Roger Waters takes aim at David Gilmour, accusing him of “whopping porky pies“ and taking more credit for his work in Pink Floyd “than is his due“

Roger Waters has accused his former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour of taking more credit than what he is due, and delaying the reissue of the remixed 1977 album Animals over a dispute over the liner notes.

Waters posted the liner notes, which were written by Mark Blake, on his website and Facebook page, along with a forthcoming extract from his memoirs that alleges that Gilmour did not create the cash register sound effect that opens Pink Floyd's Money. 

According to Waters, Gilmour nixed Blake's liner notes as part of an "ongoing campaign by the Gilmour/Samson camp to claim more credit for Dave on the work he did in Pink Floyd, 1967-1985, than is his due."

“Yes he was, and is, a jolly good guitarist and singer,“ continued Waters. “But, he has for the last 35 years told a lot of whopping porky pies about who did what in Pink Floyd when I was still in charge. There’s a lot of ‘we did this‘ and ‘we did that,‘ and ‘I did this‘ and ‘I did that.‘“

Waters then went on to contest Gilmour's version of events surrounding the cash register effect that opens Money to a distinctive 7/8 rhythm, alleging that not only was Gilmour not the mastermind behind the effect, but he wasn't there at the time of its creation. Waters quotes a David Fricke interview with Gilmour that was published in Musician Magazine, and says, “Gilmour has no fucking idea what he’s talking about“.

Waters wrote: “Unless he was hiding under the fucking chair, DG wasn’t there when I made that SFX tape loop for Money in the studio I shared with my wife Judy at the bottom of our garden at 187, New North Road, Islington, next door to the North Pole Pub where I used to play darts!“

Waters promises the full story and more in his memoirs, which were written during lockdown. Despite all this animus, the Animals reissue – complete with stereo and 5.1 mixes by James Guthrie – will see the light of day, albeit without the liner notes. If you want to read those, head to Waters' website.