January 24, 2025      —–     Chart #282

Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Let’s go to the dark side of the moon today, okay? “Breathe” (sometimes called “Breathe (In the Air)“) is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. It appears on their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.

The authorship and composition of this song is credited to David Gilmour and Richard Wright for the music and Roger Waters for the lyrics. Waters said The Dark Side of the Moon “is a little adolescent and naïve in its preoccupations, but I’m not belittling it. It’s like a rather wonderful, naïve painting. ‘Breathe in the air / Don’t be afraid to care’ – that’s the opening couplet. Well, yeah, I can cop that, but it’s kind of simplistic stuff.”

The song is slow-paced and rich in texture, and features Gilmour playing the electric guitar with a Uni-Vibe and lap steel guitar with a volume pedal and several overdubs. On the original album, it is a separate track from “Speak to Me”, the sound collage that opens the first side. Since this track segues into “Breathe” via a sustained backwards piano chord, the two are conjoined on most CD versions of the album. A one-minute reprise features at the end of the song “Time”, without the slide guitar and using Farfisa organ and Wurlitzer electronic piano in place of Hammond organ and Rhodes piano.

Along with the other Pink Floyd tracks “Time” and “The Great Gig in the Sky”, “Breathe” is seen as Gilmour “carving out a more distinctive style” with the introduction of blues-based chords and solos.

Live: 

Dark Side of the Moon is one of those albums that you just put on the turntable, crank up the volume, and sit in a comfortable chair or couch with your eyes closed. Just let this music carry you away, and it will. I have found that Breathe is pretty fun to bang out on the acoustic guitar. Although that does not come close to the original recording, it can still carry me back in time. Give it a try.

Keep Rockin’,

Stan Bradshaw