Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict

"Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album Ummagumma
Published Lupus Music Ltd.
Released 25 October 1969 (UK)
10 November 1969 (US)
Recorded 2 May 1969
Genre Experimental[1]
Length 4:59
Label Harvest Records
Songwriter(s) Roger Waters
Producer(s) Norman Smith

"Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" is a track written and performed by Roger Waters from the 1969 Pink Floyd double album, Ummagumma.[2][3] It also holds the distinction of having the longest title of any of the band's songs.

Sounds and recording

The track consists of several minutes of noises resembling rodents and birds simulated by Waters' voice and other techniques,[4] such as tapping the microphone played at different speeds, followed by Waters providing a few stanzas of spoken word in an exaggerated Scottish burr.[5][6]

The Picts were the indigenous people of what is now Scotland who merged with the Scots.

There is a hidden message in the song at about 4:32. If played at half speed, Waters can be heard to say, "That was pretty avant-garde, wasn't it?"[7] ( sample ). Also, at the very end of the rant, Waters is heard to say, "Thank you."

A small sample of these effects can also be heard at about 4:48 on Waters' other track on Ummagumma, "Grantchester Meadows".

"It's not actually anything, it's a bit of concrete poetry. Those were sounds that I made, the voice and the hand slapping were all human generated - no musical instruments."

— Roger Waters, University of Regina Carillon Interview, October 1970[8]

The title of the Man or Astro-man? song "Many Pieces of Large Fuzzy Mammals Gathered Together at a Rave and Schmoozing with a Brick" is based on this song.

A quotation in Karl Edward Wagner's Bloodstone (1975) pays tribute to the song: "several species of small furry animals gathered together in cave and grooving with a pict."

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Guesdon, Jean-Michel; Margotin, Philippe (October 24, 2017). Pink Floyd All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Running Press. p. 592. ISBN 0316439231. The Floyd's right-hand man Ron Geesin was an influence on Roger Water's experimental track "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" on Ummagumma.
  2. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  3. ↑ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
  4. ↑ Manning, Toby (2006). "The Albums". The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 161. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
  5. ↑ Blake, Mark: Pigs Might Fly - The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, p. 136, 2007, Aurum
  6. ↑ Povey, Glen: The Complete Pink Floyd - The Ultimate Reference, p. 133, 2016, Carlton
  7. ↑ From Abracadabra to Zombies, The Skeptic's Dictionary.
  8. ↑ University of Regina Carillon Interview, Pink-Floyd.org.
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