Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii is a 1972 film featuring Pink Floyd performing six songs in the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy. It was directed by Adrian Maben and recorded in the month of October with 24 studio-quality tracks without a live audience.
The performances of "Echoes," "A Saucerful of Secrets," and "One of These Days" were filmed from October 4, 1971 to October 7, 1971. The remaining songs were filmed in a Paris studio, along with additional front projection footage for insertion into the Pompeii performances. The sequences in Paris were filmed in late 1971/early 1972, and can be distinguished by the absence of Richard Wright's beard. This version was released in cinemas in September 1972 and is also included on the DVD edition as an extra feature.
In August 1974, another version was released combining the original film with supposed recording sessions of The Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios. These sessions were actually staged for the film, as the recording of the album had been completed when these sessions were filmed in January 1973 and the band was mixing the album at the time.
Pink Floyd - Echoes (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 tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.
And no-one called us to the land
And no-one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards 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 move on
And no-one forces down our eyes
And no-one speaks and no-one tries
And 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
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning
And no-one sings me lullabies
And no-one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky
"Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" (Lyrics)
Little by little the night turns around.
Counting the leaves which tremble at dawn
Lotuses lean on each other in yearning
Under the eaves the swallow is resting
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
Over the mountain watching the watcher.
Breaking the darkness, waking the grapevine.
One inch of love is one inch of shadow
Love is the shadow that ripens the wine.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.