Who are the Voices, People and Laughter in Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” Album?

We at Bluescentric are honored to work with Pink Floyd to create band t-shirts and merchandise that reflect the ethos of one of history’s greatest bands. Over the years, one thing get asked constantly is who the people were talking in Dark Side? So to answer this question, we’ve compiled this comprehensive list of songfacts and personnel who appeared on Dark Side of the Moon.

Pink Floyd recorded Dark Side of the Moon primarily at Abbey Road Studios in London between June 1972 and January 1973, with Alan Parsons as engineer. It was the band’s eighth studio album. Released March 1, 1973, the album shot to popularity, went 14x platinum and stayed on the chart for 996 weeks. It’s easily one of the most influential bodies of work in history, and features all sorts of layered sounds and vocal fragments.

One interesting Floydian bit of trivia is the band toured the material first, before recording. They performed a proto-Dark Side show called Eclipse throughout 1972, using live audiences refine their music before committing it to tape.

Then during the recording, the band wandered around Abbey Road with a portable tape recorder, asking anyone nearby philosophical, off-the-cuff questions about money, time, death, madness, etc. Fragments of the candid answers, and even laughter, became part of the fabric of the album.

Main Pink Floyd Band Members

Nick Mason — drums, percussion

David Gilmour — guitars, vocals

Roger Waters — bass, vocals, concept/lyrics

Richard Wright — keyboards, vocals

Musical & production contributors

Clare Torry — wordless lead vocal on “The Great Gig in the Sky”

Alan Parsons — recording engineer (also handled tape loops, effects & clarity)

Chris Thomas — assisted with production and mixes

Doris Troy, Lesley Duncan, Liza Strike, Barry St. John — backing vocals on “Us and Them” and “Time”

Spoken voices, laughter & on-tape contributors

These are the people whose voices, words, laughter and other audio tidbits are featured in Dark Side of the Moon, a bit about them, and the phrases or sounds that each person provided.

Gerry O’Driscoll

“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 got to go sometime” in the song “The Great Gig In The Sky”
“I know I’ve been mad, I’ve always been mad, like most of us have”, in the segue between “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse”
And the famous final line, “There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark” that closes out the album.
O’Driscoll was the doorman at Abbey Rd Studio.

Patricia Watts

“I never said I was frightened of dying” halfway through the song “The Great Gig in the Sky”
“Yeah, I was definitely in the right; that geezer was cruisin’ for a bruisin‘” in the song “Money”.
Patricia and her husband Peter, below, were on tour with Pink Floyd. Fun fact, they are the parents of The Ring actress Naomi Watts.

Peter Watts

The manic laughter that opens “Brain Damage” and “Speak to Me”
“I can’t think of anything to say” in the song “Brain Damage”
Peter Watts was the road manager for the band.

Henry McCullough

“I don’t know; I was really drunk at the time,” on the song “Money”.
McCullough was the lead guitarist in Paul McCartney’s Wings at the time, and both bands happened to be recording at Abbey Rd at the same time.

Roger “The Hat” Manifold

“give ’em a quick, short, sharp shock …” in the song “Us and Them”
“Live for today, gone tomorrow, that’s me” from the song “On The Run”.
Manifold was a roadie for Pink Floyd at the time.

Chris Adamson

“So after, I was yelling and screaming and telling him why it wasn’t coming up on fader eleven. It came to a heavy blow, which sorted the matter out.” from the song “Money”
“I’ve been mad for fucking years, absolutely years. I’ve been over the edge for yonks, been working with bands so long. I think ‘Crikey’.” in the song “Speak To Me”
Adamson was a roadie for Pink Floyd.

Notable trivia: The band recorded Paul McCartney answering questions during these sessions, but his responses were deliberately not used, as the band felt a recognizable Beatle voice would distract from the album’s universality. Some sources say Paul was trying to be funny, which didn’t fit the theme.

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