The Pink Floyd Song David Gilmour Struggled to Sing

Within Pink Floyd‘s more epic concoctions, David Gilmour and Roger Waters have always been the most discerning of some songs that made it into the band’s classic catalog. Both cared little for “Atom Heart Mother,” the nearly 24-minute title track from their 1970 album. “God, it’s s–t,” said Gilmour of the song in 2001. “Possibly our lowest point artistically.”

Years before Atom Heart Mother, Waters was never keen on some of Pink Floyd’s earlier music, particularly the band’s first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, “There wasn’t anything ‘grand’ about it,” said Waters of the album in 1992. “We were laughable.”

‘Animal Farm’

In 1977, when the band released another long-form composition, Animals, the five tracks moved from “Pigs” to “Dogs” and “Sheep.” Written predominantly by Waters—except for “Dogs,” co-written by Gilmour—Animals explored the detriments of modern society, and it was loosely based on the 1945 George Orwell classic Animal Farm. Each track compares different facets of society to an animal in the book. In the book, pigs represent exploitative governments and political leaders. The sheep represents an easily manipulated society, and dogs illustrate governmental intimidation by military force.

On the album, which runs just over 40 minutes, Gilmour lost his connection with one of their earlier animal tracks, “Dogs.” Originally composed by Waters as “You’ve Gotta Be Crazy,” some of the lyrics were rewritten to suit both of their vocals and center around a ruthless businessman: You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.

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“Once in a while, I would find something uncomfortable to sing,” said Gilmour of “Dogs” in 2022. “The first lot Roger wrote for ‘Dogs’ when it was called ‘You Gotta Be Crazy’ was just too many words to sing.”

Gilmour added, “‘Dogs’ had so many words I physically couldn’t get them in. We just cut out two-thirds of his words to make it possible rather than impossible.”

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you’re on the street
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking

And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You’ll get the chance to put the knife in

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder
You know it’s going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older
And in the end you’ll pack up and fly down south
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man
All alone and dying of cancer

Regardless of the superfluous lyrics on “Dogs,” Animals was another success for the band, hitting No. 2 on the UK Albums chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

Photo: Matthew Eisman/Getty Images