Astronomy Domine

"Astronomy Domine" (alternative "Astronomy Dominé"^[a]) is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd.^[7][8] The song, written and composed by the original vocalist/guitarist Syd Barrett, is the opening track on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967).^[7] The lead vocal was sung by Barrett and the keyboard player Richard Wright.^[7] Its working title was "Astronomy Dominé (An Astral Chant)". Domine (vocative of Dominus, Latin for "Oh Lord") is a word frequently used in Gregorian chants.

"Astronomy Domine"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Released	5 August 1967
Recorded	11–13 April 1967
Genre	Space rock[1][2] psychedelic rock[3] proto-prog[4] acid rock[5]
Length	4:12 (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn version) 8:32 (Ummagumma live version) 4:20 (Pulse live version)
Label	EMI Columbia (UK) Tower (US)
Songwriter(s)	Syd Barrett
Producer(s)	Norman Smith
Audio video
"Astronomy Domine" on YouTube

Music

Sounds and references

The song was seen as Pink Floyd's first foray into space rock^[1] (along with "Interstellar Overdrive"), although band members later disparaged this term.^{[citation needed]} The song opens with the voice of one of their managers at the time, Peter Jenner, reading the names of planets, stars and galaxies through a megaphone.^[7][9] A barely audible line, "Pluto was not discovered till 1930", can be heard in the megaphonic mix. Barrett's Fender Esquire emerges and grows louder. At 0:19, a rapid beeping sound is heard. At 0:26, Nick Mason's drum fills begin and Barrett plays the introductory figure. Keyboard player Richard Wright's Farfisa organ is mixed into the background. Barrett's lyrics about space support the theme in the song, mentioning the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune as well as Uranian moons Oberon, Miranda and Titania, and Saturn's moon Titan. Barrett and Wright provide lead vocals. Roger Waters' bass guitar line, Wright's Farfisa organ and Barrett's slide guitar then dominate, with Jenner's megaphone recitation re-emerging from the mix for a time.

Music progression

The verse has an unusual chord progression, all in major chords: E, E♭, G and A. The chorus is entirely chromatic, descending directly from A to D on guitar, bass guitar and falsetto singing, down one semitone every three beats. In the introduction, Barrett takes an ordinary open E major chord and moves the fretted notes down one semitone, resulting in an E♭ major chord superimposed onto an open E minor chord, fretting E♭ and B♭ notes along with the open E, G, B and high-E strings of the guitar; the G functions both as major third to the E♭ chord and minor third to the E chord. In the live version heard on Ummagumma (1969), the post-Barrett band, with David Gilmour on guitar, normalised the introduction into straight E and E♭ major chords, also normalising the timing of the introduction,^[10] but, in 1994, Gilmour began performing a version closer to the original (as heard on Pulse) that he carried into his solo career.

Barrett's Fender Esquire is played through a Binson echo machine, creating psychedelic delay effects. The track is the band's only overt "space rock" song, though a group-composed, abstract instrumental was titled "Interstellar Overdrive".^[11] Waters, in an interview with Nick Sedgewick, described "Astronomy Dominé" as "the sum total" of Barrett's writing about space, "yet there's this whole fucking mystique about how he was the father of it all".^[12]

Alternative and live versions

"Astronomy Domine" was a popular live piece, regularly included in the band's concerts.^[7] It is the first track on the live side of the album Ummagumma, released in 1969.^[7] This version reflects the band's more progressive style of that era.^[13] The song is extended by including the first verse twice, and the instrumental middle section,^[13] before becoming louder again by the last verse. The lead vocals are shared between Gilmour and Wright.^[13] While Wright sang the higher harmony in the studio version, Gilmour sang the higher harmony live. The Ummagumma live version can also be found replacing the studio version on the American release of A Nice Pair, a 1973 double album compiling the band's first two albums.

The last confirmed time the song was performed with Waters was on 20 June 1971 at the Palaeur in Rome, Italy, as an encore.^[14] When an audience member called out for it during the group's US tour later that year, Waters retorted they would never play the song again.^[15] It reappeared as the first song in some sets on the band's 1994 tour.^[7][16] A version from a concert in Miami appears as the B-side on the band's "Take It Back" single, and a version from one of the London concerts appears on the live album Pulse. Gilmour played the song at some of his appearances during his solo 2006 tour, again sharing the lead vocal with fellow Floyd member Wright.^[16] He said of playing the song live for the first time in over 20 years:

[I hear you've dusted off "Astronomy Dominé" for the shows.] Yes, and it needed a bit of dusting, I can tell you! I don't think we'd played it since 1968.^[17]

The track is also on the 2001 Pink Floyd compilation album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.^[18]

The Pulse version reverts to the original 4-minute length, with Gilmour and Wright taking lead vocals as in Ummagumma. This was the only song on the 1994 tour with Gilmour, Mason and Wright performing without backing musicians, with only Guy Pratt adding bass guitar and vocals.

