“A poor idea”: The song David Gilmour wishes he could take back
David Gilmour has long been a torchbearer for that distinctly frank Britishness, unafraid to confront his own shortcomings. While the former Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist approaches his craft with utmost seriousness, his ability to self-deprecate and maintain perspective on his art has been key to his enduring success. It’s this grounded outlook that has allowed Gilmour to remain relevant long after many of his contemporaries have faded from the spotlight.
Just take his 2024 solo album, Luck and Strange, for example. A stellar body of work by the 78-year-old arrived a long nine years after his previous effort, Rattle That Lock. Although it saw Gilmour do what he has done for decades and draw upon the talent of others to bring his cerebral vision to life, including renowned drummer Steve Gadd, brilliantly, he linked up with the celebrated Alt-J producer Charlie Andrew, who’s also worked with Wolf Alice and Bloc Party.
What is the significance of this? Not only is the studio maestro much younger, but he comes from a much different musical context, one that, according to Gilmour, is not as familiar with Pink Floyd as other older producers would be. With Andrew also being a direct character, his “wonderful lack of knowledge or respect” for Gilmour’s creative past proved transformative. It pulled the rock legend into new areas and refreshed his sound, with the producer noting that he wanted to make a unique album and not regurgitate the older statesman’s previous work.
It’s this lucidity, and indeed, creative fluidity, that keeps Gilmour pushing on, even as his 80s near. He’s not content to rest on his laurels, as Pink Floyd’s arc showed, and given that in his solo career, he is unburdened by the demands of being in one of the world’s most famous outfits, he’s been able to pursue a clearer vision of himself.
That being said, just as in Pink Floyd, there are moments that, as a natural byproduct of his refusal to live in the past, cause Gilmour a bit of discomfort through the wonderful prism of hindsight. One of these is ‘You Know I’m Right’ from his successful second solo effort, 1984’s About Face. Taking a step up from its predecessor, which arrived six years prior, and utilising some of the new musical shades of the decade, the record encompasses everything from hard rock and progressive to new wave.
With Pink Floyd floundering following the release of 1983’s The Final Cut and the dictatorial Roger Waters nearing his acrimonious departure in 1985, which prompted an interminable schism between him and Gilmour, About Face is brimming with the essence of an artist seeking to unburden himself from a group he recently dubbed a “mud bath”.
Given that the end of Waters’ time in the band was particularly uncomfortable, Gilmour ended up writing ‘You Know I’m Right’ from About Face about his outspoken counterpart. For this reason, he wishes he could take the song back, a point exacerbated by the fact that the album no longer does anything for him, with it sounding very 1980s and dated to his ear.
“This didn’t begin life as a song about Roger but ended up as one, prompted by the future of Floyd being in doubt,” Gilmour admitted to Mojo in 2015. “You are tempted to allow yourself to let those grumbles surface in things. I think it’s generally a poor idea. And if I went back to it, I probably wouldn’t do that. It’s impossible not to grumble and moan about the inequalities and injustices of life (laughs).”
Luckily for David Gilmour, he’s released so much quality since About Face that no one has even batted an eyelid that ‘You Know I’m Right’ is about his old enemy. If anything, it serves as a time capsule back to the final days of Pink Floyd’s classic lineup. Everything has its place.
