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Since it's creation over ten years ago, my web page has not only allowed me to share my personal interpretations of the Wall with the rest of the internet Pink Floyd community, but it has also given me the pleasure of hearing from countless Floydians, each of whom have their own personal beliefs, opinions, and views concerning the Wall. The thousands upon thousands of e-mails I have received over the years have certainly opened up the Wall to me from a multitude of different angles. Unfortunately I am not able to reflect each and every one of these unique views in my own personal analysis. So what better way to honor these other Floydian interpretations than by giving them their own section! And that's exactly what you'll find here: e-mails I've been sent containing wonderful and unique views concerning what is arguably Pink Floyd's most accomplished work. For sheer logistical reasons, not every e-mail that I'm sent will be posted here. However, I hope to include those letters that present views not necessarily addressed in my analysis, letters that have made me stop and rethink the Wall from a different direction. The majority of the e-mails will be categorized by song, though there is a "General" category at the bottom of the page containing those letters (and magnificent paintings!) that just don't fit into one section. Remember that all art (including the Wall) is open to personal interpretation. There are no "wrong" ideas as long as you can back up your theories with evidence from the works you are analyzing. Despite the fact that art is set down in a medium (words, paint, music, etc.), we as the audience can make it grow through our interpretations and discussions. If nothing else, I hope that my analysis and these e-mails will inspire each reader to really think about their own views concerning the Wall,and to delve deeper into all art. The Little Boy that Santa
Claus Forgot "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot," is steeped with ideas of anticipation and disappointment, of longing for something and being (seemingly) overlooked. The connections with Pink are fairly obvious when viewing Vera's song in this light of hollow expectations. Maybe the little boy of Vera's song received nothing because Santa does not exist in reality. I know this seems a bit oversimplified, but perhaps the point is that placing your faith and hope in the unseen and the unreal is futile." -- Schuyler Kaufman Webmaster's Addendum: I think it is
entirely plausible to connect Pink, the "Little Boy that Santa
Claus Forgot" and the disappointment he felt during the actual
song, "Vera." Even though, as is mentioned, the point
may be oversimplified by saying that Pink's disappointment stemmed
from placing his belief in an imaginary person, sometimes the most
powerful points are also the simplest. (In much the same line of
reasoning, one could certainly expand the boundaries of this argument
and question whether mankind's seeming dependence on religion is
beneficial or detrimental to humanity?) I agree that there is a
certain futility in placing your hope in the unseen, but at the
same time, the very fact that there is hope can often negate the
seeming pointlessness of the belief. The differences in hope come
in when you really look at just what is being believed in. Even
though the little boy is disappointed when Santa passes him over,
there is always the hope that Santa will remember him NEXT year...that
is until he's old enough to know there is no such thing as Santa,
in which case his hope will be replaced with something akin to knowledge
and wisdom. When The Tigers Broke Free, Part 1 In The Flesh? "An interesting observation regarding that [7-UP] billboard, made possible by my love of baseball and residence in the city of Philadelphia, PA, is recognizing the figure pictured there as Mike Schmidt, a Hall-of-Fame baseball player for the Phillies. The key here being Philadelphia, also known as, yes... you guessed it, the “City of Brotherly Love.” It’s reference against the juxtaposition of the chaos and violence that is breaking out all around may or may not be intentional but I found it quite interesting nonetheless." - Mark Ragonesi "During In The Flesh? the plane that drops the bomb on Pink's father was nicknamed 'The Trumpets Of Jericho.' Because that shriek was unique to that plane and it scared the shit out of everyone on the battlefield. Now, the story of the walls of Jericho are simply that a siege was going on against Jericho (i think-i'm not exactly religious) and that only Trumpets brought down the wall. It doesn't make sense to suggest that the death of Pink's father will bring down his eventual wall (the opposite is true) but maybe its a forshadowing of the trial. No bombardment but only the shouting of the judge will bring down his wall. That sounds logical to me..." -- Phil Rutland "I think the speaker in 'In the Flesh?' might be Pink himself addressing not only the concert audience, but actually everyone who is at that particular moment listening to the album as well. The overall message is 'so, you wanna know what being a rock star is about, don't you? The crowds of people worshiping you, you think it's great, well... keep listening and you'll see." In the movie, around the time when Waters (or Geldof) sings 'Is there something eluding you sunshine? / is this not what you expected to see?" you see a shot of the fans' faces and it seems like they don't believe or don't understand what they are seeing (fascist Pink). They just wanted to 'go to the show'to have a good time ('feel the warm thrill of confusion'), and instead they find the scenario of Pink blaming them for his problems, or at least for worshiping him. Pink's message can even apply to us, the listeners of the album, when you put the CD in for the first time, you don't know what this is going to be about...in fact many don't even know that this is a rock opera rock and expect to just be like any other. If you think that way, the lyrics of 'In the Flesh?' fit perfectly, in my opinion, and it's a hell of an opening, warning the audience that what they are about to see won't be so simple to understand...it certainly won't be "what they expected to see." -- Carlos Fournery Webmaster's Addendum: Pink's world-weary beginning "speech" in 'In the Flesh" acts as a cycnical voice of life, which interestingly contradicts with the narrative voice we find by the end of the album in "Outside the Wall". In a way, beginning in this cycnical way and ending with the slightly optimistic "Outside the Wall" is a journey in itself, showing the development of Pink's persona from self-obsessesed demi-god to fully individuated human being. The Thin Ice "I was reading your comments on the christological connection (or should I say, antithesis) between Pink and Christ. However, a different perspective occurred to me: might Pink be connecting his own pain - particularly his sense of betrayal - to that which the crucifixion signifies? Perhaps even, in a sense, the "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" ("My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?"), the sense of being abandoned by everyone and everything, including - if he exists - God?" - Thomas Wright Webmaster's Addendum: There is some debate among Christian scholars as to whether the gospel Jesus was, in fact, bemoaning a sense of betrayal when he cried out the above lament on the cross or, in fact, was doing the exact opposite, considering that the lament is actually a line from Psalm 22, which (in context) goes on to espouse spiritual acceptance even when the ways of God are unclear. By this argument, Jesus isn't crying out in alienation, but in blind faith. (This would, again, set Pink as an antithetical Christ in that he only feels betrayed in these moments of pain, with no hint of understanding of a divine plan.) Ether way you cut it, I think there is a definite connection. "At the beginning of the film, I think during the cynical part of the The Thin Ice, the camera pans up to a TV showing a Tom and Jerry cartoon. This seems to symbolise perfectly the hierarchical nature of life, as Tom chases Jerry in an authoritative manner up until the dog appears, when Tom then becomes an inferior. This is reflected in The Trial (I think that's when it appears...) when we see an animation of the doll representing Pink being manipulated by the schoolmaster, who is in turn being manipulated by the 'fat' woman mentioned in The Happiest Days of Our Lives. This in turn represents the authority exerted by the wife who forces