Keep Talking
For the 2016 Cyrus Villanueva song of the same name, see "Keep Talking (Cyrus song)"
"Keep Talking" | ||||
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Single by Pink Floyd | ||||
Released | 12 March 1994 | |||
Recorded |
1993 at Astoria (London, United Kingdom) | |||
Genre | Progressive rock, space rock | |||
Length |
4:55 (single edit) 6:08 (album version) 5:57 (Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd version) | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer(s) | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour | |||
Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
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"Keep Talking" | ||||
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Single by Pink Floyd | ||||
from the album The Division Bell | ||||
A-side |
"High Hopes" "Keep Talking" | |||
B-side | "One of These Days (Live)" | |||
Format | 7", 12", CD (Maxi) | |||
Label |
EMI (UK) Columbia (US) | |||
Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
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"Keep Talking" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1994 album, The Division Bell.
Recording
Written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Polly Samson, it was sung by Gilmour and also features samples of Stephen Hawking's electronic voice, taken from a BT television advertisement (this same commercial would be sampled again in "Talkin' Hawkin'" from Pink Floyd's next and final studio album, The Endless River).[1] Gilmour chose to use the speech after crying to the commercial, which he described as "the most powerful piece of television advertising that I’ve ever seen in my life.”[2] The song also makes some use of the talk box guitar effect.
Release
The song was the first single to be released from the album in the United States in March 1994. It was the group's third #1 hit on the Album Rock Tracks chart (a chart published by Billboard magazine which measures radio play in the USA, and is not a measure of record sales), staying atop for six weeks.
The song was included on the 2001 compilation, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.[3]
Live
The song was performed during the 1994 The Division Bell Tour and live versions, taken from different shows, were included in both the album Pulse and the video of the same name.
The song was sampled by Wiz Khalifa on the title track of his 2009 mixtape Burn After Rolling.
Quotes
It's more of a wish [that all problems can be solved through discussion, as 'Keep Talking' suggests] than a belief. [laughs]— David Gilmour, 1994[4]
Well, I guess I experiment more than I think I do. I had a Zoom [effects box] in my control room one day and I was mucking about with something. Suddenly, I thought I should stick the E-bow on the strings and see what would happen. It sounded great, so we started writing a little duet for the E-bowed acoustic guitar [a Gibson J-200] and a keyboard. We never finished the piece, but Jon Carin [keyboardist] decided to sample the E-bowed guitar part. We kept the sample and ended up using it as a loop on "Take It Back", and again on "Keep Talking".— David Gilmour, 1994[4]
Stephen Hawking 1994: "For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination: we learned to talk".
"It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking".
Personnel
- Pink Floyd
- David Gilmour – lead vocals, guitar, talk box, EBow
- Richard Wright – Hammond organ and synthesizer
- Nick Mason – drums and percussion
- Additional musicians
- Tim Renwick – rhythm guitars
- Gary Wallis – percussion
- Jon Carin – Programming and additional keyboards
- Guy Pratt – bass
- Bob Ezrin – arrangement, percussion
- Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyon, Claudia Fontaine (backing vocals on Pulse) – backing vocals
- Stephen Hawking's computer voices says "For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination: we learned to talk" and "It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking".
Charts
Chart (1994) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[5] | 26 |
US Billboard Album Rock Tracks[6] | 1 |
Release history
Region | Date | Format | Label | Catalog no. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States[7] | March 12, 1994 | CD-R (Modern rock/Alternative radio) | Columbia Records | CSK 6228 |
United Kingdom[8] | March 28, 1994 | CD-R (Contemporary hit radio, BBC Radio 1 rotation) | EMI | PINK 1 |
October 10, 1994 | CDEMDJ 342 |
References
- ↑ (liner notes from Echoes)
- ↑ Michaels, Sean (2014-10-08). "Stephen Hawking sampled on Pink Floyd's The Endless River". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
- ↑ "Echoes: the album credits". Pink Floyd. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- 1 2 "Sounds of Silence" interview, Guitar World, September 1994, retrieved 28 July 2010
- ↑ "Pink Floyd: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company.
- ↑ "Artist Chart History (Singles) – Pink Floyd". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
- ↑ "US CD Singles". Pink Floyd Discography Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ↑ "Pink Floyd". VintageCD. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
Preceded by "No Excuses" by Alice in Chains |
Billboard Album Rock Tracks number-one single April 9 – May 20, 1994 |
Succeeded by "Shine" by Collective Soul |