Any Colour You Like (2:56)

Any Colour You Like is the eighth track, (or seventh, the track number depends upon the edition of the album; earlier releases merge the two tracks “Speak to Me” and “Breathe”, for instance. ) from Pink Floyd’s 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon.
It is instrumental and was written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason.

The piece itself features no lyrics, and consists of a synthesized tune which segues into a guitar solo (some scat vocals are added later on, these were more prominent in live versions but are still audible in the studio cut). It is approximately 3 minutes, 25 seconds in length. The song used advanced effects for the time both in the keyboard and the guitar. The VCS 3 synthesizer was fed through a long tape loop to create the rising and falling keyboard solo. David Gilmour used two guitars with the UniVibe guitar effect to create the harmonizing guitar solo for the rest of the song. “Any Colour You Like” is also known (and is even listed on the “Dark Side” guitar tablature book) as “Breathe (Second Reprise)” because the song shares the same beat (albeit somewhat funkier and uptempo) as the album’s song “Breathe.” It has also nearly the same chord sequence just transposed a whole step lower from E minor to D minor.

While the song is instrumental, it has been speculated that the song ties to The Dark Side of the Moon concept by concerning the lack of choice one has in the human society, while being alluded to thinking that he does. It is also speculated that the song is about the fear of making choices. The origin of the title is unclear.