Pink Floyd's Hey Hey Rise Up/A Great Day For Freedom 7" & CD single out today
Written by Matt   
Friday, 15 July 2022

Pink Floyd: Hey Hey Rise Up 7Out today in many regions are the two physical versions of Pink Floyd's first newly recorded music in over 25 years, 'Hey Hey Rise Up'.

The single, which was initially released digitally in April in support of the people of Ukraine and reached number 1 in 27 countries, is available on 7” and CD single. Both formats also feature a newly reworked version of 'A Great Day For Freedom' taken from the band's 1994 album, The Division Bell. The single is available today (15 July), excluding Japan, where it is released on 3 August, and USA, Canada, Australia and Mexico, where it is released on 21 October.

The Floyd community is starting to receive their copies if ordered online - others will be picking up from their local record store - and there's already a good reaction to the release. With the lead song being available back in April, the principle talk (other than the decent packaging of this limited release) is of the B-side/second track, 'A Great Day For Freedom', which is detailed below. This new version seems to be going down very well with fans, with its stripped back sound and fresh approach working well.

The lead track sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt, with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and features vocals by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox. Proceeds for the physical release and the ongoing digital proceeds will go to Ukraine humanitarian relief.

For this limited edition release, David Gilmour revisited The Division Bell track 'A Great Day For Freedom'. He has reworked the song using the original tapes which feature Nick Mason on drums and Richard Wright on keyboards, along with backing vocals from Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine and Durga McBroom. The music for this song was composed by Gilmour with lyrics by Polly Samson and himself.

Talking about the inspiration for 'Hey Hey Rise Up' Gilmour commented, "Any war, but particularly a war that is started by a world superpower against an independent democratic nation, has got to raise enormous anger and frustration in one. As I said before, I have a small connection there; my daughter-in-law is from Ukraine. And the band Boombox are Ukrainian people that I already knew, not well, but from some time ago. It’s an enormously difficult, frustrating, and anger-making thing that one human being could have the power to invade another independent democratic nation and set about killing the population. It’s just obscene to an extent that is just beyond my belief."

Being a limited release - with proceeds to Ukraine humanitarian relief - it is worth securing your copy soon to avoid disappointment or hiked prices trying to track down a copy on eBay. Here's a selection of places you can get the two editions:

PINK FLOYD: HEY HEY RISE UP - 7" vinyl:  Amazon UK  Amazon.com  Canada  Germany  France  Italy  Spain  HMV.com 
PINK FLOYD: HEY HEY RISE UP - CD single:  Amazon UK  Amazon.com  Canada  Germany  France  Italy  Spain  HMV.com