FBG'S TOP 100 PINK FLOYD SONGS - #01 - Comfortably Numb from The Wall (1979) (1 Viewer)

[Anarchy99]

I will think of something more interesting as a lead in. But for now . . .

#101-T - San Tropez from Meddle (1971)
#101-T - Wearing The Inside Out from The Division Bell (1994)
#101-T - Obscured By Clouds - When You're In from Obscured By Clouds (1972)
#98-T - Julia Dream - B-Side (1968)
#98-T - Lucifer Sam - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
#98-T - Stay from Obscured By Clouds (1972)
#93-T - The Show Must Go On from The Wall (1979)
#93-T - Southampton Dock from The Final Cut (1983)
#93-T - A Great Day For Freedom from The Division Bell (1994)
#93-T - Alan's Blues / Love Scene (Version 6) from Zabriskie Point (1970)
#93-T - Hey, Hey, Rise Up! from Digital Single (2022)
#91-T - Corporal Clegg from A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
#91-T - The Hero Returns (Parts 1 & 2) from B Side and The Final Cut (1983)
#89-T - Waiting For The Worms from The Wall (1979)
#89-T - A Saucerful Of Secrets from A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
#85-T - Vera from The Wall (1979)
#85-T - The Last Few Bricks from Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81 (2000)
#85-T - The Final Cut From The Final Cut (1983)
#85-T - Green Is The Colour from More (1969)
#82-T - Two Suns In The Sunset from The Final Cut (1983)
#82-T - Embryo from Picnic - A Breath Of Fresh Air (1970)
#82-T - Childhood's End from Obscured By Clouds (1972)
#80-T - Jugband Blues from A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
#80-T - Biding My Time from Relics (1971)
#78-T - Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict from Ummagumma (1969)
#78-T - Don't Leave Me Now from The Wall (1979)
#76-T - Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast from Atom Heart Mother (1970)
#76-T - What Do You Want From Me from The Division Bell (1994)

 

[Anarchy99]

#75 - The Gold It's In The . . . from Obscured By Clouds (1972)
#73-T - The Fletcher Memorial Home . . . from The Final Cut (1983)
#73-T - See-Saw from A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
#71-T - The Thin Ice from The Wall (1979)
#71-T - The Nile Song / #70 - Ibiza Bar from More (1969)
#68-T - Your Possible Pasts from The Final Cut (1983)
#68-T - The Trial from The Wall (1979)
#66-T - Remember A Day from A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
#66-T - Goodbye Cruel World from The Wall (1979)
#65 - Keep Talking from The Division Bell (1994)
#63-T - Take It Back from The Division Bell (1994)
#63-T - The Gunner's Dream from The Final Cut (1983)
#62 - Summer '68 from Atom Heart Mother (1970)
#61 - Marooned from The Division Bell (1994)
#60 - The Narrow Way from Ummagumma (1969)
#59 - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3) from The Wall (1979)
#58 - Bike from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
#55-T - Arnold Layne from Single (1967)
#55-T - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (1979)
#55-T - Cymbaline from More (1969)
#52-T - Poles Apart from The Division Bell (1994)
#52-T - Coming Back To Life from The Division Bell (1994)
#52-T - Atom Heart Mother Suite from Atom Heart Mother (1970)
#51 - Sorrow from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987)

 

[Anarchy99]

#50 - Careful With That Axe, Eugene from B Side (1968)
#49 - The Dogs Of War from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987)
#47-T - Not Now John from The Final Cut (1983)
#47-T - Wot's . . . Uh The Deal? from Obscured By Clouds (1972)
#46 - A Pillow Of Winds from Meddle (1971)
#44-T - If from Atom Heart Mother (1970)
#44-T - Free Four from Obscured By Clouds (1972)
#42-T - One Slip from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987)
#42-T - Fat Old Sun from Atom Heart Mother (1970)
#41 - In The Flesh? / In The Flesh from The Wall (1979)
#40 - On The Run from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#38-T - Interstellar Overdrive from The Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
#38-T - Is There Anybody Out There? from The Wall (1979)
#37 - Empty Spaces / What Shall We Do Now? from The Wall (1979)
#36 - Nobody Home from The Wall (1979)
#34-T - One Of My Turns from The Wall (1979)
#34-T - When The Tigers Broke Free from Single (1982)
#32-T - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) from The Wall (1979)
#31-T - See Emily Play from Single (1967)
#31 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun from A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
#30 - Pigs On The Wing (Parts 1 & 2) from Animals (1977)
#29 - Goodbye Blue Sky from The Wall (1979)
#28 - Any Colour You Like from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#27 - High Hopes from The Division Bell (1994)
#26 - Learning To Fly from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987)

 

[Anarchy99]

#25 - Astronomy Dominé from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
#24 - Young Lust from The Wall (1979)
#23 - The Great Gig In The Sky from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#22 - On The Turning Away from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987)
#21 - Fearless from Meddle (1971)
#20 - Sheep from Animals (1977)
#19 - Money from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#18 - Speak To Me / Breathe (In The Air) from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#17 - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) from The Wall (1979)
#16 - Shine On You Cary Diamond (Parts 6-9) from Wish You Were Here (1975)
#15 - Mother from The Wall (1979)
#14 - Have A Cigar from Wish You Were Here (1975)
#13 - Hey You from The Wall (1979)
#12 - Echoes from Meddle (1971)
#11 - Pigs (Three Different Ones) from Animals (1977)
#10 - One Of These Days from Meddle (1971)
#09 - Run Like Hell from The Wall (1979)
#08 - Welcome To The Machine from Wish You Were Here (1975)
#07 - Us And Them from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#06 - Dogs from Animals (1977)
#05 - Brain Damage / Eclipse from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#04 - Time from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
#03 - Wish You Were Here from Wish You Were Here (1975)
#02 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5) from Wish You Were Here (1975)
#01 - Comfortably Numb from The Wall (1979)

 

[Anarchy99]

To get people in the mood . . . here's an alternative version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond as one track with a different and extended ending.

 

[Anarchy99]

And while we wait to get things going, here's the last time we will likely ever see Waters and Gilmour performing together. Comfortably Numb (London - 2011-05-12)
Such a shame that these two now live in completely different universes and absolutely cannot coexist.

 

[zamboni]

And while we wait to get things going, here's the last time we will likely ever see Waters and Gilmour performing together. Comfortably Numb (London - 2011-05-12)
Such a shame that these two now live in completely different universes and absolutely cannot coexist.

Can't believe it's been 12 years already since that performance. Gave a fleeting trigger of hope that we'd see them tour again, but wasn't in the cards.

 

[Anarchy99]

And while we wait to get things going, here's the last time we will likely ever see Waters and Gilmour performing together. Comfortably Numb (London - 2011-05-12)
Such a shame that these two now live in completely different universes and absolutely cannot coexist.

Can't believe it's been 12 years already since that performance. Gave a fleeting trigger of hope that we'd see them tour again, but wasn't in the cards.

I'm guessing you already know how the dots were connected to get to the RW/DG Comfortably Numb performance in 2011. Bob Geldof (who starred in The Wall movie) had been trying to mend fences between DG and RW for quite some time. When Geldof organized Live 8, things between DG and RW were so distant, Waters had to ask Geldof for Gilmour's phone number as he had no way to contact him. Eventually they agreed they could set aside their differences to reunite for a brief set for a good cause. Afterwards, Gilmour said wasn't a huge fan of the experience and indicated he wouldn't participate in a reunion again.

