Speak to Me

In the pre-Dark Side live performances, this song was usually just low drumming and a heartbeat. On the album, it contains the heartbeat, followed by sounds representing things that can drive you to madness: spoken bits, a clock ticking, a cash register, coins clinking, synthesizer, then at the end, a mad shriek. It was Clare Torry that Pink Floyd used for the closing screams as the song fades to "Breathe." She is later heard on "Great Gig In The Sky."

This is Pink Floyd's only song that gives all composing credits to drummer Nick Mason, who generally didn't write the songs - he called the composition a "color sound montage." At one point Roger Waters claimed this credit was a "gift" to Mason, which didn't help band relations.

Pink Floyd's road manager Peter Watts contributed the crazed laughter on this song. The father of the actress Naomi Watts, Peter died of a heroin overdose in 1976 at age 30.