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

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"Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album Ummagumma
PublishedLupus Music Ltd.
Released25 October 1969 (UK)
10 November 1969 (US)
Recorded2 May 1969
Genre
Length4:59
LabelHarvest 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.[3][4][5]

Sounds and recording

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The track consists of several minutes of noises resembling rodents and birds simulated by voices,[6] utilizing techniques such as tapping the microphone played at different speeds, followed by Waters providing a few stanzas of spoken word in an exaggerated Scottish burr.[7][8] This poem was improvised in the studio.[9]

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 16 rpm, Waters can be heard saying, "That was pretty avant-garde, wasn't it?"[10] Playing it at 45 rpm reveals a second message from Waters: "Bring back my guitar."[9]

A small sample of these effects appears 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, interview with the University of Regina's The Carillon, October 1970[11]
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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 the Karl Edward Wagner novel Bloodstone (1975) pays tribute to the song: "several species of small furry animals gathered together in cave and grooving with a pict."

Personnel

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Personnel per Paul Stump.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Guesdon, Jean-Michel; Margotin, Philippe (24 October 2017). Pink Floyd All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Running Press. p. 592. ISBN 978-0316439237. 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. ^ Stump, Paul (1997). "...a knockabout piece of studio-derived onomatopoeia, 'Several Species of Small Furry Creatures Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict '. It sounded uncannily literal, but Waters deflated the mystique of this oft-quoted piece of fascinating musique concrète: 'It's a very light- hearted and easy exercise . It's really just slowing down and speeding up tape.'". The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 9780704380363. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  3. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  4. ^ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
  5. ^ "Pink Floyd's 10 most psychedelic songs". faroutmagazine.co.uk. 18 February 2022.
  6. ^ Manning, Toby (2006). "The Albums". The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 161. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
  7. ^ Blake, Mark: Pigs Might Fly - The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, p. 136, 2007, Aurum
  8. ^ Povey, Glen: The Complete Pink Floyd - The Ultimate Reference, p. 133, 2016, Carlton
  9. ^ a b c Stump, Paul (1997). The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock. Quartet Books Limited. p. 66. ISBN 0-7043-8036-6.
  10. ^ "Reader Comments: Backwards Satanic Messages". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  11. ^ University of Regina Carillon Interview, Pink-Floyd.org.