It is rumoured that a pre-release version of Astronomy Titania was present under this title on the first demo recorded by the band in May 1965. But, according to Peter Jenner, the writing of this track would have come after this demo.
«Barbarella Soundtrack»
In 1966, David Gilmour was in France working with Michel Magne (he participated in the soundtrack of Bardot’s movie « À coeur joie » but also on the track La chanson d’Hélène with Romy Schneider). One could have expected him to be on the soundtrack of Roger Vadim's « Barbarella »
Interviewer: « Is it true that before joining the Floyd you contributed to the soundtrack of the '60s sci-fi movie Barbarella? »
David Gilmour: « No, it's not true. »
« MSN LiveChat», 17 Mars 2000.
« Gini's Adverts Soundtrack » (non-crédité/1974)
Contrary to a (very) persistent legend, the Floyd's publicity commitment to Gini did not lead them to write music for a commercial.
Ginger Gilmour:
« Gini booked us into the famous La Mamounia Hotel, which previously had been a historical palace of the Rose City, and then converted into a luxurious hotel.As we entered the lobby of mosaics and carved plaster work, a man was walking away down one of the corridors. He had long hair and was wearing a Hawaiian Shirt. I commented to David that he looked a bit like Mick Jagger. David said whimsically, «That may be because it is Mick Jagger!» (…) He said that David and I should come with him in his car and arranged another taxi for the rest of our party. He suggested that they should follow. Once we entered the club, Jagger danced most of the evening in the center of the crowd, pawed repeatedly (…) When we returned to the hotel, some of the band was in the lobby. They wondered what had happened to us. David just shrugged his shoulders and did a David sheepish smile as we walked away holding hands returning to our room »
« Memoirs of the bright side of the moon », Ginger Gilmour, 2016
This confusion is maybe to the association that was made between the campaign featuring Pink Floyd and the one that immediately followed it with Carlos Monzon. The two themes are similar (a desert ballad), the slogans are the same ("... a strange taste from elsewhere").
It is true that the music used for the campaign with Carlos Manzon is close to a relatively floydian atmospheric track.
Interviewer: «So you didn't any record music for it ?».
Gilmour:« No, we didn't record any music for it. It was literally a photographic publicity campaign »
«Interview with David Gilmour », The Amazing Pudding #15, 2 November 1985.
Red Phone (Cardin, Cliff/1974)
A very curious French compilation entitled « Rendering Pink Floyds by the Sixting Music » was released in 1974 with a selection of the following tracks: Money, One of these Days, Speak to me, Breathe (with On the run; uncredited), Apples & Oranges, Echoes and If. Between these tracks, a curious Red Phone was inserted, making fans believe that it was an unreleased Floyd track. It's not, this track has nothing to do with it!
« Barrett’s unreleased album » (Syd Barrett/1974)
The rumour of a finished version of Barrett's unsuccessful 1974 sessions has long circulated. It is in fact an audio tribute by members of the Syd Barrett Appreciation Society, one of Barrett's earliest fan clubs, as shown in this article from Sounds, 30 November 1974.
« Spanishgrass » (Syd Barrett/1978)
A hoax by José Angel Gonzalez claimed that a bootleger had pressed a record containing demos recorded by Syd between 1976 and 1977 while he was recluse in the Spanish monastery of Santa Maria de la Real. The titles were; Spring; Reverential mourners; Black maid; Plastic gunpowder; Mouse after a fête; Breakwater and tea; Grey tress.; Two bangers + mash; Whining at the moon; Greenland; I am Dhaga; On the other hand; Un poeta esquece os días de chuvia; Saturnalia; William Phips; Stede Bonnet; Gabriel Spenser; Gospel at noon; Waste deep; Frog.
