10 Greatest Rock And Roll Collab Songs
6. The Great Gig In the Sky - Pink Floyd and Clare Torry
For the diehard Pink Floyd fans, this probably shouldn't count as an actual collaboration. When creating the skeleton for Dark Side of the Moon, most of the Great Gig in the Sky had already been written, with Clare Torry being the session singer called in to deliver the haunted vocal passages in the song. If your session work goes like this though, you really deserve the writing credit on the sleeve.
In fact, you could still consider this just an instrumental, since most of what Clare is doing feels more like she's using her voice like an instrument rather than delivering a message. When she got to the studio, she was told to think about the concept of death in the booth and vocalize whatever comes to mind. Rather than the traditional background vocals, you can practically hear her go through an existential nightmare on the record, starting with some bluesy runs before screaming like a banshee on the back half of the song.
Even though this was meant to add just another texture for Pink Floyd to work with, Clare's performance became the centerpiece of the song, wiping out every one of the band members and making something that felt like a showstopping vocal performance taking place in the underworld. As much as she's the star of the show, it wasn't until decades later that she actually got the co-writing credit alongside the rest of Pink Floyd. Which makes sense. I mean, if you had an existential meltdown while on the job, you might be entitled to financial compensation as well.