Have a Cigar

"Have a Cigar"
Cover for French and Italian editions
Single by Pink Floyd featuring Roy Harper
from the album Wish You Were Here
B-side	Welcome to the Machine (US single) Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (Italian and French singles)
Released	1975
Format	7"
Recorded	January - July 1975 Abbey Road Studios, London
Genre	Progressive rock, hard rock, art rock
Length	5:08
Label	Harvest, EMI (UK) Columbia, Capitol (US)
Writer(s)	Roger Waters
Producer	Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd featuring Roy Harper singles chronology
"Us and Them"/"Time" (1973) "Have a Cigar" (1975) "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (1979)
Wish You Were Here track listing "Welcome to the Machine" (2) "Have a Cigar" (3) "Wish You Were Here" (4)

"Have a Cigar" is the third track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. It follows "Welcome to the Machine" and on the original LP opened side two.

Composition and recording

The song's music and lyrics were written by Roger Waters in critique of hypocrisy and greed within the music business. The music itself is more straightforwardly rock-oriented than the rest of the album, beginning with a churning riff played on electric guitar and bass. The track is filled out with additional guitar, electric piano and synthesizer parts to create a rock texture.

"Have a Cigar" concludes with a guitar solo, which is interrupted by a synthesizer filter-sweep sound effect as the music reduces in volume to tinny, AM radio-like levels. Finally, the song ends with the sound of a radio being dialed off-station; this effect is used as a transition to the following song, the album's title track, "Wish You Were Here".

On the original recording, the song's lead vocals are performed by an acquaintance of the band, Roy Harper. Roger Waters intended to record the part himself, but had strained his voice while recording "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and David Gilmour declined to sing. Harper was recording his album HQ in Studio 2 of Abbey Road at the same time as Pink Floyd were working in Studio 3; learning of the band's dilemma Harper offered to sing the lead. The song is one of only two songs by the band which is not sung by one of their permanent members (the other is "The Great Gig in the Sky").

Harper performed the song with the band on one occasion, the group's 1975 Knebworth Festival appearance, which occurred during the period Wish You Were Here was being recorded.

The song was played on the 1975 and 1977 Pink Floyd tours. The 1977 performances had Roger Waters on lead vocals with David Gilmour singing backing vocals. During the band's 1977 tour the guitar solos on the song were played by Snowy White^{[citation needed]}.

Personnel

Music and Lyrics by Roger Waters

• Roger Waters - Bass and keyboards.
• David Gilmour - Electric guitars, additional keyboards
• Richard Wright - Wurlitzer electric piano, ARP string synthesizer, Mini-Moog synthesizers, Hohner clavinet D6
• Nick Mason - Drums
• Roy Harper - Vocals

Quotes

Cover versions

• In 1979, Warner Bros. Records released a 12" single containing a special disco mix of "Have a Cigar" by Rosebud, a studio group led by composer Gabriel Yared, from their album Discoballs: A Tribute to Pink Floyd. The song peaked at number 4 on Billboard's Disco Top 80 chart in June 1979. The B-side was a disco version of "Money".

• In 1992, the band Primus recorded a cover of the song and included it as the closing track to their Miscellaneous Debris EP. Their version features a slight lyrical change: "The band is just fantastic, of the town you are the talk/Man, but who the hell's this guy they call Bob Cock?"

• The Foo Fighters recorded cover versions on two occasions, once with Brian May, and both with Taylor Hawkins on lead vocals.

• The album Instead, released in 2007 by Onetwo, contains a cover version of "Have a Cigar".

• The main riff of "Have a Cigar" is incorporated into the song "Peruvian Skies" by progressive metal band Dream Theater on their 1998 live album Once in a LIVEtime,and on the Live DVD Five Years In A LIVEtime.

References

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (Songbook. 1975 Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd., London, England, ISBN 0 7119 1029 4 [USA ISBN 0 8256 1079 6])