Pink Floyd – “Have A Cigar”

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by Roger Waters - Copyright 1975 Roger Waters Overseas, Ltd

Pink Floyd has been a cornerstone of rock history, producing some of the most iconic albums ever recorded. One song that stands out in their catalog is “Have a Cigar” from the album Wish You Were Here, a track that offers a scathing critique of the music industry. In the latest episode of the podcast, we dive deep into this song, uncovering what makes “Have a Cigar” a classic.

“Have A Cigar” (Roger Waters) Copyright 1975 Roger Waters Overseas, Ltd

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TRANSCRIPTS:

Come on, you ravers, you seers of visions– shine on with the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page, and every two weeks, we come together here on the Pantheon Podcast Network to explore a different song. Each episode, I pick one of my favorite songs and we dig into it together, uncovering all the elements that go into making a great song. You don’t have to be a musician or have any technical knowledge– this isn’t a show for just the experts, this is for anyone who just wants to listen and explore what makes a good song great.

In this episode, we’re exploring a real classic. By any measure– artistically, commercially– Pink Floyd were one of the most successful bands of all time. They created a handful of the greatest albums ever released. On this episode of the podcast, we’re exploring a song from an album that came out just about in the middle of their career, an album that represents many things for this band, and the stories of making it are the stuff of legend. From the album “Wish You Were Here”. This is a song called “Have A Cigar”.

Pink Floyd have been covered on this show before: In episode 58, we looked at “Us And Them”, and episode 114 featured “See Emily Play”. If you haven’t heard either of those episodes, go check them out. I’m not going to go over their history again, you can revisit those previous episodes if you’d like. We’re going to pick up where we left off after “Dark Side Of The Moon”.

“Dark Side Of The Moon”, of course, was their breakthrough album. I don’t need to tell you how big that album would become, but it was an important, significant record from the moment it was released. So, for Pink Floyd, the challenge was: what to do next?

The band was searching for a direction. First weeks, then months, went by with not much to show for it. Endless sessions in their rehearsal studio, trying to come up with something. Something not just good, but something to match or top “Dark Side Of The Moon”. That’s no easy task.

Compounding the problem was the fact that fractures were beginning to occur within the band. The pressure of what to do next exacerbated the disagreements between the four band members. Initially, they returned to a concept that they first explored back in 1970. It was a project called “Household Objects”, where they would forego the use of their traditional instruments and create songs using rubber bands, broomsticks, wine glasses, aerosol cans, smashed Light bulbs. They had abandoned that idea before, but now, without any better ideas, they returned to “Household Objects” and spent at least a month in 1973 trying to conjure music from kitchen appliances and hand tools. But ultimately, they abandoned the idea again.

To my knowledge, the only thing that survived from the “Household Objects” project is a two-minute recording of tuned wine glasses, and a three-minute track called “The Hard Way”.  The sound of those wine glasses would be used at the beginning of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, but the rest of it all went by the wayside.

Finally, in January 1974, during one of those endless jam sessions, guitarist David Gilmour stumbled across a four-note phrase. Almost by accident, they took that idea and expanded it, pushing it in different directions and adding new elements, eventually forming it into a song called “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a multi-part suite that would open and close their new album. They would also take the sound of those wine glasses and incorporate a little bit of that into “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.

The subject of that song, as all Pink Floyd fans know, was their former singer, guitarist and bandleader Syd Barrett. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is a fascinating piece of music worthy of an exploration all on its own. But not in this episode… we’re here for a different song.

So now Roger Waters, the bassist and primary lyricist, had some themes to work with: absence and the harsh realities of the music business, both of which directly related to Syd Barrett, but also extended beyond him.

The actual recording sessions for the album, which would be called “Wish You Were Here”, began at Abbey Road in January 1975, a year after they first came up with that riff that inspired the album. One of the tracks they worked on was a darkly funky track called “Have A Cigar”, a ripping takedown of the music industry, sung from the perspective of a typically greedy, self-serving record executive. It was written by Roger Waters, produced by the band, and performed by David Gilmour on guitars, Richard Wright on keyboards, bass by Roger Waters, drums by Nick Mason and vocals… well, we’ll get there in a minute.

