# What's that sound at the end of Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710 "2008-06-04T02:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/1 "2008-06-04T02:20:36Z")
It sounds like some device with an electric motor spinning up and then slowing down. I’m thinking it likely has something to do with the music industry based on the theme of the song, but I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/2 "2008-06-04T02:43:48Z")
I always assumed it was supposed to sound like interference or static on an AM car radio. The section between “Have a Cigar” and “Wish You Were Here” sounds like someone listening to a radio and tuning into various stations with the old knob-style car radio tuner. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/3 "2008-06-04T03:05:44Z")
Try Classic Albums. They talk about all the wierd stuff Floyd did. Chances are it ain’t what you think. But then again, this was done a while ago, so its probably just tape tricks and studio madness. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/4 "2008-06-04T03:17:43Z")
Do you mean the “whoosh” before the end of “Have a Cigar” becomes all tinny and compressed? Probably just a synthesizer with some varispeed and stereo panning. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/5 "2008-06-04T08:57:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] I always assumed it was supposed to sound like interference or static on an AM car radio. The section between “Have a Cigar” and “Wish You Were Here” sounds like someone listening to a radio and tuning into various stations with the old knob-style car radio tuner. [/QUOTE] If were talking about the same thing, I agree. It just occurred to me that probably a lot of kids these days have never futzed around with an analog tuner and wouldn’t recognize the sound of static while transitioning between stations. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/6 "2008-06-04T10:26:27Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] . . . sounds like someone listening to a radio and tuning into various stations with the old knob-style car radio tuner. [/QUOTE] I think it actually was taped off David Gilmour’s car radio\*, by the content I’d guess the stations you hear are BBC Radio 3 (the Tchaikovsky) and Radio 4 (the posh chatter). They are next to each other on the FM dial and I’d imagine they would be stations listened to by a member of Pink Floyd. More than you wanted to know I’m sure. \*maybe I imagined this :dubious: but I think I read it in the sheet music book for WYWH. I’ll have a look lunchtime. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/7 "2008-06-05T00:19:16Z")
I made a mistake. It’s not at the end of Have a Cigar. It’s at the end of Welcome to the Machine. Yeah, the part at the end of Have a Cigar is pretty obviously an AM radio. I’m not old enough to remember the days when AM was popular, but I have heard them. It’s all I had in the Torino. Rewind a track and tell me what you make of that sound. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/8 "2008-06-05T01:48:15Z")
From Nicolas Schaffner’s [Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey](http://www.amazon.com/Saucerful-Secrets-Pink-Floyd-Odyssey/dp/0385306849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212629871&sr=1-1) : > [@](#): > > _Welcome to the Machine_…was built in the studio from the relentless throb of a VC3 synthesizer hooked into a echo-repeat unit…At song’s end, the industrial throb gives way to the (more or less) human sounds of a party.“…put there”, Roger explained, “because of the complete emptiness inherent in that way of behaving…” ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/9 "2008-06-06T00:06:49Z")
That describes the sounds during the song, and after the part I’m talking about, but not the part itself. It may be a synthesizer, but it’s not the throbbing sound throughout the song. I figured it might be a machine used to make records or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/10 "2008-06-06T01:45:07Z")
So you’re asking about about the “k-thunk” and rising then falling whirr at about 6:33. Just sounds like something off an old analog synthesizer. To me, it doesn’t sound anything like an LP stamper or even a record lathe. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/11 "2008-06-06T01:46:03Z")
So, do you mean the part that sort of sounds like you’re going up in an elevator? I always thought that WTTM was the set-up for HAC. Roger’s take on the music industry; the band as cog in the machine, going to meet the suits. I imagined that sound as them taking elevator to the penthouse suite, where suits slap them on the back, ask about the product, and don’t even know their names. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/12 "2008-06-06T03:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] So, do you mean the part that sort of sounds like you’re going up in an elevator? [/QUOTE] You’re probably right. It doesn’t sound much like any elevator motor I’ve ever heard, but given the context, it makes a lot of sense. So you guys think it’s just them emulating an elevator with a synthesizer? I could believe that. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/13 "2008-06-06T11:46:53Z")
FWIW, here’s the video: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMvl2cWMIOI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMvl2cWMIOI) Doesn’t help with what was used to make the sound, but it does add some nice imagery to it. Plus, it’s just the coolest video ever! ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/14 "2008-06-06T16:40:49Z")
I always thought it was an elevator, too. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-sound-at-the-end-of-have-a-cigar-by-pink-floyd/451710/15 "2008-06-08T19:22:04Z")
[QUOTE=freekalette] FWIW, here’s the video: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMvl2cWMIOI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMvl2cWMIOI) Doesn’t help with what was used to make the sound, but it does add some nice imagery to it. Plus, it’s just the coolest video ever! [/QUOTE] Mercy. I thought the song itself was grim and cynical (What did you dream?/ That’s all right, we told you what to dream.) That animation turned it up a notch, with the machine living on the blood of consumers and bands that didn’t make it. :eek: