Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Rick Wright (1943-2008)

I don’t really know how to properly write an obituary, but here goes nothing. Richard ‘Rick’ Wright of Pink Floyd died yesterday at the age of 65 from an undisclosed cancer. Rick Wright is best known for his keyboard arrangements in the psychedelic-progressive Pink Floyd. In my opinion, some of the best examples of his keyboard genius can be heard in such songs as ‘See Emily Play’, the majority of Dark Side of The Moon, ‘Set Controls for the Heart of The Sun’, and ‘Arnold Layne’. One of the lesser known members of Pink Floyd, Rick seemed to stay neutral in the feuds going on between Roger Waters and David Gilmour. To me, he seems like one of those extremely underrated musicians who was not given enough credit for the perfection of his craft. Rick will be missed by friends and fans, and he will be missed by the music industry as a pioneering keyboardist.


Though he's not playing keys in the video, he's the one in the hat who 'starts-up' the others.

6 comments:

Ian France said...

R.I.P. Rick Wright

Double Hawk said...

Arnie: The world'll miss him dearly.

dianasfaria.com said...

good good obit DH.

Double Hawk said...

LH: Thank you. I wish more people cared that such a great musician is no longer with us.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous writing DH. Sorry I am MIA lately but know I come and read often! Keep up the good work. I don't think people don't care about great musicians passing. The writing you do and others as well keep these musicians alive. Their music plays on as if they were still with us. Perhaps the part that is so sad when great musicians or actors for that matter pass is the fact that so many of us did not realize they were just like us and had lives outside their talents that were many times as rich as those talents. That to me is what is what is so sad.
LK

Double Hawk said...

LK: I completely agree! I think Rick Wright was the perfect representation of being just like us for the fact that he was very humble and that he kept a very personal life that was out of the public eye, if you will. I am aware with my writing of obituaries that I'll have to get better at doing them, but I hope that there won't be too many chances to, if you know what I mean.