The song begins with a riff played together on the bass and the guitar. Sounds like both the guitars and the bass have a flanger effect on them.

After a couple of playthroughs of the riff, the drums and the keyboards come in. There’s a little whoop sound in there. Let’s back it up a bit.

I like that descending guitar part that leads back into the riff. Here comes the second riff.

There are two synthesizer parts plus an electric piano, each one placed in a different spot in the stereo mix that allows each part to occupy its own space. When you add in the bass, drums and guitars– and I’m sure there’s more than one guitar track here– there’s a lot of music here, but the mix doesn’t feel cluttered at all.

That’s the first of these little guitar and keyboard fills that play off of each other, answer each other. It’s nothing fancy, but I just like the dialogue between the guitar and the piano throughout the song. Let’s pick it back up from there.

And it sounds to me like Richard Wright has also added a clavinet part now. 

And here’s the first verse. But that voice doesn’t belong to anyone in Pink Floyd. When it came time to record the vocals for this track, both David Gilmour and Roger Waters took a stab at it, but neither of them were happy with their performance. Just by happenstance, a singer songwriter guitarist named Roy Harper was recording his own album next door. Roy Harper is a fairly obscure figure, certainly in the United States, he’s never had any hits here and never got much radio play. If Americans know his name at all, it’s likely from the song title of the Led Zeppelin song “Hats Off To Roy Harper”. But Roy Harper is a brilliant British folk-rock songwriter and performer who has released a number of unique, and you could say eccentric, albums. He’s a musician’s musician, a songwriter’s songwriter. And he was friendly with the guys in Pink Floyd. Since they were both working on albums at Abbey Road, they would pop in to visit each other’s sessions. He watched Pink Floyd wrestle with the vocals on this track for days and eventually, he offered to sing it for them.

Here’s a little bit of the version with Roger Waters attempt at the vocal. It’s really not that drastically different, but Roy Harper brought a wonderfully acerbic tone to the track. Roy had his share of misfortune at the hands of record companies, so he could relate to these lyrics for sure.

That’s one of the best lines in the whole Pink Floyd canon. The idea that this record company bigwig who’s trying to schmooze them doesn’t even know that there’s no one in the band actually named Pink Floyd.

I love the way he elongates the word “train” and twists his phrasing at the end.

Sounds like he’s double tracked his vocal there too.

Here comes the second verse. You know, I’ve listened to this song so many times, but I never really noticed until now just how much work the keyboards are doing here. I’m even hearing a little bit of Stevie Wonder influence in there.

Let’s bring up the vocals again. Roy Harper is just killing it here.

So that brings us to the guitar solo. It’s another classic solo by David Gilmour. And we’ll listen to that in a minute. But first I wanted to focus on the rhythm section for a bit. I think it’s fair to say that neither Nick Mason or Roger Waters are virtuosos. Nick Mason is not a flashy drummer, but he’s rock solid. And neither he or Roger Waters are exactly funky players, but they’re laying down a pretty cool groove here. So let’s just listen to that for a while.

Alright, now let’s go back and listen again with the guitar solo.

Let’s bring up that guitar.

And now, we get a change of audio perspectives, as a synthesized “whoosh” repositions us,  as though were listening to the song now through an old transistor radio.

And that, of course for everyone who’s familiar with the album, leads us into the next song, “Wish You Were Here”. But that’s another story.

“Have A Cigar” by Pink Floyd. The “Wish You Were Here” album was released in September 1975 and topped the charts in the US and the UK. It is still regarded as one of Pink Floyd’s best albums. In fact, I believe it is David Gilmour’s favorite Pink Floyd album.

But it was the beginning of the end of the band. Roger Waters had taken over creative control and over time, would push the other members further away. Richard Wright was essentially fired from the band and then rehired as a session player for the group. Eventually, Roger Waters pushed himself out of the band.

But despite the personal unpleasantness, “Wish You Were Here” is a really cohesive album. Every band member contributes excellent performances, and the album flows perfectly as a whole. It’s a masterpiece.

Richard Wright died from lung cancer in September 2008. He was 65. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roy Harper are still with us today at the time of this recording.

