A Pillow of Winds
1971 song by Pink Floyd
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"A Pillow of Winds" is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, the second track from their sixth studio album Meddle (1971). The song, initially known as "Dave’s Guitar Thing", was recorded and produced at EMI Studios, AIR Studios, and Morgan Studios between March and July 1971. Written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, it is a slow, psychedelic, acoustic, and pastoral love ballad. Its title comes from the Chinese tile game mahjong, which Waters, Nick Mason and their wives played.
| "A Pillow of Winds" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Pink Floyd | |
| from the album Meddle | |
| Released | 5 November 1971 |
| Recorded | 21 March – July 1971 |
| Studio | EMI Studios, AIR Studios, Morgan Studios, London |
| Length | 5:13 |
| Label | Harvest |
| Songwriters | |
| Producer | Pink Floyd |
Upon Meddle's release on 5 November 1971, critics praised the soft and acoustic sound of "A Pillow of Winds", but were more mixed about Waters' lyrics. Robert Christgau lamented the use of the word "behold" in the third verse while Daniel Griffiths praised it for not using love clichés.
Recording and production
Recording of "A Pillow of Winds", known at that time as "Dave’s Guitar Thing", started on 21 March 1971 at EMI Studios (now known as Abbey Road Studios) with Peter Brown as the audio engineer and John Leckie as the assistant audio engineer. The first take that was recorded was used as the base track for the final song. On March 25, additional guitar and vibraphone tracks were recorded, where it's possible that Gilmour recorded electric slide guitar parts. On 30 March, the Abbey Road Studios 8-track tape was copied to the AIR Studios' 16-track tape, where the rest of the sessions took place. Not a lot of information is known about these sessions, although it's known that Brown and Leckie were in charge of the audio and that the group probably used them to finish the transition between "One of These Days" and the mixing of the song. "A Pillow of Winds" would be later finished at Morgan Studios on July 1971 with Rob Black as the audio engineer and Roger Quested as his assistant.[1]
Music and lyrics
Spanning a length of five minutes and thirteen seconds,[2] "A Pillow of Winds" is a slow,[3] psychedelic, acoustic,[4] and pastoral[5] love[6] ballad[7] attributed to Roger Waters and David Gilmour, which, according to writers Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin, suits Gilmour's style of folk and country music.[2] Along with "Fearless", It was the first time since 1968 with "Point Me at the Sky" that Gilmour and Waters had composed a song together.[8] It starts off with a transition from the previous track, "One of These Days", as the song's wind synthesized by an EMS VCS-3 fades out.[9] It's followed by three guitars: two acoustics and one electric that together play arpeggios.[2] Richard Wright's Hammond organ and vibraphone provide support along with Nick Mason's accompaniment that restricts him to marking the beat on his hi-hat.[10] To author Mick Cormack, the song features no real tune, and this, along with the arpeggios and the acoustic guitar's nylon strings, gives a "droning, slumbering feeling".[11] Gilmour's lead vocal features a sleepy-sounding tone,[12] Mark Blake suggests that it might suggest that the song's protagonist is going through a cannabis-induced sleep.[13]
The title of the song stems from the Chinese tile game Mahjong, which was regularly played by Waters, Mason, and their wives Judith Trim and Lindy Rutter in the south of France.[14] Guesdon and Margotin feel that Waters' lyrics give a feeling of peace, calmness and harmony. They elaborate further and argue that the lyrics can be seen "as a hymn of praise [...] to the all-powerful sun".[2] Pitchfork's Andy Cush noticed a similarity, whether intentional or not, between the first lines of the song: "A cloud of eiderdown draws around me, softening the sound; sleepytime, and I lie with my love by my side, and she’s breathing low"; and "Flaming", from the group's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), in which former member Syd Barrett, "Alone in the clouds all blue, lying on an eiderdown".[15]
Release and reception
"A Pillow of Winds" was released by Harvest Records on 5 November 1971 as the second track of the group's sixth studio album, Meddle.[16]
In a review for the album, Jean-Charles Costa of Rolling Stone described "A Pillow of Winds", along with "San Tropez", as "ozone ballads". He further described the two as "pleasant little acoustic numbers hovering over a bizarre back-drop of weird sounds".[17] Circus' Ed Kelleher calls it "softly hypnotic" and praises Wright's organ and Gilmour's guitars, arguing that the song drifts around them.[18] Waters' lyrics has a mixed reception among critics: Beats per Minute reviewer Daniel Griffiths praises Waters for not using love clichés and instead letting it "sound inherently Pink Floyd, regardless of the subject matter" [sic];[6] while Robert Cristgau laments it in his book Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), criticising the use of the word "behold" in the third verse.[19] Andy Mabbett notes that the song was never performed live, suggesting that this led to some people to perceive it as filler.[20]
Personnel
According to Guesdon and Margotin:[2]