the schoolmaster husband to choke down the piece of hard meat. This theme runs throughtout the film." -- James Kontargyris "In "The thin ice" when pink is thrashing in the (red) water, I noticed a resemblance to the 7th circle of hell, as depicted in Dante's Inferno. In the 7th circle, the violent are tormented by being submerged in a pool of boiling blood barely high enough to breathe. If they go any further, they are fired at by centaurs. Another observation I noticed is the reference to "clawing" in both "In the flesh?" and "the thin ice". when pink says "if you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise" I think he means you'll have to suffer like he has. In "the thin ice" he talks about "clawing" through thin ice. Incidentally, the lyrics "this disguise" and "through thin ice" fit interchangeably with the other's place, even rhyming properly." - Zolitar Webmaster's Addendum: Even though Pink isn't directly violent towards anyone (even in his facist dreams, his henchmen carry out the raping and pillaging, not Pink himself), the lake of blood idea adds a curious twist (perhaps, even in the beginning, he's feeling a tad guilty for neglecting his loved ones and his lives), especially since he later aligns himself with the Nazi-esque violence that stole his father away from him...adding yet another layer to the lyric in "the Post War Dream" from the "Final Cut" album..."tell me true, tell me why was Jesus crucified / was it for this that Daddy died? Was it you, was it me, did I watch too much TV? Is that a hint of accusation in your eyes?" This idea that just by being born, Pink / Roger Waters feels guilty for the death of his father...perhaps as if things would've been different had they not been alive. Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1 "I noticed the 2nd time Waters screams 'Daddy, what'd you leave behind for me' the shot shows Pink looking at his mother. Maybe that's the exact thought that passed through his mind. While other children had fathers who would take them to the playground and hold their hands, all Pink got was an overprotective mother. Maybe he thought his father could have been a wall or a shelter for Pink from his mother." - Andrew Taylor When The Tigers Broke Free, Part 2 "In battle, when an army decides to retreat (a very vulnerable maneuver), a small detachment from the main body of the army will be left behind to slow the enemy down. This is known as the rear guard. Though the rear guard is not expected to defeat the oncoming enemy army, they are expected to hold them off long enough for the main army to escape, at which point the rear guard can then ‘disappear into thin air’ or disburse. It is this “sacrificial lamb” that will provide the needed protection for the others to escape. Without this, it is not uncommon for the main body of the army to take such loses as did the rear guard. Thus, if nobody does it, then everybody will have to suffer. The question becomes not “who will have to stay and die”, but “who will live”.It turns out that Roger Water’s father died at Anzio as a member of the rear guard (http://members.aol.com/HizBeluved/WW2/Brown.htm). Also see http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/anziobeach/anzio-major.htm (though the account was made by the US military, you will see mentions of the Royal Fusiliers and some examples of rear guard actions if you search for “but Allied artillery spotted his position and began firing on the company”). Note the date, which was the same date as the “Tigers broke free” and his father died. Also of note is the official record of his fathers death. http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2099066. The idea of having to select a company to serve as a rear guard for the good of the army is highly unpleasant and only begins to describe some of the difficult decisions that officers have to make. Yet as unpleasant as that is, it does not even begin to describe the uncomfortable feeling that you get when the friends and family of the deceased rear guard soldier finds out how their loved one died. There are also some paintings of the fighting at Anzio at: http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/gallery/large/001.html and www.45thdivision.org/CampaignsBattles/anzio.htm http://www.45thdivision.org/Photo_Gallery/wartime/German_Armor_Anzio.jpg http://www.45thdivision.org/Photo_Gallery/wartime/Overpass_Anzio.jpg http://www.45thdivision.org/Photo_Gallery/wartime/Anzio_shellcasings.jpg http://www.45thdivision.org/Photo_Gallery/wartime/TD_Anzio.jpg - Lucas Perea Goodbye Blue Sky "I think Waters means 'The Brave New World' already appeared with the introduction of the industrialism and is refering to the beginning of the century before the two world wars, when all was hope and joy. With the enormous possibilities of the beginning technological milestones such as flying, etc. Thus he is subsequently noting that 'the promise of the brave new world' leads to fascism, mechanism and the loss of individuality. Portrayed in the fact that two world wars already happened and that a third one is only 'but another power emerging' away.... That Hitler was a product of 'the brave new world' (as much as Pink) and that he could not rise to such power without 'the brave new world' supporting the technological development and basis for human depravation and alienation. So he is blaming the whole world for letting this 'brave new world' lead into the demise and destruction of the innocence of the world as you so rightly argue, though this process began already before the world wars and in fact was the factor leading to the world wars. He puts the blame on the world leaders at the time as well as every single human being for letting it happen. For looking the other way in silent resignation / fear / blind joy of new technology / etc... That people were willingly overlooking the rising fascism in sheer amazement and appreciation of the technical wonders of the time. Both in the past as well as in the present. Thus this songs line is very central to the whole concept of 'The Wall', as it brings a sort of timeless sense of feeling to the work." -- Jens N. Roved Webmaster's Addendum: The more I look at it, the more I'm loving the play of words in the line "when the promise of a brave new world unfurled..." Smartly, Waters tows the line between anti-industrialism and misanthropy, never leaning too far in either direction. Is he blaming industrialism (the brave new world) for creating this fascist future, or rather, is he blaming mankind's naivety (the PROMISE of a brave new world) for turning such promising ideas into a monster? Is it the fault of these technological wonders themselves, or the human lust for more power inspired by the machines that led to the Hitlers (and, to a FAR lesser extent, the Pinks) of the world? Perhaps a smattering of both, though ultimately I think Waters is an optimist who believes that just as fault might lie with both, so might salvation. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives "Just a quick idea for you that you may or may not want to consider; in 'The Happiest Days Of Our Lives' album version, after the line 'hurt the children any way they could' there is the sound of something being cracked and a voice saying 'oof!' I think that this alludes to the later question that Pink asks of his mother 'do you think they'll try to break my balls?' This would imply that society has already started/ tried to break his balls and Pink is really stoically resigned to his fate, and only asking this question of his mother in what is surely vain hope rather than childlike innocence." -- Dan Jone Concerning the Red/White color scheme that can be found throughout the movie (but, arguably, is first noticeable on the walls in the school): "When you combine red and white, you get pink." -- James Hayes Webmaster's Addendum: And if we recall or classic symbols, red generally symbolizes blood, passion, death whereas white usually symbolizes purity, innocence, and life. Interestingly, the character Pink is a chaotic blend of all of these elements. "Throughout the movie, (as has been noted by yourself and others) the colors white and red are used in tandem with several ideas about the meaning being attached by different observers. The simplest being 'white and red make pink.' The more involved noting the sybology of each color and its parallel in Pink's psycology.But upon watching the movie again, i noticed that everywhere red and white are represented, there is also green. From the opening scene with the white hallway, red sconces, and green keyboard