But by 2010, the pair got along well enough to join forces and perform to raise money and awareness for the Palestinian Charity "Hoping Foundation" (Oxfordshire - 2010-07-10), where they performed To Know Him Is To Love Him, Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb, and ABITW2. The DG appearance in London for RW's The Wall show is said to have been payback for RW's appearance in 2010. Since then, things have only gotten frostier, and I would guess those days are gone. But I suppose there is always hope.

 

[Anarchy99]

Here's more on how Live 8 came together:

David Gilmour: Geldof rang and asked if I would do Live 8 with Pink Floyd. He didn’t mention Roger, he just said, “Will you put Pink Floyd back together to do Live 8?” I said, “No. I’m in the middle of my solo album.” He said, “I’ll come down and see yer,” and jumped on a train. I thought, “No, no, no.”. When I rang him on his mobile he was at East Croydon. I said, “Bob, there’s no point, get off the train.” He said, “I’m coming down anyway.”

Bob Geldof: I went down to his farm, tried to take him through it.

David Gilmour: He arrived and explained the whole thing to me in detail which made me feel a bit guiltier, but I was hanging on to my selfishness. I said, “You’ve got enough great people, you don’t need us”. But he wanted us.

Bob Geldof: I could see he felt awful for saying, “No”. But he was gonna say, “No”. And he said, “I don’t know, man, I…” I said, “Don’t say, ‘No’… Drive me to the station, think about it.” He said, “But you know I’m going to say, ‘No’.” And I said, “Don’t say, ‘No’ before you think about it, and promise me you’ll think about it.”

Geldof next rang Nick Mason, who then called Roger Waters.

Nick Mason: He [Geldof] was looking for a real novelty act, to re-constitute this particular line-up of this particular band. I think it was a great idea. He started with David and gradually worked his way round. I think he was probably as surprised as we were.

Andrew Zweck (Roger Waters’ booking agent): Bob Geldof and Roger had had a relationship for years. Geldof had been in The Wall movie, and Roger was up for Live 8. He wanted to do it.

Roger Waters: I was the one who immediately promised to play on Live 8. Dave had first said, “No” to Bob Geldof.

Bob Geldof: Then Waters called me and he wanted to know what happened with the Gilmour conversation. I told him and he said, “Can I have David’s number?” I said, ‘OK’. Why don’t you have it?… But here it is.”

David Gilmour: He [Geldof] managed to connive with Nick to get Roger and he got Roger to ring me. My mobile rang and it was, “Hi this is Roger, how about it?” It was… surprising.

Having been persuaded to participate by Waters, Gilmour then asked Rick Wright. Then, at Floyd’s sometime touring guitarist Tim Renwick’s wedding reception later in May, Gilmour told him to put a date in his diary for Live 8, but denied that the band will be playing it.

Tim Renwick: At the time David said, “Oh Live 8’s going to be June 6, put it in your diary.” I said, “Oh, are you doing it?” He said, “No, we’re definitely not doing it, just to let you know if you wanted to keep that date free…”

Two weeks later, Gilmour called Renwick and confirmed that Pink Floyd would be playing at Live 8 and could he join them as a second guitarist.

Tim Renwick: Dave was laughing. He said, “We’re doing it now, and we’re doing it with Roger”. I was completely gobsmacked, as I’d never imagined it. But I always thought it was wrong that Roger left and they never played together again. David said, “It will be a real laugh…” But, of course, the thing was, it wasn’t a laugh at all.

While at the Download festival on June 10, agent Andrew Zweck and publicist Bernard Doherty learned that Pink Floyd would play Live 8.

Andrew Zweck: I was at Download on the Friday afternoon and my mobile rang and Mark Fenwick [Waters’ manager] said, “It’s all go, the reunion is on. First thing Monday, we’re gonna get it all organized, get the band, the rehearsal room, put it all together, it’ll be off and running Monday…”

Bernard Doherty: Bob called my mobile to tell me he’d got Pink Floyd while I was on the motorway heading for the Download Festival. As soon as I got there, I gathered all the media in the media center and announced that Pink Floyd was re-forming for Live 8. They all ran to their computers and started banging away. It was live on Radio One within a couple of minutes. Then Bob rang again and said, “You haven’t told the media yet, have you?” He’d promised David Gilmour that he could make the announcement exclusively on his website.

Up until then, artists like Madonna and U2 were people you might expect to be at a Bob Geldof event of this type. But, suddenly, because Pink Floyd were on the bill, there was another 100 media people wanting tickets.

The official announcement of the Pink Floyd reunion appeared on David Gilmour’s website on June 12.

David Gilmour: I want to do everything I can to persuade the G-8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world. It’s crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of its GNP to the starving nations. Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if re-forming for this concert will help focus attention, then it’s going to be worthwhile.

 

[shuke]

 

[dkp993]

You should start a thread as a place holder.

 

[Anarchy99]

Unless I get any more lists (doubtful) with any new entries (even more doubtful), we are going to end up with 100 songs. Barring any new people showing up late to the party, I have 32 lists. Thanks to all those that participated. The number one comment I got from people was "This is my list as of TODAY . . . but it could be totally different on any other day." I think that holds true for many of us.

Fair warning, we won't even get to a song that 5 people voted for until the top half of the rankings . . . and we won't see a song that appeared on 10 lists until the Top 30. Bottom line, the voting is REALLY top heavy. A bunch of lists had roughly 20 of the top 25 songs . . . and the leftover 5 or so songs is what will comprise the shotgun blast known as the remaining 75 songs.

For casual fans, that likely means that it will take quite a while until we get to the FM / AOR / classic rock radio station faves, But that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of good music being bandied about until we get there.

 

[Todem]

And while we wait to get things going, here's the last time we will likely ever see Waters and Gilmour performing together. Comfortably Numb (London - 2011-05-12)
Such a shame that these two now live in completely different universes and absolutely cannot coexist.

I loathe Roger Waters as a human being. Can’t stand him. Better off for Gilmore's sanity. Waters is toxic.

 

[DocHolliday]

Unless I get any more lists (doubtful) with any new entries (even more doubtful), we are going to end up with 100 songs. Barring any new people showing up late to the party, I have 32 lists. Thanks to all those that participated. The number one comment I got from people was "This is my list as of TODAY . . . but it could be totally different on any other day." I think that holds true for many of us.

Fair warning, we won't even get to a song that 5 people voted for until the top half of the rankings . . . and we won't see a song that appeared on 10 lists until the Top 30. Bottom line, the voting is REALLY top heavy. A bunch of lists had roughly 20 of the top 25 songs . . . and the leftover 5 or so songs is what will comprise the shotgun blast known as the remaining 75 songs.

For casual fans, that likely means that it will take quite a while until we get to the FM / AOR / classic rock radio station faves, But that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of good music being bandied about until we get there.

I’m definitely a casual fan but can’t wait to be exposed to some new to me PF tunes.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

 

[Anarchy99]

#101-T - San Tropez from Meddle (1971)
#101-T - Wearing The Inside Out from The Division Bell (1994)
#101-T - Obscured By Clouds - When You're In from Obscured By Clouds (1972)

And we're off . . . These songs all get asterisks, as they only quasi received votes. They were all someone's #25 song that got bumped once we sorted out what songs were split or conjoined. Officially, they count as 0 vote songs, but to round things off to 100 songs, I added them in. Since they aren't recorded as votes in my spreadsheet, I can't even remember who voted for them initially. I was the one that had Obscured fall off my list.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

San Tropez:
Unlike the other tracks on Meddle, San Tropez was not written collaboratively. Roger Waters wrote the piece himself and brought it into the studio already finished. It is the only track on Meddle not co-written by David Gilmour. The album was loosely based on Pink Floyd's life around this time. The whole band went to the island San Tropez with their then-girlfriends and had a great peaceful time, hence the peaceful nature of this song and the title.

