How Pink Floyd's First Film Score 'More' Gave Birth to a Live Jam Favorite in 'Green Is the Colour'

In 1969, the band took on their first full film score for Barbet Schroeder’s More – a druggy, sun-bleached tale of love and addiction in Ibiza. The soundtrack let them experiment with spacey folk and darker textures, moving beyond the long-form psych jams of A Saucerful of Secrets. It also gave them one of their most adaptable live pieces: “Green Is the Colour.”

The song itself is a gentle acoustic ballad, with David Gilmour’s watercolor guitar and Rick Wright’s organ floating under pastoral lyrics. But in concert, particularly throughout 1970, the band would stretch it into a medley that could last ten minutes. They’d tiptoe through “Green Is the Colour” and then slide directly into “Careful with That Axe, Eugene,” the transition becoming a signature part of their set at places like the KQED TV studio and the Bath Festival.

What made it a live staple wasn’t just the song’s beauty – it was the contrast. The quiet gave way to a howling storm of bass and screams, and that dynamic shift was something they were obsessing over in 1970 as they honed the Atom Heart Mother material. “Green Is the Colour” became their secret weapon for building tension before ripping it apart.