Brain Damage was written by Pink Floyd and is a track off their album "Dark Side of The Moon". Roger Waters had been playing the song during the recording of the Meddle album in 1971, when it was called "The Dark Side of the Moon". The song is inspired by their former band member Syd Barrett who endured a mental breakdown. It falls under the genre of Progressive Rock.
Brain Damage features a guitar, bass guitar, drums, a synthesiser, an organ and bells - among other instruments. The song is slow, with a guitar appregio pattern similar to The Beatles' "Dear Prudence". It is in the key of D major and features a recurring lyrical pattern and chorus. The main time signature is 4/4, however the drums play 5/4 which gives the song an unsettling feel as the listener is unsure of the beat.
As the song is inspired by Syd's decline in mental health, the lyrics are very poignant. The line "There's someone in my head and it's not me" is very haunting and clearly relates to Barrett. The lyric "If the band you're in start's playing different tunes" relates to Syd reportedly changing the song he was playing mid-concert, unintentionally. Finally, the line "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" refers to Syd Barrett's mental idiosyncrasies.
The music supports the message of the song, despite being in a major key (major connotes happiness) the lyrics of the song are sad. This could be because despite his deteriorating mental state Syd was happy within himself and it was more the people around him who were upset by his illness. The tape effects on the song add to the psychedelic feel of the song.
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