I came late to Pink Floyd. I’ll be 76 next month, and I must have been well into my 40s before I started listening to them with any regularity. That would be in the 1990s when I acquired a CD player; I’d never listened to them on vinyl.

I should add, however, that I have seen Pink Floyd live—on 26 January 1968 (and supported by T-Rex), in the Students’ Union at the University of Southampton where I began my degree in October the previous year.

During the 1970s I was working in South and Central America, and Pink Floyd were not on my musical radar. Except for one occasion, around the end of 1979. I’d travelled to Guatemala from my home in Costa Rica. My Pan Am flight from San José landed in Guatemala City in the early evening, and I headed straight to my hotel.

As I was unpacking my suitcase, I’d turned on the TV, and whatever channel I’d tuned to (my recollection was MTV, but I’ve checked and MTV wasn’t launched until 1981) was broadcasting a rather interesting video, of cartoon hammers marching in step—in the last minute of Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2) by Pink Floyd, which was released in November 1979, from their studio album The Wall.

And that video (and where I first viewed it) has been etched in my mind ever since.

And there is one track from The Wall which features perhaps one of the greatest guitar solos, by David Gilmore. I’m referring of course to Comfortably Numb. It’s a favorite of mine that I listen to regularly, and one of eight I would choose were I to be cast away on a desert island (Desert Island Discs).

Just yesterday, I came across a video on YouTube, by American YouTube personality, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and educator, Rick Beato (right). Among the videos he presents, he has a series called What Makes This Song Great? And this particular video was all about Comfortably Numb.

Much as I enjoy music of all kinds I have little or no musical knowledge (even though I did play – badly – the cello for several years while in high school). So I found Beato’s analysis of Comfortably Numb absolutely fascinating (even though I didn’t understand many of the descriptions per se), but I could appreciate just what a fine musician David Gilmore is. I’m sure it will enhance your appreciation of this track.

And, at 78, still going strong having just commenced a tour to promote his fifth studio album Luck and Strange, with concerts in Rome, London, New York, and Los Angeles. Comfortably Numb is always a crowd pleaser from clips I’ve seen from the recent Rome concerts.

One track on Luck and Strange that has caught my attention (written and released by The Montgolfier Brothers in 1999) features Gilmore’s 22 year old daughter Romany.

A great interpretation.

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