Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine

And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the where's or why's
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb toward the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance, two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can?

And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
No one speaks and no one tries
No one flies around the sun

Cloudless everyday
You fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky


Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by Undinal, patient957, tillyny, 1Bigdawg, Nmlgc, TomCrown, neeraj1030, Madanmohan, Blake614, importrade, tomslyrics123, ProppJoe

Echoes Lyrics as written by George Waters David Gilmour

Lyrics © T.R.O. INC.

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Echoes song meanings
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  • +47
    My Interpretation

    I believe this song is a timeline of some sort. The "ping"s in the beginning represent the universe coming into existence, and the first verse refers to the first organisms on Earth.... everything was "green and submarine", peaceful, it was enough, but something drove some of those organisms to seek a new life on land, something drove them to journey into the unknown. Fast-forward millions of years later to the Cro-Magnon.... Perhaps by complete coincidence, two of these early humans see each other and recognize themselves. They are the same, or the same species rather - "I am you and what I see is me". These two specific cavemen go on to try and cooperate for protection, hunting, shelter, etc. They work together. The following guitar solo documents the evolution of man, and all his accomplishments AND follies. The groovy part right after that reflects modern society, and how its kinda fast-paced, stressful, and there's a lot of sleaze that comes with civilization. In the haunting, graveyard-esque portion that follows, I THINK it singles out one man in this society, a very depressed man for whatever reason. He feels he's trudging through life, and its a living hell for him. However, he soon somehow feels he's breaking out of that hell...... maybe its a dream, or his life is turning around, something of that sort.... he feels he's ascending towards heaven and escaping from everything that has ruined his life. But just when he's on the brink, he "wakes up" (the last verse) and reality dawns on him. He quickly falls back to where he once was. He is alone. But something inside him, just like what drove the first organisms to leave the ocean and what drove the Cro-Magnons to work together, drives him to continue trudging through life, in hope that he will find someone or something to live for soon (and so I throw the windows wide and call to you across the sky.

    This is just my interpretation, and I think any song or work of art can be interpreted a thousand ways. Whatever its about, this song remains my favorite song of all time.... the entire song as a whole is surreal. Every time that guitar cannon we all know bursts in moments before the last verse, I feel like I'm ascending to a new level of consciousness. Pink Floyd (who is also my favorite band) was, and will always be, awe-inspiring.

    HammerFloydon March 07, 2011   Link

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