pattern in the carpet. to Pink's first appearance in the baby carriage (red, white and pink flowers, green leaves and grass) to every extra I've noticed wearing any of the three also has the other two on them. Interesting. Green meaning envy, greed, jealousy? - Dan Rau Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2 "During the end of the scene in which the children overrun the school [a scene that takes place inside of Pink's head and, therefore, could be seen as showing a bit of his take on the world before his wall is firmly in place) Pink sees the children revolting against the repressive influence of the teachers, and summarily destroying the school. They use their books to break the glass case to get the hammers and axes. Now the symbol of the hammer is pervasive in the film, and Pink only embraces this symbol in its destructive capacity towards the end of the film. It represents power, in this case an oppressive force guarded by the teachers. The students, by using their books, a symbol of education, to gain access to this power have found a way early on to take control of their own lives. We see that immediately after the hammers and axes are freed from the glass cabinet, the children begin to smash through a giant wall, thus symbolically freeing themselves from their own walls that threaten to take them over, just as Pink’s wall eventually does him. I read this as Pink viewing the other children overcoming their own walls, and the resentment that he feels adds brick upon brick to his. They use the power that education affords them to rebel and lead, at least in Pink’s eyes, normal lives. So early on, he sees the answer: destroy the walls, his wall is not yet complete and there is still a small bit of hope. However he is unable to join in, and retreats further behind his own wall." -- Joseph Gibbs Webmaster's Addendum: It's also interesting to note that even though the revolt is all in Pink's head, he is still the observer, the unseen one in the background, so to speak, enviously watching the other kids gain their own independence while he can only dream about it. Usually one's daydreams feature that person as the main character, the hero, the purporter of change, yet Pink is no where in sight during his daydreams, but must only watch from the sidelines. Perhaps it all is meant to suggest how high his wall was getting even at this early age, and maybe just how low his own view of self was. "Rather than shouting, 'Wrong, guess again!' [the Schoolmaster is] shouting 'Wrong! Do it again!' His accent compounds 'Do it' so that it sounds almost like one word ('Wrong! Dweet again!'), but if you listen very closely to the soundtrack of both the album and (especially) the movie, you can very plainly hear that he's shouting, 'Wroooong! Doit agaaaaain!' The significance of this specific wording is more than trifling, in that it illustrates the high expectations of the schoolmaster -- unreasonably high, in that he offers no instruction on how to do it 'right,' only castigation for having gotten it wrong, and an order to 'do it again,' presumably only to risk another rap on the knuckles with the ruler, should the student fail yet again to meet his master's expectations. This meaning would not be adequately expressed if the schoolmaster had instead shouted, 'Wrong! Try again!' or 'Wrong! Guess again!' (In the words of Yoda, 'Do, or do not. There is no try.')" - Gos Mother "I noticed on re-listening to this great album (which your excellent guide helped me to recongise the many nuances in) that Pink (most noticeably in 'Mother,' for obvious reasons) only ever refers to his mother as Mother, never as Mum (or Mom, as you Yanks would have it), whereas she always refers to herself as Momma, or Mama (eg. "Of course Momma's gonna help build The Wall" or in 'The Trial' - "Come to Mama, Baby, let me hold you in my arms..."). However, Pink only refers to his father as Daddy (In 'Tigers,' - "And that's how the High Command / Took my Daddy from me." and the whole of 'Brick, part 1'). Although, of course, in 'The Show Must Go On' he has *Ma* and *Pa* (but this seems to be so that Roger could get them into one syllable)." - Chris Bhamra Webmaster's Addendum: This is a perfect representation of the friction that exists between Pink and his mother...while she is constantly trying to baby him, he is just as consistently trying put distance between himself and her. It's even more interesting that he calls his father "daddy" throughout (a much more personal, intimate appellation), especially considering he'd never met the man! I suppose it's just another telling nuance about Pink, that he relates more to the people who aren't there for him than the ones who are. "Arturo Mendez commented [in the 'What Other Floydians Are Saying' section] about the use of the phrase 'your exquisite wife and mother' during 'The Trial', and how it suggests that Pink relied on his wife to be also a mother to him. I agree, but I think that it also works the other way - that is, Pink's mother was also, partially, his wife. However, this connection was not so much a desire of Pink's as an extent of the mother's overprotection. In other words, Pink's mother was so against the idea of his leaving her protection to spend his life with another woman (well, theoretically spend his life, since the wife left him) that she wanted to be his substitute wife so that he wouldn't have to leave her. This is quite the opposite of Pink's reliance on his wife to also be a mother - that is to say, in one case Pink wanted the woman to be something that she was not willing to be, and in the other case the woman wanted to be something that Pink didn't want her to be." -- Dominick Lawton Webmaster's Addendum: I always found it a bit creepy, the scene where Pink is cradled up in his mother's bed. I know young children often slip into their parents room to sleep when they are sick, or have a nightmare, or are simply scared, but there's something about the way that scene is shot in particular that casts it in a strange light. It could be a result of the earlier scene in which Pink dresses up in his father's uniform. On the surface, the scene seeks to parallel Pink with his father...the war that killed the father ruins Pink's emotional life. But underneath the surface, one can't help but wonder if the scene is not only paralleling the two chracters, but using them interchangably. Pink dresses as his father because Pink IS his father...or at least in the mother's eyes. She sees him as the remaining embodiment of her husband...Pink is all she has left of the husband, so in a sense, Pink becomes both husband/father in her eyes (there are all sorts of Oedipal connotations to this). And because he must act as husband to his mother, because he must grow up before his time, Pink never really has a childhood...it becomes that "fleeting glimpse" he remembers in Comfortably Numb. "[The] phrase 'am i really dying' is from Pink Floyd's early song 'julia dream'." -- Delic "I just rediscovered The Wall DVDand I noticed something very strange: In the 'Mother' sequence, when his wife sees him stoned, notice the 3 paintings on the right wall: They're 'Andy Warhols' of Bob Geldof, the actor who plays Pink. This might symbolize something about Pink's nature and those 'other voices' in the song 'Is There Anybody Out There?'" -- Nick Webmaster's Addendum: Warhol's use of various (and often contrasting) color schemes for one subject (such as Marilyn Monroe or Campbell's Soup cans) is very similar to Floyd's portrayal ofPink as a character: one person comprised of so many different "colors" (red and white, in terms of color symbolism) and seemingly contrasting layers. "In the 'dissertation'of Mother you mentions that Pink looks more worried than sick and the Doctor looks at Mother 'perhaps accusingly'- I would take that one step further. We all know that Mother is overprotective - perhaps the most serious manifestation of parental overprotectiveness is Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. The Doctor's glare and subsequent spiriting of Mother from Pink's 'sick' room insinuate this is not the first time the Doctor has been called for a frivolous reason. This interpretation ignores the references to being sick as a child during 'Comfortably Numb' - I would mischeviously respond that even victims of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome get genuinely sick from time to time. It is possible that the 'sick' scene in Mother is entirely unrelated to the sickness referred to in Comfortably Numb but is included to highlight just hom overprotective Pink's Mother is...Information on Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome be found at http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/munchausen.html." - Shane McNee "When Pink asks 'Mother did IT need to be so high,' one variation that was not mentioned and that I particularly have come to accept is that 'it' most assuredly refers to the wall that was built by Pink, however it also refers to the help his mother has afforded him. Upon Pinks request for his mother to help build a wall, cynical or not, she has helped him and the result is simply a wall too high for him to see the top of in his realization of his mothers actual help. As if he is asking did 'it' (Mother's help) have to come with so many expectations." - Flyblow Empty Spaces NickDoctorWho has pointed out how the animation of Pink's wife as a scorpion creature both in "Empty Spaces" and "the Trial" interestingly resemble rokurokubi, spirits from Japanese folklore that are thought to be sinister tricksters by nature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rokurokubi