Pawn to King 5 (Gilmour, Wright/1968)
The group's management was approached in May 1968 by the Mercury Theatre Trust Ltd. Under the direction of Artistic Director John Chesworth, the company wanted to produce a one-act ballet lasting 25 minutes. The subject of the piece, led by the six-dancer troupe of the "Ballet Rambert", was chess. The number, entitled 'Pawn to King Five', was one of four sequences presented in late 1968: 'Them and Us', 'Judgment of Paris' and 'Façade'.
For years, fans of the band thought that the band had delivered a soundtrack to the company. This was discussed for years by band historians such as Vernon Fitch. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The band did not write or record anything specifically at that time.
This error was formed by the general press of the time. The "Record Mirror" of 25 January 1969, which stated that the group had written the music for this ballet, seems to be the main culprit in this legend.
The specialist newspapers had already indicated in 1968 that the company used existing tracks from the album "A Saucerful of Secrets". The exact titles remained to be seen: A Saucerful of Secrets, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Corporal Clegg.
The band never considered providing an original soundtrack (as originally planned for Roland Petit's ballet). Apart from an agreement in principle, the group's involvement was therefore nil. Access to the session-sheets of "A Saucerful of secrets" a few years ago will confirm this missed opportunity.
For the sake of completeness, at the same period, the Dutch National Ballet also presented a ballet structured around the band's music, but here we don't know what was chosen.
Only the press kit for the release of the film 'Pink Floyd - The Wall' mentions this soundtrack for the only time officially.
What’s the News Mary Jane? (Lennon/1968)
This long unreleased song was written by Lennon and recorded on August 14, 1968 with George Harrison, Yoko Ono and Mal Evans. It was long believed that Barrett had participated in the recording. This would have been quite plausible for several reasons:
Firstly, the two band leaders never hid their appreciation of Pink Floyd (especially McCartney); thus, after attending the happening '14 Technicolour Dream' (financed by McCartney and supported by Lennon), the two singers had gone into the studio to record an instrumental close to the band's psychedelic spirit in 1967.
In addition, an exchange of "goodwill" was common at the time between the different bands of the London scene, so Paul & John had done the backing vocals on a track by their brothers in arms, The Rolling Stones, entitled We Love You. Similarly, Brian Jones played on a rare Beatles song called You know my Name (look up my Number). Finally, at the time of the recording of the monumental "Sergeant Pepper's lonely Heart Club Band", Norman Smith - a former Beatles sound engineer and at that time producer of the Floyd - went to visit McCartney and Harrison who were working on Lovely Rita. He was accompanied by the four Floyd. Although the reception for their former engineer, and thus the new band, was frosty, it gave credence to the rumours of a possible artistic collaboration. Finally, the release of 'The Beatles - Anthology (volume 3)' in 1996 definitively denied Barrett's participation.
The «Pros & Cons of Hitch-Hiking» Official Live film (Roger Waters/1984)
There was some discussions of Waters making an official recording of Waters' shows because of the stage impact but also because of the presence of Eric Clapton. This is definitely not true.
Roger Waters:
«I regret not having made home movies of the Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and Radio KAOS tours. And so I'm glad I will have a home movie of 2000 In The Flesh tour. I want to have it to put in a cupboard somewhere and maybe show it to my grandchildren»
«Trent Reznor meets Roger Waters: fantastic interview», Revolver, 24 August 2000
« L’idée originale pour la tournée originale de « The Wall » était-elle de construire le mur pendant la première partie puis de s’en aller pendant la seconde partie ? »
This is indeed a rumour that has been circulating since 1980, picked up by some newspapers and mentioned by Nicholas Schaffner. This rumour was taken up by Nick Mason in his book. But Roger has repeatedly pointed out that it is not true
Roger Waters
« If you read Nick's book, he'll tell you how I had this daft idea and they re-wrote it and made it all right - 'Oh, Roger wanted to build a wall and say fuck off to everybody, and we managed to persuade him that wasn't a great idea, and then we did this, and we dit that, and we invented all the images to put on the front, and then we did the animation'. No, we didn't! None of them had anything to do with it at all »
« Pink Floyd: Fight Club », Word, 22 December 2004
