Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

ladyislingering

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

Side D opens with the show Pink has been prepared to follow through with.

"The Show Must Go On"




This is another brief track with beautiful melodies. It appears to be an exchange between Pink and his road manager over whether or not he has to go through with this shit anymore, because he's lost the desire to do so, or the drive to understand why it must be done if he no longer feels the connection he once did to what he enjoyed (thus very much echoing Roger's feelings during the "In the Flesh" tour of '77).

There's only one stanza that I would like to draw attention to:

There must be some mistake,
I didn't mean to let them take away my soul,
am I too old, is it too late?

It is at this point that Pink begins to question the worth of his profession over the worth of his relationship(s) with humanity. The feelings present in the opening track of the album ("In the Flesh?") are revisited with a reprise of "In the Flesh" as the next track.

"In the Flesh"




Essentially at first it sounds identical to the first track on "The Wall" but it is realized at around 1:22 that this is something entirely different, with a harmonic display of tender melody. It then leads into a loud, raveous display. Pink has decided to go through with it, but he wants to know what his fans are giving back for his labour.

Lyrics (with commentary in red):

Aaaaaaah Aaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaah Aaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaah Aaaaaaaah

So yuh.... thought yuh...
Might like to go to the show (Pink addresses the crowd.)
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow... (and their expectations.)

I've got some bad news for you sunshine
Pink isn't well, he stayed back at the hotel (Pink is present, he's just out of his mind.)
And they sent us along as a surrogate band (A change of pace for the "devoted" fans.)
We're going to find out where you fans really stand (What will they give back?)

Are there any ****** in the theatre tonight?
Get 'em up against the wall (against the wall)! (Pink begins to think he is a fascist dictator. Let us not forget the senseless murders during the holocaust.)
There's one in the spotlight..
He don't look right to me
Get 'em up against the wall (Pink feels that if his fans really love him, they will go with what he says as the spoken word of a true leader.)

That one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon (A Jew and a black person.)
Who let all this riff raff into the room? (Pink wants to rile his fans up.)
There's one smoking a joint, and another with spots! (A stoner and a teenager with blemishes.)
If I had my way... I'd have all of you shot! (Pink wants to see if they would take a bullet in return for his anguish over creating his music for his fans.)

A riot breaks out over this talk, as terror and adrenaline take over. There is chanting. People begin to (yes, you guessed it)...

"Run Like Hell"



Another track on the album that operates wonderfully as a standalone track, "Run Like Hell" depicts a mob that is raging wild inside of Pink's head. The guitar in the intro feels quite nervous, as if it, too, is running. The song itself is packed with sound effects and a classic groove that is not meant to be ignored. These people are devoted to him and will do anything he says. He speaks precautions. It is my personal interpretation that Pink is stretching to have control over the figures in his head, instead of pushing them away he plans to work with them in any way possible. First he must figure out how to conduct himself in order to conduct them.

I find this is personally one of the most difficult songs on the album to actually understand and interpret, but this is what I have taken away from it.

Lyrics (with commentary in red):

Run, run, run, run (Pink has run from his problems his entire life.)
You better make your face up
in your favourite disguise (He has worn a mask for far too long.)
with your button down lips and (He has kept quiet about his true feelings.)
your roller blind eyes (He has closed his eyes to things he did not want to see.)
With your empty smile and your hungry heart (He longs for an emotional connection with someone.)
Feel the bile rising from your guilty past (But he has never been able to accomplish this and it pains him.)
With your nerves in tatters (Pink has reached his end.)
when the cockleshell shatters (His "mask" is falling apart.)
And the hammers batter down your door (The hammers could really be anything, but I have interpreted them to be the incentives for Pink to tear down the wall.)
You better run! (But he's so afraid.)

Run, run, run, run
You better run all day and run all night (He has never forced himself to stand before himself and judge himself.)
And keep your dirty feelings deep inside. (Repressed sexuality.)
And if you're takin' your girlfriend out tonight
You better park the car well out of sight
'Cos if they catch you in the back seat
trying to pick her locks
they're gonna send you back to mother
in a cardboard box! (Mother would not be happy about this.)
You better run! (Pink wants to keep running from his problems in order to keep himself in line as people know him, to remain acceptable.)
Since Pink has made the conscious decision not to face himself yet, the "worms" (issues in his head) will someday get him. And he knows it very well. He's not able to hide from the worms.