What Shall We Do Now? "In my opinion, in the part of the movie where they are playing What Shall We Do Now; they show the wall being built, and as it's being built it goes right through a chruch and destroys it in the process. That could represent how Syd Barrett used to be a religious person, but after he tried to join a religious group called Sant Saji and was rejected, he soon lost interest in religion." - Mike McGeary Young Lust "One of the most obvious things I noticed about the seemingly simple rocker "Young Lust" was that it was quite a bit more complex than the lyrics and mock-rock music would have you to believe. in 'Mother,' mom states she won't 'let anyone dirty get through.' I found it interesting that very close to 'Mother' Pink states he 'needs a dirty woman.' So perhaps, Pink concludes that his life has been unfulfilled up to this point because he has been looking for pleasure in all the wrong places. So, he looks for pleasure in the one main place his mother wouldn't let him go: women's pants. By the simple infantile logic Pink tends to use, if he can't find happiness where he's looking now, if he looks in different places he'll find it, right? [He'll not only find sensual pleasures there, but it will also be an act of rebellion against his overprotective mother. A win/win situation in Pink's book.] It's a very interesting look into Pink's selfish nature and one of the mistakes that leads to one of Pink's biggest bricks." - Wombo "The song is all 'spice' and no 'meat and potatoes,' and Old Pink is performing a song that must have been written by the corporate machine but ascribed to him. Thus, as a performer/musician, Pink finds his life totally devoid of meaning, his steady stream of #1 hits orchestrated (if you'll excuse the pun) by his producers and record label, who write meaningless songs because Pink can't set his own thoughts to music (a result of his ppressive education). It's all spelled out on "Wish You Were Here." - "Pink does not 'take' the girl into his trailor,(which turns out to be his bad ass highrise crib), but he actually turns his back to her and let's the door shut after she annoys him. She intern grabs a bottle of Dom and cruises on in anyway. That's a huge difference. He went out there to screen the scene and look for strange maybe, but, he turned his back on her. He didn't have a roady pull her from the 2nd row. he turned away." - pablolofty One Of My Turns Information on the "Wanna Take a Bath?" groupie, actress Jenny Wright, (link provided by Bill Shackelford): http://www.geocities.com/neardarkjenny/ "After the groupiedelivers her famous 'Wanna take a bath?' line, she walks back into the room and the dialouge in the movie Pink is watching goes like this: 'So here we are all together for the first time, you're wondering what it's all about and I can't tell you because I don't know myself. But I do know it's a big thing.' And then her dialouge cuts out the movie's. I think this is important because it hints that everyone in Pink's life wants to know what's going on with him, including Pink himself. But he doesn't exactly know what's going on, and all he does know is that it's a 'big thing.' I think what's on the T.V. throughout the movie has a lot more to do with the story than the way it first appears. After all, the "real Pink" spends 95% of the movie staring at it, and the other 5% usually involves him destroying it. I think the bathroom scenes (the shaving scene and the security guard scene) are the only scenes in the movie that feature "real Pink" without the T.V. - Tom Webmaster's Addendum: It's telling that the majority of present Pink's time is spent glued to the television. If the movie / album were remade today you have to wonder if Waters would have had him sitting blank-faced in front of a computer all day. I think Waters is definitely getting a dig on modern Western culture...not only in how TV separates us from the real world around u (after all, it's one of the most passive ways to fill your time, sitting in a chair doing nothing but blinking), but how people almost become defined (and influenced) by the programs they watch. It's interesting that in taking an account of his life in "Nobody Home", one of the ways he defines himself is by the "thirteen channels of shit on the TV to choose from." Pink is definitely a product of modern pop / TV culture, and doubly so, firstly by the inordinate amount of time he spends watching TV (instead of connecting to the world), and secondly by the demi-god rockstar status this TV-pop-culture has lavished on him...two very big bricks indeed. "I just wanted to tell you of my interpretation of the 'Would ya like to learn to fly? Would ya? Would ya like to see me try?' part in 'One of my turns.' I think this may be a reference to suicide. He knows he can't fly but is willing to jump out of the building nonetheless. He feels that everybody is out to get him, so he asks if he could make this easier for all involved by just hurling himself out of a window. The 'next time, fuckers' [what Pink screams from the busted window during the movie sequence] bit may also be a part of this, as in: 'I didn't jump this time, put push me closer to that ledge and it may just happen.'" - Louis Roux Webmaster's Addendum: It's also been said that those who elaborately threaten suicide generally aren't the ones who really will carry through with it, that the threats are more akin to a tantrum than a real death wish, something done to get attention. That theory definitely fits with Pink, who, for all his self-loathing and alienation, often seems to be more concerned with the attention his behavior garners than anything else. Don't Leave Me Now Another Brick In The Wall, Part 3 Goodbye Cruel World "The scene with the rugby field where only Pink is shown…the orange sky and the field goal “H” seem to symbolize Pink’s own personal Hell. The flaming sky and the big H, etc….food for thought" -- Don White "Regarding the playing field, I've always supposed it to be a double reference to two of those things that, once upon a time, 'every schoolboy knew': 1.) the Henry Newbolt poem 'Vitai Lampada' - 'there's a breathless hush in the close tonight/ten to make and the match to win/a bumping pitch and a blinding light/an hour to play and the last man in...' It's a corny, late Victorian poem about duty and sacrifice (the boy winning the cricket match, the infantry square that holds its ground against all odds - both share the virtue of being able to 'plat up, and play the game') and fits perfectly with the weight of Tradition/Duty that a British School placed on children up to the swansong of Empire in the 50s, which, of course, Pink rebelled against. 2.) Wellington's claim that the Battle of Waterloo was '...won on the playing fields of Eton'. Again, fits the theme of schools being a part of 'The Establishment' and teaching boys to be good Sons of Empire." - Richard Bryson "It's the video sequence at the end of Goodbye
Cruel World in which young Pink is running across the rugby field,
and stops and glances downward. At that moment, his facial expression
seems to be almost one of confusion, as if he's asking himself,
"What am I doing and why am I doing this?" Now, granted
that in a later sequence this segues into the depiction of the rat
(more on that in a moment,) there seems to be a reason for this
incarnation of the sequence that does not apply later in Comfortably
Numb -- a specific part of the story that is told in this few dozen
frames. The answer to the question "What am I doing?"
