Which One's Pink?

The opening guitar riff of Have A Cigar by Pink Floyd makes my ears perk up like my cat, Jinx, hearing the treat jar from the cabinet. It's a deep, sleazy, cloying, bluesy affair that perfectly encapsulates the song's point of view. I can feel the slimy record label guy slithering into the room with a smile and his hand out. It's a sound that still has the power to give me goosebumps the hundredth time I've heard it. So... let's listen. Again and again, preferably.

"Wish You Were Here" is a monster of a concept album. Despite mixed reviews on release, it is now widely regarded as one of the best ever produced. It was Pink Floyd's follow-up to their uber-smash-hit-breakthrough album "Dark Side of the Moon." "Wish You Were Here" is a chronicle of Pink Floyd's rise to fame and a bittersweet love letter to their erstwhile founding band member, Syd Barret, who got lost in a proverbial sauce of psychedelic drugs in the 1960s and was ousted from the band after the release of their first two albums. He never shared the massive commercial and artistic successes the band would go on to achieve.

Have a Cigar is the third and shortest track in the middle of the album's epic story of navigating a meteoric rise in the music business. Even though it is the shortest song on the album Have a Cigar, it is still over five minutes long. Pink Floyd is patient about delivering their music. It's about the art, Man, not fitting into some suit's idea of a radio-play-friendly box, OK?

Notably, the lead vocal is not performed by any band members. English folk-rocker Roy Harper gives voice to the obsequious industry fat-cat attempting to seduce the band with industry cliches and the infamous question, "Which one's Pink?" This was unusual and only occurs in three of the band's songs. One is The Great Gig in The Sky, a weirdly sublime cut on "Dark Side of The Moon" featuring female vocalist Clare Torry absolutely going off in an improvised wordless vocal performance. I included the excellent 2023 remaster of The Great Gig in the Sky as the last song on the Sirens Mix Tape. I couldn't have ended it any other way.

The mixing, recording, and mastering of this track is immaculate. The ceiling on how good Have a Cigar can sound is limited only by your wallet and ability to properly set up a listening room. The sound stage is excellent. You can place every instrument in the room before you and pick which one to listen to at any time. David Gilmour's guitar flourishes are one of my favorite parts of this song. He accentuates and responds in lockstep to the profoundly sardonic lyrics with perfect squeals and screeches. Richard Wright's synth keyboards ominously rise and fall throughout, just like our protagonist's hopes and dreams as they deal with this scumbag.

Three minutes in, at the final act, there is a guitar solo for the ages. It's a raging, pained rebuttal to previous offenses made by the industry man. The song ends in a deliciously theatrical fashion, as per Pink Floyd's modus operandi. Just as things reach a fever pitch at 4:50, the whole mix is unceremoniously wiped away and reduced to a tinny, flat, crappy-radio-reception version of itself panned hard left.

Overall, Have a Cigar is a mind-blowing, masterful, soulful piece of songwriting and recording. The band is just fantastic; that is really what I think.

Data

Song: Have a Cigar
Album: Wish You Were Here
Artist: Pink Floyd
Genre: Rock, Prog Rock
Year: 1975
Length: 5:07
Composer: Roger Waters
Producer: Pink Floyd
Vocal: Roy Harper (Guest)

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