“Though every note has been learned and rehearsed and played, you need to think, ‘Oh, there’s something about the feel that had before that it’s gone forever’”: David Gilmour sets the record straight on the Pink Floyd solo that accidentally got erased

Have you ever written an awesome guitar part that, for one reason or another, disappeared into the ether? Well, in David Gilmour's case, it was one of his solos on Dogs, from 1977's Animals. Of course, keen-eared Pink Floyd fans would know that this song has a number, of solos – one of which was mistakenly deleted during those sessions.

“On Dogs, the original solo did get erased,” Gilmour confirms in his latest interview with Rick Beato. “We had the whole first half of the song. Then we had a middle breakdown bit, which became all that weird stuff, and that was filled with white two-inch leader tape [used to separate cues on tape].

“And then eventually the rest of the song was tagged on there while we were thinking about and working out what to do with it. And there was something on the first half that we wanted to erase, and Roger [Waters] and Nick [Mason] put it into “erase,” and then forgot it was in “erase,” and it went right through the leader tape by two minutes, and then took away my second guitar solo.”

While the actual, recorded solo was – in Gilmour's own words – “completely erased, gone, forever, done,” the guitar part wasn't, as thankfully, he had it saved elsewhere.

“Luckily, I do take mixes home and I'd taken a mix of that home, so I had to go and recreate it from my rough mix. [However] you never quite feel 100% satisfied, though every note has been learned and rehearsed and played, you need to think, ‘Oh, there's something about the feel that had before that it's gone forever.’”

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As for Animals, there was another guitarist who played a role in the making of that album. With the birth of his first child, Gilmour wasn't as involved as usual, and discussions were held about employing another guitarist on tour. As legend has it, Snowy White swooped in and was offered a gig as a touring guitarist. However, what he didn't expect was an invite to play a solo on record.

“It was just after they offered me the gig that I recorded the solo for Pigs on the Wing,” White recalled in a Guitar World interview. “David [Gilmour] and I went back into the control room, and he said to Roger [Waters], 'Snowy has agreed to take the gig,' and Roger said, 'Well, while you're here, you might as well play something.'

“So, Roger swivels around and puts on Pigs on the Wing,” White continues. “And then he said, 'Why don't you do a solo in the middle? Go ahead and pick up any of those guitars out there and have a go at it.' So, I picked up this white Strat, plugged it in, fiddled about, and then did the solo in one take. I know one take sounds impressive, but honestly, I got lucky that I did such a nice one right away.”

In the same Rick Beato interview, Gilmour looks back on the first time he saw Hendrix play – in the company of the Beatles and Rolling Stones.