Composition
This song serves as the album's climax and features a loud, repetitive melody that builds up, then ends with a very quiet outro. When the main instrumentation ends at 1:30, the sound of a heartbeat from the first track, "Speak to Me", appears, which appears again in 9/8, and gradually fades to silence.
The song consists of a repeating four chord pattern: D major, D over C in the bass (a compound chord usually notated as "D/C".), B-flat major seventh ("B♭maj7" – this chord can be heard as a D minor over a B♭ bass, or "Dm/B♭", a slash chord), and A7 (with a suspended fourth resolving to the major third – notated as A7sus4 to A7). However, the arrangement adds variety. David Gilmour recorded two tracks of rhythm guitar, playing arpeggios, one in open position, and one much higher, around the tenth fret. The lower-pitched guitar part includes the open G and E strings during the B♭maj7, resulting in an added sixth and a dissonant augmented fourth. However, these notes become consonant as they sustain through to the next chord, A7. The quartet of female backing singers vary their parts, rising in volume, and echoing some of Roger Waters' lyrics, as the piece builds in intensity. On the last repetition of the chord progression, the B♭maj7 leads directly to a climax on D major, resulting in a "brightening" effect (known as the Picardy third), as the aforementioned implication of D minor in the B♭maj7 chord shifts to the major.
The final words sung on the song and, indeed the album The Dark Side of the Moon directs the listener, "and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon." Waters explained the meaning of these words as well as the entire song by asserting:
| “ | "I don't see it as a riddle. The album uses the sun and the moon as symbols; the light and the dark; the good and the bad; the life force as opposed to the death force. I think it's a very simple statement saying that all the good things life can offer are there for us to grasp, but that the influence of some dark force in our natures prevents us from seizing them. The song addresses the listener and says that if you, the listener, are affected by that force, and if that force is a worry to you, well I feel exactly the same too. The line 'I'll see you on the dark side of the moon' is me speaking to the listener, saying, 'I know you have these bad feelings and impulses because I do too, and one of the ways I can make direct contact with you is to share with you the fact that I feel bad sometimes." | ” |
Paul McCartney was one of the people interviewed by Waters as part of his efforts to develop dialogue to accompany certain songs on the album. His interview was not used, but Abbey Road Studios doorman Gerry O'Driscoll's was. His full answer to the question "What is 'the dark side of the moon'?", part of which is heard in "Eclipse", was:
"There is no dark side in the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark. (The only thing that makes it look light is the sun.)"
Read more about this topic: Eclipse (Pink Floyd Song)
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