"Waiting For the Worms"



This is another song that is extremely difficult to interpret. The dynamics of the song are very blunt, winding, and spellbinding. The vocals are shared and the voice of the judge is to be heard for the first time. The judge, I feel, is a symbol of Pink if he were to look at himself and assess what he does not like. Toward the end of the song, several voices are shouting "Hammer!" over and over. The "hammers" will assist Pink in destroying his inner demons.

Lyrics (commentary in red):

Ooooh you cannot reach me now
Ooooh no matter how we try
Goodbye cruel world it's over
Walk on by (This stanza symbolizes the part of Pink that is content in his isolation because it is a sign of safety, something his mother instilled in him.)

Sitting in a bunker, here behind my wall..
Waiting for the worms to come..worms to come
In perfect isolation, here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come..worms to come (He is waiting for his inner demons to take over his mind, because he would still be comfortably isolated and safe from the world, blissfully unaware of what he could potentially be missing.)


Waiting.. to cut out the deadwood (Scars on Pink's heart.)
Waiting.. to clean up the city (Grudges he does not need to bear any longer.)
Waiting.. to follow the worms (His inner demons.)
Waiting.. to put on a black shirt (This could symbolize an outer death, or to become uniform with the rest of the world.)
Waiting.. to weed out the weaklings (The things that no longer matter to Pink.)
Waiting.. to smash in their windows
..and kick in their doors (Acts of violence that Pink wishes he could act out against those who have brought him harm.)
Waiting.. for the final solution
to strengthen the strain (Pink is still in a maniacal state of dictatorship.)
Waiting.. to follow the worms
Waiting.. to turn on the showers
and fire the ovens (A nod to concentration camps from WWII.)
Waiting.. for the ****** and the coons
and the reds and the **** (homosexuals, black persons, indians, and Jewish persons.)
Waiting.. to follow the worms (to follow the demons in Pink's head and perish.)

Would, would you like to see,
would you like to see
Britannia rule again, my friend?
All you have to do is follow the worms. (This may suggest the fragile mental state of a certain dictator in the day, and how things were being run under his thumb, and the demons in HIS head.)

Would, would you like to send
our coloured cousins home again, my friend? (Black persons back to Africa?)
All you need to do is follow the worms. (Of course this is a terrible thing to say, but this would be a light stab at the hateful things that go on in the heads of anyone, deep down, and not on this matter alone.)

The judge (Pink's inner judge of his own character) can be heard as almost a megaphone voice throughout much of the song. This leads into Pink finally getting a grip on himself.
 

ladyislingering

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

"Stop"



Pink's unusual hallucination comes to a close as he realizes that these thought patterns are unacceptable, and they are not who he is on the inside. "Stop" is the shortest Pink Floyd song of their entire catalogue, at just over 30 seconds long. The lyrics are of course very minimal, as is the song, but are open for interpretation, as it would not do alone as a standalone track.

Lyrics (commentary in red):

Stop
I wanna go home (Pink wants to get back to himself.)
Take off this uniform (He no longer wants to be part of this dictator's hallucination.)
And leave the show (the life he has created for himself.)
And I'm waiting in this cell (the wall he has built around himself.)
Because I have to know
Have I been guilty all this time (could it possibly be from his own doings?)

As Pink begins to wonder these things about himself, he puts himself on trial in his mind.

"The Trial"



"The Trial" opens with the sound of a door opening (perhaps Pink stepping out of his comfort zone and before himself, metaphorically) and clacking footsteps. The song in itself is a complicated array of details galore, all of which need serious attention to actually get the point of the situation as a whole. This is what I've picked out from it.

Lyrics (with commentary in red):

Good morning, the Worm, your honour (The Worm is the ringleader of Pink's inner demons, and the Judge - Pink is speaking to him on behalf of the part of him that has built the wall.)
The crown will plainly show
the prisoner who now stands before you (Pink, who does not want to be trapped in the Wall any longer.)
was caught red handed showing feelings,
Showing feelings of an almost human nature.
This will not do... (Pink is struggling to get out, and this is not appropriate to the Worm.)

