David Gilmour Addresses The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz Synchronization Rumor

-Welcome, David. It's an honor to have you here. Congrats on the new album, "Luck and Strange.

" -Looks good. -It looks pretty good. Yeah.

You look fantastic. Yeah. Uh, I just want to thank you.

I'm just a fan of you, and I'm also a fan of Syd Barrett. And thanks for everything you've done for Syd and for music in general. But I'm just a big fan.

I can't wait to get into all of the stuff. You put out this album. This is your fifth solo album?

-Yeah, I think. -Something like that. -Something like that.

-Yeah. And you're getting five-star reviews all across the board. People are loving this.

That's gotta -- [ Cheers and applause ] -That's what they tell me. -Yeah. I know you probably don't care about reviews, but do you a little bit?

-Of course you do. -You do. Yeah.

You have to a little bit, right? -You can't help having a look and raging at the ones that have given you three said something dumb, you know? -Yeah.

You said that you think it's your best work since "Dark Side of the Moon. " -I did, yeah. -Yeah.

Well, how'd you get that feeling? How'd you get that vibe? -When, uh, we finished "Dark Side," there was a lot of crossfades and stuff between all the tracks.

They had all to be done separately, and then they all have to be edited in in the old days before Pro Tools. Um, when it was finally finished, we sat down in the control room at Abbey Road, listened to it all the way through. And, wow.

I -- I guess all of us -- had the feeling that it was something quite amazing that we got to and. . .

At the same point on this album, I had a very similar feeling, which is why I said that, which might sound a little arrogant, but, um. . .

-No. I think you're -- You're allowed to -- If anyone can say it, you can say it. Please.

Are you kidding me? -To me, this is very special. -[ Applause ] -But it is touching.

But what's great, it's kind of a family affair here. Your wife and longtime collaborator, Polly Samson, wrote the lyrics. Your kids contributed.

They're singing, as well. When did you realize the whole family was going to be contributors? -Well, Polly's been writing lyrics with me way back to "The Division Bell," Pink Floyd album in '94.

Um, but, uh, during the lockdown, whole thing. . .

-Oh, yeah. -. .

. we started a little kind of fun thing, which we called the Von Trapped because we were, you know. .

. -The Von Trapped. -Yeah.

-Yeah. That's fantastic. [ Laughs ] That's good.

-That was good. And that was an idea of why one of our other sons, Charlie, who, uh, suggested that we could help to promote Polly's book, which got lost in the wash a little bit with that whole lockdown thing. And so we started doing that, and we started singing a song or two.

Leonard Cohen appears in Polly's book. And so I was doing mostly Leonard Cohen covers, but Romany, who had had about. .

. -Oh, she's fantastic! -.

. . three lessons on the harp or something.

. . She, uh, would come in.

-That's your daughter. -Yeah, she's here somewhere. And she would start playing, and we'd just leave her to it for five minutes while we sort of gathered ourselves and had another glass of wine before we did this "to air" thing.

I mean, we were running our own TV station from a barn. -Yeah. -Yeah.

It was great fun. And people seemed to come back every week. But Romany -- I guess all of us actually were singing along to these Leonard Cohen songs, joining in.

But gradually they all pulled out because Romany's voice, just with mine, just was -- was doing something special. . .

-It worked. -. .

. that we felt was -- had a magical thing to it. So it's sort of become.

. . -And then with the title track, "Luck and Strange," this, uh, features a, uh -- the keyboardist Richard Wright from Pink Floyd, who was, uh -- the late, great Rick Wright.

When did you record this with Richard? -January 2007, believe it or not. Um, he died in 2008.

I'd just finished a tour. My band was quite hot at the time, and I thought we're just going back to slacking around now. And I thought that we should gather together in a barn and just sort of jam and play some little musical ideas that I'd had for a few days while the band was still cooking.

You know what it's like. -Yeah. -Anyway -- So that's what we did.

