2001 A Floyd Odyssey: Echoes

During my late teen years, few bands had influenced me as profoundly as Pink Floyd had and Echoes was, and remains, one of my all time favourite songs. The album "Meddle" was released in 1971, three years after Kubrick's seminal film "2001: A Space Odyssey" but rumour has it that Kubrick first approached Pink Floyd to write the soundtrack to the film; a request which they refused. Upon viewing the film however, they regretted this decision and the rumour goes on to say that Echoes was recorded to score with the last section of 2001 as a sign of respect to the director's work. The video below shows that the two actually sync pretty well.



Of course the members of the band always denied that the synchronization was intentional and there's no reason to dispute that but it is true that Roger Waters is sometimes quoted as saying that the band's failure to contribute music to 2001's official score was his "greatest regret".

Echoes (Part 1) Lyrics:

Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the where's or why's
And something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb toward the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand
The best I can

And no one calls us to the Lord
And no one forces down our eyes
And no one speaks and no one tries
No one flies around the sun
Cloudless, everyday you fall
Upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Comes streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no one sings me lulabyes
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky