Have a Cigar

Waters wrote the music and lyrics as a critique of greed and hypocrisy in the music business, and has implied it is a follow-up to Money, voicing the demands of a record executive after the success of Dark Side. It is the most straightforwardly rock-oriented track on the album. Waters and Gilmour were unhappy with their own attempts at the lead vocal, so they turned to Roy Harper, who was recording his album HQ at Abbey Road at the time. Gilmour called Harper's version perfect, while Waters later said it was too parodic and he would have liked it more vulnerable. Harper said in 2011 that he went uncredited for the first 10 or 15 years and was paid a few hundred pounds.

Live and covers

Harper sang it with the band once, at Knebworth in 1975. It was played on the 1975 North American tours between the two halves of Shine On, with Gilmour and Waters singing, and last on the 1977 tour. Rosebud made a disco version in 1979 that reached number 4 on the Billboard Disco Top 80. Primus recorded it in 1992 and Foo Fighters recorded two versions, one with Brian May on guitar.