Event information
David Gilmour, the voice and guitar of Pink Floyd, is widely acclaimed as one of the all-time guitar greats. He joins us with the writer and lyricist Polly Samson to discuss writing, music and the creative process. This singer-songwriter team will be in conversation with writer Andrew O'Hagan.
Anyone going to this tomorrow night in London? (I bet Roger Water's isn't)
Is it too much to hope for an acoustic song or two?
In Conversation with David and Polly
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- Hammer
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- Supreme Lord!
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
Didnt they allready had a conversation with that bloke on that Borris house event in Ireland?
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- Hammer
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
I'm sure Wolfpack will be there to ask him why he didn't like The Final Cut
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- Hammer
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
No questions about TFC. Someone however did ask him if he would like to say anything about Ginger's book!
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- Blade
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
Where is the like button?kjek1 wrote:I'm sure Wolfpack will be there to ask him why he didn't like The Final Cut
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- Judge!
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
Any more details you could remember? Did you manage to record any audio or write stuff down?Alternative 4 wrote:No questions about TFC. Someone however did ask him if he would like to say anything about Ginger's book!
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- Hammer
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
What did he say? "Better than the Kindness"?Alternative 4 wrote:No questions about TFC. Someone however did ask him if he would like to say anything about Ginger's book!
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- Hammer
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
kjek1 wrote:What did he say? "Better than the Kindness"?Alternative 4 wrote:No questions about TFC. Someone however did ask him if he would like to say anything about Ginger's book!
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- Hammer
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
OK a bit of a review
We got there about half an hour before the doors opened because there was no allocated seating. The venue staff were very unorganised and didn't understand why people were showing up early. They wanted to put us all in a room to wait. As someone pointed out, this would mean the people that rocked up when doors open would get the best seats! Eventually a line was formed outside the venue, complete with roped off section. One guy had been waiting at the venue since 4pm
While waiting in this line, David and Polly walked past us and into the venue.
David, Polly and the interviewer came on about 7:10 and the whole event lasted for just under an hour. David seemed very relaxed and could have chatted all night. The interviewer was a bit of a knob imo. He obviously had more of a rapport with Polly because they were both writers. I felt he therefore directed his questions at her and wasn't fond of David's jokes.
: The first question was about how his writing relationship with Roger worked. David said it worked fine until Roger "fucked off". This joke cleared any tension in the air and was obviously meant to put that to one side for the evening.
: David and Polly talked about the writing of "High Hopes". David didn't have a demo, but talked about having some lyrics and asking Polly what he could add. She therefore elaborated on his lyrics.
: Polly spoke about trying to get into David's head. Treating the song like a character in one of her novels. She also talked about how it was a good way to talk to David about his childhood in Cambridge.
: They then talked about "Smile". David used to sing this to his kids. He played a demo from his phone and then gave a brief strum of the song on an acoustic guitar with "scat lyrics"
: Polly talked about how she tries to use the syllables from scat lyrics in her actual words. She does this by writing down what he has "scatted" and then looking for words that sound the same as the syllables. David said the Blue was Polly's best example of this.
: They talked about "A boat lies waiting" and played a demo.
: David then talked about "rattle that lock". Interestingly he played an alternative version (there is no demo) which he called "the wrong one" as there were sounds in the wrong places. Other than that it sounded the same.
: Polly said they lyrics were written after being backstage with the Pink Floyd at Live 8. She said there was silence between the 4 of them and she found it really uncomfortable. She stressed that this wasn't because Roger was in the room, but rather that happened when just Nick or David were together.
: There is obviously a huge effort made by Polly to externalise what David is feeling with his music.
: The interviewer asked Polly if there were any Floyd lyrics she would changed. Polly stated that she hates ABITW, especially the double negatives in the lyrics.
: Originally Polly wrote lyrics to "The girl in the yellow dress" about a saxophone player she had a crush on as a teenager. This song was originally be on "On an Island" but David rejected her original lyrics and it was shelved.These are the only Polly lyrics he has rejected. She then rewrote them about a painting in their house.
: David did briefly talk about the writing of Animals and parts of WYWH, nothing new but it was cool.
: He talked about how he loves digital recording.
