Floyd in Print

compiled by Mike McInnis

Waters: "I was put off books early on, and I find it very difficult to read. As a child I never got into the habit of reading. I went through a period when I was a teenager of reading people like James Joyce, because it was hip to do so. Then I got a very basic grounding of what there was in literature that might be enjoyable. But now, if I'm sitting on the beach I'd rather be reading A Ship Must Die or something of the nature. I'm very fond of those very involved English Second World War naval stories in the Hornblower tradition." -- interview with Chris Salewicz, June 1987

Gilmour (on Cliff Jones): "He wrote a book--I've got it here actually--which purports to be the meaning behind every Pink Floyd song... must have put it somewhere. And while having nothing personal against Cliff, it was laughable. In the book, it purported to say the musicians and what instruments they played. Now in the earlier years, when it was usually me, Rick, Nick, and Roger, they were slightly more accurate, although there were still hundreds of errors even then. And on the later stuff, on The Wall, the musician thing is incorrect on every single track. And the meanings behind most of the songs are completely wrong. I asked the publishers if they would withdraw it and I would help them correct it, but they refused. And so I sued them." -- Q magazine, June 1999

Waters: "Karl Dallas wrote a book some years ago that infuriated me because he said it was Dave who wrote one of the compelling songs on [The Wall], "Comfortably Numb." That's just not true. What happened is Dave gave me a chord sequence, so if you wanted to fight about it--and I don't want to fight about it--I could say that I wrote the melody, and all the lyrics, obviously. I think in the choruses he actually hummed a bit of the melody, but in the verses he certainly didn't. That's never been a problem for me, I think it's a great chord sequence. Why are we talking about this? Arguing about who did what at this point is kind of futile." -- Mojo, December 1999

Gilmour: "It would take a book to tell what went on within our band, and Roger's later megalomanic years, and precisely what psychologically he was attempting to do to all of us." -- Musician, August 1992

Storm Thorgerson: [Roger] didn't want to use me on The Wall, which is understandable. He was also supposedly cross with me for something, for a credit I'd given him in a book I'd done called Walk Away, Renee. An illustration of the Animals cover appeared in the book, and Roger didn't like the credit I'd given him. I corrected it on a reprint, so I don't know whether that was really what upset him." -- Guitar World February 1998

Gilmour: Roger was very displeased with [Storm]--these are very old stories and I can't claim to remember every detail, but I think it culminated in Hipgnosis putting Animals into a book of album covers and saying it was theirs and didn't put in that it was from an idea by Roger. Roger's keen quest for credit on everything at the time made him rather upset." -- Mojo, December 1999

Mason: "I do remember one review that Robin Denselow wrote, years and years ago. He said we'd done a rather poor show and I had to agree with him. Everyone else had raved about it for one reason or another, and I was impressed that he'd actually been listening. Another's from last year, the Chicago Sun, a live review I was so incensed by I actually wrote to the journalist. He said we were overweight, which I thought was irrelevant. In fact, I got a most delightful letter back retracting that element of his criticism, so I suppose it was worthwhile. Critics expect even the most vitriolic criticism to like water off a duck's back. But it still hurts sometimes." -- Q magazine, August 1995

Waters: "Most of the songs I've written have always followed the lyrics. I've often tailored the music to fit the words, especially something like "Money" or "Mother" from The Wall. But until recently I would never have considered writing prose. I always used to look at books and wonder how anybody could come up with so many words. But my divorce and then falling in love with somebody else has released in me an ability to write in other ways apart from songs. I've now written four or five short stories based on events in my life, going back as far as 1960 when I spent some time hitchhiking in the Lebanon. I can't really say much more about them at the moment. But I think they're very good." -- Rock Compact Disc magazine, September 1992