The song was also played by Gilmour and his solo band (which included Wright with Pratt on bass guitar and Steve DiStanislao on drums) at the Abbey Road Studios sessions, which has been released as part of a CD/DVD On an Island package. "Astronomy Dominé" was performed during the last few dates of Gilmour's On an Island tour, and is on his Remember That Night and Live in Gdańsk DVDs.

Gilmour has also inserted the song in the setlist of his Rattle That Lock world tour. A version of it performed in South America appears on the live release Live at Pompeii.

The song was played by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in 2018^[19] and features on the live release Live at the Roundhouse.

Music video

In 1968, Pink Floyd travelled to Belgium and appeared on Tienerklanken where they filmed a lip-synced promotional film for "Astronomy Dominé",^[20] as well as "See Emily Play", "The Scarecrow", "Apples and Oranges", "Paint Box", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Corporal Clegg". Barrett does not appear in these films, as he had been replaced by Gilmour who lip-synced Barrett's voice in the "Astronomy Dominé" video.

Personnel

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn version Syd Barrett – lead and slide guitar (Fender Esquire), low vocals Richard Wright – Farfisa organ, high vocals Roger Waters – bass guitar (Rickenbacker 4001) Nick Mason – drums Peter Jenner – intro vocalisations[9] Ummagumma live version David Gilmour – guitar, high vocals Richard Wright – Farfisa organ, low vocals Roger Waters – bass guitar, backing vocals Nick Mason – drums Live at the Roundhouse live version Nick Mason – drums, percussion Guy Pratt – vocals, bass Gary Kemp – vocals, guitar Lee Harris – guitar, vocals Dom Beken – keyboards

Pulse live version David Gilmour – guitar, vocals Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals Nick Mason – drums with: Guy Pratt – bass guitar, vocals Live in Gdańsk live version David Gilmour – guitar, vocals Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals Jon Carin – keyboards, vocals Steve DiStanislao – drums Phil Manzanera – guitar Guy Pratt – bass guitar, vocals

Cultural references

• The album The Dark Side of the Moog X (2005) by Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook is subtitled "Astro Know Me Domina".
• The Canadian heavy metal band Voivod covered "Astronomy Dominé" on their 1989 album Nothingface.^[3]
• The Brazilian band Violeta de Outono covered the song on their live album Seventh Brings Return: A Tribute to Syd Barrett (2009).
• The song was covered by The Claypool Lennon Delirium on their EP Lime and Limpid Green (2017).

Notes

1. The "e" is spelled with an accent on the back cover of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.^[6]

References

1. Manning, Toby (2006). The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 180. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
2. Reisch, George A. (2011). Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene!. Open Court. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8126-9745-2.
3. Ramirez, Carlos (17 October 2013). "10 Best Metal Cover Songs". Noisecreep. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
4. TeamRock (6 November 2016). "The History of Prog in 50 Albums". Team Rock.
5. Reynolds, Simon (2016). Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy. London: Faber & Faber. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-571-30171-3.
6. Guesdon, J.M.; Margotin, P. (2017). Pink Floyd All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Running Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-316-43923-7. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
7. Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
8. Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
9. Palacios, Julian (2010). Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe (Rev. ed.). London: Plexus. pp. 206–207. ISBN 978-0-85965-431-9.
10. Pink Floyd: Anthology (1980 Warner Bros. Publications, Inc., Secaucus N.J.) Transcribes "Astronomy Dominé" as heard on Ummagumma
11. Robbins, Ira A. (1991). The Trouser Press Record Guide. Collier Books. ISBN 0-02-036361-3
    - Schaffner, Nicholas (1992). Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey. Dell. ISBN 0-385-30684-9, p.66.
12. Sedgewick, Nick, "A Rambling Conversation with Roger Waters, Concerning All This and That", Wish You Were Here songbook, ISBN 0-7119-1029-4 [USA ISBN 0-8256-1079-6]
13. Manning, Toby (2006). "The Albums". The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 160. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
14. Povey 2007, p. 146.
15. Povey 2007, p. 149.
16. Palacios, Julian (2010). Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe (Rev. ed.). London: Plexus. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-85965-431-9.
17. Fuller, Graham (July 1994). "The Color of Floyd". Interview Magazine. pp. 20–21. Archived from the original on 30 July 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
18. "Echoes: the album credits". Pink Floyd. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
19. "Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets Concert Setlist at The Half Moon, London on May 24, 2018 | setlist.fm". setlist.fm.
20. Shea, Stuart (2009). Pink Floyd FAQ: Everything Left to Know... and More!. New York: Backbeat Books. p. Astronomy Domine (1968, post-Barrett). ISBN 978-0-87930-950-3.

• Povey, Glenn (2007). Echoes : The Complete History of Pink Floyd. Mind Head Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9554624-0-5.

External links

• 1970 performance, from KQED
• AMG song review