I think in general Roger sings the sarcastic and bitter lyrics, whereas as a contrast, David sings the reassuring ones, like in The Thin Ice, for example. They were very lucky to have those two different voices in the band, who were both brilliant at singing the different types of songs.

When I heard the original version of comfortably numb, I didn't know who it was singing the song. I asked one of my co-workers who it was and he said That it was both Roger and David....I thought at first it was all David.

I first got into PF with The Wall around 1980, when I was about 11 years old and didn't know much about anything. At the time, the music press pretty much focused on Roger and didn't give much credit to the other guys--I think Rolling Stone even wrote something like "Pink Floyd is Roger Water's psuedo-name." So, not knowing much about the band, I assumed that Roger sang everything--I thought he was just good at changing his voice. When the Final Cut came out, I remember that I was puzzled and disappointed that Roger never used that sweet voice he used on songs like CN, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Hey You, etc.

Then, when About Face came out, I heard Murder on the radio, and assumed that it was a Floyd track that I had never heard. I remember being amazed when the DJ said that it was David Gilmour (I knew that Gilmour was the guitarist of Floyd, but didn't realize that he did a lot of the lead vocals, too). It was like this light went on in my head, and I finally figured out that Roger didn't sing everything. After that, I still got confused about the stuff Rick sang--I remember trying to figure out whether the chorus of Time was Roger or David, not knowing that Rick also sang.

So, anyway, although now Dave, Roger and Rick all sound totally distinct to me, I can understand how people can get confused when they first get into Floyd.

mabewa Wrote:I first got into PF with The Wall around 1980, when I was about 11 years old and didn't know much about anything. At the time, the music press pretty much focused on Roger and didn't give much credit to the other guys--I think Rolling Stone even wrote something like "Pink Floyd is Roger Water's psuedo-name." So, not knowing much about the band, I assumed that Roger sang everything--I thought he was just good at changing his voice. When the Final Cut came out, I remember that I was puzzled and disappointed that Roger never used that sweet voice he used on songs like CN, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Hey You, etc.

Then, when About Face came out, I heard Murder on the radio, and assumed that it was a Floyd track that I had never heard. I remember being amazed when the DJ said that it was David Gilmour (I knew that Gilmour was the guitarist of Floyd, but didn't realize that he did a lot of the lead vocals, too). It was like this light went on in my head, and I finally figured out that Roger didn't sing everything. After that, I still got confused about the stuff Rick sang--I remember trying to figure out whether the chorus of Time was Roger or David, not knowing that Rick also sang.

So, anyway, although now Dave, Roger and Rick all sound totally distinct to me, I can understand how people can get confused when they first get into Floyd.

yeah when i first got into floyd i had the same trouble. i would get them mixed up but now i can tell then a part like nothin

Wings on the Pig Wrote:I think in general Roger sings the sarcastic and bitter lyrics, whereas as a contrast, David sings the reassuring ones

You making a wider psychological observation, Chris?