Live Performances: None
Covers: Dave Chapple

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 92
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 82
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 64
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture (92 of 165 songs): ’Round about here is where you throw up your hands at Pink Floyd. Meddle was a chance for the band to step up, what with “One of These Days” and of course “Echoes.” And so we get this dancehall-y hairball from Waters, who almost sounds like Harry Nilsson here. (Minus the four-octave range and ability to pitch.) Where the band got the spelling (the town is Saint-Tropez) is the least of its problems.

Ultimate Classic Rock (82 of 167 songs): This little jazzy shuffle isn’t going to win any commendations for profundity, but, man, if it doesn’t capture a mood. From Waters’ easy-rolling croon to Wright’s plucky piano to Gilmour’s shimmering slide work, everything on “San Tropez” adds up to a breezy day on the French Riviera. The lyrics about sand, waves and champagne are almost superfluous.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wearing The Inside Out:
The song was initially called Evrika and is a collaboration between Richard Wright and Anthony Moore. It is the only song on The Division Bell for which David Gilmour does not receive a writing credit. It is the first time Wright sang lead vocals on a song since Time and Us and Them from DSOTM. He recorded his vocals in one take.

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: None
DG: 22 (London - 2006-02-07 (First performance), London - 2006-5-31)
RW: None
NM: None

Covers: 8-Bit Arcade, Fleesh, Walt Wagner

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 121
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 120
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 81
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture (121 of 165 songs): Another insubstantial, forgettable track on Division Bell. Waters’s dark sarcasm was looking better all the time. And then the pompous synthesized horns kick in. Repeat, for almost seven minutes.

UCR (120 of 167 songs): This deliberately paced (almost seven-minute) ballad hews a little too close to smooth jazz, but Richard Wright’s lead vocal – his last on a Pink Floyd album – is earnest and sweet. The words aren’t his (the music is, and Anthony Moore wrote the lyrics), but you’d never know it from the way Wright gently sings about “creeping back to life.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Obscured By Clouds - When You're In:

After a stretch of albums with long, experimental songs, Obscured By Clouds (the album) dropped with all shorter songs (relatively speaking). The album hit #1 in France and #6 in the UK, and it peaked at #45 on the Billboard charts. It's safe to say their next album sold a little bit better. The album as a whole seemingly was an afterthought compared to DSOTM. The band recorded it from late February to early April in 1972. However, the Floyd had already started performing DSOTM in its entirety (and recording it in the studio) in January of that year. The songs from OBC weren't played much in concert. OCB the song had the most live performances (49 times). Essentially, the band took time off from their work on DSOTM to record OBC, which was used as the soundtrack for the French film entitled The Valley.

Live Performances:
PF: 49 (New York - 1973-03-17, Atlanta - 1973-03-24, London - 1974-11-04 (Last Performance)
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM: 156 (London - 2019-05-03, London - 2019-05-03)

Covers: 8-Bit Arcade, Dan Dromeda, HSSoundBerlin

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 161 / 153
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 67 / 113
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 53 / 108
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture (161 and 153 of 165 songs): Three minutes of nice throbby scene-setting for the Barbet Schroeder movie The Valley, not much more. In Pigs Might Fly, the best biography of the band, author Mark Blake says that Waters passed up a chance to have the band’s music in A Clockwork Orange. (In 1970, the band also contributed music to Antonioni’s goofy Zabriskie Point.) The Valley is about some Australians who go tramping into New Guinea, where they find a remote tribe living in a valley whose position is marked “obscured by clouds” on maps. For their album of the same title, the band took their soundtrack music and added a few more songs. This suffers from the same tonal monotony as the title track to The Valley soundtrack, but a little more energy ensues. Unfortunatly, it derives from a pretty lite guitar riff and some Deep Purple–y keyboard mewling. It’s not clear why the fadeout lasts 30-plus seconds.

UCR (67 and 113 of 167 songs): One giant, gnarly buzz begins the Floyd’s final soundtrack album and persistently rumbles throughout this leadoff track. Meanwhile, Mason combines two separate beats into a highway rhythm and Gilmour plays mirror games in the left and right channels, stringing along telephone wires of acidic guitar on the way. This circular – or maybe just repetitive – instrumental jam is short and forgettable, but the tandem crunch of Gilmour’s guitar and Wright’s keyboards sure satisfies.

Is it too early to start teasing songs? Of course not! Up next, to get us started in earnest, a non-album track / B-side, the first song to feature David Gilmour on vocals. Now I remember why I don't do more music threads. The write-ups take forever.

 

[Manster]

Meddle is an underrated album, imo. Even if it feels more cobbled together than say DSOTM, it's full of Floyd goodness. San Tropez definitely conveys the laid back island feel......glad its being included here.

OBC (album) has always been enjoyable to me, even though it's relatively  obscure to the casual Floyd fan......it's an easy, approachable album.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

San Tropez definitely conveys the laid back island feel......glad its being included here.

Yes, of these 3 it's my favorite.

 

[zamboni]

San Tropez was probably the closest of the three to make my list. Not among my favorites but I do like the swing-y feel to it - a bit different for them.

 

[Anarchy99]

#98-T - Julia Dream - B-Side (1968)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 1 point (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.13%)
Top Ranker: @Mookie Gizzy
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: 1 (London - 1968-06-25)
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM: None

Covers: Mark Lanegan, Mostly Autumn, All India Radio, Fabio Zuffanti, Ewan Cunningham, Petitite Monster, The Orange Drop

Might as well get in some band history to get things rolling. Seemingly like every other British band of the era, PF followed the same path, with several of the band members meeting at school. In this case, it was architecture school, and the earliest seeds of the band featured Waters, Mason, and Wright in 1963 with a few other people, and they called themselves the Sigma 6. By 1964, they had gone through some personnel changes and renamed themselves multiple times . . . the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs, the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, the Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set, and Waters had brought in his long-time friend Syd Barrett to join the band.

That version of the band rebranded themselves again, as there was another group in London called the Tea Set booked to perform at the same gig on the same night as they were. They were forced to come up with something quickly. As the story goes, Barrett flipped through his music collection for ideas and had records from blues musicians in his collection named Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. He took their first names and came up The Pink Floyd Sound, later shortened to The Pink Floyd, and then ending up as Pink Floyd.

The band saw some early success with The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn album and some singles in 1967, but Barrett had started having some mental health issues. By the end of the tour, Floyd had started opening for Jimi Hendrix on a leg of his tour. (While not as crazy as having The Monkees open for Hendrix, the psychedelic sound of PF followed by pounding Hendrix guitar seems like it might be an odd pairing). The band added David Gilmour as their fifth member (who already knew all the band members), but it wasn't long before Barrett got jettisoned from the band.

