A Single Spark

Album: Luck and Strange (2024)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "A Single Spark" is the fourth track on David Gilmour's 2024 album Luck and Strange. The song contemplates life's brevity and offers the metaphor of a tiny spark of light, suspended between two eternal voids, to illustrate the fleeting nature of human existence.
  • The title had been kicking around in Gilmour's subconscious since the 1970s when, during a flight, he happened to glance at the book the guy next to him was reading - Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory.

    "The full line," he recalled to Uncut magazine, "was 'a single spark suspended between two eternities' – meaning that this is ultimately what life amounts to."
  • Polly Samson, Gilmour's longtime collaborator and wife, stepped in to flesh out the lyrics after Gilmour casually quoted the Nabokov line. Samson, who's been writing with Gilmour since The Division Bell era of Pink Floyd, summed up the album's overall tone rather succinctly: "It's written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant."
  • Recording Luck and Strange took place over five months between Gilmour's Medina Studio in Hove and Mark Knopfler's British Grove Studios in London. The album had a fresh twist in the form of Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with Alt-J, who was brought on board at the suggestion of Polly Samson.

    "I looked at all the people I knew, but I'd got to a point in life where I wanted to move things forward in a different way," Gilmour explained to The Sun.

    Enter Andrew, a man blissfully unaware of Pink Floyd's musical legacy. "Charlie came down to the house," Gilmour recalled, "and he had a total lack of knowledge of the side of the industry I come from."
  • In an industry where people often bend over backwards to appease rock legends, it's oddly satisfying to know that even David Gilmour can get cranky when someone throws him off. Case in point: Tom Herbert, the bassist brought in by Andrew. Herbert, whose work with alternative rockers The Invisible and post-jazz band Polar Bear clearly impressed Andrew, contributed a low-end drone effect to "A Single Spark" that left Gilmour scratching his head. "He was doing something I don't really understand," Gilmour admitted to Mojo magazine, adding with a self-deprecating chuckle, "I was quite grumpy for a day or two."
  • As if the existential musings and sonic experiments weren't enough, Luck and Strange also boasts grander touches like strings and choirs. Arranged by Will Gardner, these were recorded in the cavernous Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."