is given in the background of the shot -- he's running towards the
camera, with the goalposts in the background -- in other words,
he's running away from the goal. If we are to interpret the symbolism
of "the goal" in terms of the film's larger statements
about a sense of connectedness to the rest of humanity, then Pink's
flight from "the goal" represents his self-imposed isolation.
In short, the confused look on his face can be interpreted as his
last shred of reason asking, "Just why am I running away from
the goal?" Hey You "Quick correction: the troops into not fighting. That's why In your analysis of Hey You, you said that Johnny Got His Gun is a WW2 movie, when it actually takes place in World War 1. The funny thing about it though, is that the book was released the day before Germany attacked Poland, starting WW2, so the book was banned so it wouldn't scare the troops. The movie wasn't made until 1976. In 1988, Metallica used it in their "One" music video, which is probably the only reason it's still remembered." - Dalton Simpson "If I may, I just wanted to share with you my views on the album placement of "Hey You" and why I believe it is in the perfect location. "Hey You" begins at the very moment the wall is "sealed". Remember the last "Goodbye" in "Goodbye Cruel World". The music stops abruptly, as if the listener is standing outside the wall when the last little sliver is fitted and an air tight barrier is finished. No sound gets out...and no sound gets in. True silence is very difficult to achive in real life. There is ambient noise everywhere. Right now I can hear the hum of my PC, and even a lower hum of the lights in my kitchen. But when you can eliminate all that background noise, the silence is a palpable thing. The moment, the very instant that wall is sealed, Pink is struck by the very real weight of the true isolation he has created...and he's freaked out by it. This is first of four major realizations Pink makes and has a chance to reverse his slide into insanity. It strikes him that he has made a mistake and needs to get out, but he still has the same contempt/fear of those outside the wall. So he starts out with a little light hearted banter as an request. Kind of a "ummm...hehe...I got a little problem here, can ya help me out?" . The music is mellow. The cries for help civil. THEN the "life" voice (as you accurately put it) tells HIM (not us) that this is fantasy. This is Pink's SANE subconscious coming to let him know he's REALLY in a pickle. Pink's first revelation deepens "Oh hell, I'm really in trouble here". The drums kick in, and the singing becomes a howl. "Hey you, out there on the road" and to the end, Pink is screaming, horrified." - Jason Hamwey "I recently obtained an original 1979 copy of “The Wall” record...anyway I noticed that on the sleeve it lists ‘Hey You’ as coming after ‘Comfortably Numb.’ Considering this was its original placement on the album, it seems to put it in a different context. As far as the plot goes, this means that Pink has been injected by the doctor, but has yet to crack from it (In the Flesh) or even have his moment to himself before he takes the stage (The Show Must Go On). I think in this context some of the lines in ‘Hey You’ may be more interesting, like those standing in the aisles probably are the concert goers since he is at or going to the venue. Also the ‘worms’ eating into his brain may be more literal because at this point in the plot he goes through his biggest decay. One thing you never really commented on was the change in vocalists in the song. It seems to me that elsewhere on the album these switches between dave and roger are done to represent something like pink and his mother, pink and the doctor, or the two sides of pinks personality in “waiting for the worms.’" - Vincent Amendolare
Is There Anybody Out There? "There is perhaps another possibiity for Pink's
behavior in the movie during "Is There Anybody Out There".Having
watched the behavior of my two kids, they went through a phase,
and are actually still in that phase (ages 4 and 6), where they
seem compelled to arrange things (usually their toys) in neat orderly
lines or rows, usually on their nightstands, or on the floor, or
even next to (yes) the wall. Perhaps Pink has regressed to a childlike
state that causes him "I just want to point out that, at the end of 'Is There Anybody Out There' you can faintly hear a woman scream, a smack, and Pink saying 'I cant help it, I had a problem with my parenting!' Now, I dont know about you, but I think this says a lot about how he sees himself at that time." - Will Chapman "I noticed while watching the movie segment for 'Is There Anybody Out There?' The little order thing Pink makes out of the junk in his room, in my mind, looked something like a millitary camp." - Matt Hamm Webmaster's Addendum:...a bit ironic that when Pink tries to order his life, it all comes back to the military and his father's death...arguably the first brick in his wall. Nobody Home [On the subject of the inclusion of a clip from the television comedy "Gomer Pyle, USMC."] ". This should give you some useful info on "Gomer Pyle, USMC"- http://www.tvtome.com/GomerPyleUSMC/ But basically, the show was a spinoff of "The Andy Griffith Show", the bumbling filling station attendant joining the Marines. And by the show's end, Jim Nabors had put on some noticable muscle, probably from even the low amount of physical training he did just for the show. I still can't come up with a valid connection. As I said, I don't know if this made it into the film, but it is on the CD. You'll need headphones to actually make it out. Around "there is still nobody home", you'll hear a faint "surprise, surprise, surprise!", followed by Sgt. Carter saying something(I can't hear what he says, it's too low), and Gomer says something to the effect of "well, sergeant, it looks like we're gonna be sharing the same bunk...". I don't know what episode it's from, but it sounds familiar. This is just a very weak connection, but Sgt. Carter COULD, and by this I'm making a VERY weak guess, represent Pink's father. Carter was a rather hard Marine sergeant, but was not a heartless man. Pink could watch the show, seeing Carter as the strict, but very loving father he never knew. Gomer basically saw Carter in a similar way, even though Gomer is the basic opposite of Pink. In fact, one episode plays a bit on this subject. Aunt Bee flies to California, and visits Gomer while she's there. She sees Carter playing the father role, and like Pink's mother, goes into this overprotective mode, nearly ending Carter's career. His career is saved by Gomer, who (and keep in mind, Bee is actually badmouthing Carter on live radio, as a local reporter was there to record her comments outside the base) basically tells Bee, and any others listening, that the Marines do things a bit differently, and if not for the strict rules, he never would have become a better person (as I said, Jim Nabors gained some noticeable muscle, and this reflected on his character, who went from filling station attendant to a well trained Marine). Basically, as overprotective as "mother" can be, she may not always be right." -- Justin Anderson "There might even be a bit more of Battle of Britain in that segment of the album, or near it, something about the speech about "there are 4,000 german planes ready to strike and )))))# of our own aircraft," which may or may not be from the Dambusters. all of a sudden you get that switch to another "channel" and suddenly you hear that whining engine spitfire noise and shooting rounds off...and "where the hell are you!?" which is most definitely from Battle of Britain." - Scott Briggs "I was in High School when the album came out. 