| "Point Me at the Sky" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 1968 Dutch single | ||||
| Single byPink Floyd | ||||
| B-side | "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" | |||
| Released | 6 December 1968 (1968-12-06) | |||
| Recorded | 4 November 1968 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:35 | |||
| Label | Columbia (EMI)(UK) Capitol Records(Canada) | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Norman Smith | |||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Point Me at the Sky" is the fifth UK single by the English bandPink Floyd, released on 6 December 1968.[2] It was their last single in the UK for over a decade.[3][4] The song was an early collaboration by bassistRoger Waters and guitaristDavid Gilmour.[5] The single was not released in the US, but was in Canada, Japan, and some European countries.
The vocals on the verse of the song are sung by Gilmour, and the bridge vocals are shared between Gilmour and Waters.
Promotional UK copies and some foreign releases mistakenly printed the title "Point Me to the Sky" on the label or sleeve.
"Point Me at the Sky" has since become one of the rarest of all officially released Pink Floyd recordings. It was not intended for the album release, resulting in the recording being mixed inmono only.
The single did not chart in the UK. The B-side, "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", became far more popular, as it was included on two Pink Floyd albums and played regularly at concerts through the early 1970s.
"Point Me at the Sky" was left out of the 1971 collectionRelics, though it was re-issued on the 1992 CD collectionThe Early Singles, a bonus disc in theShine On box set. The song was released in the United States for the first time in 1978 on a now-rare promotional album, "A Harvest Sampler" (catalog number SPRO-8795/6). This album contained an otherwise unavailablere-channeled stereo version which was derived from the mono mix.
The first widespread release of "Point Me at the Sky" occurred in 2016, when the song was included in the box setThe Early Years 1965–1972 and its sister releaseCre/ation: The Early Years 1967–1972, a 2-CD highlights compilation of the full box set.[6]
A performance of "Point Me at the Sky" recorded and broadcast by the BBC in late 1968 was also included in theEarly Years 1965–1972 box set. This version has a prolonged middle solo by Wright.
The group made a promotional film for the song in which they posed in goggles and flight outfits with a vintage aeroplane, registration G-ANKH (aDe Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth[7]). A still picture from this photo session was included in promotional materials given away with the U.K. single and on a picture sleeve version released in The Netherlands. Alternate still shots from the same session appeared in the artwork for the 1973 LPA Nice Pair and the booklet for the 1992 remastered CD ofA Saucerful of Secrets. The film also features another vintage aircraft, G-ADBO (anAVRO 504N[8]), plus scenes of trains atPaddington Station, with vintage Western Region Class 47 D1928 (later rebuilt as Class 57: 57 302, named "Virgil Tracy"). Also seen: an unidentified class42/43 Warship class loco.
Roger Waters has called "Point Me at the Sky" a "notable failure" of the post-Barrett era.[9] Following its lack of chart success, the band decided to stop releasing singles in the UK altogether and concentrate only on albums, since, according to Waters, "we were no bloody good at it."[10]
The song was played live byNick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets from 2018.[11] A recording is included on their 2020 live albumLive at the Roundhouse.
In a few countries, "Point Me at the Sky" was re-released in subsequent years as Pink Floyd emerged as a popular album band. This occurred in France, Japan and Italy, where it spent three weeks in 1973 on the official ItalianMusica e Dischi singles chart, reaching number 20.[12]
We all tried to write singles. 'Point Me at the Sky' was one notable failure.
