“Money” / “Any Colour You Like” – Doyle’s Space: Music Hall of Fame – SOS Award

“Money” is one of Pink Floyd’s most iconic songs, originally appearing on their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. Written by Roger Waters, the song was released as a single in the United States in May 1973 and later in other territories. “Money” is notable for its distinctive 7/4 time signature during the verses — quite unusual for rock music —

before shifting to a more standard 4/4 during the guitar solo. The track opens with a memorable loop of cash registers, coins, and tearing paper, an idea Waters developed using tape splicing techniques. This sound collage sets the tone for a song steeped in cynicism about the corrupting influence of wealth and consumerism.

Musically, “Money” features David Gilmour’s snarling vocals and searing guitar solos, Richard Wright’s bluesy keyboard contributions, Waters’ thick bass riff (often cited as one of the most recognizable in rock history), and Nick Mason’s solid, crisp drumming. The song’s central riff was reportedly composed by Waters at home,

where he also conceptualized the sound effects. Lyrically, “Money” mocks materialism, with a tongue-in-cheek depiction of greed, yet by the end it confronts the hypocrisy of those who claim disdain for wealth but still desire it. One of the most remarkable aspects of “Money” is its extended guitar solo, an explosive centerpiece that showcases David Gilmour’s blues-influenced phrasing and technical precision.

Interestingly, Gilmour’s guitar solo is actually an overdub — meaning it was layered on top of the original backing track after the main recording. In this case, Gilmour recorded two guitar solos: the first was played cleanly, aligning with the song’s tough, dry groove; the second was laid over the top with a heavier, more distorted tone.

The combination of these two solos created a thick, multi-textured sound that helped “Money” feel simultaneously raw and massive. This overdubbing was typical of Pink Floyd’s increasingly sophisticated studio techniques during the Dark Side of the Moon sessions at Abbey Road Studios, with Gilmour using a custom

HiWatt amp and an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff pedal¹ to achieve the creamy sustain and grit heard in the solo. While Gilmour’s solo rages, another critical feature of “Money” emerges: the background voices that drift in and out of the song. These are snippets of interviews that the band conducted during the album’s recording process. Roger Waters devised a clever idea: he had various people around Abbey Road — roadies, staff members, even members of Wings like Paul and Linda McCartney —

answer a set of provocative, open-ended questions written on cards. These questions dealt with violence, madness, death, and money. Although Paul McCartney’s responses were deemed too self-conscious to use, many others made the cut. For “Money,” the voices heard include remarks like roadie Peter Watts’s wife Patricia: “I was certainly in the right. That geezer was cruising for a bruising”, interwoven into the track during the instrumental breaks and coda. The fragmented voices contribute to the album’s broader theme of alienation and societal breakdown.

They are not scripted lines but authentic reactions, making the song — and the album — feel unsettlingly real. The speaking voices in “Money” help underline the idea that people’s relationship with wealth and materialism is messy, confused, and often hypocritical. The snippets were skillfully edited by engineer Alan Parsons, who helped Pink Floyd integrate these voices seamlessly into the overall soundscape.

Particularly, the voice saying “I don’t know, I was really drunk at the time” came from Wings guitarist Henry McCullough who offered many of the best and most quotable responses. By layering Gilmour’s fiery, overdubbed guitar solos with these half-heard confessions, Pink Floyd created a song that was not just musically groundbreaking, but also atmospherically dense and psychologically rich. “Money” thus goes far beyond being just a catchy rock hit —

it captures the complicated human emotions tied to greed, regret, and moral compromise, all wrapped inside one of the band’s tightest grooves. There are several notable versions of “Money.” The album version runs about 6:23, with a long instrumental midsection featuring a saxophone solo by Dick Parry and an extended guitar workout.

The single version was edited down to about 3:55 for radio play, trimming the solos significantly. A re-recorded version was made by David Gilmour for his solo 2006 tour and a new recording by Roger Waters was released in 2023 for The Dark Side of the Moon Redux. Over the years, “Money” has ranked highly in various “greatest songs” lists, such as Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and remains one of Pink Floyd’s signature tracks, often performed live during solo tours by Gilmour and Waters alike.

The B-side, “Any Colour You Like,” is an instrumental piece also taken from The Dark Side of the Moon. The track was credited collectively to David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason. It’s a swirling, hypnotic jam largely built around Gilmour’s guitar and Wright’s keyboards, drenched in echo and effects that were cutting-edge for the time.

“Any Colour You Like” flows seamlessly out of “Us and Them” on the album and into “Brain Damage,” helping to sustain the LP’s concept of life’s pressures and psychological fragmentation. The “meaning” of “Any Colour You Like” is often discussed more in symbolic terms because it lacks lyrics.

Roger Waters once explained the title as a reference to a common phrase used by British car dealers in the 1950s: customers could have a car in “any colour you like — as long as it’s black,” highlighting the illusion of choice in a consumer society. Musically, the piece showcases Gilmour’s technique of running two guitar solos through

different tape delay machines to create a complex, layered sound — a technical marvel for its time. Although it wasn’t a chart hit separately, “Any Colour You Like” has become a fan favorite and a testament to Pink Floyd’s musical inventiveness. It was performed live during The Dark Side of the Moon tours and in later shows like Pulse (1995).

A notable live version appears on Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) and Pulse, though they vary the structure a bit compared to the original.