Pink Floyd and The Beatles would become acquainted in the late 1960s. They had first crossed paths in 1967 at Abbey Road Studios, where the former was cutting tracks for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the latter were recording their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Gilmour would have told you to lie down and watch what you smoke if you had told him in the late 1960s that he would perform with Paul McCartney at Liverpool’s renowned Cavern Club in 30 years.
“I’m a kid, really,” Gilmour talked to Mojo for a while more. “You get into Studio Two at Abbey Road, you’re sitting there with Paul McCartney, and your guitar is plugged in. You think that’s an ordinary day’s work, but of course, it isn’t; it’s magical! Managing to persuade him to sing ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ at the Cavern, with me doing the John Lennon parts, was absolutely fantastic.”
“I’ve been in The Who, I’ve been in The Beatles, and I’ve been in Pink Floyd,” Gilmour joked. “Top that, motherfucker!”
Gilmour talked about his long-standing affection for McCartney in an interview with French Guitarist magazine in 2002.
“He is a musician in the broadest sense of the word,” he expressed an opinion.. “He can play everything: bass, guitar, piano, drums … And on all these instruments, he’s at a very good level. We cannot, therefore, mystify him, he knows exactly what he wants. We owe him certain productions which were not of the greatest interest. But he definitely deserves the success and respect he enjoys.”
Gilmour has frequently worked with McCartney in the studio since The Beatles split up in 1970. David contributed to the Wings’ 1979 song “Rockestra Theme” on guitar. He also performed on the solo albums Give My Regard To Broadstreet (1984), Flowers In The Dirt (1989), and Run Devil Run (1999).
McCartney talked about his willingness to use Gilmour’s guitar skills on Give My Regard To Broadstreet in his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. The musician for Pink Floyd was described as “a genius” by the former Beatle. Further explaining, he said:
“David Gilmour plays the solo on the record. I’ve known him since the early days of Pink Floyd. Dave is a genius of sorts, so I was pulling out all the stops. I admired his playing so much, I’d seen him around; I think he’d just done his solo About Face album. So I rang him up and said, ‘Would you play on this?’ It sounded like his kind of thing.”
At the Cavern Club in Liverpool, which The Beatles turned into a musical Mecca with their renowned performances in the early 1960s, McCartney organized a spectacular comeback performance in 1999. In order to create his ensemble for the performance, McCartney enlisted Gilmour, Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, guitarist Mick Green, pianist Pete Wingfield, and accordion player Chris Hall.
Answering questions from fans via MSN Livestream in 1999 He discussed his performance with McCartney at the Cavern show and the possibility of collaborating with the legendary Beatle.
“I’ve completed all the stuff that Paul has so far asked me to do with him,” he said. “I don’t know if he’s doing anymore, but it was really good fun to get back to that kind of music for a change. Getting to be a Beatle for that night at the Cavern was unforgettable.”
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