The 'Meddle' Song That Opened the Dark Side of the Moon Tour: 'One of These Days'

Before the full Dark Side of the Moon album took over the second half of their 1973 shows, the first set was a grab bag of older material. The song from Meddle they played most frequently during that era wasn’t the sprawling “Echoes” but its snarling side-one opener, “One of These Days.” It appeared on nearly every setlist of the tour, often as the second or third song after “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.”

Why “One of These Days” over the more obvious Meddle centerpiece? Practicality. “Echoes” was 23 minutes long and had been the standard closer for the previous two years, but by 1973 they needed something shorter to fit a two-set structure. “One of These Days” was punchy, menacing, and a perfect adrenaline shot—its distorted bass riff and the iconic “I’m going to cut you into little pieces” vocal fragment gave the crowd a visceral jolt without eating up set time. It also let Nick Mason step into the spotlight with his rapid-fire drum pattern, a rare moment where a non-Roger or non-David member drove the song’s energy.