'Hey Teacher' quickly became a cry of revolt among my classmates at that time. I listened to it countless time and, being an airplane fan, I watched 'Battle of Britain' as many time. Curiously, I never made the link between the two works and that happened recently. It is clear that between 'Nobody Home' and 'Vera', there are two parts of BoB soundtrack mixed together: first short piece is a BBC radio report, stating how many German planes have been destroyed on Battle of Britain Day. The second one is much longer. Shortly after a rocky takeoff, squadron leader Harvey (I believe) yells 'Where the hell are you, Simon?' in his radio as Lt Simon’s Spit drags behind, disoriented and blinded by the sun. Shortly after, a Bf109 fighter dives out of the sun and shoots down Simon’s Spitfire. Surprised, Simon fails to bail out as his fighter goes in a final dive. In the album, we hear Harvey’s yell, bullet strikes followed by diving airplane and crash sounds." -- Yves McDonald Vera "I just noticed a statement pertaining to 'Vera'...You say, 'Although Vera once sang that "we'll meet again some sunny day," both she and the pre-war innocence that she represented disappeared for the most part from the public consciousness after the war.' I say that if you take a look at Vera's career, you will note that although she 'disappeared' (did not perform) for slightly less than 3 years following WW2 due to pregnancy/child-rearing, Vera had a string of top hits throughout the late 1940s and all through the 1950s. Vera was the first UK artist to have a top 1 hit in the USA (around 1951) which lasted for around 9 weeks..Not to mention her hit TV series in the 1960s and 70s...and countless appearances throughout the world...In short, I always found it strange that Pink Floyd would ask 'What has become of you' when most people knew and were well aware of Vera being a popular media figure...particularly in the UK, Canada, Australia, and most of Europe...just some thoughts..." -- Dave in Victoria "'We'll Meet Again" was used in the concluding sequence of Stanley Kubrick's [movie] Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In fact not only is the song used in a similar sense, but Dr. Strangelove also came out before the Wall and is a classic anti-war movie (or at least anti-nuclear proliferation). "We'll Meet Again" was played during the sequence after the doomsday machine went off and the world was shown being nuked. The song is blatantly a satire on the pre-war and wartime optimism, especially in the context. The fact that it was being played while the human population was being reduced to a few hundred forced to live in mines to survive at all is an extreme example of why the optimism surrounding war is misguided. This brings me to why I think the song's use in Dr. Strangelove gives importance to the song's allusion in the context of the Wall. The sequence in the movie mirrors the prospects of not seeing loved ones again during the post-war devastation. Pink's lack of a father as a result of the war is given importance by the prospect of the same fate being shared by virtually the entire human race (not that Waters's personal tragedy doesn't lend the story significance). Dr. Strangelove was released in 1969, which is 10 years before the Wall was released. However Pink Floyd was established in the music world by the time Dr. Strangelove was released, so a good number of fans would have also seen Dr. Strangelove despite the decade of separation between the works. Kubrick's use of "We'll Meet Again" is darkly sarcastic in the sense that it is used just as humanity enters its darkest and lowest phase in history (figuratively and literally if you consider their fates in the mine shafts), similarly to how you say "Pink recalls this cherished British singer in the time leading up to his darkest hours of insanity". Both Dr. Strangelove and the Wall use a parody of wartime optimism as a means to show that only negative effects come from war, despite false pretenses of meeting again one day. Not relevant to my previous points, but also interesting to note is that Vera Lynn also recorded her own version of "When You Wish Upon A Star", which I thought was interesting given the importance of the Mickey Mouse watch in The Wall." -- Joey Dodson Bring The Boys Back Home Comfortably Numb "In the part when we see all the 'bricks in the wall' passing by the canal at Pink's childhood home, notice how everybody's eyebrows are arched and somewhat evil looking. Do you think that maybe Pink shaved his eyebrows to avoid looking like the 'bricks'?" - Sarah C. Webmaster's Addendum: One has to wonder what it is exactly about eyebrows themselves that would a.) make Pink shave his off and b.) make him hallucinate exagerrated eyebrows on his "bricks." It's really interesting how something so small and seemingly inconsequential as eyebrows can make a huge difference in appearance. Just take a look at Pink after he shaves off his body hair...there's something distinctly, I don't know, alien about hisappearance. (Not space-alien, per se, but alien as in apart from human). Maybe that was Pink's intention...the eyebrows are a sort of synechdoche for humanity, or rather, humanness. All of Pink's crazy-eyebrowed bricks have definite human emotions and motives...the mother was too protective, the teacher vindictive, the wife unfaithful (and so on). So maybe Pink's act of shaving his eyebrows (and body hair) was an attempt to make himself inhuman, and so not ruled by the emotions and, ultimately, mortality that man is subject to. Matt Ellis passed along this note from a wikipedia entry on Pink Floyd: "In a famous anecdote, a heavyset man, his head and eyebrows completely shaved, wandered into the studio while the band was mixing 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond.'The band could not recognise him for some time, when suddenly one of them realised it was Syd Barrett. On being asked how he had put on so much weight, he retorted 'I have a fridge full of pork chops'. He was greeted enthusiastically by the band but subsequently slipped away during the impromptu party for David Gilmour's wedding (which was also on that day). It was the last time any of the other band members saw him. Gilmour recently confirmed this story, although he could not recall which song they were working on when Barrett showed up. Barrett's eyebrow-shaving tendencies would later be revisited in the movie Pink Floyd: The Wall." "There's a defense mechanism called 'Dissociation'
where emotions aren't integrated into normal consciousness. Dissociation
is usually found most often in people who have gone through trauma.
