Music: Pink Floyd's Lighter Side

Members of Pink Floyd.  Image from Pedro Netto.

Pink Floyd's music can be dark, psychedelic, moody.  But San Tropez is different.  This song on is on the album Meddle.  And it's clear when you listen that Pink Floyd is experimenting with new sounds.  The song is written about Saint Tropez in Southern France.  The mood of the song reflects the easy atmosphere of a sun-drenched beach.

The lyrics are full of rhyme and alliteration.  
Rhyme
A rhyme is when words share similar ending sounds (vowel and consonant sounds).  For example:

• reach / peach  (both words have the "e" vowel sound, and the ending "ch" consonant sound)
• rind / behind (even though these songs have a different number of syllables, they both share the "i" sound, and the ending "nd" sound.)

Alliteration
An alliteration is when two words with the same beginning sounds are used close together. This is another common technique in poetry writing.  

• wave / wake (both words share the beginning "w" sound.  Note: these words have the same "a" vowel sound, but they do not rhyme, because the ending consonant sounds are different.  This is called a half-rhyme or a slant-rhyme, where the sounds are close, but not the same.)

Video: Meddle, by Pink Floyd



Below, I highlighted the first few examples of rhyme and alliteration.  Can you find more?
Lyrics: "San Tropez"

Words and Music by Roger Waters

As I reach for a peach
Slide a rind down behind
The sofa in San Tropez

Breaking a stick with a brick on the sand
Riding a wave in the wake of an old Sedan

Sleeping alone in the drone of the darkness
Scratched by the sand that fell from our love
Deep in my dreams and I still hear her calling
If you're alone I'll come home

Backwards and home bound
The pidgeon the dove
Gone with the wind and the rain on an airplane

Owning a home with no silver spoon
I'm drinking champaigne like a big tycoon

Sooner than wait for a break in the weather
I'll gather my far flung thoughts together
Speeding away on a wind to a new day
If you're alone I'll come home

And I pause for a while
By a country style
And listen to things they say

Digging for gold in the hoe in my hand
Hoping they'll take a look at the way things stand

And you're leading me down to the place by the sea
I hear your soft voice calling to me
Making a date for later by phone
If you're alone I'll come home

Pink Floyd album, photograph by badgreeb RECORDS.

Do you want to hear more about Pink Floyd?
Below you will find interviews with the members of the band, as well as clips from their music.  

Respond
Why do writers and musicians use rhyme and alliteration in songs?  
How might this song be different if Roger Waters (from Pink Floyd) didn't use rhyme and alliteration?