singers and may not have thought much of Pink Floyd, she has appeared live with various versions of them over the years, including playing a show at London’s Rainbow Theater just months after the album’s release (and above). Tory then appeared again in 1987, this time alongside Roger Waters at Wembley Stadium. KAOS on the road tour.
Tory then joined David Gilmour’s Pink Floyd’s Great Gig in the Sky at Knebworth in 1990. I don’t think she looks like the British housewife in the opening concert video. At least as much as the rest of the band resembles her middle-aged British husband. But 17 years after she stepped into the studio with little knowledge of who Pink Floyd were or how that fateful session would turn out, she’s still singing those soaring vocals.
Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on the site in 2020.
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Hear how Clare Tory’s vocals on Pink Floyd’s ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ transformed this song from pretty good to truly great
How conflict helped create Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ and its legendary guitar solo
Listen to Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky” played on a theremin.
Listen to the lost recording of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ with jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli
josh jones I’m a writer and musician based in Durham, North Carolina.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
