I think I have all of Echoes figured out.

[myriadsmallcreature]

i'm sorry but i have to disagree on this analysis.
echoes is my favorite song of all times, it's not even a song for me, i like to say its an experience. i love it so much i got it tattoed in the back of my neck.
anyways, i0m a bit tired right now to do a full analysis right now (i just did that in a jefferson airplane forum about one of their songs haha) so i just have to say that i'm pretty sure this song is about empathy. roger said this was a precursor of dsotm, which he said, and i quote, is about asking if "the human race can be humane".
echoes is obviously about empathy wth each other, even if we're strangers, because we are all in this game of life together, and if you are happy i'm happy (strangers passing...) it's also present in pigs on the wings.

"i am you and what i see is me..."

We're one but we're not the same.

[mhdialle]

i'm sorry but i have to disagree on this analysis.
echoes is my favorite song of all times, it's not even a song for me, i like to say its an experience. i love it so much i got it tattoed in the back of my neck.
anyways, i0m a bit tired right now to do a full analysis right now (i just did that in a jefferson airplane forum about one of their songs haha) so i just have to say that i'm pretty sure this song is about empathy. roger said this was a precursor of dsotm, which he said, and i quote, is about asking if "the human race can be humane".
echoes is obviously about empathy wth each other, even if we're strangers, because we are all in this game of life together, and if you are happy i'm happy (strangers passing...) it's also present in pigs on the wings.

tattooing the lyrics on the back of your neck doesn't make your shallow take seem more elegant. you could at least offer an analysis but you just found it more convenient not to. next time show some effort in explicitly what you disagree with or don't indulge in writing a comment just to undermine someone else's analysis.

[scmods]

Stopped reading when I got to the God shit

[Djgilmour]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Echoes is in my opinion Pink Floyd's best song. I did a previous post about whether or not Meddle is a concept album. While I was thinking about figuring out the album I was listening to Echoes, and then it occured to me what the squeaky sounds were. But I'm going to explain the whole song here.
If you've read the Bible, there was nnothing, then there was the word of God. That's what the single repeating distorted note is at the beginning of the song.
The word of God is heard, and then more music slowly and quietly starts to come in, more keynotes are played. That means that earth's surface is starting to form. The continents are moving, and life is beginning to form in the sea.
An albatross by definition is a bird that lives around the southern hemisphere. But an albatross can also mean an obstacle of success. Life remains under the sea "In labrynths and coral caves." But something stirs and tries to climb towards the light, meaning that life starts to move out of the sea and towards the air and earth.
"The echo of a distant tide comes willowing across the sand/"and everything is green and submarine" The meaning here is that the tide has been present through out man's evolutionary steps from the primordial ocean which reiterates the setting; it has always been "green and submarine (appearance).
"And no one called us to the land/and no one knows the where's or why's/"something stirs and something tries/starts to climb towards the light" Our evolutionary ancestors - whatever crawled from the sea - left the sea - not because there was someone to provoke them to do so. No one can tell you where it first happend (the first venture onto land) or why the left the the sea for the land.
The guitar solo of Dave's (so simple yet so awesome) I feel represents that something significant happens. Life has now appeared on land.
"Strangers passing in the street/By chance two seperate glances meet/And I am you and what I see is me." This acknowleges our common evolutionary ancestry, hat first being that crawled from the sea.
"And do I take you by the hand/And lead you through the land/And help me understand the best I can." Together, two of the same exploring this being on the land can help each other survive, and understand.
"And no one called us to the land" (reiterates that "no one" made us leave the ocean)
"and no one crosses there alive" (the irony that at one time it meant eventual death due to the non-aquatic/unusual environment (trying to exist on land)
"no one speaks and no one tries" (it's not something "spoken" of, or contemplated, yet it happend)
"no one flies around the sun" (the next evolutionary step. No one speaks of it (in 1971) or tries - but this represents the "next step" in an evolutionary sense. We can't live "around the sun" (literally - in space) just as we couldn't have lived on the land at one time)
Another great guitar solo, then a mellow part. Then some crazy guitar riffs, then begins the weird squeaky guitar sounds. I believe that this is the progress of life over time. The good guitar solo, as I mentioned earlier, is a significant event. Man/life is starting to be able to survive, and grow on land. Then the calm part of the song goes on. Life is peachy, spreading out, making new inventions, etcetera. Then the crazy guitar riffs come in. I believe that this is the beginning of turbulence between human beings, wars, jealousy, whatever you think it means. Then there is complete and utter chaos over the land (the trippy, scary squeaking sounds). It continues for quite some time, you can hear wind, which means that life is isolated and scared, lonely if you will. Ravens, or crows, vultures, whatever kind of bird of prey you think it is (seagulls don't really seem scary, do they?) are present because of the death in the air. But the fear and chaos diminish eventually. Why? That one single note is playing again. The word of God has been brought to man. At first his word brought the world into existance, but as us knowledgable people know, man did not know of God right away. His word was revealed to Abraham when God felt the time was right.
As the keynote plays, the guitar comes back in to play (cymbals are played well also). A melody that seems to say that something important is about to come. When the two guitars are being played at the same time, that signifies that something triumphant has occured. I believe that means that order has been restored to life and humans can go about their merry ways again.
"Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes" refers to the sun, which perhaps, technically speaking, we can fly around now, although no one speaks of it or tries.
"Inviting and inciting me to rise" means that the sun makes you want to get up; metaphroically speaking, "evolve."
"And through the window in the wall/come streaming in on sunlight wings/
a million bright ambassadors of morning." This is a visual metaphor. The light streaming through some blinds could be related visually to the effect of sunlight beaming through the sea, from the perspective of "something" looking up "towards the light". Addtionally, the alliteration to "angels" (wings) indicates an association of the light with a "higher being", which is attempting to be reached. Perhaps this is what drove us from the sea - as it turns out to be "no one", just the sunlight; which we later realize is *just* sunlight.
"And no one sings me lullabyes/And no one makes me close my eyes" An action I take is of my own accord.
"So I throw the windows wide/And call to you across the sky." Throwing the "windows wide" demonstrates our present state of evolution, our ability to "control the sun (light). Since "I am you and what I see is me" I'm actually calling to myself - which is an ironic statement of that self-realization, which could be considered a higher state of evolution in itself. Calling to you across the sky, pretty self explanatory.
The song begins to relax, the single note slowly fades away, meaning man has now discovered himself. The weird calling/howling sounds I believe are souls flying across the sky.
Well there you have it. My interpretation of one of the greatest songs of all time. If you have any questions, comments, possible different interpretations, please post.

PS - I didn't understand this song at first. I found one other website that explained this song in some detail, lyrics mostly. I copied most of what I read and pasted here because I didn't feel like typing everything I already knew.

Are the drugs you using still available today and where can I buy them?

[space triangle]

Without having read the OP....Roger himself said Echoes is song about empathy .

And I am you and what I see is me

Btw, he said The Dark Side Of The Moon is about empathy too. And not exactly about madness. He said once TDSODM was described from Echoes line And I Am You And What I See Is Me.