CALL THE SCHOOLMASTER (the headmaster comes in with a booming voice.)

I always said he'd come to no good,
in the end, your honour. (perhaps the schoolmaster's condescending ways had a use, or so he thought, but he had no other way of disciplining the children?)
If they'd let me have my way
I could have flayed him into shape. (He would not have tolerated the behavior that led up to Pink building his Wall.)
But my hands were tied, (He had enough to worry about as is, without having to worry about the effects of his treatment toward Pink during his school years.)
the bleeding hearts and artists
let him get away with murder. (Pink's profession has taken him away from the things that matter most to him. Things he should have learned early enough to dodge the consequences.)
Let me hammer him today. (Let him to aid in tearing down the Wall.)

Crazy, toys in the attic, I am crazy (Pink is not amused by what is going on in his head.)
Truly gone fishing
They must have taken my marbles away (He questions himself for being able to orchestrate his own trial of his life in his head.)
Crazy, toys in the attic, he is crazy

You little shit, you're in it. (His wife now speaks.)
Now I hope they throw away the key.
You should talked to me more often than you did, (instead he embarked on his musical career and pushed her aside.)
but no! You had to go your own way.
Have you broken any homes up lately? (As he did to hers with his absence.)
Just five minutes, Worm, your honour,
him and me alone (She wants to tear him down and make him pay for what he's done to her feelings.)

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe (His mother now speaks.)
Come to mother baby, let me hold you in my arms
M'Lord I never wanted him to get in any trouble (She tried to protect him from a life of pain and suffering, but could not.)
Why'd he ever have to leave me (his career has jumpstarted this train of thought - much like Roger's mental state during the course of the '77 tour.)
Worm, your honour, let me take him home (Pink knows very well that Mother cannot fix this.)

Crazy, over the rainbow, I am crazy
Bars in the window (He feels he should be put away.)
There must have been a door there in the wall
.....when I came in (He's wondering if there is any escape from this madness.)
Crazy, over the rainbow, he is crazy

The evidence before the court is
Incontrovertible, there's no need for the jury to retire. (Pink cannot deny that he is guilty.)
In all my years of judging I have never heard before
of someone more deserving of the full penalty of law. (Pink sees that he is meant to suffer the consequences of his actions for building the Wall.)
The way you made them suffer,
your exquisite wife & mother (he left both of them.)
Fills me with an urge to defecate. (Pink perhaps wants to purge himself of the guilt and disgust he feels toward himself for doing this.)
Since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fear (to let his guard down and no longer be protected by the Wall.)
I sentence you to be exposed before your peers (the Wall must be torn down in order for Pink to get himself back into proper form.)

Tear down the wall (Pink is ordered by the Worms to tear down the wall.)


This song as a whole is an incredibly impressive display of Roger's vocal skill and the orchestration is unbelievable for a "rock opera". It ends with the shouting to tear the wall down. It's very emotionally charging. The wall comes crashing down and Pink is exposed to the world once more. Exposed to himself. The conclusion to this rock epic comes rather abruptly.

"Outside the Wall"




Roger's voice is more like spoken word than song throughout this track, which is strikingly short, and leaves the listener wondering what's happened to Pink. The lyrics are minimal, and could be interpreted thousands of ways. Here's my interpretation.

Lyrics (commentary in red):

All alone, or in twos
The ones who really.. love you
Walk up and down.. outside the wall (Those closest to you will look for every possible angle until they can get past the Wall. Every door, every crevice; any way they can find in so you don't have to hide in there - they want to find it.)

Some hand in hand
Some gathering together in bands
The bleeding hearts and the artists
Make their stand (Artists are usually solitary persons who are all give and no take.)
And when they've given you their all
some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
banging your heart against some mad buggers wall (They can only give so much before they're burned out. Your madness can only be cured by your will to WANT to tear down The Wall.)

The album comes to a hushed close.
 

ladyislingering

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

A little personal input:

The first time I heard "The Wall" I was nearing sedation, deeply medicated, and I cried my eyes out. I put the album on the shelf for a couple years before taking it out again shortly after my relationship with my ex-fiance fell through. However, it wasn't until a moment in the shower just recently that "Mother" began to play in my head, and someone I'm very close to came to mind immediately.

