Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, appearing on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968).

It was written by Roger Waters, taking lyrics from a Chinese poetry book, and features a drum part by Nick Mason played with timpani mallets.

[11] Drummer Nick Mason enjoyed recording the track as it allowed him to emulate Chico Hamilton's drumming on "Blue Sands", using mallets, as seen in the 1958 film Jazz on a Summer's Day.

[14][15] In a negative review of A Saucerful of Secrets, Jim Miller of Rolling Stone described "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", along with "Let There Be More Light", as "boring melodically, harmonically, and lyrically.

[17] The group's performance of the song on 27 April 1969 at Mother's, Birmingham and on 2 May 1969 at the Manchester College of Commerce was used for the live half of the double album Ummagumma.

The song was included in the setlist for his 1999–2002 In the Flesh tour, with stills from the promotional videos of "Arnold Layne" and "The Scarecrow" projected on large screens.

In June 2002, Waters' former Pink Floyd bandmate Nick Mason performed as guest drummer on the track for two nights at London's Wembley Arena, the first indication of a reconciliation following the acrimonious split of the mid-1980s.

[24] In 2016, Waters included the song in his concerts at the Zocalo Square and Foro Sol in Mexico, and the Desert Trip festival in the United States, but it was dropped from the setlist of his 2017 Us + Them Tour.