"And I am not frightened of dying any time will do
I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it you've gotta go sometime."
"If you can hear this whispering you are dying."
"I never said I was frightened of dying."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


Lyrics submitted by AgathaKavka, edited by Mellow_Harsher, tobystoast, quinoman

The Great Gig in the Sky song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

118 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +8
    General Comment

    So in the Dark Side DVD I have that has interviews with each of the Floyd members and people who worked with them, I was surprised at how they came up with this song. As you can tell after listening to the album, the albums main focuses are Death, Money, and Time... So for "Great Gig in the Sky" they wanted it so you could FEEL the mourning... they wanted someone with power. So they called up Clare Torry and had her listen to the musical part of it ONCE and said "All right, we want you to think of despair, dreadfulness, no hope... death.. and we want you to explain it with your voice"... so she went in the sound studio and belted it out... she comes out all embarassed "Sorry, guys, that was horrible." the members of Pink Floyd are stunned and even after trying different ways, they choose the very first recording Clare did with only listening to it once. This song is about Death... for the person dying.. and the person who's dying's family...

    kdiddy33on February 28, 2006   Link
  • +7
    General Comment

    This song, Is as far as I can tell, a Lyrical Interpretation of Death, sorrow, happines, Joy, pain, all at the same time.

    regbon June 08, 2002   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    to me its putting a different mood on death besides FEAR like most people. because you CANNOT ESCAPE IT! but thats why he feels that way. because... you cannot escape it. and how different people react to certian circumstances, and there are just so many emotions in the singing. it really does make you feel like you are flying when u listen to it. like you are in the sky... dying. i love it. its so pretty.!

    bimOliciouson May 17, 2004   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    My answer: READ THE LYRICS ABOVE!!! That's it... don't try to listen to Clare Torry's singing and counter it into your opinion...

    Don't be scared to die because you will die and there is no choice in the matter.

    The singing is all improv done in the studio... she came in, they played the song, she sang over it with some improv (she made it all up on the spot). She was actually upset when she found out the song she had just recorded was called The Great Gig in the Sky and its about death.

    But listen to the music and you can include that in your opinion on the song.

    berman619on April 15, 2008   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    This song is just perfect. There are no words to describe how overwhelming is the feeling that we are all going to die some day... so that's why this song is without words. Just a series of screams, deep, full of anguish. This song is just saying... "death is so frightening and fantastic at the same time. It's beyond words." The title refers to going to "Heaven", which is "the great gig in the sky".

    Also, please stop with the Wizard of Oz already. I've done the thing, and the coincidences are not that amazing. It takes focus away from the song, which is way cooler.

    Outernationaliston December 16, 2006   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I'm not frightened of dying either. Not at all.

    Great gig makes it sound like going to heaven anyway

    Hungryforalynchinon February 13, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Extraordinary mixture of fear, culminating sexual energy, depression and agitation - all combined in Claire Torry's dazzling vocalizing performance. Almost like having sex.

    emptiespaceon April 08, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    The spoken words on DSOTM were mostly from interviews done with guys in and around the studio when the album was being recorded. I think Alan Parsons (the producer) actually did the interviews but I could be mistaken. He'd start the interview innocuously with questions like "what's your favorite color?" and then move on to "when was the last time you were violent?", "were you in the right?" and "are you afraid to die?" The doorman at the studio contributed the "I'm not frightened of dying, any time'll do I don't mind" part, and also "There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark" which appears at the very end. And yes, kdiddy33 is correct. TGGITS was originally recorded as just a piano track, but Parsons thought it lacked something. He hunted up Clare Torrey, with whom he had been working on another project, and who happened to be in the building at the time, and told her to think about despair, hopelessness and death and sing whatever came into her head. She nailed it in one take, then apologized for not being able to come up with anything decent. Parsons and the band were utterly, jaw-droppingly speechless. I still laugh when I hear that story. (and yes, she recently sued Pink Floyd for royalties and writing credits. They settled out of court and her name now appears on the re-release of DSOTM as co-writer with Richard Wright.)

    crazymanmichaelon July 17, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think the main theme of this song is death, because of the references to dying in the spoken section and the title "The great gig in the sky", which is possibly a reference to a heaven or afterlife.

    CrazyFoolon April 10, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song is about after you die, and what you think about before you die. The great gig in the sky means heaven, and how even when you die, you still have music to play (hence the great GIG in the sky). And all that happens when you die is another show, the longest one.

    thedanman344on April 13, 2006   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Album art
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.