And on the very -- I mean, my big mistake was I forgot this was Britain and it was January. And we were in a barn. .

. wooden barn with great holes in it. -Freezing!

Yeah. -The wind was howling through. -You're like, "I think we got it, you guys.

Yeah. I think we got this take. " -Anyway, the first morning, the Monday morning, we got in there, and I just had this little guitar riff thing, and I just started playing it, and people picked up, joined in, and, uh, we just jammed away on it for about 15 minutes.

-Yeah. -And that's it. I mean, that is the recording that's on there.

It wasn't rehearsed. It completely -- Then, obviously with the wonderful technology we have these days, I could cut chunks out and create a bridge, create a chorus, and add those into the song. -Is it easier now or is it just as difficult as it was, when you come up with -- I mean, Pink Floyd.

I mean, you go -- You're playing stuff that's next-level stuff, but that's -- you're cutting tape. And now it's digital and you can go like, "Well, I can add that. Wait.

Hold on. You know, Romany just did a great, you know, harp. .

. " -I love the technology, Pro Tools, things like that. It's -- Ooh.

-It's fun. -It's a life saver. -You knocked it out of the park with this one, with "Luck and Strange.

" Congrats. Your career has been, gosh, over 60 years and there's a lot of rumors. -Shh.

-Sorry. Uh, that's what I heard. That's what I heard.

Uh, there's a lot of folklore, there's a lot of rumors out there about David Gilmour, and I was just wondering maybe if I can go over a couple of them and you could tell me if they're true or not? -We'll give it a -- give it a whirl. Yeah.

-The song "Wish You Were Here". . .

-Yeah. -. .

. helped you quit smoking after you heard yourself coughing in the background of the song. I think, like, 26 seconds into it, you hear coughing, and that's you, and you quit smoking.

-Uh, well, when I was -- Let me digress a tiny bit. -Yeah. -When I was about 14, my dad said to me, "Son, if you get to 17," which is the legal age for driving in the U.

K. . .

He said, um, "And you're not smoking, I'll teach you to drive the car. and you can use it sometimes. " I said, "Deal!

" So, three years went by, I got to 17, I went to my dad. I said, "Dad, I'm 17. I still don't smoke.

" And he said, "Yeah? " And I said, "Car? Lessons?

Drving? " -"You remember? " -And he said, "No.

Don't know what you're talking about. No way. " -He didn't remember the deal?

-Didn't remember. . .

And you might think that that would send me immediately off to buy a. . .

-Yeah. -But it didn't. I never smoked.

Um. . .

-You never smoked? -No. I mean, uh -- No.

I've said before that I've never really smoked. Um, mind you, when the Internet comes along and you find that, uh. .

. Because I told all my kids that's what had happened. And I'd cut them the same deal.

And I would honor it. -Yeah. So cut to the Internet.

-Yeah. So cut to the Internet. Sorry.

And, um, one of my kids came up to me years later and had a picture of me -- I think it was at a Knebworth concert -- standing with Paul McCartney, and I had a great big joint in my hand. [ Laughter ] And she said, "Dad you say you didn't smoke. What is that?

" -Yeah. -I said, "Well. .

. " -"Just take the car. Just take the car.

Yeah, just take the car. Go. Shh.

Just don't tell anyone. " Yeah. Uh, okay.

How about this? Before you were a famous musician, you were a model. -Well, you know, that was my life's course, you know, but I failed, you know?

I had to go for second-best and be a musician. -[ Laughs ] Yeah, you went for second -- But you were? You were?

Did you model? -Um, yeah. I mean.

. . -You did?

-People would offer you money. I was working as a van driver. .

. -Yeah. -.

. . at that moment in time, um, and my wages as a van driver was £7 a week.

-Yeah. -No, they weren't. I'm lying.

That was what I got when I first joined Pink Floyd. No, it was £15 a week. -[ Laughs ] -True story.