Thanks for being a part of this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. If you’d like to support the show, why don’t you head over to oldglory.com and buy a t-shirt or two? They have a bunch of Pink Floyd shirts in stock, along with a ton of other bands, and if you use our promo code, “LoveThatSong”, you’ll get 15% off and you’ll be supporting the show. So thanks in advance.

You can find our previous episodes on Pink Floyd, along with over 150 other songs that we’ve covered, on our website lovethatsongpodcast.com, or just look for them in your favorite podcast app. Send us an email to lovethatsongpodcast@gmail.com or post your comments and feedback on our Facebook page. And of course, it would be great if you left us a rating or a review wherever it is that you listen to this show.

We are part of the Pantheon family of podcasts, home to a ton of other great podcasts, all featuring the music we love.

I will be back in about two weeks, so let’s meet here again. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode on Pink Floyd and “Have A Cigar”.

RESOURCES:

Pink Floyd
https://www.pinkfloyd.com

Wish You Were Here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(Pink_Floyd_album)

Dark Side of the Moon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon

Roy Harper
https://royharper.co.uk

Abbey Road Studios
https://www.abbeyroad.com

Pink Floyd – “See Emily Play”

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Pink Floyd "See Emily Play" (Syd Barrett) Copyright 1967 Westminister Music Limited

“See Emily Play” was only Pink Floyd’s 2nd single, but it was a watershed moment in psychedelic rock history. Though Syd Barrett’s body of work was relatively small, he left behind a huge legacy that’s still influencing people today. This song is one of the highlights of his short and tragic career.

“See Emily Play” (Syd Barrett) Copyright 1967 Westminster Music Limited

TRANSCRIPT:

It’s time to hop on your bike and pedal into interstellar overdrive, because on this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast, we are swinging by for a visit with Sid Barrett and Pink Floyd.

I’m your host, Brad Page, and you’re joining me here on the Pantheon Podcast Network, where each show, I pick a favorite song and we explore it together, listening to all the elements that make it a great song. If you’ve been listening to this show, or any of the podcasts on the Pantheon Network, then you know we’ve been on board with Nick Mason and his “Saucer Full of Secrets” tour this year. Nick is, of course, the drummer for Pink Floyd; he’s played on every Pink Floyd album. In fact, he’s the only member of Pink Floyd who’s played on every single Pink Floyd album. There’s a trivia question for you. With his “Saucer Full of Secrets” project, he performs all the early Pink Floyd material. These are the songs that the other guys just don’t play, in particular the Sid Barrett-era stuff. So these concerts, they’re really something special. I just got back from seeing two shows on this tour in Boston, MA, and Providence, Rhode Island, and it was great. It inspired me to dig into one of the songs he’s playing on this tour, one of the earliest Pink Floyd recordings and one of Sid Barrett’s classics– a song called “See Emily Play”.

[Music]

Nick Mason was born on January 20, 1944 in Birmingham, England, though his family moved to London when he was pretty young. When he was twelve years old, he would spend all night listening to “Rockin’ to Dreamland” on the radio and fell in love with rock and roll. He picked up the drums, and while a student at Regent Street Polytechnic, he met two other budding musicians: Roger Waters and Richard Wright.

Richard Wright was born July 28, 1943. He learned piano and trumpet, and taught himself how to play guitar, and studied at the Eric Gilder School of Music in London. But then he switched to architecture, and that’s how he ended up at the Regent Street School.

George Roger Waters was born September 6, 1943. His father was killed in World War II when Roger was only five years old; his mother moved the family to Cambridge, where he became friends with a young lad named Sid Barrett.

Roger Keith Sid Barrett was born in Cambridge on January 6, 1946. His father, Dr. Barrett, worked at the university and was also a musician, and he encouraged all five of his children to play, but Dr. Barrett died from cancer when Sid was about 15. Around that time, Sid started playing guitar and formed his first band.

Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason began playing together and formed a band called Tea Set. They moved into a house owned by Mike Leonard, and they were joined by another resident of that house, a guitar player named Bob Close. Shortly after that, Sid Barrett would join the band.

