Sunday, the 21st of January 1973
A creative nonfiction piece/poem
6/30/23
“Waking up 5:25 am Saturday morning to a party above me” and a previous version of “Sunday, the 21st of January 1973” were published in the 15th edition (2019) edition of Arizona State University’s Lux Undergraduate Creative Review magazine.
Clare Torry walks into the studio a week late because she wanted to see Chuck Berry first
She doesn’t care who this band is, but she’s a vocalist and it’s what she gets paid for.
She sings a bit and the producers tell her to stop
They want sound instead of words, so she gives them sound
She listens to the janitor and the studio manager’s wife
They talk about death. The band plays.
She gives them six takes or one take or two takes and halfway through a third. Nobody remembers for sure.
She screams over the guitar. She fills the studio space with her voice.
She feels repetitive and stops.
They’ve been going for three hours
The band says very little and she thinks her vocals will be cut from the song. She collects her check and leaves.
The song is released that March.
It’s not until 2005, 32 years later, that she gets a songwriting credit on
Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky”. Her vocals define the sound of the album.