San Tropez (song)

"San Tropez" is the fourth track from the album Meddle by the band Pink Floyd.[1][2] This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.[3]

"San Tropez"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album Meddle
Released30 October 1971 (US)
5 November 1971 (UK)
RecordedAugust 1971
Morgan Studios, London
August 1971
AIR Studios, London
GenreJazz rock
Length3:44
LabelHarvest
Songwriter(s)Roger Waters
Producer(s)Pink Floyd

Writing

Unlike the other tracks on Meddle, "San Tropez" was not written collaboratively; instead, Roger Waters wrote the piece himself and brought it into the studio already finished. It is the only track on Meddle not co-written by David Gilmour. This song is about a place called Saint-Tropez, a commune of the Var département in southern France located on the French Riviera. The song reflects an idealised vision of what a day in Saint-Tropez might be like.[4]

Misunderstood lyric

Throughout the 1970s and beyond, the second-to-last line of lyrics to the song, "Making a date for later by phone", has been persistently misunderstood in Italy, mainly because of Waters' slurred pronunciation ("...fer-lita-pah-fon"), as being "Making a date for Rita Pavone", with a reference to the well-known 1960s Italian pop singer.[5] Pavone herself has stated several times, in TV interviews and elsewhere, that she actually believes the line to be about her.[6]

Recording

While Roger Waters plays the acoustic guitar as well as his usual bass, "San Tropez" does include a short slide guitar solo from guitarist David Gilmour and an extended piano solo by keyboardist Richard Wright at the end.

Reception

In a review for the Meddle album, Jean-Charles Costa of Rolling Stone described "San Tropez", along with "A Pillow of Winds", as an "ozone ballad". He further described the two as "pleasant little acoustic numbers hovering over a bizarre back-drop of weird sounds."[7] Classic Rock Review described "San Tropez" as "a jazz-inflected pop song with a shuffle tempo."[8] They went on further saying "[San Tropez] adds another diverse dimension to the album with its easy-going crooner-like melody and atmosphere."[8]

Personnel
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gollark: Orbital assurance lasers ARE of course inbound.
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gollark: Anyway, I have decided to just consume the apioform in my dilemma and use storage space slightly inefficiently.
gollark: Well, mains *might* not kill you, the capacitors *will* kill you.

References
  1. Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  2. Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
  3. Guthrie, James. "James Guthrie: Audio: Building A Compilation Album". Pink Floyd. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  4. Meddle — Trivia and Quotes Archived 2006-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Pink Floyd & Co.
  5. Rita Pavone
  6. http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/cultura/2012-12-11/flop-piper-dedica-rita-183112.shtml?uuid=AbjUW8AH
  7. Costa, Jean-Charles (6 January 1972). "Meddle". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  8. "Meddle by Pink Floyd | Classic Rock Review". 27 January 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
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