But, you know, I was getting £15 a week for driving a van eight hours a day. Um, and one day of modeling, and you get £50. So it's like -- -Hello.

Do the math. -I mean, come on. -Let's go.

I don't want to drive this van. -I mean, these jobs didn't come flying along all the time. -You had this stud driving a van around England.

And you go, "Hey, come on. " That's what I'm talking -- [ Cheers and applause ] Come on! You got to take the money!

This is the money! This is -- -It was a way of, um, you know, building up my resources to buy a new guitar or something that I actually needed. -Good for you.

Uh, how about this? The Pink Floyd album "Dark Side of the Moon" was written to synchronize with the movie "Wizard of Oz. " -Well, of course it was.

-Okay. There you go. You actually -- -[ Laughs ] -[ Cheers and applause ] -No, no.

-It's, um -- We listened to it, Polly and I, years ago. -But you -- There was no planning that out. There's no way.

-No. No, I mean, I only heard about it years later. -Have you ever tried it?

-Someone said, "You put the needle on. . .

" This is vinyl, you know. -Yes. -And on the third, um.

. . And, you know, you've got the film running somehow, and on the third roar of the MGM lion, you put the needle on for the beginning of "Dark Side," and there's these strange synchronicities that happen.

-Have you ever tried it? -Yeah! [ Laughter ] Well, now people have done the donkey work, the chore work, and added it.

-It's on the Internet. -On YouTube. You can watch.

-It's kind of amazing. -And there are these strange coincidences. I'll call them coincidences.

-So maybe if you play this while you watch the movie "Wicked". . .

-Yeah. -Who knows? -Who knows?

! You never know. Tonight you're performing a song, "Dark and Velvet Nights," from the new album.

What usually comes first with you -- the music or the lyrics? -The music is pretty well -- nearly always the first thing. -And do you hum it into your phone or what do you -- You just remember.

-I hum it into my phone. Yes. I have a phone.

. . Whew.

I mean, I think I've got a thousand little tiny segments of music. I mean, sometimes they're five seconds long. And sometimes they're just me holding it to the radio and saying, "Hey, that's a groove I might have a look at one day.

" But, um. . .

yeah. Eventually you listen through and throw 95% of them away and think, "Oh, well, that one's maybe got a tiny bit of something. " -So how'd you get the lyrics for that?

-Um, this one, "Dark and Velvet Nights," actually, I can't say which came first. Actually, I think the words did come first, but they weren't for that song. They were a poem that Polly wrote for me for our wedding anniversary either last year or the year before.

We're not 100% certain. Either our 29th or our 28th wedding anniversary. We've just had our 30th.

--Congratulations. -Um. .

. [ Cheers and applause ] Hey. -How cool -- She's cool.

-She is -- She's unbelievable. -She's the best. So she wrote you a poem, and you go -- -She wrote me a poem, and I was -- I came up with this little groove for this track and, uh, was sort of working on it, doing everything myself on, um, you know -- You put the bass on.

. . Boring.

Sorry. -No, I like -- -On the line, on a grid, you know, and then you play some stuff over it. Anyway, I had this nice little groove going and I think, "Yeah, it's got something to it that I really like.

" And now's the moment I could sing something if I only had -- But usually what I do is I just sing. . .

♪ La la la la la la ♪ -Really? -A little melody over it. And then we -- Polly and I talk about it, and she listens to it for weeks and comes up with some -- something brilliant.

On this occasion, I was sitting there, and on a piece of paper next to me was this poem that she had written to me, and I was sort of picking up the paper, looking at. . .

That. . .

sounds like it might be about right, so. . .

-It just all worked out. -So I just sang her poem to this track, and that is pretty much how it came out. A little bit of adjusting later on, but that was it.

-That's the magic of, uh, writing music, right? That's the coolest. I'm so happy you're here.

David Gilmour, everybody. "Luck and Strange" is out now. David is performing for us after the break.

Stick around, everybody!