The “high” Pink Floyd songs David Gilmour struggles to sing
Anyone who has been playing for as long as David Gilmour has is bound to experience a few musical bumps in the road every now and again.
He already had to worry with the vast stage shows that went into Pink Floyd’s touring schedule, but in between the massive lights, the gigantic flying pig, and even performing on top of a wall during the first incarnation of the band’s rock opera, Gilmour always seemed to make the playing look easy. But as time presses on, some songs are going to have to come with a few compromises.
Even when Gilmour was in his prime, though, he was more than happy to take the piss out of his own playing. He simply wasn’t born with the same kind of musical genes that Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had, so if you wanted to hear guitar solos that sounded like they were being played at warp speed, you may have wanted to start looking elsewhere in the prog rock world. Gilmour wasn’t that kind of player, but he did make sure every note counted.
A song like ‘Echoes’ may have been a bit much for a few casual fans to take in when Meddle first came out, but what Gilmour does on the song is more about setting a mood than worrying about playing fast. And even when Roger Waters left the fold, he figured that it would be better for him to start making the kind of music that reflected where he was at the time.
Granted, that didn’t come without a few hangups as well. A Momentary Lapse of Reason has the makings of a good record somewhere inside it, but it’s usually not a good sign when people remember the record more for the dreaded 1980s production than any standout tracks. But if The Wall was Waters’s baby from back to front, The Division Bell was Gilmour’s real labour of love.
It’s far from the best Pink Floyd record, but listening back to each song, you can hear the band finally found their passion again. Gilmour’s solos are great all around, and the lyrics of miscommunication of tracks like ‘Lost For Words’ are still pertinent to this day. Then again, playing the tunes live in his solo career was always going to be a bit tricky when looking at the higher end of his range.
Aside from the more aggressive tracks in the setlist like ‘Time’, Gilmour felt that a lot of the trickiest vocals for him now come from The Division Bell, saying, “‘Coming Back to Life’ starts more or less a cappella, so it’s got to be spot-on. ‘Time’ is quite high for me these days. ‘A Great Day for Freedom’ is pretty exposed. Obviously, we’ve got other parts going on — harmonies and so forth.”
But even if Gilmour has to take a few liberties onstage and work his ass off to get close to his usual range, this isn’t like a Bob Dylan situation where his voice is virtually unrecognisable these days. He’s still the same singer as he was when he was belting out ‘Young Lust’ and ‘Money’, but even if there’s a fair bit of age in his voice, it only helps bring the tunes more depth than there was before.
And judging by what each of those difficult tunes is about, it’s almost ironic that Gilmour would have the most trouble with them. Each of them talks about dealing with the passage of time or trying to overcome some physical or emotional struggle, and it’s more poetic to see the guitar legend doing the same thing every night as he tries to belt them out in the exact same way.