That gets us to the beginning of 1968, and Julia Dream was recorded in February. A song written by RW, DG makes a go of it for the first time as a vocalist. The song was the B side to It Would Be So Nice, a non-album track that bridged the gap between TPATGOD and A Saucerful Of Secrets albums. The track would end up on some compilation albums including Relics, the Shine On box set, and the Early Years 1965-1972 box set.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 158
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 102
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 75
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (158 out of 165 songs): After Barrett left the band, Floyd foundered. This single (the band, like many of its British counterparts at the time, released singles that didn’t appear on any of its proper albums), written by Roger Waters, has the distinction of being one of the worst singles by a major band ever released. If Stephen Bishop had come across Waters sitting on a frat-house stairway with an acoustic guitar serenading a couple of coeds, he would have grabbed the guitar and smashed it.

UCR Ranking (102 out of 167 songs): Some trivia: Julia Dream is one of three early Pink Floyd songs to mention an eiderdown, a type of quilt. This b-side is the least compelling of the trio, a fluffy love fantasy written by Waters, influenced by Barrett (why is there an armadillo in this dream?) and sung by Gilmour – the new member’s first lead vocal on a Floyd recording.

Up next, a song even older than Julia Dream, this one an album track. That narrows it down to 11 options.

 

[Anarchy99]

The next song got me to pivot to listening to Love & Rockets (who covered the song). They are one of my college faves. I needed a break from Floyd for a while.

 

[ConstruxBoy]

Thanks for the invite on this one. Just don't know Floyd well enough to do it.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

These writeups are awesome David. Nice job! Really enjoying researching this stuff.

 

[FatMax]

Glad this is going. Great write ups, Anarchy!

 

[Dan Lambskin]

San Tropez just missed the cut for me

 

[Pip's Invitation]

So someone listed the first two instrumentals from Obscured by Clouds together (and then cut them)?

When You’re In might be in my top 40. It’s a simple groove, but what a groove it is. The title track of OBC never did much for me.

 

[dutch]

Always thought of San Tropez as a fluffy jingle and sort of filler for Meddle. meh

 

[jabarony]

, and they called themselves the Sigma 6. By 1964, they had gone through some personnel changes and renamed themselves multiple times . . . the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs, the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, the Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set

These are all great band names! One of them seems vaguely familiar.

Who doesn't love the Leonard's Lodgers' era?

 

[Leroy Hoard]

, and they called themselves the Sigma 6. By 1964, they had gone through some personnel changes and renamed themselves multiple times . . . the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs, the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, the Spectrum Five, before settling on the Tea Set

These are all great band names! One of them seems vaguely familiar.

Who knew that Dave Mustaine was an early Pink Floyd fan.

 

[Anarchy99]

So someone listed the first two instrumentals from Obscured by Clouds together (and then cut them)?

When You’re In might be in my top 40. It’s a simple groove, but what a groove it is. The title track of OBC never did much for me.

Not exactly. I had one of them, and someone else had the other. I just combined them together for the final listing. They both got bumped when SOYCD got split into two songs.

 

[Anarchy99]

#98-T - Lucifer Sam - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 1 point (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.13%)
Top Ranker: @zamboni
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: 7
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM: 156 (London - 2019-05-03)

Covers: MGMT, TonqiXod, Instant Flight, siamcateyes, Lightning Seeds, Three O'clock, True West, Dark Globe, Love & Rockets, Bill Corgan, Electric Hellfire Club, Billion Stars, Jay Farrar, Shockabily, Sadies, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Southern Culture Of The Skids, The Well, Carter Tutti, Blue Angels, White Noise, Zizlia, Five Mod Four, Mammoth Weed Wizard *******, Echo People, Outer Park, Flaming Lips

Despite it's sinister sound and similar qualities to songs like Johnny Rivers' Secret Agent Man (which came out the year before), Lucifer Sam is generally consider to be about Syd Barrett's Siamese cat Sam and not a a spy. However, there has been some speculation that the song was about Barrett's girlfriend Jenny Spires having a clandestine affair based on the line, "ginger, ginger, Jennifer Gentle, you're a witch," with "a hip cat" (ie, someone cool and popular) being someone sneaking around with her. PF is said to have performed the song live 7 times (but I have yet to uncover a recording of any of them). The song's original title was called Percy The Rat Catcher (that doesn't exactly have the same ring to it).

Barrett would briefly revive the song in 1972 when he joined a short lived band called Stars with drummer John "Twink" Alder and bass player Jack Monck. They played a half dozen shows over the span of a month and then broke up. Syd saw a bad review of one of their shows and tapped out after their next performance. Barrett tried one more round of recording sessions after that and then dropped out of the music scene and public life pretty much from then on.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 39
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 33
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 35
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 61
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 38

Vulture Ranking (39 out of 165 songs): Another fun bashy track. “That cat’s something I can’t explain” — another imagistic Barrett vision that for some reason stays with you. The tune is a juicy and credible bit of garage rock, with some silky guitar and a rumbling below. The first two tracks of Piper are groovy indeed.

UCR Ranking (33 out of 167 songs): It’s just a song about Syd’s cat. And yet, under the creative tutelage of Barrett paired with the turbulent power of Pink Floyd, Lucifer Sam becomes something like a psychedelic twist on the Peter Gunn Theme. The twangy, stair-stepping guitar hook leads to a whirlwind of hyperactive bass playing, abrasive maracas, tart bursts of affected organ and ghostly moans of slide guitar. “That cat’s something I can’t explain.” Fair enough, Sid.

WMGK Ranking (35 out of 40 songs): From the band’s debut album, it was written by their original leader, Syd Barrett. Who is Lucifer Sam? Barrett’s cat! The song starts with the singer introducing him: “Lucifer Sam, siam cat.” While Floyd’s later era is their most popular one, the Barrett era is beloved by many as well: the Black Crowes, the Flaming Lips and Bauhaus covered this song. And these days, you can see Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s band Saucerful of Secrets playing it live.

Billboard Ranking (38 out of 50 songs): Pink Floyd’s post-Double O Bo version of stereophonic spy music, tense and alluring, about the coolest cat that Syd Barrett knew — in this case, an actual cat, his pet Siamese. “That cat’s something I can’t explain!” he exclaims on the refrain, stopping the song in its tracks, and a world of frustrated feline owners nods in resigned recognition.

Up next, a song about that awkward moment when you wake up in the morning with someone in your bed, and you have no idea who that person is.

 

[Anarchy99]

#98-T - Stay from Obscured By Clouds (1972)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 1 point (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.13%)
Top Ranker: @Anarchy99
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM:None

Covers: Reyo Bikkin

I picked this one. Is it one of my Top 25 PF songs? That's extremely doubtful, and maybe it was the tequila voting for me. But I wanted to add in some songs that people weren't familiar with. I doubt most people will know this one. To me, it sounds more like Steely Dan than Floyd and is paired well with Haitian Divorce. Both feature a wah-wah guitar sound. Stay was written and sung by Richard Wright (with lyrics by Roger Waters) . . . back when Wright was allowed to make contributions and before he was unceremoniously kicked out of the band a few years later.

