David Gilmour – ‘Echoes’ Unplugged At Abbey Road

Echoes Unplugged

Widely (and highly!) regarded as one of the best and most innovative rock guitarists of the last 50 years, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is a force to be reckoned with! He’s a first class guitarist, writing complex guitar parts that are both textured and musical; the only thing better than witnessing David’s technical skill is watching him translate that technical skill to an acoustic guitar.

This acoustic, unplugged performance of Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’ at Abbey Road Studios is a testament to the man’s innovation and pure gift for arranging and composing.

With ‘Echoes’, Roger Waters said he was attempting to describe “The potential that human beings have for recognizing each other’s humanity and responding to it, with empathy rather than antipathy.”

This performance even features the late Richard Wright, an integral part of Pink Floyd’s sound!

He contributes the organ and keyboard effects, and his quiet intensity on the keys was such a great counterbalance to David’s brash approach to guitar playing.

Easily one of my favorite Gilmour performances, hands down – if that opening acoustic guitar lick doesn’t get you, then surely the intimate setting and relaxed jam session feel at one of the most iconic recording studios in history will!

+ 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 showed us to the land
And no-one knows the where 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