| "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byPink Floyd featuringAndriy Khlyvnyuk ofBoomBox | ||||
| B-side | "A Great Day for Freedom 2022" | |||
| Released | 8 April 2022 (2022-04-08) | |||
| Recorded | Late February & 30 March 2022 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:27 | |||
| Label | Pink Floyd Records Rhino (Europe) Columbia/Sony Music (worldwide) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | David Gilmour | |||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Hey Hey Rise Up" onYouTube | ||||
"Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" (also written "Hey Hey Rise Up") is a song by the English rock bandPink Floyd, released on digital platforms on8 April 2022. It is based on a 1914 Ukrainian anthem, "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow", and features vocals inUkrainian byAndriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian bandBoomBox.
"Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" is the first piece of music recorded by Pink Floyd since "Louder than Words" in 2014.[2][3] The guitarist,David Gilmour, was inspired to record it in support of Ukraine during the2022 Russian invasion. Pink Floyd also released amusic video, directed byMat Whitecross, with images of life struggling amidst warfare. The single was released on CD and vinyl on 15 July 2022, alongside a new version of Pink Floyd's 1994 song "A Great Day for Freedom".[4] All proceeds go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund.
In February 2022, the Ukrainian singerAndriy Khlyvnyuk, who had abandoned a US tour by his bandBoomBox to serve in theUkrainian military in response to theRussian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February,[5] recorded ana capella version of the first verse of the Ukrainian anthem "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow" (Ukrainian:Ой у лузі червона калина). The anthem was written byStepan Charnetskii in 1914 to commemorate theSich Riflemen. Khlyvnyuk, wearingfatigues and carrying anautomatic rifle, videoed his performance inSophia Square inKyiv, with theBell Tower of Saint Sophia Cathedral in the background, and posted it onInstagram on 27 February.[5][6][7][8]
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The Pink Floyd guitarist,David Gilmour, was shown the Instagram post by the Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan,[9] who is married to his son Charlie,[10] and was inspired to record something in support of Ukraine in the ongoingRusso-Ukrainian War.[11] He contacted Pink Floyd drummerNick Mason and suggested they collaborate.[5] Pink Floyd had been inactive for several years, and Gilmour had said several times that the band would not reunite;[5] however, the war encouraged him to release the track as Pink Floyd as it was a "big platform" and it was "vitally" important to raise awareness about the war. He said: "It's a really difficult and frustrating thing to see this extraordinarily crazy, unjust attack by a major power on an independent, peaceful, democratic nation."[11]
Khlyvnyuk, while recovering in hospital from a shrapnel wound sustained in defence of Ukraine, gave Gilmour his blessing to use his vocals.[12] Gilmour wrote extra music, including aguitar solo.[5] Gilmour had previously been backed by BoomBox—without Khlyvnyuk—in 2015, atKoko, London, in support of theBelarus Free Theatre.[13]
Pink Floyd had already removed music from streaming services in Russia and Belarus. Their work withRoger Waters remained, leading to speculation that Waters had blocked its removal; Gilmour said only that "I was disappointed ... Read into that what you will."[14] Gilmour said the song was a "one-off for charity" and that Pink Floyd had no plans to reform.[15]
"Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" was recorded on 30 March 2022 at Gilmour's home[6] by Gilmour and Mason withGuy Pratt, bassist with Pink Floyd since 1987, and keyboardistNitin Sawhney. It was Sawhney's first work with Pink Floyd. Gala Wright, the daughter of late Pink Floyd keyboardist and founding memberRichard Wright, was also present during the recording.[5]
The song—whose title comes from the last line of "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow", which some translations give as "Hey, hey, rise up and rejoice"[16]—opens with asample from another recording of Charnetskii's anthem, by theVeryovka Ukrainian Folk Choir.[9][17]
The music video was directed byMat Whitecross, also on 30 March, on a set designed by Pedan.[6][16] In the video, the band play while Khlyvnyuk's Sophia Square video is projected behind them. The performance is intercut with scenes of war damage, survivors and refugees in Ukraine.[8] Mason's drums are decorated with reproductions of a painting byMaria Primachenko, a Ukrainian artist, several of whose works were destroyed in a fire caused by Russian shelling during the invasion.[5][18]
The single's artwork depicts a band logotype (in the style ofGerald Scarfe's lettering forPink Floyd – The Wall) patterned after theUkrainian flag alongside asunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, in a 2019 painting by Cuban artistYosan Leon.[16][19] The choice of flower also references a remark from a Ukrainian woman who was seen handing sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers in the early days of the invasion, telling them to carry the seeds in their pockets so that sunflowers will grow from their dead bodies.[20][21]
"Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" was released on digital platforms and streaming services on 8 April 2022. It was Pink Floyd's first newly recorded material since the 2014 song "Louder Than Words".[2] A physical version of the single on both CD and vinyl was released on 15 July 2022, which included a newly reworked version of "A Great Day for Freedom" as a b-side.[4] Proceeds from "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund.[8]
The journalist Mark Savage ofBBC News praised the song, saying that it was "built around a spine-tingling refrain" by Khlyvnyuk.[22] Khlyvnyuk said the song was "fabulous" and thanked Pink Floyd for their efforts.[5] Some fans felt that it was improper for the group to release music as Pink Floyd without the keyboardistRichard Wright, who died in 2008, or the bassist and songwriterRoger Waters, who left in 1985. TheClassic Rock journalist Fraser Lewry disagreed, writing: "When thousands have been killed and millions have fled their homes, moaning about the absence of a band member [Waters] who left 37 years ago is churlish at best. At worst, it's contemptuous of the suffering."[23]
Waters was critical of the song, saying it "lacked humanity" and constituted a "content-less waving of the blue and yellow flag" rather than an explicit call for the war to end.[24] He said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "probably the most provoked invasion ever" and refused to "see Russia from the current Russo-phobic perspective".[25]
Based on downloads and sales in its first two days, the single appeared on the midweekUK Singles Chart at number 5.[26] It debuted at number 49 on the final chart.[27]
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