Pink has gone through considerable trauma in childhood, enough
to be considered abnormal at least. The things described in the
songs seem similar to a patient with a Dissociative Disorder.
In your analysis of 'Comfortably Numb' you said that in the part
talking about 'ships smoking on the horizon' referred to everything
being distant, when he mentions his childhood illness and how
his hands 'felt like two balloons' is seen in Dissociation as
the distorting of bodily perceptions (E.G. body parts feeling
bigger or smaller than they really are), which would explain his
unknown 'childhood illness'. Dissociation makes people disconnect
from reality, which I already said, but many people describe parts
of it like 'watching a movie of themselves.' This would also make
sense with the 'show' aspect of your analysis. Dissociation is
also present in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, where people have
flashbacks and reexperience traumas. As you mentioned in your
Comfortably Numb analysis, Pink screams well after the needle
has been put in, and you said yourself that he could be yelling
due to childhood memories." - Kuroshima "I read the opinion of Ryan and Scott Gray about the phrase 'This is not how I am,' and my opinion is similar to theirs. But I would like to express a little about what is know in psychology as 'true self' and 'false self.' I think that when pink says 'this is not how i am' he is referring to a usual problem of neurotic people. This problem is that they haven’t developed a 'true self,' that there is a part of the person that couldn’t be developed (a sane part), because he was overwhelmed by problems when he was small. In the film these problems are partially represented by the childhood decease (caused by the rat, the overprotecting mother, and others). These problems usually cause the boy’s rejection of his own feelings, so they are kept down deep inside of him. Meanwhile, he is performing a character for the outside world, a false self, in an unconscious behaviour, of course. While performing this character the child is safe, because his feelings aren’t exposed (protected by 'the wall'). On the other hand, he is not really living a gigantic part of his life, that which is related to actual feelings. After an extended period of time hiding and repressing his feelings, he cannot realise and recognise who he is, because he has repressed his primary feelings, playing a part in a show. In singing 'This is not how I am," he is essentially saying that he is not the disease that stifled his growth, that he is something else, trapped, but alive." -- Ezequiel Stordeur "During the part that goes “You are only coming through in waves”. To me this sounds like a very strong indication that the drug induced trip Pink was on was caused by Acid. There is another part that could back this theory up. That’s the part that goes “Ok, Just a little pin prick, there will be no more <ahhhhh> but you may feel a little sick.” I believe in this shot contains the drug thorazine which is commonly used to bring people down from strong acid trips. (More info on thorazine here: http://www.psyweb.com/Drughtm/chlor.html )" - Brian Gaideski More information concerning Thorazine: "Refrence the following article and search for the word thorazine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD Thorazine is known to stop a trip, and is often used with anti-anxiety agent. Back when this movie was made there was still not much testing done with the chemical but they knew that it was able to stop a "trip". The experience of the combination of the two drugs is often unpleasent. Your mind starts telling your body that what you are feeling and seeig is not real but the acid starts work harder and faster in a very unpleasent way, it then comes to a peak and at that point you come out of your trip and you are sober. If you watch what happens durring this part of the movie you will notie his friends giving him some drug that makes him even higher for a moment, give him a anti-anxiety drug, that makes him very numb, they drag him out of the room and his skin "body" starts to trip out of control, they put him into the limo and he pulls the nasty trippy skin off his body and he is "normal". I believe that this sequence is a visual representation of what is is like to be pulled out of a trip using anti-anxiety drugs with antipsycotic drugs like thorazine." - Callum Davenport-Lambton "On your page for Comfortably Numb, you do a very good job of explaining, but I had some other thoughts. From around the time of the American Civil War until well after WWII, morphine was used as a painkiller as well as a "cure-all" drug used to cure everything from “female complaints” to “violent hiccough”. Perhaps as a child, during his illness, he was injected with a form of morphine to reduce his pain or even to knock him out to reduce his fever. Even heroin was first introduced as a cough suppressant. The mis-use of morphine as a medicine could definitely lead to his herion addiction later in his life. I guess I was just wondering if you had taken this into consideration. I could be wrong, I had a hard time finding "end dates" for such casual medicinal morphine use. Also, if his father died on the battlefield, he may have been injected with morphine to stop his suffering or to help him survive until he could receive treatment." - Kathryn De Matthew "When I was a child I had a fever, (as we all have), but when I was terribly sick such as with the flu and the accompanying 102 [degree] fever, I had 'fever dreams'. I still have them today, though less frequent. Fever dreams, in my definition are more vivid and infinitely more horrific than your worst nightmares. I can still remember them very clearly. In these dreams my hands would blow up into huge balloons and I would watch them grow and grow until they took up all the space for me to breath. Just the thought of this give me terrible anxiety. And as the lyrics go, I've always heard myself saying upon explanation, 'I can't explain, you would not understand.' I've never been able to place this image into the rest of the song and make it fit, I don't know how he was feeling. But when someone says anything about fever and hands feeling like balloons, I know exactly what they mean." -- Tiffany B. "In Comfortably Numb, there's a scene in which
the manager and doctor are having an argument over the virtually-lifeless
Pink. Because the audio of the argument is momentarily allowed to
fade up over the music (as it were, "coming through in waves",)
you don't need to be able to read lips to know that the manager
is telling the doctor that Pink is an athsmatic, and that the doctor
plainly doesn't believe him, but that the wad of cash that the manager
produces quickly silences the doctor's objections to the manager's
obviously-corrupt "diagnosis". The needle, therefore,
would have contained an injection intended for an athsmatic -- likely
a mixture of a stimulant (usually an amphetamine such as ephedrine,)
coupled with a corticosteroid. Amphetamines increase the heart rate
and open the passages of the lungs, while corticosteroids reduce
the inflammation that might be found in an athsmatic's lungs, while
acting as a secondary stimulant and producing increased energy levels
and a somewhat euphoric feeling. In other words, the manager had
crafted his lie specifically to get the doctor to prescribe a concoction
that would wake Pink up ("get [him] on [his] feet again").
