Top 20 Pink Floyd Solo Songs

Pink Floyd’s solo catalog, like the band’s main discography, is typically thought of in terms of David Gilmour and Roger Waters. It’s understandable since they have been the band’s opposing poles for so long.

But Pink Floyd existed before Gilmour’s arrival and after Waters’ departure, with important contributions made in these eras by the whimsical Syd Barrett and the more ruminative Richard Wright. Both often-overlooked figures find a home on our list of Top 20 Pink Floyd Solo Songs.

Of course, Gilmour and Waters dominate the remaining entries – even if neither of them could exactly be described as prolific solo artists. There were 22 years separating Gilmour’s About Face and On an Island – though some fans may derisively describe Pink Floyd’s intervening A Momentary Lapse of Reason as a Gilmour album, too. Waters bested that by waiting almost 25 years between Amused to Death and Is This the Life We Really Want?

READ MORE: Richard Wright’s Best Pink Floyd Songs

Each nevertheless made their own arguments for carrying forward the separate musical visions that ultimately tore apart the classic-era edition of Pink Floyd. Waters remained smart and novelistic, sharply critical, sometimes preachy. On the other hand, Gilmour turned toward emotive placidity once he was no longer forced into a square peg of diffidence or crankiness by Waters’ narrative contortions.

Together, the Top 20 Pink Floyd Solo Songs might have made the band’s next great double album. They certainly have a similar ebb and flow. Any hopes of a reunion were apparently dashed, however, by Wright’s death in 2008. By then, Barrett – the group’s lost soul – had already been gone two years.
 

No. 20. “Out of the Blue”
From: About Face (1984)

The smartly episodic “Out of the Blue” was one of three David Gilmour demos that were ultimately discarded as Roger Waters built his didactic finale with Pink Floyd, 1983’s The Final Cut. They finally found a home on Gilmour’s second solo LP. About Face sometimes suffers from this era’s mechanized sensibility (in particular on “Blue Light” and “Murder”), but “Out of the Blue” transcended those of-the-moment sounds. Beginning with a diaphanous meditation on the suddenness of our fates, Gilmour fills the song’s middle with a thunderous bit of rage, before settling into a perfectly conceived, open-ended conclusion. This is what Gilmour was trying for again – but not quite reaching – with “On the Turning Away” from Pink Floyd’s first LP without Waters, A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

No. 19. “Woman of Custom”
Richard Wright, Broken China (1996)

Arriving during an era when Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell was edited down into a more song-focused release, Broken China more accurately reflected the group’s rangy vision. “Woman of Custom,” like the rest of this LP, would not be similarly constrained. Inspired by his future wife Mildred, Wright ended up creating a shattering four-part meditation on depression – with this layered and intense song as a centerpiece. Anthony Moore, collaborator on a pair of late-period Pink Floyd albums, helped sharpen Wright’s ideas. A striking cover image from the band’s longtime designer Storm Thorgerson framed it all perfectly.

No. 18. “There’s No Way Out of Here”
David Gilmour, David Gilmour (1978)

Gilmour’s work with the Surrey-based group Unicorn included producing Blue Pine Trees and Too Many Crooks in 1974 and One More Tomorrow in 1977. Then he stole one of their songs. That’s an oversimplification, of course, but it’s not untrue. They met Gilmour while jamming at a wedding reception, and soon Unicorn was being managed by Pink Floyd’s Steve O’Rourke. “No Way Out of Here,” written by Unicorn bandleader Ken Baker, had appeared on Too Many Crooks. It’s easy to see why this quite Floyd-like song appealed to Gilmour, who basically recreated their approach. Still, the single went nowhere. That provided an early indication that no matter how great the song, Gilmour needed to work under the Pink Floyd banner to find his widest audience. Within a few years, he would.

No. 17. “Gigolo Aunt”
Syd Barrett, Barrett (1970)

“Gigolo Aunt” deftly recreated the early Pink Floyd magic but, by this point, Syd Barrett was a hopeless mess. His second solo album would be the last – and that was obvious even as the badly faltering former Pink Floyd frontman attempted to finish it. Co-producer David Gilmour resorted to fastening a Barrett warm-up session onto the beginning of the Byrds-y “Baby Lemonade” just to complete the song. “Maisie” was nothing more than an extended jam with Barrett’s wandering lyrics on top. Only “Gigolo Aunt” – and to a lesser degree, “Effervescing Elephant” – really showed how Barrett invented the template for subsequent successes by the likes of David Bowie, Robyn Hitchcock and Blur.

No. 16. “What God Wants. Pt. 1”
Roger Waters, Amused to Death (1992)

Maybe Roger Waters’ best take on the conflicts of organized religion, “What God Wants, Pt. 1” is also a showcase for the molten contributions that Jeff Beck made on Amused to Death. Like the best Pink Floyd albums released so many years before it, Waters found some of his greatest success as a solo artist through a collaborative bond with a forceful and equally artful guitarist.

