The Piper at the Gates of Dawn has always been one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums. I think it is a combination of the simple melodies that envelope childlike rhymes and raw imagination. These pair nicely with the more experimentally music driven pieces which draw inspiration from sources that can bring the adult mind to the immense mysteries of space and memory. The album seem like a struggle between child like mind and adult mind. It also established the benchmark of great Floyd albums, a well thought out complete experience that was woven though the entire album.

Astronomy Domain:

From the rhythmic radio static intro you are swept into this cosmic space ballad. Then the continuing high and low build ups just elevate you drifting through the atmosphere. Then it bookends into radio static.

Lucifer Sam:

The intro music of this song has a secret agent kind of Mod feel about it. The deep guitar beats carry it well. It gives me a vision of a purple lit urban night, zooming around different haunts of a city.

Matilda Mother:

The mystic melody opening of this song is so beautiful and filled with light. Then it suddenly collapses into this paranoid realistic observations. Then it surges back into the fairytale existence of hyper reality. Swirling down into a vortex of childhood memory.

Flaming:

More child like thoughts “you can't see me but I can you “ “sitting on a unicorn”. The song is like childhoods pure stream of conciseness, that perfect world of innocence and purity.

Pow R Toc H:

This sounds like the personification of a dream that swings into a nightmare.

Take up thy Stethoscope and Walk:

Childhood rhyme schemes with adult sickness and religious themes. The blending of adult and child mindsets.

Interstellar Overdrive:

One of the greatest Floyd songs ever. The mood changes and effects are just magical. The song uses no lyrics at al yet manages to take your mind on a journey that is defiantly beyond words.

The Gnome:

Another fairytale of modern man with many levels of symbolism on getting back to the natural order of the world. “look at the sky look at the river isn't it good”

Chapter 24:

Observation on the cyclic patterns of nature, life and seasons. “the servant is the number of the young light” touches on the eternal nature of the universe that matter can neither be created or destroyed.

Scarecrow:

Allegory of standing still against the passage of time. The scarecrow does no thinking and does not progress

Bike:

This song stands out from the rest of the album. It is a cheerful romantic upbeat song sung to a girl.