The song covers the entire (and brief) interaction between what many believe was a groupie that turned into a one night stand.
Stay!
And help me to end the day
And if you don't mind
We'll break a bottle of wine
Stick around
And maybe we'll put one down
'Cause I wanna find
What lies behind those eyes

Midnight blue
Burning gold
A yellow moon
Is growing cold

I rise
Looking through my morning eyes
Surprised
To find you by my side
Rack my brain
And try to remember your name
To find
The words to tell you good-bye

Morning dues
Newborn day
Midnight blue
Turned to gray

Midnight blue
Burning gold
A yellow moon
Is growing cold

I enjoy the song, as it is something entirely different in terms of style, performance, and subject matter compared to the 60's psychedelia, the improvisational 10+ minute magnum opuses, and the later doom and gloom of other Waters material. It also showcases DG's broad range and skill set, and his playing on this one is subtle yet stands out. No crazy sound effects, far from a rocker, no war references, nothing about mental health, no heavy synthesizers. And I'm sure there are plenty of people that at some point ended up in a similar situation.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 52
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 100
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): NR
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (52 out of 165 songs): Sung by Wright, who wrote it; a pretty scene-setting thing. Again, it’s hard to square this exceedingly simple love plaint with the band’s harder-edged and sonically meaningful stuff that would give it its reputation. Could almost be a Neil Young composition, or even Carole King, though it would have a stronger melody. And better production.

UCR Ranking (100 out of 167 songs): Pink Floyd aren’t much of a substitute for Crosby, Stills and Nash . . . and they’re not much better at replacing Can’t Buy a Thrill-era Steely Dan.

Up next, we go on to our first song voted on by two people, clocking in at a mere 96 seconds long.

 

[zamboni]

#97-T - Lucifer Sam - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 1 point (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.13%)
Top Ranker: @zamboni
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: 7
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM: 156 (London - 2019-05-03)

Covers: MGMT, TonqiXod, Instant Flight, siamcateyes, Lightning Seeds, Three O'clock, True West, Dark Globe, Love & Rockets, Bill Corgan, Electric Hellfire Club, Billion Stars, Jay Farrar, Shockabily, Sadies, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Southern Culture Of The Skids, The Well, Carter Tutti, Blue Angels, White Noise, Zizlia, Five Mod Four, Mammoth Weed Wizard *******, Echo People, Outer Park, Flaming Lips

Despite it's sinister sound and similar qualities to songs like Johnny Rivers' Secret Agent Man (which came out the year before), Lucifer Sam is generally consider to be about Syd Barrett's Siamese cat Sam and not a a spy. However, there has been some speculation that the song was about Barrett's girlfriend Jenny Spires having a clandestine affair based on the line, "ginger, ginger, Jennifer Gentle, you're a witch," with "a hip cat" (ie, someone cool and popular) being someone sneaking around with her. PF is said to have performed the song live 7 times (but I have yet to uncover a recording of any of them). The song's original title was called Percy The Rat Catcher (that doesn't exactly have the same ring to it).

Barrett would briefly revive the song in 1972 when he joined a short lived band called Stars with drummer John "Twink" Alder and bass player Jack Monck. They played a half dozen shows over the span of a month and then broke up. Syd saw a bad review of one of their shows and tapped out after their next performance. Barrett tried one more round of recording sessions after that and then dropped out of the music scene and public life pretty much from then on.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 39
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 33
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 35
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 61
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 38

Vulture Ranking (39 out of 165 songs): Another fun bashy track. “That cat’s something I can’t explain” — another imagistic Barrett vision that for some reason stays with you. The tune is a juicy and credible bit of garage rock, with some silky guitar and a rumbling below. The first two tracks of Piper are groovy indeed.

UCR Ranking (33 out of 167 songs): It’s just a song about Syd’s cat. And yet, under the creative tutelage of Barrett paired with the turbulent power of Pink Floyd, Lucifer Sam becomes something like a psychedelic twist on the Peter Gunn Theme. The twangy, stair-stepping guitar hook leads to a whirlwind of hyperactive bass playing, abrasive maracas, tart bursts of affected organ and ghostly moans of slide guitar. “That cat’s something I can’t explain.” Fair enough, Sid.

WMGK Ranking (35 out of 40 songs): From the band’s debut album, it was written by their original leader, Syd Barrett. Who is Lucifer Sam? Barrett’s cat! The song starts with the singer introducing him: “Lucifer Sam, siam cat.” While Floyd’s later era is their most popular one, the Barrett era is beloved by many as well: the Black Crowes, the Flaming Lips and Bauhaus covered this song. And these days, you can see Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s band Saucerful of Secrets playing it live.

Billboard Ranking (38 out of 50 songs): Pink Floyd’s post-Double O Bo version of stereophonic spy music, tense and alluring, about the coolest cat that Syd Barrett knew — in this case, an actual cat, his pet Siamese. “That cat’s something I can’t explain!” he exclaims on the refrain, stopping the song in its tracks, and a world of frustrated feline owners nods in resigned recognition.

Up next, a song about that awkward moment when you wake up in the morning with someone in your bed, and you have no idea who that person is.

Guess I’m the outlier here. Always did like the ‘60s spy-like sound to this with the melodic bass line.

 

[Anarchy99]

#97-T - Lucifer Sam - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 1 point (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.13%)
Top Ranker: @zamboni
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: 7
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM: 156 (London - 2019-05-03)

Covers: MGMT, TonqiXod, Instant Flight, siamcateyes, Lightning Seeds, Three O'clock, True West, Dark Globe, Love & Rockets, Bill Corgan, Electric Hellfire Club, Billion Stars, Jay Farrar, Shockabily, Sadies, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Southern Culture Of The Skids, The Well, Carter Tutti, Blue Angels, White Noise, Zizlia, Five Mod Four, Mammoth Weed Wizard *******, Echo People, Outer Park, Flaming Lips

Despite it's sinister sound and similar qualities to songs like Johnny Rivers' Secret Agent Man (which came out the year before), Lucifer Sam is generally consider to be about Syd Barrett's Siamese cat Sam and not a a spy. However, there has been some speculation that the song was about Barrett's girlfriend Jenny Spires having a clandestine affair based on the line, "ginger, ginger, Jennifer Gentle, you're a witch," with "a hip cat" (ie, someone cool and popular) being someone sneaking around with her. PF is said to have performed the song live 7 times (but I have yet to uncover a recording of any of them). The song's original title was called Percy The Rat Catcher (that doesn't exactly have the same ring to it).

Barrett would briefly revive the song in 1972 when he joined a short lived band called Stars with drummer John "Twink" Alder and bass player Jack Monck. They played a half dozen shows over the span of a month and then broke up. Syd saw a bad review of one of their shows and tapped out after their next performance. Barrett tried one more round of recording sessions after that and then dropped out of the music scene and public life pretty much from then on.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 39
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 33
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 35
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 61
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 38

Vulture Ranking (39 out of 165 songs): Another fun bashy track. “That cat’s something I can’t explain” — another imagistic Barrett vision that for some reason stays with you. The tune is a juicy and credible bit of garage rock, with some silky guitar and a rumbling below. The first two tracks of Piper are groovy indeed.

UCR Ranking (33 out of 167 songs): It’s just a song about Syd’s cat. And yet, under the creative tutelage of Barrett paired with the turbulent power of Pink Floyd, Lucifer Sam becomes something like a psychedelic twist on the Peter Gunn Theme. The twangy, stair-stepping guitar hook leads to a whirlwind of hyperactive bass playing, abrasive maracas, tart bursts of affected organ and ghostly moans of slide guitar. “That cat’s something I can’t explain.” Fair enough, Sid.

WMGK Ranking (35 out of 40 songs): From the band’s debut album, it was written by their original leader, Syd Barrett. Who is Lucifer Sam? Barrett’s cat! The song starts with the singer introducing him: “Lucifer Sam, siam cat.” While Floyd’s later era is their most popular one, the Barrett era is beloved by many as well: the Black Crowes, the Flaming Lips and Bauhaus covered this song. And these days, you can see Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s band Saucerful of Secrets playing it live.

