He dug it…
The very lovely Jerome Soligny sent this in a couple of weeks back, but I think it’s still relevant enough to reproduce here. Over to you, Jerome…
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A few weeks ago, David Gilmour gave me a ring at home to talk about his recent double-DVD (road-movie of the On An Island tour + concert at The Royal Albert Hall featuring, among prestigious guests, none other than David Bowie). The whole interview will be in my book “Writing On The Edge”, out next year. A third of the interview will be in the last Rock&Folk of the year (out December 15) and here’s the Bowie bit for you, fellow bowienetters. Enjoy.
JS: And what about David Bowie? First, it?s great to have David sing anything, but he came to the RAH when everybody was wondering what he was up to. You?re not interested in scoops and you don?t have the reputation to do like sensational things but you actually did here!
David Gilmour: I knew that he?d been ill at some point but I didn?t know he hadn?t sort of carried on? Our tour-manager, the guy who looks after us on the road, works with Bowie all the time and when we were in New York he said he had lunch with him and I said ?Oh, see if he wants to come and sing a song.? So he asked him and he said yes. Again, very, very simple, easy? He said he?d love to come do ?Arnold Layne? and sing ?Comfortably Numb? as well.
JS: And how did it go?
DG: Well you know he?s so unmistakably himself, a bit like Crosby & Nash really, but he just takes the song, you know, grabs it, and does it his own special way, which makes it very different.
JS: I think it was a great idea to have him sing one of the songs responsible for who he is in a way?
DG: I guess Syd?s probably a part of his influence.
JS: What did you think of his version of ?See Emily Play? at the time?
DG: I listened to it years ago but I can?t really quite remember it. That?s on the ?Pin-Ups? album, right?
JS: Yeah, and it was actually recorded in France. It’s a great cover, as is the rest of the album, and there?s some great drumming by Aynsley Dunbar and a fantastic piano part by Mike Garson
DG: OK then, I guess I?ll have to listen to it again!
Last but not least, it should be mentioned that David is absolutely hilarious in the documentary. When he mentions the fact his parents took him to a Pink Floyd gig when he “was 6 or something”, and when he says “3-D, 3-D!” when surrounded with two other Davids: Crosby and Gilmour. For those who worry about his “morale”, our man seems like more than OK.
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Thanx Jerome…Look forward to reading Writing On The Edge next year…of which we’ll have more details nearer the time.