With EHS Daily Advisor’s Safety Culture Week coming to a close, we’re reminded that you can never be too careful when it comes to safety. Keeping that in mind, the Song of the Week is going with a trippy instrumental from the early days of Pink Floyd, “Careful with That Axe, Eugene.”
The song was recorded in November 1968 and released as the B-side to the single “Point Me at the Sky,” and included on the 1971 odds-and-sods compilation Relics. It was also re-recorded for the 1970 film Zabriskie Point and retitled “Come in Number 51, Your Time is Up.”
Having just severed ties with former bandleader Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd was looking to make music that was different than the typical pop songs being produced. The song starts quietly and builds up to the whispering of the song’s only lyrics, which are the title of the song, followed by a loud scream by bassist Roger Waters. The song then gets much louder before quieting down again; the studio version is just under 6 minutes but in concert, the band would stretch it out to over 8 minutes.
It was the first of many long instrumentals Pink Floyd would record in the 1970s and became a live favorite, although it hasn’t been played since 1977.