San Tropez

Lyrics:

As I reach for a peach
Slide a rind down behind
The sofa in San Tropez.
Breakin' a stick
with a brick on the sand.
Ridin' a wave
In the wake of an old sedan.

Sleepin' alone in the
Drone of the darkness,
Scratched by the sand that
Fell from my love,
Deep in my dreams and I
Still hear her callin'
"If you're alone,
I'll come home."

Backward and homebound,
The pigeon, the dove,
Gone with the wind
And the rain, on an airplane.
Owning a home
With no silver spoon,
I'm drinking champagne
Like a good tycoon.

Sooner than wait for
A break in the weather,
I'll gather my far-flung
Thoughts together.
Speeding away
On the wind to a new day.
And if you're alone
I'll come home.

And I pause for a while
By a country style
And listen to the things they say.
Diggin' for gold
With a hoe in my hand.
Open a book
Take a look at the way things stand.

And you're leading me down
To the place by the sea.
I hear your soft voice
Calling to me.
Making a date for
Later by phone
And if you're alone
I'll come home.

 

"San Tropez" is the fourth track from the album Meddle by the band Pink Floyd. It was written by Roger Waters.

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.

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. Pavone herself has stated several times, in TV interviews and elsewhere, that she actually believes the line to be about her.

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." Classic Rock Review described "San Tropez" as "a jazz-inflected pop song with a shuffle tempo." They went on further saying "[San Tropez] adds another diverse dimension to the album with its easy-going crooner-like melody and atmosphere." This song was one of several to be considered for the band's 2001 greatest hits album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, but it was ultimately not included.