Hey, Hey, Rise Up!

File:BoomBox Toronto2015 4.JPG, seen in 2015 ]]

In February 2022, the Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, who had abandoned a US tour by his band BoomBox to serve in the Ukrainian military in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February,{{cite news |first=Alexis |last=Petridis |authorlink=Alexis Petridis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/07/pink-floyd-reform-to-support-ukraine |title='This is a crazy, unjust attack': Pink Floyd re-form to support Ukraine|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 April 2022|accessdate=8 April 2022}} recorded an a capella version of the first verse of the Ukrainian anthem "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow" ({{langx|uk|Ой у лузі червона калина}}). The anthem was written by Stepan Charnetskii in 1914 to commemorate the Sich Riflemen. Khlyvnyuk, wearing fatigues and carrying an automatic rifle, videoed his performance in Sophia Square in Kyiv, with the Bell Tower of Saint Sophia Cathedral in the background, and posted it on Instagram on 27 February.{{cite web |title=Khlyvnyuk performing "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow" |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Cae5TydPAxh/ |website=Instagram |access-date=9 April 2022}}{{cite news|accessdate=8 April 2022|date=8 April 2022|url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/04/08/pink-floyd-reunite-to-release-new-song-hey-hey-rise-up-for-ukraine |work=EuroNews |title=Pink Floyd reunite to release new song 'Hey Hey, Rise Up' for Ukraine}}

File:David Gilmour Argentina 2015 (cropped).jpg of Pink Floyd, seen in 2015]]

The Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, was shown the Instagram post by the Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan,{{cite magazine |last1=Grow |first1=Kory |title=David Gilmour: Why I'm Bringing Back Pink Floyd After 28 Years |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/pink-floyd-david-gilmour-ukraine-interview-1334514/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=8 April 2022 |access-date=9 April 2022}} who is married to his son Charlie,{{cite web |last1=Rainbird |first1=Ashleigh |title=Pink Floyd to release group's first new music for 28 years to support Ukraine |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-pink-floyd-release-groups-26660273 |website=mirror |access-date=9 April 2022 |date=7 April 2022}} and was inspired to record something in support of Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.{{cite news |last=Weber |first=Peter |date=8 April 2022 |title=Listen to Pink Floyd's Ukraine charity single 'Hey Hey Rise Up,' the band's 1st new music since 1994 |work=The Week |url=https://theweek.com/music/1012322/listen-to-pink-floyds-ukraine-charity-single-hey-hey-rise-up-the-bands-1st-new-music |accessdate=8 April 2022}} He contacted Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and suggested they collaborate. Pink Floyd had been inactive for several years, and Gilmour had said several times that the band would not reunite; however, the war encouraged him to release the track as Pink Floyd as it was a "big platform" and it was "vitally" important to raise awareness about the war. He said: "It's a really difficult and frustrating thing to see this extraordinarily crazy, unjust attack by a major power on an independent, peaceful, democratic nation."

Khlyvnyuk, while recovering in hospital from a shrapnel wound sustained in defence of Ukraine, gave Gilmour his blessing to use his vocals.{{cite news |last=Ahmed|first=Saaed|date=7 April 2022|title=How (members of) Pink Floyd reunited to record a song for Ukraine|url=https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/1091538631/pink-floyd-ukraine-new-song-boombox-andriy|accessdate=8 April 2022|work=NPR.org}} Gilmour wrote extra music, including a guitar solo. Gilmour had previously been backed by BoomBox—without Khlyvnyuk—in 2015, at Koko, London, in support of the Belarus Free Theatre.{{Cite web |date=7 April 2022 |title=Hey Hey Rise Up |url=https://www.pinkfloyd.com/news/index.php |access-date=7 April 2022 |website=pinkfloyd.com}}

