"The Nile Song", written by

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

and sung by

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

, is the second song from

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

's 1969 album ''

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

'', the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released as a single in 1969 (only in France, Japan and New Zealand), and included on the 1971 compilation album ''

Relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

''. While Pink Floyd never played the song in concert,

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets are an English rock band formed in 2018 to perform the early music of Pink Floyd. The band comprises the Pink Floyd drummer and co-founder Nick Mason, the bassist Guy Pratt, the guitarists Gary Kemp and Lee Har ...

performed it in 2018. While the rest of the ''More'' album was issued in true stereo, "The Nile Song" was mixed in mono and processed into

Duophonic Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...

stereo for release. A proper mono mix was eventually issued on the album's 2011 CD remaster.

Composition

Andy Kellman of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

feels that "The Nile Song" is "one of the heaviest songs the band ever recorded". The

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

is a series of

modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...

s, beginning at A and then rising a whole step with each repeat, cycling through six different keys, returning to the starting point of A and continuing this pattern as the song fades out. The song's style has been described as heavy metal,

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, di ...

and

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

Personnel

– lead vocals, guitar *

– bass *

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason, (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He is the only member to feature on every Pink Floyd album, and the only constant member since its formation in ...

– drums

Covers

"The Nile Song" was covered by: *

The Human Instinct The Human Instinct are a New Zealand blues rock band that has been active since the late 1960s. The band currently consists of Maurice Greer (lead vocals and stand-up drummer), Phil Pritchard (guitar), Joel Haines (guitar) and Tony Baird (bass) ...

, on their 1971 album '' Pins In It''. * The

Necros Necros was an early American hardcore punk band from Maumee, Ohio, although they are usually identified with the Detroit music scene. They were the first band to record for Touch and Go Records. History Necros was formed in mid-1975 by then-t ...

, on their 1986 album ''Tangled Up''. * Red Temple Spirits, on their 1988 album '' Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon''. *

The Melvins ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, live at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1993. *

Panthers Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

, on their 2004 album ''Things Are Strange''. * The Morlocks, on their 1991 album ''Wake Me When I'm Dead''. * Voivod, on their 1993 album '' The Outer Limits''. * Dreadnaught, on their 2001 EP ''

One Piece Missing Dreadnaught is a metal band from Melbourne, Australia. The group was formed out of the remnants of some Tasmanian bands including Fridge from Launceston who recorded an album in 1994. The band recorded a single titled ''Flowers'' in 1995 th ...

''. *

Gov't Mule Gov't Mule (pronounced "Government Mule") is an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 as a side project of the Allman Brothers Band by guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody. Fans often refer to Gov't Mule simply as ''Mule''. ...

, on their 2018 tour

Dark Side of the Mule ''Dark Side of the Mule'' is a live album by Gov't Mule composed of covers of Pink Floyd songs. The album was recorded in 2008 during a three-hour gig at Boston's Orpheum Theatre on Halloween night. The title is a pun on ''The Dark Side of the ...

References

Pink Floyd songs 1969 singles Songs about Egypt Songs about rivers British hard rock songs British heavy metal songs Songs written by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by Richard Wright (musician) Song recordings produced by Nick Mason 1969 songs Harvest Records singles {{1960s-rock-song-stub