(The Lady's) Pink Floyd Homage

[ladyislingering]

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]

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.

 

[LG]

I have copied Lady's complete album review intact to her PF thread, I think it deserves to be read in sequence as a complete work.(You can go the Album Review thread to read the comments, or comment in here as well.)

Such effort and quality work deserves recognition and is a credit to CRF.