Sue Lawley's castaway this
week is David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.
Gilmour grew up in Cambridge, where his father was a senior lecturer in
zoology and his mother was also a lecturer and film editor. He was
educated at a private school, in the hope that he would shine
academically, but he really wanted to be playing music with his friends
at the local state school, the County. At 16 he left and went to the
Cambridge Tech where he became friends with Syd Barratt, the legendary
founder of The Pink Floyd Sound, as they were originally known.
Pink Floyd went on to become one of the most successful bands of all
time with albums such as Animals,Meddle and WishYou Were Here, and most
famously, The Dark Side of the Moon and, later, The Wall.Dark Side of
the Moon has remained in the best-selling albums chart ever since its
release thirty years ago and has racked up some 35 million copies sold
worldwide. The records were as groundbreaking in their presentation as
their music, and the covers, designed by Storm Thorgeson, became iconic
in their own rights: the man on fire on Wish You Were Here , the flying
pig over Battersea power station on Animals , the black gatefold with a
prism streaming light on Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd concerts
became a byword for spectacle through the 70s and 80s with lights and
lasers and special effects.
Since the seventies David Gilmour has also worked solo and guested with
Bryan Ferry and Paul McCartney among others. He has several charitable
interests, recently selling his mansion in Maida Vale to Earl Spencer
and donating the £4.5 million to Crisis, a homelessness and housing
charity. In 2001 he performed a mainly acoustic selection of his and
Pink Floyd’s songs at Robert Wyatt’s Meltdown on the South Bank. He
lives on 300 acres of land in Sussex with his second wife, writer Polly
Samson and four of his eight children.
1. 'Waterloo Sunset'
Performer Kinks
Composer R Davies
Publisher Davray Music/Carlin Music Corp
CD Title 25 Years of Rock and Roll - 1967/Various artists.
Track 4
Label Connoisseur Collection
Rec No YRNR CD 67
2. 'Ballad in Plain D'
Performer Bob Dylan
Composer Bob Dylan
Publisher CBS
CD Title Another Side of Bob Dylan
Track 10
Label Columbia
Rec No CK 8993
3. 'I'm Still Here'
Performer Tom Waits
Composer Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
Publisher Anti.inc
CD Title Alice
Track 12
Label Anti
Rec No 66322
4. 'Dancing in the Street'
Performer Martha and the Vandellas
Composer Stevenson-Gaye
Publisher Tamla Motown
CD Title Dancing in the Street
Track Side 1 trk 1
Label Tamla Motown
Rec No STML 11099
5. 'Anthem'
Performer Leonard Cohen
Composer Leonard Cohen
Publisher Sony Music
CD Title More Best of Leonard Cohen
Track 5
Label Columbia
Rec No 488237 2
6. 'A Man Needs a Maid'
Performer Neil Young
Composer Neil Young
Publisher Broken Arrow Music Pub.
CD Title Decade
Track Disc 2 trk 4
Label Reprise
Rec No 7599-27233
7. 'For Free'
Performer Joni Mitchell
Composer Joni Mitchell
Publisher Warner
CD Title Ladies of the Canyon
Track 2
Label Reprise
Rec No K 244085
8. 'Rudi with a Flashlight'
Performer Lemonheads
Composer Rainier Ptacek
Publisher Mushed Music
CD Title Best of the Lemonheads
Track 15
Label Atlantic
Rec No 7567808512
Record: 'Dancing in the Street'
Book: An English translation of the Koran
Luxury: An acoustic Martin D.35 guitar