Billboard Ranking (38 out of 50 songs): Pink Floyd’s post-Double O Bo version of stereophonic spy music, tense and alluring, about the coolest cat that Syd Barrett knew — in this case, an actual cat, his pet Siamese. “That cat’s something I can’t explain!” he exclaims on the refrain, stopping the song in its tracks, and a world of frustrated feline owners nods in resigned recognition.

Up next, a song about that awkward moment when you wake up in the morning with someone in your bed, and you have no idea who that person is.

Guess I’m the outlier here. Always did like the ‘60s spy-like sound to this with the melodic bass line.

I don’t dislike the 60’s spy-like sound with melodic base lines.There will be lots of songs I like but didn’t vote for. Can’t vote for everything.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

#97T - Stay from Obscured By Clouds (1972)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 1 point (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.13%)
Top Ranker: @Anarchy99
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: None
DG:None
RW: None
NM:None

Covers: Reyo Bikkin

I picked this one. Is it one of my Top 25 PF songs? That's extremely doubtful, and maybe it was the tequila voting for me. But I wanted to add in some songs that people weren't familiar with. I doubt most people will know this one. To me, it sounds more like Steely Dan than Floyd and is paired well with Haitian Divorce. Both feature a wah-wah guitar sound. Stay was written and sung by Richard Wright (with lyrics by Roger Waters) . . . back when Wright was allowed to make contributions and before he was unceremoniously kicked out of the band a few years later.

The song covers the entire (and brief) interaction between what many believe was a groupie that turned into a one night stand.
Stay!
And help me to end the day
And if you don't mind
We'll break a bottle of wine
Stick around
And maybe we'll put one down
'Cause I wanna find
What lies behind those eyes

Midnight blue
Burning gold
A yellow moon
Is growing cold

I rise
Looking through my morning eyes
Surprised
To find you by my side
Rack my brain
And try to remember your name
To find
The words to tell you good-bye

Morning dues
Newborn day
Midnight blue
Turned to gray

Midnight blue
Burning gold
A yellow moon
Is growing cold

I enjoy the song, as it is something entirely different in terms of style, performance, and subject matter compared to the 60's psychedelia, the improvisational 10+ minute magnum opuses, and the later doom and gloom of other Waters material. It also showcases DG's broad range and skill set, and his playing on this one is subtle yet stands out. No crazy sound effects, far from a rocker, no war references, nothing about mental health, no heavy synthesizers. And I'm sure there are plenty of people that at some point ended up in a similar situation.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 52
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 100
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): NR
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (52 out of 165 songs): Sung by Wright, who wrote it; a pretty scene-setting thing. Again, it’s hard to square this exceedingly simple love plaint with the band’s harder-edged and sonically meaningful stuff that would give it its reputation. Could almost be a Neil Young composition, or even Carole King, though it would have a stronger melody. And better production.

UCR Ranking (100 out of 167 songs): Pink Floyd aren’t much of a substitute for Crosby, Stills and Nash . . . and they’re not much better at replacing Can’t Buy a Thrill-era Steely Dan.

Up next, we go on to our first song voted on by two people, clocking in at a mere 96 seconds long.

I am a big fan of most tracks on Obscured by Clouds and wish I could have included more of them. Had we gone to 50, I might have found room for at least half its tracks, including this one. As hinted at in Anarchy’s write-up here, the material of OBC takes on a lot of the more conventional music styles that the band normally didn’t attempt. (And then it ends with a weird-*** thing). This song may be Rick Wright’s best vocal and it reminds me of a different Steely Dan track — Dirty Work. What really seals it for me is David Gilmour’s gorgeous wah-wah guitar lines.

 

[Manster]

I'd imagine this is the area of the list we will see the very early stuff......I honestly don't really ever listen to Piper

 

[jabarony]

#97T - Stay from Obscured By Clouds (1972)

I always thought Steely Dan, or similar, as well. Probably why it didn't crack my top 25

 

[Anarchy99]

#93-T - The Show Must Go On from The Wall (1979)

Appeared On: 2 ballots (out of 32 . . . 6.3%)
Total Points: 2 points (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.25%)
Top Ranker: @Dwayne Hoover @Grace Under Pressure
Highest Ranking: 25

Live Performances:
PF: 31 (Los Angeles - 1980-01-XX (Rehearsal), London - 1980-08-09, London - 1981-06-16)
DG's PF: None
DG: None
RW: 224 (Unknown, Moscow - 2011-04-23, Rome - 2013-07-28)
NM:None

Covers: Adrian Belew, Out Of Phase, Luther Wright, Open Hand, Kathya West, Trevor Exter, Lone Piper

The first track of Side 4 of the LP. For the diaper dandies in the crowd, LP's were short for long play records or vinyl albums. They were 12 inches wide with a hole in the middle. They were played on devices known as turntables (or record players). People would place a stylus (also known as a needle) on said piece of vinyl to produce music from that one grove on the plastic.

It was originally entitled Who's Sorry Now, (It's) Never Too Late. It's Never Too Late Band Demo #1. Band Demo #2.

This is the only track on the album where Roger Waters does not contribute any kind of instrument or vocal. RW wanted to create a Beach Boys sound for the backing of the song, and initially the entire band was scheduled to appear. The band backed out the morning of the recording session, and only Bruce Johnson appears on the song. Toni Tennille (of Captain & Tennille) also sings backing vocals.

The track does not appear in the 1982 film version of The Wall, nor in Waters' post-Pink Floyd 1990 concert The Wall Live In Berlin. It also has an extra verse that was cut from the studio album, but is nevertheless included in the lyrics printed on its sleeve. The added verse was performed in their 31 live performances of The Wall.

Do I have to stand up
Wild eyed in the spotlight
What a nightmare
Why don't I turn and run

In terms of the narrative of the album, with different drugs warring within Pink's body, thoughts of war and childhood reeling within his head, and his bricks dragging him further into mental decay, Pink wonders whether he can perform at his concert as expected before deciding that the show must go on. The song leads into In the Flesh, where the show is performed by Pink as he begins to mentally unravel and hallucinate that he is a fascist dictator.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 145
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 110
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 80
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (145 out of 165 songs): Doo-*** vocals, synthesized drum rolls, and melodramatic lyrics. (I didn’t mean to let them take my soul!) One of the problems with The Wall is that it’s really not clear who the bad guys are. Why did Pink let anyone take his soul? The world Waters and Ezrin were now inhabiting was so far removed from the Floyd of old that Toni Tennille — of Love Will Keep Us Together Captain & Tennille fame — was brought in to do backup vocals. One of my favorite moments in the Pink Floyd story is when, after Animals, the other guys in the group decided they’d had just about enough of Roger Waters’s overbearing dominance. They were emboldened by the fact that they’d just recorded two of the biggest albums of the era, and were feeling pretty good moneywise. They’d done what they’d set out to do, and now was the time to let Waters know they were through with his Great Artiste act. Boy, was he going to be surprised! If this were a scene in This Is Spinal Tap, the band would be assembling in a room to give Waters the bad news when … the phone would ring, informing the members that — due to incoherently planned and overambitious tours, a lack of tax planning, bad investments, and inadequate oversight of their accountants — they were basically broke. At which point the members were all ears to hear what their resident genius had on tap for them next. “A two-record rock opera about an unhappy rock star rather like yourself, you say? Sounds intriguing!”

