David Gilmour Cannot Remember Recording the Solo — The Engineer in the Room Has Never Forgotten It

In the spring of 1997, a journalist named Paul Hennessey sat down with David Gilmour in his study on the Thames and asked about the solo. Not about the technique. Not about the equipment. About the memory of it — what he remembered of the afternoon when it was recorded, in a studio in Islington, in October 1979. Gilmour was quiet for a moment. Then he said he didn't remember it. Not unclearly. Not vaguely. He said when he tried to locate the memory of that afternoon — the studio, the take, what he had felt when he played what became the version on the record — he found nothing. An absence. A blank. The engineer who was in the room that day is a man named Richard Soane. He was 43 years old in October 1979. He had been recording sessions for twenty-two years. His session notes from that period are technical, precise, and consistent. They contain nothing subjective. Nothing personal. Except for one entry. Halfway down the page for the second take. Three words, written in his usual precise handwriting. Then crossed through with a single line, leaving them still legible. THIS IS IT This is the story of two people in the same room on the same afternoon — one who has no memory of what happened, and one who has never been able to forget it. And what that difference might tell us about what music, at its best, actually is. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — The 1997 Interview and the Question About Memory 01:30 — "When I Try to Locate the Memory, I Find Nothing" 03:00 — Not a Fog. An Absence. 04:15 — His Explanation: The State That Leaves No Trace 05:30 — Britannia Row Studios, Islington, October 1979 06:45 — Richard Soane: 22 Years of Session Notes 08:00 — The First Take: Competent, Musical, Correct 09:15 — The Second Take: Something Different 10:30 — "My Technical Attention Was Displaced" 11:45 — He Simply Listened 12:30 — The Take Ends. He Does Not Speak. 13:30 — Through the Glass: Gilmour's Eyes, Still Closed 14:30 — He Waited Before Pressing Talkback 15:30 — The Three Crossed-Through Words 16:30 — THIS IS IT 17:30 — What the Crossing-Out Means 18:30 — The Recording Captured It Completely 19:30 — Millions of People Have Heard What Soane Heard That Afternoon 20:30 — "It Sounds Like the Record of an Experience, Not a Performance" 21:30 — Soane, Now: "More Like Something I Carry Than Something I Remember" 22:30 — "I Was There and He Wasn't, in a Certain Sense" 23:30 — "That Might Be What You're Actually Hearing, When You Hear It" 🎸 Real untold David Gilmour and Pink Floyd stories every week. Subscribe and ring the bell. 👍 Share this with anyone who has ever wondered what it actually takes to make something that reaches the places music reaches at its best. 💬 Have you ever heard a piece of music and felt certain that whoever made it was somewhere else entirely when they made it? Tell us in the comments.