"Childhood's End" is a song from
Pink Floyd's 1972 album ''
Obscured by Clouds
''Obscured by Clouds'' is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 2 June 1972 by Harvest and Capitol Records. It serves as the soundtrack for the French film '' La Vallée'', by Barbet Schroeder. I ...
''. It was the last Pink Floyd song to be composed entirely by
David Gilmour, as well as the last to feature lyrics written by him, until ''
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
''A Momentary Lapse of Reason'' is the thirteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in the UK on 7 September 1987 by EMI and the following day in the US on Columbia. It was recorded primarily on guitarist ...
'' in 1987. The song gets its title from the 1953
science-fiction novel of the same name by
Arthur C. Clarke, though the theme of the song shares little with the story. The 2016 remixed version of "Childhood's End" which appears in ''
The Early Years 1965–1972
''The Early Years 1965–1972'' is a box set that details the early work of the English rock band Pink Floyd released on 11 November 2016. It was released by Pink Floyd Records with distribution held by Warner Music for the UK and Europe and So ...
'' box set was released as the second single to promote the box set in October 2016.
Live
"Childhood's End" was performed live during Pink Floyd's European tour in late 1972 and at a few shows in March 1973 on their next North American tour. The live versions usually featured a fairly long instrumental section not found in the studio version, with an exception being the last version played on 10 March 1973 at
Kent State University
Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...
, when they stuck to the studio arrangement. The live versions were also performed in
F-sharp minor, a step higher than the studio version (
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
The E natural minor scale is:
:
Changes needed ...
).
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 Harr ...
resurrected the song for their 2019 and 2022 tours.
Personnel
*
David Gilmour – lead vocals,
acoustic and
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
s
*
Roger Waters – bass guitar
*
Richard Wright –
Hammond organ,
EMS VCS 3
The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for ''Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3'') is a portable analog synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited (EMS) in 1969.
EMS release ...
*
Nick Mason – drums
References
Pink Floyd songs
1972 songs
Songs written by David Gilmour
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
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