The Meaning of Pink Floyd's song Have A Cigar (Lyrics Explained)

Have a Cigar is the third track on Pink Floyd's album Wish You Were Here. The songs lyrics and music are written by Roger Waters but English folk singer Roy Harper  provided the lead vocals for the song.David Gilmour didn't wanted to sing the song and Waters though Harper would do a good job.

Lyrics.

Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar.
You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high

You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try; they're gonna love you.

Well, I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.

The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.

Oh by the way, which one's Pink?

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

We're just knocked out.

We heard about the sell out.

You gotta get an album out,

You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count.

Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?

It's a helluva start, it could be made into a monster

If we all pull together as a team.

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

This is the remastered version of the song.

The song is undoubtedly about the money hungry music industry and how they want great musicians to make only mainstream music, that will make the company the most money. 

Just imagine a sleazy fat guy in a green suit with a cigar in his hand telling you this:

"Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar.
You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high
You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try; they're gonna love you.

Well, I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.
The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.
Oh by the way, which one's Pink?"

They're talking about how they're purely in love with your band but in the end they don't even know who the leader of the band is, That means they're never gonna respect or see you as an artist, so you will never be allowed to make the kind of music you love because it's not mainstream enough.

"And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train."

In this context, the game being the life lived by the people in the "industry" with their soulless addiction to pointless materialistic advantages such as money and fame. So basically if you're "riding the gravy train" you have sold your true self out to the music industry/any other type of greedy, corrupt medium for said perks.

"We're just knocked out.

We heard about the sell out.

You gotta get an album out,

You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count.

Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?

It's a helluva start, it could be made into a monster

If we all pull together as a team."

This is the type of thing someone would say when they want to use you for they're own purposes. Every musician needs to be under a label that allows them to be artistically free and just make their own music. So in context the meaning of the song is to never sell yourself to the money hungry music industry and to be singed under a label that suits your true music and be an independent artist. So you can archive the changes you want.