So now the band known as Tea Set included Sid Barrett on guitars and vocals, Bob Close on guitar, Rick Wright on keyboards, Roger Waters on bass and Nick Mason on drums. Tea Set recorded a few demos, including a cover of the Slim Harpo song “I’m a King Bee”:

[Music]

That’s Sid singing the lead vocals on both of those tracks. By the middle of 1965, Bob Close had left, and the remaining four– Barrett, Waters, Wright and Mason– renamed themselves the Pink Floyd Sound. Sid came up with the band name by combining the names of two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Counsel.

The Pink Floyd Sound began playing these events known as “Happenings” in 1966. It was at one of these Happenings that they caught the attention of Peter Jenner. Amongst many things, Jenner had set up a small record company called DNA Productions. One of their productions was a band called AMM, who were avant-garde pioneers. They released an album in 1966 called AMM Music, one of the earliest experimental rock albums.

[Music]

You can imagine how those sounds would influence a band like Pink Floyd.

Peter Jenner was knocked out by what Pink Floyd was doing, and along with his friend, Andrew King, they signed on as Pink Floyd’s first managers. Jenner and King started getting them bigger and better gigs, including at the legendary UFO or UFO Club, which Pink Floyd played for the first time on December 23, 1966. This is where they began working with a psychedelic light show.

At the UFO Club, they met a producer named Joe Boyd who wanted to sign them to Electra Records. But Electra wasn’t interested. But Joe Boyd did end up producing Pink Floyd’s first single, Arnold Lane.

[Music]

In February 1967, Pink Floyd finally signed a contract with EMI.  “Arnold Lane” could have been a big hit, but it was banned by the BBC because of its lyrics about a cross-dressing underwear thief.

The next single, “See Emily Play”, would fare a little better. Recorded in May 1967 and released as a single in June, “See Emily Play” was written by Sid Barrett, and features Sid on guitar and lead vocals, Richard Wright on keyboards, Roger Waters on bass and Nick Mason on drums. It was produced by Norman Smith.

Norman was a house producer and engineer at EMI. With a pretty impressive resume including work with the Beatles, he was the perfect choice to capture Pink Floyd’s psychedelic visions on tape.

The song opens with Rick Wright’s Farfisa organ, Roger Waters playing alternating notes an octave apart on his bass, and some trippy sound effects, most likely created by Sid messing around with his Binson Echorec on his guitar sound. Back in the day, the way you created an echo sound on stage or in the studio was to use a mechanical device like a tape loop, or in the case of the Binson Echorec, a magnetic drum. Binson was an Italian company that pioneered the magnetic drum recorder for producing echoes. The Echorec had a record head and four playback heads arranged around a rotating drum. Every echo device– the EchoPlex, the Fender Dimension Four, the Watkins Copycat, Roland Space Echo and the Binson Echorec– Each has a unique sound. The Binson Echorec became an essential element in the Pink Floyd sound. Sid Barrett, Rick Wright and Roger Waters would all use it, as would David Gilmour when he joined the band later that year.

Let’s go back and listen to just Sid’s guitar sound with that Binson Echorec. Rick plays a short organ solo while Roger plays a prominent bass riff pretty forward in the mix.

[Music]

The intro has been hanging around an A chord, but once the verse begins, it’s going to shift down to a G, which changes the mood a little bit.

[Music]

So, who is Emily? The character in the song could have been inspired by Emily Young, daughter of Lord Kennet, who was a frequent guest at the UFO club, and she would become a famous sculptor. It could be Anna Murray, a friend of Sid’s, or probably most likely just a product of Sid’s imagination.

Let’s listen to the vocals which are doubled with some backing vocals, probably overdubbed by Sid and Rick.

[Music]

That brings us to the chorus. It’s a pretty short verse. Notice the little piano fills in the chorus. They have a quick echo effect on them. Once again, that’s the Binson Echorec.

[Music]

The last line of that chorus is “free games for May, see Emily play”. Earlier that same month, May 1967, Pink Floyd played a special concert in London called “Games for May”. It was billed as “Space Age Relaxation for the climax of spring”. Sid wrote a song especially for the occasion, which he called “Games for May”. That song would quickly evolve into “See Emily Play”. Let’s listen to the vocals for this chorus.

[Music]

At the end of the chorus, there’s a sound like a rocket or an engine taking off that was created by Sid using a metal slide, or maybe his Zippo lighter, and sliding it up the guitar strings. With plenty of that echo, of course.

