Pipers at the gates of dawn: where does this title come from?

Question

I known it's a Pink Floyd title, but I also found it was the title of a book on children's fictions. Do the word 'Pipers' refer to the birds singing early in the morning? (I'm not a native speaker, and these are the two places I've met this expression)

Answer 1

Yep it's the dawn chorus.

Answer 2

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the title of the seventh chapter in Kenneth Grahame's children's book The Wind In the Willows, published in 1908. I have heard that the book was one of Syd Barret's favourites from childhood.

Answer 3

Pipers at the Gates of Dawn is a novel by Lynn Stegner, published in 2000.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~upne/1-58465-063-X.html

The Band Pink Floyd released an album titled The Piper At the Gates of Dawn in 1968

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piper_At_The_Gates_Of_Dawn

The acronym PATGOD (Piper At the Gates of Dawn) is used. The lyrics, written by Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant next to an evening log fire, were inspired by his search for spiritual perfection. A seminal influence was the book Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis Spence, which Plant had recently read; it contained references to May Queens, pipers, and "bustling hedgerows."

The phrase come from the children's book (and the dark wisdom behind it) The Pied Piper

http://www.minibite.com/funstuff/piedpiper.htm

Answer 4

A piper is someone who plays the "pipes" or bagpipes. This title can be interpreted in a few ways but essentially you have the basic idea. I would interpret it as something like...Angels playing horns or bagpipes at the beginning of time."

Who knows for sure what PF were thinking in the mid sixties. I have listened to this album many times but have not tried to interpret the title. I just enjoyed the music.

Answer 5

it is the title of a book by Lyn Stegar and a song by Pink Floyd and refers to the dawn chorus

Answer 6

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" was the title of a rather weird chapter about the god Pan, inserted into "Wind In The Willows" by Kenneth Grahame.

Answer 7

this is a chapter heading in thebook; the wind in the willows

and also a pink floyd album title

gimme dem 10 points masta!

Answer 8

its a term from the first word war when Scottish soldiers were woken by regimental pipers and to prepare for that days battles

Answer 9

Pied Piper maybe?

Answer 10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000026LE7
says here it takes its title from 'The Wind in The Willows'
by Kenneth Graeme.
Sydd Barrett was into English Classical pschedellia and imagery.