My number one band is Led Zeppelin. Right behind them is Pink Floyd. The list goes on of course but Pink Floyd is on my mind as of late due to the fact they, minus Rick Wright who passed in 2008 from lung cancer, released a new song in support of Ukrainian humanitarian relief. The song is called “Hey Hey Rise Up.” It’s the first time the band has recorded together since the “Division Bell” in 1994.
The band’s session was unique in the fact that the vocalist Andriy Khlyvnyuk from the band Boombox, was projected on a screen behind the group, singing as they recorded the song. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd had become familiar with Khlyvnyuk years before at concert in London where Khlyvnyuk and his band were supposed to play. Travel issues for the young singer got in the way and that performance never happened. The remaining musicians of Boombox did end up backing Gilmour that night however.
Fast forward to present day. Gilmour saw a video posted by Khlyvnyuk singing the Ukrainian protest song “Oh the Red Viburnum in the Meadow” written during the WWI era. Khlyvnyuk had left his tour with Boombox in the United States to join the fight against Russia in his home country. He defiantly sang the song a cappella, standing in front of the Bell Tower of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
Shortly afterward, he posted his recording on Instagram, which currently has 1.3 billion users. One of those subscribers just happened to be Gilmour’s Ukrainian daughter-in-law. She was inspired by it and showed it to Gilmour. He was energized by Khlyvnyuk’s performance and having missed the chance to play with him seven years before, he decided to get with the remaining members of Pink Floyd to put something together based on the song.
The song has a strong history of defiance when it comes to the Ukraine and its relationship with Russia. It was actually outlawed by the former Soviet Union at one time. It was written by Stepan Charnetsky in 1914 about the anti-Russian youth organization called Sich Riflemen during the first in the very long history of conflicts over the sovereignty of the Ukraine.
Khlyvnyuk was wounded in battle and gave Gilmour and Pink Floyd the permission to record the song from the hospital he was recuperating in during the month of February. Gilmour then proceeded to compose the music he would end up recording in a single day with his band mates.
The song features some fine guitar playing by Gilmour who I think is one of the best guitarists in the rock world. It is not the first time that he has lent his name to a cause for the greater-good. His famous “Black Strat” guitar sold at auction for a whopping record $3,975,000 for the benefit of Client Earth, an organization set up to fight against climate change and help to protect nature and the environment. Billionaire Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Isray bought the guitar to add to his already extensive collection. He owns guitars played by Elvis, Prince, even John Lennon. He also dropped $1,095,000 for the guitar Gilmour used to record the timeless “Wish You Were Here” on the same day.
The buzz created by this reunion of sorts was immediately quashed by Gilmour. He made sure to emphasize that this recording was not a catalyst leading to the possible reconstitution of the band. No tours. He only put the name of Pink Floyd behind this project in order to garner the world-wide attention a new song released by the band would bring, to illuminate the reason behind it.
I was fortunate enough to see Pink Floyd perform live in 1994 and yes, it was the best concert I have ever seen in person. It is the only ticket stub out of all the concerts I have been to that I still have to this day. Pink Floyd stopped touring not long after that. The closest thing out there to the live experience of Pink Floyd in my opinion is Brit Floyd. They are the only group who are actually sanctioned by Pink Floyd to perform their songs live. They are so good you can actually close your eyes and almost feel like your at an actual Pink Floyd concert. Almost…
On May 31, 1994 Pink Floyd came to Pittsburgh. I was able to score floor seats for this back in the time when fans actually had a chance of getting good seats, a time not long before the ticket brokers came along and started gobbling up all the choice seats for shows, freezing out people like me. When I told my dad about the fact that I got the floor seats he was happy for me. Just so happened, much to my surprise he also got floor seats, five rows from the stage! Pink Floyd was my mother’s first and last rock concert.
Previously, I have written about the connection my father and I had with Pink Floyd. He introduced me to the band at a young age. Specifically, the album “Meddle” which was the Floyd album that was a preview of what was to come later with band. I actually fell in love with that album before I listened to “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here.”
Through the years my dad and I would listen to Pink Floyd together. Once I compiled The Library, the massive hard drive full of music I mentioned in a previous article, I used it to make my dad mix CD’s of Pink Floyd. He enjoyed hearing them, knowing I took great care in combining just the right songs for his listening pleasure. I had just as much fun mining my Floyd collection and trying out new combinations for him.
Not long before he passed away we were discussing Pink Floyd and some of the demos I was hearing while listing to SirusXM. When I look back on our time together, most of it tumultuous to say the very least, the one thing we could talk about and enjoy together was Pink Floyd. He went into the afterlife with his Pink Floyd socks on and I wore his Floyd tie to his funeral.
During my life, I have had many experiences through the years where Pink Floyd was part of it. Different places, different people, different states of mind. I can still remember my mother yelling “DAVID! DAVID! and waving frantically to get my attention as my wife and I walked to our floor seats in 94. It was kind of a buzzkill but yet laughable. I told mom not not to take anything handed to her and to keep an open mind, laughed, saluted dad and then disappeared into the crowd. It would not take long to forget I was sharing that experience with my parents, even today I am sure that their version of the concert when compared to mine was just a tad different.
To see Pink Floyd come together today to raise awareness of the tragedy unfolding in the Ukraine would make my dad happy. I know there are the purists out there that say Pink Floyd ceased to exist when they moved on from Sid Barrett, or when Roger Waters left, or even after Rick Wright passed away. Hell, I even wrote about that very subject, bands choosing whether or not to move on after the death of a bandmate. To me, Gilmore is Pink Floyd, the nucleus of the band and as long as he can play there is always a remote chance I can see Floyd live again.
Dad would like that.
Till next time.
E Pluribus Unum