UCR Ranking (110 out of 167 songs): The song that begins The Wall’s end run was supposed to feature The Beach Boys; instead Pink Floyd landed off-and-on Beach Boy Bruce Johnston and Toni Tennille (but not her “Captain”). Regardless, the California chorus sounds perfect for this easy listening parody, and makes the story’s upcoming fascist fantasies sound even more terrifying.

As a coincidence, our next song samples It's Never Too Late (which didn't make the final cut of The Wall) but did make it to their next album.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

The Show Must Go On almost made my list but to me its greatness is more in context with the album - not a song I would play on its own. A great song nonetheless.

 

[Tau837]

Just discovered that the countdown is underway.

 

[Anarchy99]

#93-T - Southampton Dock from The Final Cut (1983)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 2 points (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.25%)
Top Ranker: @ericttspikes
Highest Ranking: 24

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: None
DG: None
RW: 265 (Unknown - 1985, Montreal - 1987-11-07, Portland - 2000-06-27, Lisbon - 2006-06-02)

Covers: Mario Martinazzi, Brit Floyd, Gentlemen On The Side

The Final Cut was intended to be a re-purposing of leftover material from The Wall to be further developed for the Pink Floyd - The Wall soundtrack (which at the time was originally called Spare Bricks). Once a war broke out between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands Islands, Roger Waters shifted the focus of the album to a war-theme with an introspective, autobiographical focus on growing up without a father. His father was killed in WWII when he was 5 months old. By the point, PF had mostly splintered and The Final Cut was the last gasp with Waters at the helm.

Gilmour felt the songs were not good enough for a new studio album. He wanted to write new material, but Waters remained doubtful, as in that era, Gilmour had not contributed much new music. DG would later say, "I'm certainly guilty at times of being lazy, and moments have arrived when Roger might say, "Well, what have you got?" And I'd be like, "Well, I haven't got anything right now. I need a bit of time to put some ideas on tape." There are elements of all this stuff that, years later, you can look back on and say, "Well, he had a point there." But he wasn't right about wanting to put some duff tracks on The Final Cut. I said to Roger, "If these songs weren't good enough for The Wall, why are they good enough now?"

By that time, the band was essentially the Roger Waters Trio. Waters had effectively booted Richard Wright from the band, as Wright had served predominantly as a session musician for The Wall album. He was gone entirely from The Final Cut. All music and lyrics were written by Roger. RW and DG no longer recorded together, and each recorded their segments on their own. Nick Mason played some drums on the album, but Waters brought Ray Cooper and Andy Newmark in for most of the work. Mason was mostly relegated to work on sound effects.

Michael Kamen was brought in for piano and keyboards. Kamen ended up working with a ton of music industry stars (Bowie, Sting, Bryan Adams, Metallica, Clapton, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Def Leppard, GNR, etc.), as well as scoring soundtracks for a ton of films). No one got along with Roger, and Kamen was no exception. On Southampton Dock, only he and Waters play on the track.

Kamen felt pressured, as Waters had never been a confident vocalist. On one occasion, after repeated studio takes, Waters noticed him writing on a notepad. Losing his temper, he demanded to know what Kamen was doing, only to find that Kamen had been writing, "I Must Not F*** Sheep" over and over.

Southampton Dock tells the story of a women taking to the docks of Southampton to see he man go off to war. That's were many soldiers would gather to go to war in WWII, and many of them would not return. The same docks were used as a departure point for the skirmish in the Falklands, so Waters wrote the song to tie in his father's departure with current events.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 118
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 93
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 40
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 123
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (118 out of 165 songs): This is apparently a wife, standing at a dock watching the British soldiers head off to the Falklands, reflecting on the former losses of the Second World War. The lyrics include the title of the album, “In the bottom of our hearts we felt the final cut.”

UCR Ranking (93 out of 167 songs): Devoid of Waters’ hideous shrieking, and loaded with little details, Southampton Dock is a quiet moment that allows its songwriter the space to unfurl (and not expectorate) his perspective. A woman who witnessed the “war to end all wars” again stands at a dock, waving goodbye to a new generation of young men who might never return. The uncertainty and sadness is all the more potent for being set amid gentle orchestration.

WMGK Ranking (40 out of 40 songs): Like much of The Final Cut, it’s effectively a Roger Waters solo piece: Roger sings, plays acoustic guitar and bass on this song, and is accompanied by Michael Kamen on piano and orchestrations. Waters was obsessed with the human cost of war on this album (and many that preceded it, and on his subsequent solo albums). His lyrics here are heartbreaking: “She stands upon Southampton dock / With her handkerchief / And her summer frock clings / To her wet body in the rain / In quiet desperation knuckles / White upon the slippery reins / She bravely waves the boys ‘goodbye ’ again.”

Up next, a song first developed under the name In Shades Of Grey.

 

[Yo Mama]

Great work with the writeups @Anarchy99 ! Makes me really glad I joined in the fun. Lots of great info and it’s fun to listen to some songs that haven’t been in my normal rotation.

 

[DocHolliday]

The Show Must Go On almost made my list but to me its greatness is more in context with the album - not a song I would play on its own. A great song nonetheless.

My thoughts exactly. It would have been around number 35 on my list.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Side 4 of the Wall (minus Run Like Hell) and all of The Final Cut: What are two things I haven’t listened to in forever?

 

[Anarchy99]

Side 4 of the Wall (minus Run Like Hell) and all of The Final Cut: What are two things I haven’t listened to in forever?

Somehow, The Final Cut has outsold everything RW or DG put out as solo albums (studio or live).

On a different not, I am only 32 years late on this one, but I never heard the song RW did with Eddie Van Halen. It's called Lost Boys Calling from the Legend of 1900 soundtrack.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Side 4 of the Wall (minus Run Like Hell) and all of The Final Cut: What are two things I haven’t listened to in forever?

Somehow, The Final Cut has outsold everything RW or DG put out as solo albums (studio or live).

On a different not, I am only 32 years late on this one, but I never heard the song RW did with Eddie Van Halen. It's called Lost Boys Calling from the Legend of 1900 soundtrack.

It makes sense because the appetite for Floyd was at a fever pitch after The Wall, so whatever the next thing released under that name was going to sell a ton.

I did not know about the RW/EVH song either.

 

[Anarchy99]

#93-T - A Great Day For Freedom from The Division Bell (1994)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 2 points (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.25%)
Top Ranker: @Mt. Man
Highest Ranking: 24

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: 34 (Rehearsal - 1994)
DG: (London - 2002, Gdansk - 2006-08-26
RW: None

Covers: Sweet Little Band, The Rockal, Igor Igkovic

The song, originally titled In Shades of Grey, addresses the great hopes following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disappointment that followed.David Gilmour stated: "There was a wonderful moment of optimism when the Wall came down – the release of Eastern Europe from the non-democratic side of the socialist system. But what they have now doesn't seem to be much better. Again, I'm fairly pessimistic about it all. I sort of wish and live in hope, but I tend to think that history moves at a much slower pace than we think it does. I feel that real change takes a long, long time."

The was written by him and his wife Polly. In 2008, Gilmour further explained: "That song is really about the aftermath (of the fall of the totalitarian state). First, it was a joy and a release for the people with the freedom of democracy but then it became horribly marred by the ethnic cleansing and genocide, particularly in Yugoslavia. This song juxtaposes world events of the previous 5 years (the collapse of Communism and subsequent chaos and war in several countries) with a personal loss that turns out to have been just a bad dream.

