Rock icon David Gilmour of Pink Floyd cleared the air on a persistent online myth about one of the band’s best-known songs, “Wish You Were Here.”
The 1975 track begins with a radio and some ambient sounds, including a cough:
“Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon on Thursday asked Gilmour about the urban legend that it’s Gilmour’s cough ― and that hearing it on the recording convinced him to quit smoking.
Gilmour told Fallon about an incentive his father offered when he was 14: If he reached the age of 17 without smoking, he could learn how to drive.
He didn’t smoke, but his dad forgot the deal and didn’t teach him.
“You might think that would send me immediately off to buy a pack [of cigarettes],” Gilmour said. “But it didn’t. I never smoked.”
He did admit, however, that there’s a picture out there of him smoking something other than tobacco.
Gilmour also debunked a few other rumors about the band ― including one linking the landmark “Dark Side Of The Moon” album to the 1939 film classic “The Wizard Of Oz.”
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