Eclipse

All that you touch
And all that you see
All that you taste
All you feel
And all that you love
And all that you hate
All you distrust
All you save
And all that you give
And all that you deal
And all that you buy
Beg, borrow or steal
And all you create
And all you destroy
And all that you do
And all that you say
And all that you eat
And everyone you meet
And all that you slight
And everyone you fight
And all that is now
And all that is gone
And all that's to come
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.




- Released 1973

- This is the final song on the remarkable achievement, Dark Side of the Moon. This song ends the album with a grand statement about free will and causality.

- The song serves as a climax to the album and features a loud, repetitive melody which builds and then ends with a very quiet outro. When the main instrumentation ends at approximately 1:30, the sound of a heartbeat from the first track, "Speak to Me", appears and gradually fades to silence.

- At the end of "Eclipse", after or during the spoken words of 'There is no dark side...', a small chamber string orchestra can be heard playing a light tune which sounds like it's heard from a small radio in another room. To be able to hear this, one must listen especially carefully with headphones and the volume at maximum level.

- On some copies of the album, an orchestral version of The Beatles' song "Ticket to Ride" can be heard playing in the background during the fade but only on one stereo channel. Coincidentally, Paul McCartney and Wings were recording in the same studio.

- McCartney was one of the people interviewed by Roger Waters as part of the latter's efforts to develop dialogue to accompany certain songs on the album. The McCartney interview was not used, but Abbey Road Studios doorman Gerry O'Driscoll's was. His full answer to the question "What is 'the dark side of the moon'?", part of which is heard in "Eclipse", was: "There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark. The only thing that makes it look alight is the sun."

- The background vocals were supplied by Leslie Duncan, Doris Troy, Barry St. John, and Liza Strike.

- On March 10, 2004, the song was used to wake the Mars probe Opportunity. It was chosen in recognition of the transit of the Martian moon Phobos

- The song could very well be inspired by Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, Verses 3:1 to 3:8:

^{Ecclesiastes 3:1} To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
^{Ecclesiastes 3:2} A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
^{Ecclesiastes 3:3} A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
^{Ecclesiastes 3:4} A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
^{Ecclesiastes 3:5} A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
^{Ecclesiastes 3:6} A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
^{Ecclesiastes 3:7} A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
^{Ecclesiastes 3:8} A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Reference

On a final note: The Dark Side of the Moon is the third best selling album of all time worldwide (not counting compilations and various artists soundtracks), and the 20th-best-selling album in the United States. Though it held the No. 1 spot in the USA for only one week, it spent a total of 741 consecutive weeks, over fourteen years, on Billboard's list of the top 200 best selling albums, longer than any other album in the history of music.