No. 15. “Scattered”
David Gilmour, Luck and Strange (2024)

Taking a page from Waters’ Is This the Life We Really Want?, Gilmour makes a surprisingly direct reference to his storied past: “Scattered” starts with a pulse straight out of Dark Side of the Moon. That’s where the comparisons end. Unlike his erstwhile bandmate, Gilmour proceeds to build a different kind of song about mortality and the passage of time. In fact, at one point, the whole enterprise nearly falls to pieces in a tumble of orchestral wreckage. When Gilmour rouses himself once more, it’s with a stubborn sense of hopefulness – or, barring that, a form of accepting reverie – that too often eludes Waters. The entirety of what made them so great together, and what in turn tore them apart, might be found inside this one song.

No. 14. “The Powers That Be”
Roger Waters, Radio K.A.O.S. (1987)

Commercial flourishes like sequenced drums and programmed keyboards all but sink “The Powers That Be” on first listen. But sort through those aural missteps, and you’ll find a smart update of Waters’ patented call to arms against bloated bureaucracy and war-mongers — “They like fear and loathing / They like sheep’s clothing” — amid a deeply funky horn signature.

No. 13. “Against the Odds”
Richard Wright, Wet Dream (1978)

Like Gilmour, Wright was itching for a creative outlet as Waters’ muse began to take center stage in Pink Floyd. Like Gilmour, he recorded his solo debut at France’s Super Bear Studios. Like Gilmour, it went virtually unnoticed – even with a definitely noticeable but rather unfortunate album title. Still, “Against the Odds” makes the case for a reappraisal that somehow wouldn’t get underway until Steven Wilson remixed Wet Dream some 45 years later. Wright blamed a still-evolving solo musical vision but there was a long precedent for the subdued jazz-inflected dreamscapes created here by a sessions group that included Mel Collins and Snowy White, two members of Pink Floyd’s touring band. “Against the Odds” sits comfortably alongside ethereal Wright contributions to “Us and Them” or the second side of Wish You Were Here.

No. 12. “So Far Away”
David Gilmour, David Gilmour (1978)

Several songs in the Gilmour solo catalog appeared to be directed at Waters, including “You Know I’m Right” from About Face. But “So Far Away” seems to speak to a deeper sense of confusion about where their relationship – and Pink Floyd itself – was headed in the late ’70s. “Why am I suspended here?” Gilmour asks, as Waters moved to take control of the group. “I get no choice, I just have to wait. It may already be too late.” It was, of course. The Wall would subsequently appear with only a smattering of his creative ideas (including a chorus progression that’s similar to this song in “Comfortably Numb”), followed by The Final Cut – which had none at all. Pink Floyd was coming apart at the seams. That added new gravitas to soaring moments of uncertainty and alienation like “So Far Away,” whether that was Gilmour’s intent or not.

No. 11. “Bird in a Gale”
Roger Waters, Is This the Life We Really Want? (2017)

Waters’ comeback some 25 years after Amused to Death was perfectly timed in its own sad, weird way. Who better to douse the era of polarization with a cauldron of seething anger? But Is This the Life We Really Want? wasn’t all fire and brimstone. The searching, starkly personal “Bird in a Gale” allowed fans the rare opportunity to see him as more than an aggressive orator. After years of bitter public spats, Waters was also finally ready to deal with his former band’s always-looming specter. This is one of his most Floyd-ish sounding solo moments, like “Welcome to the Machine” for a new age. In this way, he challenged the conventions of what a Roger Waters album could be, even as he belatedly embraced his own towering musical legacy.

No. 10. “A Boat Lies Waiting”
David Gilmour, Rattle That Lock (2015)

Gilmour returned with a more rock-focused album after descending into this studied quietness for much of On an Island and Pink Floyd’s almost completely instrumental farewell The Endless River. Those earlier albums were gorgeous, largely meditative, and for some fans admittedly boring. Yet the truth was that Gilmour remained in mourning over the loss of Richard Wright, who’d succumbed to cancer in 2008. He summoned up those billowing emotions in “A Boat Lies Waiting.” Gone forever was the “blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy,” as Gilmour recalled in his emotional eulogy for Wright, but Gilmour’s grievously tender goodbye somehow found beauty in that loss.

No. 9. “Home”
Roger Waters, Radio K.A.O.S. (1987)

Despite being part of a plasticine bid for MTV acceptance on Radio K.A.O.S., “Home” rings true as Waters challenges us all to stand up to the creeping indignities that eventually coalesce into true injustice. Best of all is when he hits a lyrical riff while talking about any number of unexpected personalities who might one day provide the greatest danger to our everyday lives. Water couldn’t have known it, but he was neatly presupposing the sweeping fear that eventually gripped the U.S. in the wake of 9/11.