Then there’s a short section where the track speeds up for a few bars. So for that part, Rick Wright’s piano, along with a little bit of guitar and drums, were recorded at half speed, so that when the tape was played back at normal speed, the part was twice as fast. So let’s slow that down to get an idea of what that might have sounded like originally:

[Music]

And here’s how it sounds again after it was speeded up and edited back into the song:

[Music]

The more subtle but interesting thing is the way Nick Mason’s drum beat shifts between regular time and double time throughout the whole song. Let’s hear his drums during that verse.

[Music]

And that verse leads us to the second chorus. So let’s let that play through.

[Music]

Let’s go back and listen to the backing tracks for this chorus. Listen specifically for the sharp, staccato chords that Sid is playing on his guitar, and to that piano with the echo effect. That chorus ends with a blast of fuzz-tone guitar. And then we’re into the solo section. Rick Wright takes the lead on keyboards, but Sid is doing some fun stuff in the background on his guitar.

[Music]

Let’s see if we can hear more of Sid’s guitar at the end there. Again, he’s using some kind of a metal slide, probably his Zippo lighter, high up the strings with that Binson echo to create those chirping sounds.

That brings us to the final verse. Sounds to me like there might be some timpani drums overdubbed at the beginning of the verse. Let’s listen to that verse.

[Music]

I’d like to hear those vocals at the end again. Here’s the last chorus.

[Music]

And let’s go back and listen to those harmony vocals.

[Music]

And rather than a big finale at the end, the song fades out on a two-note phrase played on the bass by Roger Waters, leaving the song somewhat unresolved at the end.

“See Emily Play” by Pink Floyd.

The song was released as a single on June 16, 1967 in the UK; I don’t think it was released in the US. Pink Floyd’s first album, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, was released two months later. This song is not on the UK version of the album, but the record company did stick it on the American version for the US market. The song has also been included on numerous compilation albums, and it’s on the deluxe 3-CD reissue of “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, which I highly recommend. And that’s the version that I used here, which is in mono, by the way. With all those psychedelic effects, you don’t even notice that it’s not in stereo.

I got to thank Nick Mason for working with Pantheon on the tour. I know all of the podcasts that participated were really grateful for the opportunity to go and see the shows, and to talk to Nick and the guys in the band.

We’ll be back in two weeks with another new episode of the “I’m In Love With That Song podcast. I’m especially looking forward to the next episode, as it’s a fun one and a great follow-on from this episode.

You can find all of our previous shows on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or just look for them in your favorite podcast player. You can leave a review on podchaser.com or share your thoughts and feedback with us on our Facebook page– just look for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on Facebook and you’ll find us.

Remember, if you care about an artist, support them by going to their shows and buying their music. And if you want to support this show, the best thing you can do is to tell your friends about it, because your word of mouth is the best advertising we could ever have.

Thanks for listening to this episode on Pink Floyd and “See Emily Play”.

[Music]

Before you move on, I just wanted to make a couple of recommendations: If you enjoyed this episode, you should check out a few of our other shows. We’ve done multiple episodes on the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and The Who. We’ve discussed songs by Todd Rungren, Yes, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin and Queen. We’ve done deep dives into songs by Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Stevie Wonder. And of course, we’ve discussed John Lennon, George Harrison and a few McCartney songs. So there’s plenty of other shows for you– I hope you give them a listen. Thank you for being a part of the “I’m in Love With That Song” podcast.

Pink Floyd – “Us And Them”

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"Us & Them" (Roger Waters, Richard Wright) Copyright 1973 Pink Floyd Music Publishers and Warner/Chappell Artemis Music Limited

Pink Floyd released “Us & Them” in 1973, but it feels like it could’ve been written yesterday. Can we ever get past our compulsion to separate “us” from “them”? This is a song for the ages, with some brilliant performances across the board from everyone involved– band members, guest artists, backing singers and recording engineers alike. Let’s try to listen to this song afresh and rediscover what makes this classic track great.

“Us & Them” (Roger Waters, Richard Wright) Copyright 1973 Pink Floyd Music Publishers and Warner/Chappell Artemis Music Limited

– This show is one of many great podcasts on the Pantheon Podcasts network. Check ’em all out!