Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Jill Furmanovsk

On March 16, 2000, Pink Floyd‘s David Gilmour participated in an MSN webcast.

While Gilmour admitted to not being “brilliant” at the internet, he did graciously answer a number of fan questions.

As Gilmour had performed with Paul McCartney at his Live at the Cavern Club event three months beforehand, several fan questions directly concerned the Beatles.

“What was it like playing rock ‘n’ roll and working with Paul McCartney?” one asked. “Are there any plans to do more work with him?”

“I’ve completed all the stuff that Paul has so far asked me to do with him,” Gilmour shared. “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.”

(In addition to performing at the Cavern Club concert David Gilmour also played guitar on McCartney’s 1984 album Give My Regards to Broad Street as well as 1989’s Flowers in the Dirt  and 1999’s Run Devil Run.)

“Do you see many parallels between Pink Floyd and the Beatles?” another web-savvy Pink Floyd enthusiast chimed in. “Like the songwriting partnership with Lennon and McCartney?”

“You make that comparison with a number of different bands,” Gilmour replied. “I’m a huge fan of the Beatles, but I don’t know what parallels are between us except we were both pretty good at what we did.”

David doesn’t give too much away with this answer but later he does expand on why Pink Floyd’s albums stood the test of time.

“I think we always try to explore and push boundaries with the music that we made,” he shared, “and maybe there’s not enough of that nowadays and I think some of the themes that were explored will never be out of date.”

When another fan asks the guitarist what his children thought of Pink Floyd, this time its Gilmour who namechecks the Fab Four.

“I think they’re all fans,” her noted, “but possibly they prefer the Beatles.”

Gilmour would again discuss the Beatles in a 2015 issue of Mojo magazine. 

“I really wish I had been in the Beatles,” he shared in the Mojo interview. “[They] taught me how to play guitar; I learnt everything. The bass parts, the lead, the rhythm, everything. They were fantastic.”

David and son Joe Gilmour also covered Revolver‘s  ‘Here, There, And Everywhere‘ Mojo magazine’s David Gilmour & Friends compilation CD.

The Pink Floyd guitarist discussed the Beatles and his Cavern Club Gig with McCartney in a 2003 interview with Record Collector magazine.

“Do you ever have to pinch yourself because you’re playing next to people like Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend and Bryan Ferry?” David Gilmour‘s interviewer asked.

“I’m a kid, really,” he stated. “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 works, 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,” he then joked.  “I’ve been in The Beatles and I’ve been in Pink Floyd! Top that, mother****er!”