The Pink Floyd songs David Gilmour will never play live: “A bit terrifying and violent”
When David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd, he brought a much-needed sense of soul to a band who were at a clear crossroads.
Years spent diving into the murky waters of psychedelic music had given their leader, Syd Barrett, the creative bends. Barrett had wholly lost sight of the line between greatness and madness, and the band were spiralling with him. Gilmour joined, steadying the tailspin and bringing a sense of coherence back to proceedings.
When Barrett subsequently left, Gilmour filled his shoes and stepped into a leadership role with his now-famed nemesis, Roger Waters. For a while, the pair operated like a musical yin and yang, with Waters bringing the heavy, more inflated ideas to the table. Gilmour then balanced him out, bringing technical nuance to the lofty arrangements, while crucially lacing it with a very important sense of emotion.
Because on Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, those moments of psychedelic tenderness all came from the crafty melody writing and soft vocal performance of Gilmour. Even later down the line, when he transcended into the purely indulgent solo of ‘Comfortably Numb’, he does so with an acute sense of emotion that makes every note a point of feeling for the listener.
His skill in this regard is what makes him the worst person to perform any of the band’s discography from their 1979 album, The Wall. Famously, a record that Roger Waters made his baby, it was steadfast in its pursuit of his overarching narrative concept, and so understandably, feels very alien in the hands of Gilmour.
Not to mention that the mere playing of them would serve as a reminder of Waters himself, who, as time has gone on, becomes an increasingly bitter thought for Gilmour. So naturally, he has removed any such idea from his live performances.
He explained, “There are songs from the past that I no longer feel comfortable singing. I love ‘Run Like Hell’. I loved the music I created for it, but all that (sings) ‘You’d better run, run, run…’ I now find that all rather, I don’t know… a bit terrifying and violent.”
He continued, “‘Another Brick In The Wall’ is another one I shan’t be doing. I don’t think I’ve done that with my own band, but I certainly did it in the post-Roger Pink Floyd, against my better judgment. The same with ‘Money’. I won’t be doing that. I’m going to be sticking with the ones that are essentially my music, and I feel some ownership of. ‘Comfortably Numb’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, maybe…”
Music that was once shared between the pair now serves as a reminder of their stark differences. In fact, hearing the two of them play their respective Pink Floyd songs as subsequent solo performers, it’s a wonder that they ever collaborated at all, for they both perform with such an obvious sense of difference and intent. But I guess that is what made Pink Floyd so brilliant in the first place, the underlying tension that, for a brief period, created greatness.
