paintbox question

**the man** · 04-12-2012, 05:57 PM

hi all, ive just been belting out some 'old school' floyd (rare sunny day in liverpool ) & paintbox came on , a friend asked who did the 'drink a drink drink a drink drink ' backing vocal & I aint gotta clue , so as ever I ask you guys who is it ? it sounds like syd or is it rick , thanks all
the man

**Lennyif** · 04-13-2012, 03:47 AM

Always wondered myself man... I love that song.

**goldenband** · 04-13-2012, 05:07 AM

I actually remember wondering if it could be Roger, believe it or not. It doesn't sound like Syd to me.

Love this song, BTW. I have a pet theory that Syd isn't actually playing on it, and that Richard or Roger played the acoustic guitar part. I recently got David Parker's book hoping to learn more about the Paintbox recording session, but unfortunately it turns out to be a complete unknown.

**Pirus** · 04-13-2012, 12:43 PM

I think it's Norman Smith himself, even though he isn't credited anywhere.

I remember reading on Mason's book about the fact that Norman did even some backing tracks, especially on ASOS (the album)

**ManFree** · 04-13-2012, 03:49 PM

I always thought it was a Rick Overdub?

**Lennyif** · 04-14-2012, 02:55 AM

I always wondered about Syd being on this too. I thought it was David for a long time before learning that it was a single from the Piper era. Learning that info shocked me. Rick or Roger as stated above?

**goldenband** · 04-14-2012, 04:27 AM

Heh, an interesting note from the Bruno MacDonald book (Pink Floyd: Through the Eyes Of -- the Band, Its Fans, Friends, and Foes), on p. 249:

Paintbox - Relics
Wright - I think my singing's terrible.

No idea where he got it, of course. But assuming it's legit, I've always noticed that the "drink a drink" backing vocal gets a little out of tune here and there, so maybe Wright did it & was bothered by that. If he's criticizing his lead vocal, then he was nuts, because it's terrific!

Meanwhile I did a little bit of poking around but couldn't find anything about the guitar part. However, there are actually two parts, a prominent acoustic and a less-prominent electric guitar (which I'd half-forgotten about).

I still think that Rick may well be the one playing the acoustic part, since it's a prominent part that really nails the song down and navigates all its complexities -- those kinds of parts tend to be played by the songwriter. But the electric part sounds a little bit Syd-ish, and tends to only come out in simpler parts of the song. But it could just be that Rick or Roger used his guitar.