Pink Floyd had already removed music from streaming services in Russia and Belarus. Their work with Roger Waters remained, leading to speculation that Waters had blocked its removal; Gilmour said only that "I was disappointed ... Read into that what you will."{{cite news |last=Petridis |first=Alexis |author-link=Alexis Petridis |date=7 April 2022 |title='This is a crazy, unjust attack': Pink Floyd re-form to support Ukraine |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/07/pink-floyd-reform-to-support-ukraine |accessdate=7 April 2022}} Gilmour said the song was a "one-off for charity" and that Pink Floyd had no plans to reform.{{cite magazine|accessdate=8 April 2022|date=8 April 2022|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/pink-floyd-david-gilmour-ukraine-interview-1334514/|magazine=Rolling Stone |title=David Gilmour: Why I'm Bringing Back Pink Floyd After 28 Years}}

File:Grupowe 1 maja 2018.jpg in 2018]]

"Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" was recorded on 30 March 2022 at Gilmour's home{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Willman |url=https://variety.com/2022/music/news/pink-floyd-new-single-ukraine-hey-rise-up-davvid-gilmour-nick-mason-1235227513/ |title=Pink Floyd to Release First Newly Conceived Single as a Band Since 1994, Borrowing Ukrainian Singer's Lead Vocal |work=Variety |date=7 April 2022|accessdate=8 April 2022}} by Gilmour and Mason with Guy Pratt, bassist with Pink Floyd since 1987, and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney. It was Sawhney's first work with Pink Floyd. Gala Wright, the daughter of late Pink Floyd keyboardist and founding member Richard Wright, was also present during the recording.

The song—whose title comes from the last line of "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow", which some translations give as "Hey, hey, rise up and rejoice"{{cite web |title=Hey Hey Rise Up |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CcDfvA_DhEp/ |via=Instagram |access-date=7 April 2022}}—opens with a sample from another recording of Charnetskii's anthem, by the Veryovka Ukrainian Folk Choir.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oqeFwRhKf4%7C%D0%A5%D0%BE%D1%80 Хор імені Г. Верьовки – Ой, у лузі червона калина (G. Veryovka Choir – Oh, red viburnum in the meadow)] on YouTube.

File:Pink Floyd Their Mortal Remains - 2017-10-13 - Andy Mabbett - 47.jpg, nicknamed "the Workmate", used on the song and in the video]]

The music video was directed by Mat Whitecross, also on 30 March, on a set designed by Pedan. In the video, the band play while Khlyvnyuk's Sophia Square video is projected behind them. The performance is intercut with scenes of war damage, survivors and refugees in Ukraine. Mason's drums are decorated with reproductions of a painting by Maria Primachenko, a Ukrainian artist, several of whose works were destroyed in a fire caused by Russian shelling during the invasion.{{Cite web |last=Giorgobiani |first=Natia |date=28 February 2022 |title=A museum with unique works by Maria Primachenko burned down near Kiev |url=https://www.perild.com/2022/02/28/a-museum-with-unique-works-by-maria-primachenko-burned-down-near-kiev/ |website=www.perild.com}}

The single's artwork depicts a band logotype (in the style of Gerald Scarfe's lettering for Pink Floyd – The Wall{{--)}} patterned after the Ukrainian flag alongside a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, in a 2019 painting by Cuban artist Yosan Leon.{{cite web |title=La mirada del girasol Yosan Leon |url=https://www.artelista.com/en/artwork/2352157414095913-la-mirada-del-girasol.html |access-date=7 April 2022 |website=Artelista}} The choice of flower also references a remark from a Ukrainian woman who was seen handing sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers in the early days of the invasion, telling them to carry the seeds in their pockets so that sunflowers will grow from their dead bodies.{{cite web |last1=Sinclair |first1=Paul |date=8 April 2022 |title=Listen to Pink Floyd's new single for Ukraine |url=https://superdeluxeedition.com/video/listen-to-pink-floyds-new-single-for-ukraine/ |access-date=9 April 2022 |website=SuperDeluxeEdition |ref=Sinclair 2022}}[https://www.ibtimes.co.in/you-are-cursed-ukraine-womans-confrontation-russian-soldier-goes-viral-details-846075 "You are cursed"; Ukraine woman's confrontation with Russian soldier goes viral [details]], Sami Khan, 25 February 2022, International Business Times : Twitter video and translation of the confrontation between the Ukrainian woman and the Russian soldier.

"Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" was released on digital platforms and streaming services on 8 April 2022. It was Pink Floyd's first newly recorded material since the 2014 song "Louder Than Words". A physical version of the single on both CD and vinyl was released on 15 July 2022, which included a newly reworked version of "A Great Day for Freedom" as a b-side. Proceeds from "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund.

The journalist Mark Savage of BBC News praised the song, saying that it was "built around a spine-tingling refrain" by Khlyvnyuk.{{cite news |last=Savage |first=Mark |date=8 April 2022 |title=Pink Floyd reunite for Ukraine protest song |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61037080 |accessdate=8 April 2022}} Khlyvnyuk said the song was "fabulous" and thanked Pink Floyd for their efforts. Some fans felt that it was improper for the group to release music as Pink Floyd without the keyboardist Richard Wright, who died in 2008, or the bassist and songwriter Roger Waters, who left in 1985. The Classic Rock journalist Fraser Lewry disagreed, writing: "When thousands have been killed and millions have fled their homes, moaning about the absence of a band member [Waters] who left 37 years ago is churlish at best. At worst, it's contemptuous of the suffering."{{cite web |last1=Lewry |first1=Fraser |title=Pink Floyd's new single: the internet has reacted, and not all of it is good |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/pink-floyds-new-single-the-internet-has-reacted-and-not-all-of-it-is-good |website=Classic Rock |access-date=11 April 2022 |date=8 April 2022}}

Waters was critical of the song, saying it "lacked humanity" and constituted a "content-less waving of the blue and yellow flag" rather than an explicit call for the war to end.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-04 |title=Roger Waters Questioned in Depth About Ukraine, Russia, Israel, U.S. |url=https://www.pressenza.com/2023/02/roger-waters-questioned-in-depth-about-ukraine-russia-israel-u-s/ |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=Pressenza |language=en-US}} He said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "probably the most provoked invasion ever" and refused to "see Russia from the current Russo-phobic perspective".{{cite web |last=Willman |first=Chris |date=February 7, 2023 |title=Roger Waters Is 'Antisemitic to Rotten Core,' Says Former Pink Floyd Lyricist Polly Samson — and Her Husband, David Gilmour, Emphatically Agrees |url=https://variety.com/2023/music/news/roger-waters-antisemitic-says-polly-samson-david-gilmour-agrees-pink-floyd-ukraine-1235515432/ |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=Variety |publisher=}}

Based on downloads and sales in its first two days, the single appeared on the midweek UK Singles Chart at number 5.{{cite magazine |last1=Brandle |first1=Lars |title=Pink Floyd's 'Rise Up' Heading For U.K. Top 10 |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/pink-floyd-rise-up-uk-top-10-1235057553/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=11 April 2022 |date=11 April 2022}} It debuted at number 49 on the final chart.{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20220415/7501/|title=Official Singles Chart Top 100|publisher=Official Charts Company|accessdate=15 April 2022}}

• David Gilmour – guitar, additional vocals
• Nick Mason – drums
• Andriy Khlyvnyuk – vocals
• Guy Pratt – bass guitar
• Nitin Sawhney – keyboards
• Romany Gilmour – additional vocals
• Veryovka Folk Song and Dance Ensemble – choral vocal sample

Technical

• Produced by David Gilmour
• Assisted by Damon Iddins

Artwork

• "The Sunflower Look" by Yosan Leon – front cover painting
• Steve Knee / Blade Design Ltd – artwork design

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{{Portal|Rock music|Ukraine}}

• 2022 in music
• Pink Floyd discography
• Music of Ukraine

{{reflist}}

• {{YouTube|saEpkcVi1d4|Pink Floyd - Hey Hey Rise Up (feat. Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox)}}

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