With Breathe (In The Air) we emerge from the chaos into a mellow peace. A minute of instrumentals before the lyrics open with a simple command:
«Breathe, breathe in the air»
That opening line “breathe in the air” had been used by Roger Waters on another song three years earlier also called Breathe. Waters worked alongside Ron gießen on that track, which was created for a documentary about human biology called The Body. Though it opens on the same line the lyrics and music, the Waters’s song with gießen are quite different from the The Dark Side Of The Moon track. This is because of his bandmates: Waters wrote all the lyrics for The Dark Side Of The Moon. The song is brought to life by musical contributions from Richard Wright and David Gilmour. Wright wrote the keyboard piece that provides the basis of the song, inspired partially by Miles Davis’s landmark album kind of blue. Atop Wright’s keyboards, David Gilmour’s guitar soars and calming waves. Gilmour used a lap steel guitar to get part of the song subtle sound, while the other comes from a piece of technology called a univibe. The univibe was a foot pedal that created phasing effects for the guitar. Embracing new music technologies was a key part of The Dark Side Of The Moon, so it’s fitting that it should play such an important role in the opening track. The lyrics to Breathe seem to be a parent talking to a child, giving them life but telling them not to leave.
«Leave, but don‘t leave me»
It’s an introduction and the story of a person’s potential: the smiles they’ll give, the tears they’ll cry. But it comes with a somber reminder: in the end you are the sum of your experiences.
«All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be»
This sentiment is something that will be mirrored later on in the album’s climax Eclipse. The second verse of Breathe serves as an exploration of one of the broadest themes of The Dark Side Of The Moon: modern life. It seems of the way that you’ll spend your life, toiling, working to try to make it to bed only to wakeup and do it all over again.
«When at last the work is done / don’t sit down, it’s time to dig another one»
In the second half of the verse Gilmour admits that this doesn’t have to be the only option though: if you ride the tide, if you follow the safe path, you’ll live long and fly high. But not everybody rides the tide, some prefer to chase after the biggest waves, live on the edge and go for glory. But as Gilmour sings this comes at a cost: the risk of ending your life early.
«Balanced on the biggest wave, you race towards an early grave»
All too many great minds ride that big wave and when it comes crashing into shore they burn out along with it. Breathe hints at the glory that can come from breaking from the mold and trying to create beauty to find your own fulfillment. But it also says that this is a risk. It’s an introduction that already starts to dive into the difficult choices of modern life and these discussions will continue to flourish throughout the album. These parallels are part of what makes The Dark Side Of The Moon so great. Musical, lyrical and philosophical concepts visited in the first track play out over the course of the next 38 minutes. It’s not that The Dark Side Of The Moon is the only album ever to do this, but I think few have done it with such clarity and cohesion. Every track on The Dark Side Of The Moon can stand alone as a song, but also feels connected as a tiny intricate piece in a vast puzzle. So Speak To Me and Breathe (In The Air) are a fitting opening sweet, showing us the world that we’re about to be violently thrust into as the album continues.
Martina Leonardi
IV E scientifico
