| "Have a Cigar" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork for Belgian vinyl release[1] | ||||
| Single byPink Floyd featuringRoy Harper | ||||
| from the albumWish You Were Here | ||||
| B-side | ||||
| Released | November 1975 (1975-11) (US) | |||
| Recorded | 10 March – 28 July 1975[5] | |||
| Studio | Abbey Road, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | Roger Waters | |||
| Producer(s) | Pink Floyd | |||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
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"Have a Cigar" is the third track onPink Floyd's 1975 albumWish You Were Here.[8][9] It follows "Welcome to the Machine" and on the original LP opened side two. In some markets, the song was issued as a single.English folk-rock singerRoy Harper provided lead vocals on the song. It is one of only three Pink Floyd recordings with a guest singer on lead vocals, the others being "The Great Gig in the Sky" (1973) withClare Torry and "Hey Hey Rise Up" (2022) withAndriy Khlyvnyuk.The song, written by Waters, is his critique of the rampant greed and cynicism so prevalent in the management of rock groups of that era.
The song's music and lyrics were written byRoger Waters in critique of hypocrisy and greed within themusic business. Waters has frequently implied it to be a follow-up to "Money" with the lyrics representing the demands of a record executive after the runaway success ofThe Dark Side of the Moon.
The song is more straightforwardlyrock-oriented than the rest of the album, and is the only one on the album that starts abruptly (the other four either fade in or segue from the previous song). It begins with a churningriff played onelectric guitar andbass and is filled out with additional guitar,electric piano andsynthesizer parts to create arock texture.
"Have a Cigar" concludes with aguitar solo, which is abruptly interrupted by a synthesizer filter-sweepsound effect as the music reduces in volume to tinny,AM radio-like levels. Finally, the song ends with the sound of a radio being dialled off-station; this effect is used as a transition to the title track, "Wish You Were Here".
Harper's involvement with the recording arose from the dissatisfaction that Waters andDavid Gilmour felt with their own attempts to sing the lead vocal line. After trying it both separately and as a duet, with Harper still technically on the track singing vocals on the bridge (available on the 2011Experience andImmersion editions ofWish You Were Here), they turned to Harper to sing lead, who was recording his albumHQ atAbbey Road at the same time as Pink Floyd. Harper agreed to sing the part as a way of repaying a favour to Gilmour, who had earlier provided him with some guitar licks ("...for a price").[10]
In his bookPigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, author Mark Blake recounts that Gilmour had been unwilling to sing the lead vocal as he did not share Waters' opinions, as expressed in the lyrics, on the nature of the music industry.[11] Waters has since said he dislikes Harper's version, saying he would have liked it to emerge "more vulnerable and less cynical", adding that Harper's version was too parodic while Gilmour loved Harper's vocal delivery and called it the "perfect version".[12]
Cash Box said that it "sounds to us like a synopsis of some of the fingerpoppers who have probably tried to capitalize off the talents of the Pink Floyd group. We were wrong, no doubt, but the music is the thing here: a cerebral message."[13]Record World said that "These progressive pioneers mix ethereal keyboard sounds with crunchy guitar rhythms for a sound that many have attempted, but few have mastered."[14]
Harper performed the song with the band on one occasion, the group's 1975Knebworth Festival appearance, during the periodWish You Were Here was being recorded. The song was also performed on the band's 1975North American tours sandwiched in between the multi-part "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", with Gilmour and Waters singing lead. It was last performed by the band on the 1977In the Flesh tour, as part of theWish You Were Here set with Waters on lead vocals, Gilmour on backing vocals and rhythm guitar andSnowy White playing the guitar solos.
Waters has also played the song on nearly every one of his solo tours, except for the 1999–2002In the Flesh tour, the 2009–11 Wall tour, and the 2017Us + Them Tour.[15]
with:
In a 2011 video interview with John Edginton, Roy Harper said that he was unhappy he had not been credited by the band for singing the song "for the first 10 or 15 years" after it came out. He also said he was not paid the agreed payment; he wanted tickets for life to Lord's (cricket grounds) but received "a few hundred quid" instead. Harper had to hire a lawyer to resolve this grievance, which he called "ironic" and said it made the song (which is about ripoffs in the music business) into a self-fulfilling prophecy by turning the collaboration among friends into "the dirty music business."[16]
A lot of people think I can't sing, including me a bit. I'm very unclear about what singing is. I know I find it hard to pitch, and I know the sound of my voice isn't very good in purely aesthetic terms, and Roy Harper was recording his own album in another EMI studio at the time, he's a mate, and we thought he could probably do a job on it.
— Roger Waters, October 1975, Interviewed by Nick Sedgewick in theWish You Were Here songbook[17]
"Have a Cigar" was a whole track on which I used the guitar and keyboards at once. There are some extra guitars which I dubbed on later, but I did the basic guitar tracks at one time.
— David Gilmour, October 1975, Interviewed by Gary Cooper in theWish You Were Here songbook[17]
We did have people who would say to us "Which one's Pink?" and stuff like that. There were an awful lot of people who thought Pink Floyd was the name of the lead singer and that was Pink himself and the band. That's how it all came about, it was quite genuine.
— David Gilmour, December 1992,In the Studio with Redbeard for "Making of Shine On" and "Making of Wish You Were Here"[18]
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USCash Box Looking Ahead[19] | 119 |
| USRecord World Singles Chart 101–150[19] | 126 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[20] | Gold | 15,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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