Fat Old Sun (5:20)
306,646 plays (76,354 listeners)
nspired by Roger Waters’ childhood reverie ‘Grantchester Meadows’, Gilmour set to work on his own rose-tinted evocation of his early childhood in Cambridge. The church bells of Evensong ease you into this gentle acoustic evocation of youth spent swimming in the river Cam, laying under blue skies and smelling the sweet scent of newly mown grass from youth’s endless summer.
The song also chronicles, as would many of Gilmour’s future songs, the passage from that idyllic childhood to the harsher adult world. The setting sun is employed as the symbol of that transition, and it would reappear in Gilmour’s late 80s and 90s work.
This is the second of three Pink Floyd songs about Cambridge, the home town of Waters, Gilmour and Syd Barrett, and as previously mentioned, it could easily be seen as a blueprint for the track ‘High Hopes’ on The Division Bell over twenty years later, when the same territory was revisited from a middle-aged perspective.
Some suggest that both the lyric and the mood of the piece were additionally influenced by The Kinks’ song ‘Lazy Old Sun’. In the same album, a track called ‘Big Black Smoke’ opens with the bells of Evensong. Gilmour explained this further coincidence by claiming that there were only two commercial sound effects libraries in existence at the time, so naturally people would end up using the same sound effects, in this case those from Abbey Road. When quizzed, he acknowledged that he had heard the track once and perhaps was subconsciously influenced by The Kinks. “They’ve never sued me,” he once stated, wryly.
The song also chronicles, as would many of Gilmour’s future songs, the passage from that idyllic childhood to the harsher adult world. The setting sun is employed as the symbol of that transition, and it would reappear in Gilmour’s late 80s and 90s work.
This is the second of three Pink Floyd songs about Cambridge, the home town of Waters, Gilmour and Syd Barrett, and as previously mentioned, it could easily be seen as a blueprint for the track ‘High Hopes’ on The Division Bell over twenty years later, when the same territory was revisited from a middle-aged perspective.
Some suggest that both the lyric and the mood of the piece were additionally influenced by The Kinks’ song ‘Lazy Old Sun’. In the same album, a track called ‘Big Black Smoke’ opens with the bells of Evensong. Gilmour explained this further coincidence by claiming that there were only two commercial sound effects libraries in existence at the time, so naturally people would end up using the same sound effects, in this case those from Abbey Road. When quizzed, he acknowledged that he had heard the track once and perhaps was subconsciously influenced by The Kinks. “They’ve never sued me,” he once stated, wryly.
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Shouts
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David_J1973 wrote:
Awesome and under-rated. Gilmour's voice is so nice.
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S0up789 wrote:
One of those songs that never get old.
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L-Zep wrote:
Relaxing
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happysnowfish wrote:
...I thought I knew this song. I really did. And then I listened to the 15 minute version on the BBC bootleg. That was incredible.
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WiJoCo wrote:
Absolutely my favorite track from the album. What a solo at the end. David Gilmour is awesome.
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spacefaceinfurs wrote:
what a song
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schopi36 wrote:
great, great, great. and the solo, too
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CleanSpoon wrote:
one of the chillest songs ever
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OhmsweetOhm wrote:
Gotta love those 15-minute versions from 1970-71! I love the transition part between the chaotic organ solo and the last verse!
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Grecen wrote:
Siiing toooo meeeeey, David, sing to me.
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freckkles wrote:
one of their best songs, David has a beautiful voice here
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louvenoir wrote:
Awesome!!!
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ivomc wrote:
Only listened to it recently, I'm amazed...
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radio-tractore wrote:
I totally agree with Snitsie
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Snitsie wrote:
Smoking Blues version is absolutely fantastic.
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kingness wrote:
excellent
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Daddoman wrote:
One of their best songs!
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gothiconline wrote:
In my opinion it's not a song from 1970 it's a very new song.. Pink Floyd really was living the future in the past...
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sandilyon wrote:
ESE MI GILMOUR QUEN LO QUERE A EL?
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Emilioav wrote:
The Smoking blues version it's beautiful
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