: There were a few questions. nothing exciting. The interviewer then wrapped up the whole thing as he said it was over time
The three of them then came out to sign items. Seeing David sign things was rather unexpected. He was swamped and again the venue staff had no idea how to handle this. David however stayed to the end of the queue which was nice.
Overall it was an enjoyable evening with a few laughs.
We got there about half an hour before the doors opened because there was no allocated seating. The venue staff were very unorganised and didn't understand why people were showing up early. They wanted to put us all in a room to wait. As someone pointed out, this would mean the people that rocked up when doors open would get the best seats! Eventually a line was formed outside the venue, complete with roped off section. One guy had been waiting at the venue since 4pm
While waiting in this line, David and Polly walked past us and into the venue.
David, Polly and the interviewer came on about 7:10 and the whole event lasted for just under an hour. David seemed very relaxed and could have chatted all night. The interviewer was a bit of a knob imo. He obviously had more of a rapport with Polly because they were both writers. I felt he therefore directed his questions at her and wasn't fond of David's jokes.
: The first question was about how his writing relationship with Roger worked. David said it worked fine until Roger "fucked off". This joke cleared any tension in the air and was obviously meant to put that to one side for the evening.
: David and Polly talked about the writing of "High Hopes". David didn't have a demo, but talked about having some lyrics and asking Polly what he could add. She therefore elaborated on his lyrics.
: Polly spoke about trying to get into David's head. Treating the song like a character in one of her novels. She also talked about how it was a good way to talk to David about his childhood in Cambridge.
: They then talked about "Smile". David used to sing this to his kids. He played a demo from his phone and then gave a brief strum of the song on an acoustic guitar with "scat lyrics"
: Polly talked about how she tries to use the syllables from scat lyrics in her actual words. She does this by writing down what he has "scatted" and then looking for words that sound the same as the syllables. David said the Blue was Polly's best example of this.
: They talked about "A boat lies waiting" and played a demo.
: David then talked about "rattle that lock". Interestingly he played an alternative version (there is no demo) which he called "the wrong one" as there were sounds in the wrong places. Other than that it sounded the same.
: Polly said they lyrics were written after being backstage with the Pink Floyd at Live 8. She said there was silence between the 4 of them and she found it really uncomfortable. She stressed that this wasn't because Roger was in the room, but rather that happened when just Nick or David were together.
: There is obviously a huge effort made by Polly to externalise what David is feeling with his music.
: The interviewer asked Polly if there were any Floyd lyrics she would changed. Polly stated that she hates ABITW, especially the double negatives in the lyrics.
: Originally Polly wrote lyrics to "The girl in the yellow dress" about a saxophone player she had a crush on as a teenager. This song was originally be on "On an Island" but David rejected her original lyrics and it was shelved.These are the only Polly lyrics he has rejected. She then rewrote them about a painting in their house.
: David did briefly talk about the writing of Animals and parts of WYWH, nothing new but it was cool.
: He talked about how he loves digital recording.
: There were a few questions. nothing exciting. The interviewer then wrapped up the whole thing as he said it was over time
The three of them then came out to sign items. Seeing David sign things was rather unexpected. He was swamped and again the venue staff had no idea how to handle this. David however stayed to the end of the queue which was nice.
Overall it was an enjoyable evening with a few laughs.
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- Hammer
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
Yes, this was a "replay" as such. They even mentioned it was at the startDamn!t wrote:Didnt they allready had a conversation with that bloke on that Borris house event in Ireland?
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- Blade
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
Is this the same interview as on the RTL DVD? Because there she was asked the same question and stated that she hated the lyrics on ABITW part 2 and wanted to change it to something like "we do need more education and it should be free for all". Now, Waters was obviously making a point in his lyrics about the English school system but that set aside I couldn't agree more with Polly.Alternative 4 wrote:
: The interviewer asked Polly if there were any Floyd lyrics she would changed. Polly stated that she hates ABITW, especially the double negatives in the lyrics.
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- Blade
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Re: In Conversation with David and Polly
I'd love to know what changes she'd have made to In The Flesh...brell wrote:...wanted to change it to something like "we do need more education and it should be free for all".