No. 8. “On an Island”
David Gilmour, On an Island (2006)

Gilmour’s waltzing title track was based on a twilit memory from the island of Kastelorizo near Greece and featured old collaborators Richard Wright, drummer Andy Newmark (who appeared on The Final Cut) and bassist Guy Pratt (part of the post-Waters touring units). But Graham Nash and David Crosby actually gave “On an Island” its emotional force as they settled in behind Gilmour’s airy vocals. Together, they discover a place that’s very much “halfway to the stars” just before Gilmour’s typically visceral solo. Sensitive orchestrations by Zbigniew Preisner serve as both launching pad and soft landing. When Gilmour returns to the lyric, Crosby and Nash create a cascading counterpoint that only adds to the song’s enchanting embrace.

No. 7. “Smell the Roses”
Roger Waters, Is This the Life We Really Want? (2017)

Waters belatedly resumed his solo career during a time of deep political turmoil. No surprise then that Is This The Life We Really Want? is perhaps his most confrontational album – but, in a surprising turn of events, also his most musically sentimental: “Deja Vu” had already featured a Wall-like orchestral sweep when the hard-eyed “Smell the Roses” arrived with stabbing guitars and a barking dog right out of Animals. (“Bird in a Gale,” found earlier in our list of Top 20 Pink Floyd Solo Songs, would have fit nicely on Wish You Were Here, too.) This tended to give more heft to Waters’ grievances, no matter how familiar. Blame nostalgia for an age when they were all brand new, if so inclined, but it worked.

No. 6. “The Piper’s Call”
David Gilmour, Luck and Strange (2024)

Though he often seems settled into one of them lately, Gilmour always had his feet in two distinct worlds: He’s by turns brooding and contemplative or flinty and eruptive. Gilmour begins here again in the former, with a trickling guitar figure and whispered entreaties to avoid life’s darker temptations. It’s a feel made familiar by Gilmour’s recent solo work. Then, at about the midpoint of “The Piper’s Call,” drummer Steve Gadd’s heartbeat rhythms become more insistent. Conductor Will Gardner begins to build a sweeping sense of anticipation. Seems Gilmour’s other foot is ready to mash down on a guitar pedal. A solo of wit and sudden fury unfolds, putting his entire solo career in perspective.

No. 5. “Watching TV”
Roger Waters, Amused to Death (1992)

This remarkable song arrives within a broader concept – Amused to Death decried the influence of mass media – but like “5:06 AM: Every Strangers’ Eyes” from 1984’s The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, it works as a separate statement. Waters duets with Eagles star Don Henley on a devastating chorus, using the death of a single student as a prism to discuss the 1989 Chinese youth movement against Communism. The result is maybe the most sadly beautiful thing he’s ever attempted.

No. 4. “Short and Sweet”
David Gilmour, David Gilmour (1978)

Co-written by Roy Harper (who later issued his own version), “Short and Sweet” combines the sweetly romantic sound of Gilmour’s voice with a serrated guitar edge. Think of it as a kind of precursor to the more widely known “Run Like Hell” on The Wall – and that’s the story of Gilmour’s debut disc, really. David Gilmour was supposed to assert some measure of independence but his brief reunion here with Bullitt, an early Gilmour group, wouldn’t last. Gilmour quickly folded back into Pink Floyd, and this album – other than the rock-radio deep cut “There’s No Way Out of Here” – became largely forgotten. Gilmour would rejoin Waters at these same Superbear Studios in France to work on The Wall, where Pink Floyd continued its disintegration.

No. 3. “Three Wishes”
Roger Waters, Amused to Death (1992)

In a smart twist, this guy finds a genie in a bottle, and makes his wishes – only to realize that he’d included lofty notions like peace in the Middle East but not something far more personally relevant, like fixing a broken relationship. Sound familiar? The thrice-divorced Waters didn’t just construct one of his best narrative arcs with this introspective triumph, he’d grown comfortable enough in his own skin to skewer even himself.

No. 2. “A Pocketful of Stones”
David Gilmour, On an Island (2006)

An excruciatingly beautiful song, “Pocketful of Stones” connects with the same shattering sense of loss that defined Wish You Were Here but with a contemplative orchestral counterpoint that adds new depths. Gilmour’s most important contribution here is vocally. “Pocketful of Stones” stands as perhaps his most sensitive work ever at the mic. Quietly confidential, strikingly open, Gilmour’s approach to the lyric is the perfect accompaniment to a typically searching solo. Together, they create something simultaneously wonder filled and so very still, a song with this darkness around the edges that couldn’t be less like what we’ve come to expect from him with Pink Floyd, or even as a solo artist.

No. 1. “Picture That”
Roger Waters, Is This the Life We Really Want? (2017)

“Picture That” once again returned to the machine from Wish You Were Here, but this time we find a world inside that’s on the verge of shattering – rather than a heart, as with “Bird in a Gale.” Either way, rest assured that no punches are pulled: “Picture a shithouse with no f—ing drains,” Waters seethes at one point. “Picture a leader with no f—ing brains.” Best of all? Decades after he unceremoniously dumped Richard Wright just before The Wall tour, he finally reintroduces the cerulean keyboard flourishes that always served to balance out Waters’ latest spittle-flying invective. He’d plumb new emotional depths elsewhere on this LP with moments like “Wait for Her” – but “Picture That”? This was vintage Waters vitriol.

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