10 Perfect Rock Songs That Don't Have Any Lyrics
4. The Great Gig in the Sky - Pink Floyd
When Pink Floyd went in to create Dark Side of the Moon, they already had the first pieces of the album in place. After woodshedding these songs both on the live stage and in the rehearsal room, there's a certain aura about the final versions that occupies a world of its own, with the main themes of the record being centered around lunacy and what causes people to go mad. And when you've reached that point of no return, there's no real way to get out that emotion other than scream.
As the band were assembling material for the record, The Great Gig in the Sky was originally a vamp that Richard Wright had when going through chords on the piano. The whole thing sounded beautiful and acted well as its own piece, but the magic ingredient was when they brought Clare Torry in to sing over it. Before people talk about this not being an instrumental in the truest sense, there aren't any real lyrics to the song, as Clare just screams throughout most of the track, going through bluesy runs with her voice while being instructed by the band to think about death as she interpreted different parts of the music.
While she was originally hired as a session musician, Clare eventually got her own writing credit on this song for the kind of acrobatics that she put her voice through, and when you hear it she deserves it. There are many bands that have accomplished vocalists in their arsenal, but this might be the purest form of rock and roll using the voice as a real instrument in the band.