Two years after Pink Floyd’s formation, in 1967, the guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined the group, but he was a key component in their growth. Roger Waters was the band’s primary songwriter, but David Gilmour contributed to numerous songs, including “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973) and “Wish You Were Here” (1975).
The singer has had the opportunity to discuss many of his contemporaries over the years, and he has even shared his view on the greatest lyricist of all time. What he stated over the years about that musician was chosen by Rock and Roll Garage.
Like many other musicians at the time, David Gilmour promoted a number of unique live streams with his family in 2020 when the world had to stop because of the Pandemic. The major goal was to promote Polly Samson, his wife and lyricist,’s new book, “A Theatre For Dreamers,” which presented a fictitious account of the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s. She included a lot of genuine people in the book, including Leonard Cohen, a musician who David Gilmour said to be the finest lyricist he knows.
Gilmour and his family have played several songs by the Canadian musician since he was mentioned in the book. “If It Be Your Will,” “Bird On The Wire,” “Who By Fire,” “So Long, Marianne,” and “Thanks For The Dance” were a few of them. A few days after the webcast, the Pink Floyd member discussed playing those songs in an interview with Rolling Stone. He was aware that Cohen was an excellent guitarist.
David Gilmour said, “One thing I did learn is how bloody good he is as a guitar player. You tend to think of singer-songwriters as people who are just using the guitar accompaniment to carry the words that they’re doing. But Leonard was an absolutely brilliantly accomplished guitar player in fingerstyle things that I just cannot do. And of course, he’s about the best lyricist that I know of.”
David Gilmour was asked to participate in an MSN webcast more than two decades ago, in 2000, when the internet was still in its infancy compared to today. He spoke extensively on both Pink Floyd and his solo career during that fan Q&A session. But he was also questioned about his favorite song from the 1990s, a decade that had just come to a close. “Closing Time” by Leonard Cohen, he replied. He also said, “I spent a lot of time trying to analyze those lyrics.”
When the subject was posed to him in 2002 during a Q&A session with fans at Dotmusic, he responded with the same response. David said, “That was a great album by Leonard Cohen. I really liked the whole album and that song. I spent a lot of time trying to analyze what the lyrics meant.”
Cohen’s 1992 record “The Future” features “Closing Time” as its fourth song. The album achieved double platinum status in Canada and reached the Top 40 charts in the United Kingdom. sold a quarter of a million copies in the United States, where it was also popular.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall and the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, according to Cohen, were two of the album’s primary sources of inspiration. “Always” and “Waiting For The Miracle” are two more well-known tracks from that album.
