The Pink Floyd Top 50 Countdown (#50-46) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends, old and new! A new list will begin today - and it involves one of my top 10 favorites groups/duos of all-time. We have already counted down the songs of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, and Led Zeppelin. We have already read the stories of the Who, the Kinks, Simon & Garfunkel, R.E.M., and Queen. That makes nine; the group that was missing is Pink Floyd. That will be remedied, starting today.

Many of Pink Floyd's albums tell stories that move through the entire album; for this reason, there are some songs that cannot be separated, because they are parts of the whole. These songs will be presented as one.

The first two (actually three, because we have a double) songs on our countdown are both from The Final Cut LP (1983), Pink Floyd's last studio album to include founding member, bass guitarist, and songwriter Roger Waters and their only album on which he alone is credited with writing and composition. It was also the only Pink Floyd album that does not feature keyboardist Richard Wright.

At #50 are two songs, that, in my opinion, go together: Southampton Dock and The Final Cut. In Southampton Dock, no other Pink Floyd member, except for Waters, participates - ex-New York Rock & Roll Ensemble founder, Michael Kamen, plays the piano and orchestrates.

Southampton Dock describes a wife, standing at a dock watching the British soldiers head off to the Falklands, reflecting on the former losses of the Second World War. The lyrics include the title of the album, "In the bottom of our hearts we felt the final cut." In a review, Patrick Schabe of PopMatters described Southampton Dock as an example of where the album works best and described the song's imagery as "subtle, poetic, and effective."

The Final Cut continues with the story; here, we have a man returned from the previous war, becoming a schoolteacher, and watching the war cries begin for the Falklands. To Waters, the Falklands war represented an enormous betrayal on the part of the British government, whose rabble-rousing for the war overlooked the terrible cost of the last one.

This song tells of a man's isolation, depression, sexual repression, and rejection. At the end of the song, he attempts suicide but "never had the nerve to make the final cut". This is almost a sequel to Nobody Home. While it’s from a different album, it continues the self-examination of the persona. This time it’s not “Pink,” but instead Roger Waters taking inventory of where he is in life and what he’s lost over the years. Another paean to his lost father, The Final Cut not only laments his losses, but also the feeling of distance that years of touring and studio time that Waters feels has eroded his family connections. Regardless of how any Floyd fan feels, this is a great song on a great album.

At #49 is Paranoid Eyes, also from The Final Cut and also just Waters and studio musicians, without the rest of Pink Floyd. A song with a fine melody and very effective vocals, the song is about the difficult life of the returning war veteran. The song's style offers a taste of Waters' imminent solo career.

At #48 is a song with a strange title, from Obscured by Clouds (1972), the album that immediately preceded Dark Side Of The Moon. The song is titled Wots … Uh The Deal, a straightforward acoustic piece written by Gilmour and Waters. The title is reported to be a phrase often used by roadie Chris Adamson, while the song describes taking advantage of certain opportunities life gives and how they affect a person later on.

Pink Floyd had an underrated acoustic rock period in between tapping out on psych-rock excess with Atom Heart Mother and going full future-rock with Dark Side. Wot's... Uh the Deal is a lovely mid-tempo strummer from the mostly delightful Obscured By Clouds that pictures a version of Floyd casual and sun-soaked and preternaturally tuneful enough to have been part of the California Sound.

At #47 is Fat Old Sun, from Atom Heart Mother (1970), the band's first #1 album in the UK. It's a dreamy, woozy Gilmour tune that cheekily nicks a Jim Morrison line ("summer Sunday and a year") from Love Street. The song is very laid back, quite folky and pastoral and it’s got that fantastic guitar solo that builds up towards the end. Only Gilmour and keyboardist Rick Wright appear on the studio version of the song.

On stage, the song was transformed from a folk ballad into an extended progressive rock jam, leading off from the blues-rock solo after the last refrain. Extended jams would usually follow, including free-form drumming, organ solos and revised chord progressions based on the "Sing to me" vocal line.

Finally for today, at #46, is a Syd Barrett composition called Matilda Mother, from Pink Floyd's debut album, called The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). It is sung mostly by Richard Wright with Barrett joining in on choruses and singing the whole last verse. It was the first song recorded for the album.

The lyrics quote fragments of fairy tales as read from a book to the singer by his mother ("read(ing) the scribbly black", referring to writing in a book as a child sees it), and in the chorus, he implores her to "tell me more". Matilda Mother represents a common theme in Barrett's work: his nostalgia for childhood and awareness that it could not be regained.

The song begins with an unusual bass and organ interlude, the verses are majestic and the chorus gets whimsical; it's one of the great early Floyd songs.

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; it was a very good week, with a 21% increase in visits compared to the already much-visited last week. All of last week's stories did magnificently, but they were bested by a story first published on May 2016; the story of Momus. Also in the top 5 (like forever) the George Maharis story. This story is the gift that keeps on giving.

As far as countries are concerned, this week's most notable story is that for the first time in ages the United States actually increased its all-time percentage; naturally, it sits comfortably at #1 for the week. Neighboring Canada also had an increase in its all-time percentage, as well as France. Greece, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Cyprus kept theirs steady, while Russia, Italy, and Belgium experienced a drop. Also, we have four countries (Australia, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, and Spain) in this week's top 10 that are not in the all-time top 10, although all four have been there in the past and may return again soon.

Here are this week's Top 10 countries.

1. the United States

2. Greece

3. the United Kingdom

4. France

5. Canada

6. Australia

7. Cyprus

8. the Netherlands

9. the United Arab Emirates

10. Spain

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 36.8%

2. the United Kingdom = 9.7%

3. France = 9.1%

4. Greece = 8.8%

5. Russia = 4.5%

6. Germany = 3.1%

7. Cyprus = 1.40%

8. Italy = 1.36%

9. Canada = 0.92%

10. Belgium = 0.58%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!