Pink Floyd has composed a new original song in support of the Ukrainian people, Hey, hey, rise up! (“Hey, hey, get up!”) Shared overnight from Thursday to Friday on the group’s social networks. This title will be used to raise funds for humanitarian works. For the famous group, this song is a first since 1994 (except for the instrumental recordings grouped together in 2014 in the album The Endless River – whose piece Louder Than Words on which lyrics have been added).
On this song, mainstays David Gilmour and Nick Mason use the vocals of Andriy Khlyvnyuk, from Ukrainian band Boombox. “Like many others, we felt fury and frustration witnessing this despicable act of invading an independent and peaceful democratic country and having its people murdered by one of the greatest powers in the world.” , exposes Gilmour in a press release. “Recently, I read that Andriy left his US tour with Boombox to return to Ukraine and engage in Home Defense,” continues the musician, figure of Pink Floyd.
David Gilmour also saw on Instagram this video shot in a square in kyiv where the artist “sings in the silence of a city without traffic or the slightest noise because of the war”. “It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music”, he adds.
Gilmour also explains that he managed to exchange with Andriy Khlyvnyuk from his hospital bed in kyiv, where he was recovering from a wound caused by a splinter of mortar, still exposes the record company. “I played him a little bit of the song on the phone and he gave me his blessing. Hopefully we can do something together and in person soon.”
The visual of the title represents a sunflower, one of the symbols of Ukraine, and is inspired by a viral video on social networks. We saw a Ukrainian woman insulting two armed Russian soldiers and throwing at them: “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets. That way sunflowers will grow when you all rest here.”
“Putin must go,” Gilmour tweeted at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All music by Pink Floyd (since 1987) and solo David Gilmour has been removed from Russian and Belarusian streaming sites as a sign of “firm condemnation of the Russian invasion”, according to Pink Floyd’s social media.