According to one of the session musicians that worked on AMLOR, the song was developed for that album and not used, and then later reworked after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Gilmout insists that there is no link to the intent of the song to imply that he was talking about Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, and gaining his freedom back after Waters left the band. In 2022, the song was

In 2022, the song was reworked by Gilmour based on the original tapes, adding some new vocals, instruments and backing vocals by Sam Brown, Durga McBroom and Claudia Fontaine taken from the Pulse rehearsals. It was released as A Great Day For Freedom 2022 as the B-side of the Hey, Hey, Rise Up! single.

On a separate note, in 2003, DG was asked what his favorite albums were. He picked:

Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Ballad In Plain D - Bob Dylan
I'm Still Here - Tom Waits
Dancing In The Street - Martha and the Vandellas
Anthem - Leonard Cohen
A Man Needs A Maid- Neil Young
For Free - Joni Mitchell
Rudi With A Flashlight - The Lemonheads.

When asked what three items (record, book, and luxury item) he would take on a desert island, he selected Dancing In The Street by Martha and the Vandellas as his record, an English translation of the Koran as his book, and an acoustic Martin D35 guitar as his luxury.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 82
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 128
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 106
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (82 out of 165 songs): This was one of two grand statements on The Division Bell. Supposedly about the fall of the Berlin Wall. The lyrics, provided by Gilmour squeeze Samson, contain convoluted constructions like “change, that even with regret, cannot be undone,” whatever that means. Odd that during the recording process no one suggested they be improved.

UCR Ranking (128 out of 167 songs): Not to be outdone by Waters’ cynicism about world politics, Gilmour (with help from future wife Polly Samson) takes a pessimistic glance at post-Soviet Europe. The critiques are fair, but the song’s a gray-colored drag that can’t even be saved when Gilmour trades microphone for guitar.

Up next, Anarchy doing Anarchy things, pulling a bonus track off of a reissued movie soundtrack that came out 27 years after the movie did (with the likelihood that anyone has heard it before being close to zero).

 

[Anarchy99]

#93-T - Alan's Blues / Love Scene (Version 6) from Zabriskie Point (1970)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 2 points (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.25%)
Top Ranker: @Anarchy99
Highest Ranking: 24

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: None
DG: None
RW: None
NM: None

Covers: None

In the late 60's and early 70's, Pink Floyd recorded music for a bunch of soundtracks. Not sure why (unless they got paid handsomely . . . which seems unlikely given the limited budgets of the films). I really pulled a rabbit out of a hat on this one, as it originally was entitled Alan's Blues in 1970 but ended up appearing on the re-release of the Zabriskie Point soundtrack in 1997 as Love Scene (Version 6). There's also a Love Scene (Version 4) on the re-release and a Love Scene (Version 5) that hasn't been officially released..

Love Scene (Version 1), Love Scene (Version 2), and Love Scene (Version 7) ended up on The Early Years box set. None of them sound a like. (This isn't Plans 1 through 8. This is Plan 9. This is the one that worked. The worst movie ever made!) I don't know what happened to Version 3.

Anyway, Version 6 is a straight up, relaxed slow blues number. As a general rule of thumb, if it's something that I picked that is really obscure, chances are it's because I liked the guitar riff. This track is no different. Again, no sound effects, tape loops, overdubs, or multiple recording tracks needed for this one. PF recorded multiple songs (probably 10?) for the soundtrack, but initially only 3 were released on the official soundtrack album.

The soundtrack also featured music by both the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia. Jim Morrison of The Doors wrote the track L'America for the film, but it was rejected and was later released on The Doors' album L.A. Woman. A Rolling Stones track called You Got The Silver (the first song to feature Keith Richards as lead vocalist) is featured in the film but was not included on the album.

Most people won't give a hoot about the Zabriskie Point recording sessions, but one of the tracks they laid down was called The Violent Sequence . . . which evolved into Us And Them.

Critic Robert Christgau has said the soundtrack album is "considerably deeper and more coherent" than the film. AllMusic's Steven McDonald later called it "an odd melange of songs" but also "well worth hearing" for the Pink Floyd recordings.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): NR
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 142
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): NR
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

UCR Ranking (142 out of 167 songs): Despite taking their name from a pair of bluesmen, Floyd’s straight blues compositions aren’t any more remarkable than what most bar bands could deliver in a seven-and-a-half-minute blues jam. On the other hand, none of those bands features a guitar played by David Gilmour, who is a delight even when derivative.

We move on to another biographical RW war track featuring The Stanley Myers Orchestra.

 

[FatMax]

Great write ups, @Anarchy99

 

[jabarony]

#93-T - Alan's Blues / Love Scene (Version 6) from Zabriskie Point (1970)

Appeared On: 1 ballot (out of 32 . . . 3.1%)
Total Points: 2 points (out of 800 possible points . . . 0.25%)
Top Ranker: @Anarchy99
Highest Ranking: 24

Live Performances:
PF: None
DG's PF: None
DG: None
RW: None
NM: None

Covers: None

In the late 60's and early 70's, Pink Floyd recorded music for a bunch of soundtracks. Not sure why (unless they got paid handsomely . . . which seems unlikely given the limited budgets of the films). I really pulled a rabbit out of a hat on this one, as it originally was entitled Alan's Blues in 1970 but ended up appearing on the re-release of the Zabriskie Point soundtrack in 1997 as Love Scene (Version 6). There's also a Love Scene (Version 4) on the re-release and a Love Scene (Version 5) that hasn't been officially released..

Love Scene (Version 1), Love Scene (Version 2), and Love Scene (Version 7) ended up on The Early Years box set. None of them sound a like. (This isn't Plans 1 through 8. This is Plan 9. This is the one that worked. The worst movie ever made!) I don't know what happened to Version 3.

Anyway, Version 6 is a straight up, relaxed slow blues number. As a general rule of thumb, if it's something that I picked that is really obscure, chances are it's because I liked the guitar riff. This track is no different. Again, no sound effects, tape loops, overdubs, or multiple recording tracks needed for this one. PF recorded multiple songs (probably 10?) for the soundtrack, but initially only 3 were released on the official soundtrack album.

The soundtrack also featured music by both the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia. Jim Morrison of The Doors wrote the track L'America for the film, but it was rejected and was later released on The Doors' album L.A. Woman. A Rolling Stones track called You Got The Silver (the first song to feature Keith Richards as lead vocalist) is featured in the film but was not included on the album.

Most people won't give a hoot about the Zabriskie Point recording sessions, but one of the tracks they laid down was called The Violent Sequence . . . which evolved into Us And Them.

Critic Robert Christgau has said the soundtrack album is "considerably deeper and more coherent" than the film. AllMusic's Steven McDonald later called it "an odd melange of songs" but also "well worth hearing" for the Pink Floyd recordings.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): NR
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 142
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): NR
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): NR
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

UCR Ranking (142 out of 167 songs): Despite taking their name from a pair of bluesmen, Floyd’s straight blues compositions aren’t any more remarkable than what most bar bands could deliver in a seven-and-a-half-minute blues jam. On the other hand, none of those bands features a guitar played by David Gilmour, who is a delight even when derivative.

We move on to another biographical RW war track featuring The Stanley Myers Orchestra.

That's a cool "new" song for me. Thanks!