Pigs can fly?

May 22, 2008 5:04 PM

A Pig's Tale uncovers the history of one of rock's most famous flying props.
posted by msaleem (13 comments total)

Anything PF-related is ok by me! Fun interview! Not something you usually think of when Waters is involved.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 5:15 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]

Here's another new interview with Roger Waters from the UK's Word Magazine.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 5:18 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]

That was good, thanks. Good post and all, interesting interview. I saw the pig on the 1987 tour, it wasn't really Pink Floyd, but the pig had balls.

A small quibble with the article, did an editor or someone read this before it was posted? From the section where they talk about the graffiti on the pig: We were in New Zealand, it was covered in merry resistance talk and beautiful drawings and talk of indigenous people and how badly they had been treated.

Do you think he said "Maori?"
posted by marxchivist at 5:32 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]

Some footage of the photo shoot for the Animals album cover, accompanied by a rare version of Pigs on the Wing with a Snowy White solo bridging parts I and II.
And the tea cart is very British
posted by _dario at 6:28 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]

As a follow-up to the "flying" hyperlink ("Pink Floyd Man Loses Inflatable Pig.")

Remains of Pink Floyd Pig Found in Tatters

"Former Pink Floyd star Roger Waters' giant inflatable pig has been found in tatters in a desert town in Southern California.

The two-storey pig, used as part of Waters stage set since 1985, drifted away into the night after it broke loose from its tethers during the star's show at the Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival on Sunday night.

Watch the pig's escape here."

posted by ericb at 8:07 PM on May 22

Great post. As the years have gone by Animals has slowly become my favorite Floyd album. I had no idea that the cover was a real photo...
posted by wfrgms at 9:20 PM on May 22

This post deserves about 200 favorites. Just excellent.

I've received four-inch long porcelain replicas of the pig from Chile and Peru, but with all the graffiti in Spanish, exactly copied onto them. They're really beautiful. They sit on my mantelpiece, at home. I treasure them.
posted by mecran01 at 10:16 PM on May 22

Do you think he said "Maori?"

I'm sure he did. Also, the graffiti slogan on the pig is printed as "don't be left to the slaughtered", which makes no sense, and the photo of the pig clearly shows that it says "don't be led to the slaughter", which does. Is Roger's Cambridge accent that hard to understand? And the title of Roger's second solo album is printed as "Radio Chaos", when it's actually Radio KAOS (you know, like radio station call letters?). Yeah, it sounds the same, but a two-second Google search would have been all that was needed to get it right.
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:01 PM on May 22

Imagine glancing out one's window, in Germany, and seeing a pink pig floating in the sky. It happened to me. Not sure who/what/why. Just a giant pig balloon, maybe smaller than Roger's.
posted by Goofyy at 11:36 PM on May 22

Bonus Fact:
Tim Hunkin, of The Secret Life of Machines fame, made the pigs*.

His site.
*At least some of the earlier ones.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:20 AM on May 23

That's a great interview also, Fuzzy Skinner. Thanks for the link.
posted by Sparx at 4:38 AM on May 23

There's a cameo of the flying pig in the movie Children of Men. One of the characters lives in the Battersea Power Station, where he has amassed art from all over the world. This screenshot shows the flying pig as the main characters approach Battersea. A later interior shot shows it drifting outside the window.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:34 AM on May 23 [1 favorite]

Great post. As the years have gone by Animals has slowly become my favorite Floyd album. I had no idea that the cover was a real photo...

Same here.
posted by Big_B at 10:04 AM on May 23