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David Gilmour Plucks A Melody From The Air With 'Rattle That Lock'

David Gilmour's new album, <em>Rattle That Lock</em>, is out September 18th.
Courtesy of the artist
David Gilmour's new album, Rattle That Lock, is out September 18th.

You can hear a constant refrain in French train stations. It's a short series of notes played before the announcements from the national railway, and for frequent travelers it's enough to be irritating — but it turned out to be irresistible musical inspiration for David Gilmour. The famed Pink Floyd guitarist worked the jingle into the title track of his new solo album, Rattle That Lock.

"I'm constantly listening to things, and things are constantly striking me in one way or another. When I travel in France, which is a lovely place to visit, I usually take the train," he explains. "It's a rare thing in a jingle that it's actually got a little bit of melody, a bit of syncopation and a bit of rhythm to it — makes you feel like jigging about a tiny bit. So I recorded it with my iPhone and brought it home, and wrote a little tune around it."

Gilmour joined NPR's Scott Simon to talk about his collaborators on Rattle That Lock — which include his old pals Graham Nash and David Crosby, as well as a choir that doubles as a re-entry program for people leaving prison — and why he keeps his private studio in an old houseboat on the Thames. Hear their conversation at the audio link.

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