MOG

As many of you know, at this year’s Coachella Music Festival, one of Roger Waters’ inflatable pigs freed herself from her harnesses and flew off into the desert night sky. Here’s a shot from that night taken by mogger Amber.

(For those of you with access, you should really check out her pics from this set. Great stuff.)

http://amberbarni.multiply.com/photos/album/102/When_Pigs_Fly_Roger_Waters_at_Coachella

It is not the first time a Floyd pig has spread its wings. I recall, when reading Nick Mason’s Floyd memoirs, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, a rather humorous tale of the day Floyd’s first inflatable porcine, lovingly dubbed “Algie”, rose into the dreary sky above London’s Battersea Power Station. For the cover shoot, the Floyd had hired a trained marksman to be on sight in case Algie made a mad dash. The first day of shooting was hampered by inclement weather so they decided to reconvene the following day. As chance would have it, the marksman was late that day and was not in position come launch time. Algie saw his opportunity.

In the words of Mason:

“There was a sudden gust of wind, the steel hawser snapped, and Algie was off, ascending into the heavens at about two hundred feet a minute, a lot faster than the police chase helicopter scrambling to intercept it. This was not a deliberate stunt and we were well aware that apart from losing an expensive piece of kit we could cause a major aviation disaster. Lawyers were summoned, emergency plans mapped out, and scapegoats nominated.”

A story later arose of an airline pilot descending into Heathrow Airport seeing the flying pig. Afraid of being accused of drinking on the job, the pilot chose not to report the sighting to flight control.

No aviation disasters ensued and Algie eventually came to rest in a farm field in Kent.

The flying pig motif became grounds for warfare among the Floyd later on. During the bitter disputes between Roger Waters and the other member of Pink Floyd during the 80s, Roger was given rights to the use of the original pig design. If the reformed Floyd, without Waters, wanted to use the pig, they would have to pay Roger a sum for each appearance. Not wanting to send their spare change Roger’s way, Floyd added a set of inflatable testes to their new inflatable pigs. The male pigs would prove to be just as daring, as two escaped during the 1988 Momentary Lapse of Reason tours.

The flying pig also has become of staple of pop culture, appearing in countless adds, TV shows and movies. The recent film “Children of Men” had a scene with the Battersea Power Station in the backdrop, and a familiar pig overhead.

Also The Simpsons, which used Homer’s scene with the “spiderpig” in advertisements for the recent Simpsons movie, hoisted their own inflatable spiderpig above the power station to promote the film.

With all these helium filled swine, it is interesting to also note that on the actual cover to Pink Floyd’s Animals, the flying pig was later added in, as a they could not get the shot they wanted of Algie before he took off.

The version of “Pigs on a Wing” I’ve included is one off a compilation of bootleg recordings from the Floyd known as A Tree Full of Secrets. The track, which was split into two parts for use on the album (which also created strife between Waters and Gilmour as Waters was to gain more songwriting royalties for the track and reprise than if it was one piece) is here together as one song, which was used on the 8-track release, with a guitar bridge performed by occasional Floyd backup guitarist, Snowy White.