"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd and is featured on their second album A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). It was written by Roger Waters and features a drum part by Nick Mason played with timpani mallets. The track was arranged to be released as a single, with "Scream Thy Last Scream" on 8 September, before it was vetoed by the band's record company, EMI. The song was regularly performed between 1967 and 1973 and can be heard on the live record of the 1969 album Ummagumma and seen in the 1972 movie Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. It also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.Lyrics and musicAccording to an interview with David Gilmour on the 2006 documentary Which One's Pink?, the studio version of the song features minor guitar work both from Gilmour and Syd Barrett, making "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" the only Pink Floyd song that features all five band members, though some listeners may not fully discern the guitar tracks as Richard Wright's keyboards and organs are overlapping the guitars.
