Brain Damage/Eclipse | The Dark Side of the Moon Project

this video is brought to you by curiositystream if you sign up to curiositystream with the link in the description you'll also get access to nebula where you can listen to episodes of my new podcast ghost notes early madness insanity lunacy human societies have given mental illness a lot of labels over the years most of these terms are packed with stigma and have done more to harm than help those that struggle with mental illness and with each new label people have ascribed new causes people have thought mental illness was caused by supernatural forces by imbalances in the humors or even by staring at the moon in dark side of the moon pink floyd put forth their own take on mental illness they say that it is an inevitable result of our modern existence pink floyd have come to this conclusion in part because of their own personal experiences through their friend and bandmate sid barrett sid barrett was a musical visionary and a founding member of pink floyd he fronted the band for their first album piper at the gates of dawn and contributed to their second a saucer full of secrets he was by all accounts a cheerful quirky man and was relentlessly creative but in the fall of 1967 all of this began to change barrett became more distant and withdrawn he started having memory issues not recognizing people he'd known for years and he would nod off into deep depressions and catatonic states soon enough this mental health was affecting pink floyd barrett would show up at practice without his guitar and sometimes he would even be so far gone that he couldn't hold his guitar pick so in 1968 pink floyd had to fire their friend from the band barrett's condition declined over the next few years and by 1972 he had disappeared entirely from public life but even though he was no longer a part of the band sid barrett's presence remained in pink floyd's music throughout the rest of their career in dark side of the moon sid barrett enters the stage in the opening moments of brain damage brain damage was one of the earliest songs that roger waters wrote for dark side of the moon and he admitted that he was working through his feelings about sid barrett while writing it speaking with classic rock magazine he said the grass was the square in between river cam and king's college chapel the lunatic was sid really he was obviously in my mind throughout brain damage roger waters works through the perception of lunacy in society why is it that those who step off the prescribed path those who are willing to walk on the grass are ostracized from society in the second verse we see an even more insidious pattern developing [Music] the rest of dark side of the moon has painted a bleak image of our modern capitalist society we're thrust into a world against our will and find ourselves whisked into a lightning pace existence we fight each other over petty squabbles while the old power structures remain we chase time pray for money and make constant meaningless choices all with the specter of death hanging over our head and when all this breaks you and you can no longer function under the alienation of the modern world you're either forced to conform or locked away from society entirely declarations of mental illness have long been used as an excuse to discredit and lock up people challenging unjust systems in brain damage waters is associating himself as someone willing to challenge our social structures with his mentally ill friend sid barrett and well it is specifically about barrett if we pull back it's about more than just him waters is challenging a society that is devoid of empathy for any on the fringes the verses of brain damage and their exploration of lunacy gave dark side of the moon its original subtitle a piece for assorted lunatics and fittingly it's the chorus of brain damage that gives the album its final name [Music] [Applause] the chorus of brain damage is an outreach to those on the fringes those who live on the dark side of the moon roger waters and all of pink floyd are admitting that the modern age has driven them to their wits end as well it's beaten them down and left them despondent stolen their friends and left them with demons of their own water says as much in pink floyd bricks in the wall 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 the descent to the dark side of the moon plays out in the music of brain damage as well in the verses it's slow and quiet but the chorus is a triumphant stereo soundscape calling back to the huge coral arrangements during the album's most spiritual moments [Music] and brain damage builds to a stirring conclusion an epigraph of sorts for sid barrett the moon has a history as a symbol of mental illness the word lunatic even comes from the latin lunaticus which means of the moon so for pink floyd the dark side of the moon is representative of those that don't get the light of society one of the questions roger waters asked his interviewees while making the album was what do you think of the dark side of the moon this was the response from road manager peter watts and his wife patricia and with that thought pink floyd explode into the finale of dark side of the moon when the lyrics start we're thrown back to the beginning of the album a warning put forth in its opening suite all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever [Music] after exploring all that society asks of you exploring all that the human mind demands of itself pink floyd are reminding you that in the end you are the sum of your experiences and actions and nothing more eclipse is a mantra of sorts and the music plays into this religiosity it's aided by stunning vocal arrangements provided by doris troy leslie duncan liza strike and barry st john [Music] [Music] eclipse was one of the last pieces written for dark side of the moon the band knew the album needed a finale and so waters looked back on the album and wrote a piece that would encompass all of the themes and tie it all together he explained these themes in pink floyd bricks in the wall the album uses the sun and the moon as symbols the light in 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 throughout dark side of the moon pink floyd have given a broad overview of what it meant to be alive in their era and they did so using masterful music that pushed technological boundaries and changed music history forever through stunning vocal performances flawless guitar and impeccable production pink floyd have brought us from birth to death and beyond they've shown us the difficult realities of the world in which we live and they've reached out an arm and offered to help us and to share in our sorrow and in the final moments of the album pink floyd deliver their ultimate thesis [Music] is [Music] it's a simple message but one that still resonates to this day you only get one life so make sure you use it well cherish the time that you have and be aware of the way that you are capable of changing the world show empathy for your other human beings and be aware of the thousand forces constantly pushing and pulling on your own life and never forget that while it may seem distant now you never know when the eclipse will come and even if you've lived your whole life in the sun you never know when you might find yourself on the dark side of the moon there is no dark side in the moon really matter of fact it's all dark wow i honestly can't believe that the dark side of the moon project is done now this is a project that i dreamed up when polyphonic was in its infancy and i worked on for the better part of a year so first off i just want to thank all of you guys for your incredible support watching these videos and i really want to thank those of you who have signed up for nebula because i can honestly say that nebula made this project possible and if you keep an eye out on nebula you'll see some more bonus content for this coming in the next few weeks a lot of people have asked for a compiled version where you can watch the whole project in one sitting and that's something i'm currently putting together for nebula alongside that i'm also going to be releasing a commentary version of the project so you can learn how i made it happen so keep an eye out there and if you're not signed up to nebula well obviously i recommend it it's a streaming platform created by and for independent creators like myself it helps me experiment outside of the confines of youtube and help support ambitious projects like this one and nebula is continuing to expand every day i'm really stoked to tell you guys that nebula has podcasts now including one featuring yours truly it's called ghost notes and it's a podcast with me and my friend corey from 12tone each episode will look at different musical topics from our unique perspectives we look at our different approaches to music the different ways we think about it and we just generally explore and celebrate this strange thing that we all love so much ghost notes will be coming to other podcast platforms soon but the first episode is available on nebula now and all future episodes will be up there first and if you want to sign up to nebula why not get access to a bunch of fantastic documentaries while you're at it anyone who signs up to curiosity stream with the link in the description will get free access to nebula not only that following that link will give you 26 off an annual subscription that means you can go check out the body versus coronavirus a new documentary that looks at how our immune system fights this thing that has drastically changed all of our lives and if that's not interesting to you i'm sure you can find something else there's thousands of documentaries on everything from music and science to crime and history and art and culture really it's a fantastic selection so get started today by going to curiositystream.com polyphonic following that link will get you a great deal and it'll also help support nebula which means more projects like this from me in the future so thank you guys all so much for watching i'm really happy that i was able to do this project and i i'm glad that you guys have enjoyed it you

Channel: Polyphonic

Views: 99,426

Rating: 4.9805827 out of 5

Keywords: polyphonic, music, video essay

Id: -Mk2ZdW626I

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020