He needed to hear this song, and so I brought it to his attention. He almost immediately fell in love with the entire concept of "The Wall" and I decided to begin an in-depth study. What I found was that I had changed his life, and in turn, I have changed mine so much with the message I have taken away from this terrific album.

My favourite tracks from "The Wall":

The Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)
Young Lust
One of My Turns
Another Brick in the Wall (Part III)
Comfortably Numb
Waiting for the Worms
The Trial


A fair grading of "The Wall" on a scale from 1 (piece of shit) to 10 (absolute masterpiece):

I give it an 8.5. Not only is the storyline completely spellbinding, involving, and constantly under criticism by music fans (and devout Floyd fans alike) but there's twists and turns around every corner of the album. You never become bored with it unless you stop paying attention to the message.

I encourage counterpoints to my interpretations. I deeply encourage people who are huge Floyd fans to weigh in with some of their thoughts on the album, and what they agree/disagree with about some of my assessments here. Sometimes with an album this epic, you almost need a group review.

Thanks for reading. Let's have some debate.
 

ladyislingering

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

Well done!! I love The Wall and again...Well done!! I cannot wait for side two now.

:clap::clap::clap::clap:

Thank you! All sides have been posted now.

The best album ever made!!!

It was made for me and me only!

Mine!!

Mmmmmm. I wonder how many of us feel this way. A part of me will die when Roger does.

Awesome review and interpretations, the best I have seen written on The Wall.

Muchos Kudos, LiL :good

Thank you! It is a hell of an album, and this is undoubtedly the biggest project I have ever turned over on one single album. It is just incredible.

This is very, very very good. :grinthumb :grinthumb

Thanks. Have a good read now that it's all up and put together. :grinthumb
 

architect

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

Well done! That's quite a breakdown.

The Wall can be such a personal album beacuse it reflects humanity. Through Pink's/Roger's struggles we can all see something of that in our own lives.

Even though it should be listened to as a whole, a lot of songs on this album can be taken out of the context of the story and be appreciated on their own.

I think it's a pretty rare thing when a concept album can be enjoyed at face value and/or dissected piece by piece, as Lady's done a fine job with here.



I'd have to say my five favorite songs from The Wall would be...

Another Brick...Part 1
Mother
Is There Anybody Out There?
COmfortably Numb
What Shall We Do Now- I love Roger's lyrics in this song. It was not included on the official album release, only in the movie. I can't quite remember why though...

 

Lynch

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

What Shall We Do Now- I love Roger's lyrics in this song. It was not included on the official album release, only in the movie. I can't quite remember why though...


It was due to time constraints. The song was replaced by Empty Spaces, which is nearly the same thing, only a shortened version of What Shall We Do Now.
 

ladyislingering

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

What Shall We Do Now- I love Roger's lyrics in this song. It was not included on the official album release, only in the movie. I can't quite remember why though...


Awww man, I know. When I saw the film I was like, "what's this?" and it just got to me. I rather prefer it over "Empty Spaces", oddly. It's so snide and biting.
 

METALPRIEST

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

Again GREAT job!! I think it's all SPOT ON!! I always saw the teacher during the Trial a bit differently though.

I always said he'd come to no good,
in the end, your honour. (a way to say, yup I was right...pure ego)
If they'd let me have my way
I could have flayed him into shape. ( I could have beat him more instead of what I was already doing)
But my hands were tied,
the bleeding hearts and artists
let him get away with murder. (The system/society doesn't allow abuse in school and frowns upon it...rightly so...but this guy is violent and nuts)
Let me hammer him today. (he's dying for one more smack or many...being the sadistic jerk he his...or this could all be Pink's childhood fears and perceptions of this man's cruelty or supposed cruelty)
 

ladyislingering

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Re: Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

I always said he'd come to no good,
in the end, your honour. (a way to say, yup I was right...pure ego)
Let me hammer him today. (he's dying for one more smack or many...being the sadistic jerk he his...or this could all be Pink's childhood fears and perceptions of this man's cruelty or supposed cruelty)

To give him one extra thrashing would still place him (the headmaster) above Pink (in Pink's mind) and the headmaster would perhaps still keep his "brick" in Pink's wall. So that makes a lot of sense, actually. Or maybe we're just overthinking it. :heheh:
 

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