Cymbaline (4:46)

“Cymbaline” is a Pink Floyd song from the album, Soundtrack from the Film More. Its lyrics vividly tell the tale of a “nightmare”, which was the title of the song when it was first introduced in Floyd’s The Man and the Journey shows.

The recording of ‘”Cymbaline” on the album is different from the one in the movie (the latter version is heard on a record player in a bedroom). The vocals are a different take. The studio version is sung by David Gilmour, while the movie version is sung by Roger Waters. The lyrics are also different in one place. One notable feature of the lyrics is the question posed at the end of the first verse, “Will the final couplet rhyme”. Not coincidentally, the final couplet in the song is the only one that does not rhyme.

The song features a sparse arrangement of nylon string guitar, bass, piano, drumset, bongos, and Farfisa organ entering when Gilmour does a scat solo. Pink Floyd played “Cymbaline” from 1969 until the end of 1971. It can be heard on several bootleg recordings. This song was covered on the Echoes of Pink tribute album in 2002 by Maureen Mahon, and in 2005 on Neptune Records’ None of Us is Pink tribute album by Lovespirals.