“Against my judgement”: The songs David Gilmour said he should never played live

One of the biggest hurdles when an artist goes on tour is putting together the right setlist. While most people are thrilled enough being in the presence of one of their heroes, it’s important for anyone to make an entire show have a storyline with a beginning, middle and end rather than ramming everyone with brute force every time they go on. David Gilmour may have received an education on that when Roger Waters was in Pink Floyd, but he knew when some songs were best kept retired over the years.

Because when looking at the golden age of Floyd, it was always supposed to be a collaborative effort. The whole reason why an album like Dark Side of the Moon works is because of how Gilmour’s guitar bounces off of Richard Wright’s keyboards and complements Waters’s immortal words, which probably explains why Waters’s delusional idea of redoing the album fell on deaf ears the minute it came out.

But it’s not like Waters didn’t have a clear vision for what he wanted Floyd to sound like when he was there. Say what you want about how he royally screwed up some of his old hits, but given the fact that he had the idea for Wish You Were Here and Animals fully mapped out in his head, it’s hard to deny that he didn’t have a major contribution when it came to churning out bits of social commentary.

It had briefly worked, but as soon as they got to working on The Wall, things started to take a darker turn, and Gilmour was no longer willing to roll over. He remained on as a producer and band member, but looking at everything that went into the record, the fact that he only got credits on two songs was proof enough that Waters had made the band a glorified solo project in many ways.

And while that did work on tracks like ‘Comfortably Numb’, some pieces can be more than a little bit uncomfortable. ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’ might have a beautiful chord progression behind it, but at the same time, there are songs like ‘Run Like Hell’ which can be a bit more problematic to play, especially in the modern climate where the Nazi-adjacent iconography can hit a few sore spots with people.

Gilmour may have tried to keep The Wall a part of the Floyd brand back in the day, but he felt that some songs weren’t suited to being performed later, saying, “There are songs from the past that I no longer feel comfortable singing. I love ‘Run Like Hell’. I loved the music I created for it, but all that ‘You’d better run, run, run…’ I now find that all a bit terrifying and violent. ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ is another one I shan’t be doing. I don’t think I’ve done that with my band, but I certainly did it in the post-Roger Pink Floyd, against my better judgment.”

It was a bold risk trying to cut out pieces from one of the band’s most glorified successes, but Gilmour hasn’t budged on the matter, either. Even when he and Waters buried the hatchet for one show at Live 8, Gilmour was emphatic about not playing ‘Another Brick in the Wall Part 2’, thinking that a song about not needing education wasn’t the correct move for a charity gig all about helping children half a world away.

That might break a few fans’ hearts when seeing Gilmour play live these days, but that also gives people room to revisit songs they wouldn’t have given the time of day in the first place. So while ‘Run Like Hell’ might have been cut, it’s easier to appreciate what Gilmour brought to the table on songs like ‘Fat Old Sun’.