Set The Controls for The Heart of The Sun

When we are having a bad day in our work place or at home, a

favourite song from our favourite artist or band can always cheer us up.
The name of my favourite band is Pink Floyed. And my most favourite
song from them is Set the controls for the heart of the sun. It is from
one of their early released album A Saucerful of Secrets.

Pink Floyd were an English rock band formed in London. They

achieved international acclaim with
their progressive and psychedelic music. Distinguished by their use of
philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, extended compositions, and
elaborate live shows, they are one of the most commercially
successful and influential groups in the history of popular music. The
early Sixties. Everything is up in the air. A group of talented teenagers
from academic backgrounds in Cambridge Roger 'Syd' Barrett, Roger
Waters and David Gilmour are all keen guitarists and among many
who move to London, keen to discover more of this new world and
express themselves in it. Mainly in further education studying the
arts, architecture, music they mix with like-minded incomers in the
big city.

In 1965, Barrett and Waters meet an experimental percussionist

and an extraordinarily gifted keyboards-player Nick Mason and Rick
Wright respectively. The result is Pink Floyd, which more than 40 years
later has moved from massive to almost mythic standing. Through
several changes of personnel, through several musical phases, the band
has earned a place on the ultimate roll call of rock, along with the
Beatles, the Stones and Led Zeppelin. Their album sales have topped
250 million. With the release of 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink
Floyd abruptly went from a moderately successful acid-rock band to
one of rock music's biggest acts. The recording, in fact, remained
on Billboard's Top 200 album chart for 741 weeks, longer than any
other album in history. Along with 1979's The Wall, it established Pink
Floyd as purveyors of a distinctively dark vision. Experimenting with
concept albums and pot-friendly studio effects and breaking free of
conventional pop-song formats, Pink Floyd prefigured the progressive
rock of the Seventies and ambient music of the Eighties. Then there
was some issues with Syd Barrets mental health. In 1968 Barrett,
allegedly because of an excess of LSD experimentation, began to exhibit
ever more strange and erratic behavior. David Gilmour joined to help
with the guitar work.

Though I like all of their song, the track Set the controls for the
heart of the sun in my favourite. The album it came from is also my
favourite album. The song's recording commenced in August 1967, with
overdubs recorded in October of that year and in January
1968. According to Roger Waters, this early Pink Floyd song was the
first of his compositions that he was proud of. At his two solo concerts
at Wembley Arena in June 2002, Roger Waters performed this with Pink
Floyd drummer Nick Mason. It was the first time they'd performed
publicly together in over twenty years, during which time they'd
managed to go over a decade without speaking, despite being the best
of friends for most of their lives.
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun is a hypnotic paean to the
sun which, despite its sci-fi-resounding title, actually borrows a lot from
ancient Chinese poetry as its main inspiration. The meaning of the song
is deep and heart touching. It is about mankind reaching for the sun
and beyond that . Conquering the space and other planet. The overall
meaning of the lyrics is -And you run and you run to catch up with the
sun, but its sinking. Racing around to come up behind you again. The
sun is the same in a relative way but you're older. Shorter of breath and
one day closer to death. Every year is getting shorter; never seem to
find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of
scribbled lines. The meaning of last line Will he remember the lesson
of giving gives the conclusion of the song with a curiosity for future.
Will the mankind remember the lesson from this planet. The lesson of
giving .

Not all Pink Floyed members are alive today. Syd Barrett died in
2006 and Richard Wright in 2008. Pink Floyed released their last album
The Endless River in 7th November, 2014. The music of Pink Floyd
influenced numerous artists; David Bowie called Barrett a significant
inspiration. Other bands who cite Pink Floyd as an influence
include Queen, Tool, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Marillion, Queensrche, Ni
ne Inch Nails, the Orb and the Smashing Pumpkins. Pink Floyd were an
influence on the neo-progressive rock subgenre which emerged in the
1980s.