FIDLAR Drop Roughed-Up, Modern Version of Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar”

FIDLAR covered Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” (ft. Dr. Dre) and naturally, the band put their own punk sound stamp on the song—in fact, vocalist Zac Carper doesn’t even keep all of the original lyrics. Roughing up the edges of the track, Carper yells his way through the lines critical of the music industry (with a jab at politics as well, if you watch the music video, which features a young Donald Trump, among others). FIDLAR announced North American tour dates earlier this week; the release of this cover lines up, as tickets went on sale today.

The original song came out on Pink Floyd’s 1975 record Wish You Were Here—a few years after anti-smoking campaigns gained traction. Even with the campaigns in much greater force nowadays, the image of a bigwig with a cigar resonates as a manipulative source of power. However, FIDLAR alter other lyrics in their cover, with one of the most on-the-nose lines being, “You’re never gonna die, but if you try I won’t stop you.” The riotous group also attacks the streaming industry in music (which pays artists poorly): “It’s called the streaming train.” Interestingly, the song is currently unavailable on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The track bears similarities to FIDLAR’s original track “40oz. On Repeat” off their sophomore album Too: “I’ll never sell out man, wait, how much?”

Besides the sound shift and updated industry lyricism, FIDLAR personalize the song by swapping the lines, “The band is just fantastic. That is really what I think. Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?” to, “We’ll buy you a new liver. By the way, which one is FIDLAR/fiddler?” The original lyric stems from people unknowingly asking the members of Pink Floyd which one is pink—incorrectly assuming the band was named after one of them, as David Gilmour has explained (as seen at approximately the 20-minute marker). FIDLAR swap in their own name, poking fun at those who incorrectly pronounce it as “fiddler” (rather than “fid-lahr”)—an error that has been committed even by interviewers.

Find FIDLAR’s music video for “Have a Cigar” below, along with a Pink Floyd rendition of the song circa 1977 and a FIDLAR performance from the Paste archives. See the band’s tour dates further down.

FIDLAR Tour Dates:

June
30 – Long Beach, Calif. @ Agenda Festival

July
08 – Six-Fours-Les-Plages, France @ Pointu Festival
10 – Cesena, Italy @ Acieloaperto Festival
12 – Madrid, Spain @ Mad Cool Festival
14 – Haarlem, Netherlands @ Kliko Fest
15 – Dour, Belgium @ Dour Festival
18 – London, U.K. @ Kentish Town Forum
19 – Manchester, U.K. @ Ritz
21 – Paris, France @ Lollapalooza Paris

September
07 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue
08 – Chicago, Ill. @ Vic Theater
10 – Columbus, Ohio @ Newport Music Hall
11 – Detroit, Mich. @ The Majestic Theatre
12 – Toronto, Canada @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
14 – Boston, Mass. @ Paradise
15 – New York, N.Y. @ Terminal 5
16 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Union Transfer
18 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
19 – Durham, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle
21 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Cannery Ballroom
22 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Masquerade
23 – New Orleans, La. @ Tipitina’s

October
18 – San Diego, Calif. @ Observatory North Park
19 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ The Van Buren
22 – Austin, Texas @ Emo’s
23 – Houston, Texas @ White Oak Music Hall
24 – Dallas, Texas @ Canton Hall
26 – Englewood, Colo. @ Gothic Theatre
27 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ The Depot
29 – Vancouver, Canada @ The Vogue Theatre
30 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Showbox SoDo
31 – Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom

November
02 – Oakland, Calif. @ The Fox Theater
03 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Hollywood Palladium