This intention is further reinforced by a lyric in the second verse,
"Can you stand up? I do believe it's working. Good -- that'll
keep you going through the show. Come on, it's time to go."
The absolutely corrupt and callous nature of the behavior of both
the manager and the physician, two people that nominally exist to
watch out for the artist's better interests, is about as bare-knuckled
a statement as can be made about the people that Pink has by now
surrounded himself with, who form yet another brick in the wall
that he has erected around himself to insulate himself from the
rest of the world. Far from being the friends and protectors that
they portray themselves to be, they have only one interest in Pink
-- he is their meal ticket, and if he doesn't go on with the show,
nobody's going to get paid. Therefore, they conspire amongst themselves,
(smoothing over their respective moral and ethical qualms with the
universal lubricant [money]), to get Pink to stand erect onstage,
even if it means that they kill him in the process. (After all,
if he dies onstage from the combined effects of the drugs that he's
taken and the drugs the doctor admisters, the value of his name,
his image, and his catalog will rise exponentially the very next
day -- either way, his manager will be either a little richer or
a LOT richer the morning after this concert. Compared to this and
what he stands to lose if Pink doesn't show, the expense of buying
off the doctor is chump change.)" - Gos "In relating Pink's lines to a specific drug it more closely resembles dxm (or possibly ketamine) than lsd. The flanging of senses ('you are only coming through in waves') is present in dissociatives (like dxm) and, more importantly, the dissociative spiral (caused by high doses of dxm) includes lilliputian hallucinations (distortion of the the size of objects) which can also be caused by servere fevers ('when i was a child I had a fever, my hands felt just like two balloons'). Moreover the dissociative qualities of dxm would explain the line "this is not how I am" being that pink really wouldnt feel like (or even think he was) himself, and thus wouldnt associate these feelings (or perceptions) with himself at the time. Finally, a dxm trip can also be terminated quickly, by naloxone, which is also given to counteract opiates (which makes a great deal of sense due to the fact that his calm unresponsiveness would resemble an opiate to observers). There is also significant disorientation when brought down from a dxm trip so suddenly, which explains Pink's needing to be carried down to the car. http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/faq/dxm_faq.shtml" - Jayson "As yet another Pink Floydian and The Wall enthusiast, I felt I might add another technical comment relating to the drug-related debate on the Comfortably Numb comment section. While various people have suggested the drug referred to might be LSD-25 (which would certainly aid hallucinations, and does come in waves frequently), Ketamine or DXM (causing dissassociation and hallucinations), etc, as an amateur authority on psychoactive substances I still concur with the majority of fans who believe the drug referred to is heroin. Heroin comes in waves, it causes the feeling of swollen extremities, it ties in to several comments in Nobody Home (including swollen hand blues, and silver spoon, which is used to cook heroin as well as freebase other drugs). It also sometimes causes the illusion of fever in the user's perception, since the opiate-related endorphin rush causes feelings of warmth as well as the blissful euphoria referred to in the lyrics. Also, with the nature of Pink's paranoid hallucinations, it is possible but unlikely that he would be experiencing this level of bliss with acid or ketamine-induced hallucinations, whereas heroin invariably causes blissful euphoria. I could continue giving testimony in this area for awhile, but that'll do for now. There's a possible discrepancy I noticed between the album and the movie in Comfortably Numb. According to many interpretations of the album, including my own, Pink is drugged with heroin in Comfortably Numb to "keep him going for the show" and "ease his pain". In the movie, the injection referred to by the lyrics is almost undoubtedly Narcan (no other drug other than adrenaline causes screaming like that upon injection), to bring him out of his heroin trance. This doesn't make sense to me, since Narcan would not keep him going for the show. It would leave him weak, shaky and unable to function well, as is the case most often when it is used. Unless they fed him speed or gave him a rail of cocaine or a similar stimulant, it's unlikely that they'd think Narcan would let him play a show. Just a thought." - The Psychedelic Elephant "In regards to young Pink and the rat: In your analysis this didn't feature to heavily, it did appear but wasn't given much emphasis, while for me it was one of the most powerful parts of the film. The story of Young Pink & The Rat shows what the whole film/album is about basically, it shows why people and Pink in particular build these walls originally, as a form of protection. Young Pink finds an injured rat, which he sympathizes with initially because he too knows this physical pain. When his mother rejects it he sympathizes even more as he too knows that kind of rejection and ensuing alienation. Because he sympathizes so much for the rat he takes care of it, he feels a connection to it and even, you could see, loves the rat. But what happens to this rat? This creature that Young Pink feels a connection to, unlike every other creature in his life, and loves? It dies, he opens himself up to just this small part of the world, he dares to possess human feelings for another creature and so that creature dies, hurting him deeply. And it's in response to events such as these that Pink builds the wall, he sees from a young age that having feelings for other creatures, trying to make connections with them, only exposes you to damage and that it is much better, in the long run, to hide behind your wall. Perhaps the 'fleeting glimpse' referred to in the lyrics of the song is actually this event in the film with the rat, where Pink sees exactly what happens to him throughout his whole life in the simplest of terms. He opens himself up to the world, the world hurts him, he never opens up again and puts more bricks in his wall to keep the world out forever." - Tom Stokoe "In your analysis of 'Comfortably Numb' you interpret the lines, 'when I was a child, I had a fever, my hands felt just like to balloons,' to be describing an illness Pink has as a child, attributing the feelings in his hands to the fever and later in life, to drugs. After a few viewings of the film, however, I came up with an interesting different theory, one which I thought you might appreciate: Pink sings the lines at the precise moment that he sees the rat on the field. I thought that perhaps his 'fever' was not an illness at all, but what he calls this flashing, noble passion for helping another living thing, a cause he devotes himself to, to an almost martyr level--his 'fever,' if you will. The next lines, 'my hands felt just like to balloons,' are simultaneous with Pink scooping up the rat and carrying it in a very responsible, caring way, back to his home--and while this may seem too far-fetched, I would guess that he is referring to the completely unique, beautiful feeling that even goes so far as to tingle in his hands as he takes on the rat as is own, loving it as he has never a being before. The rest of the lines of the verse, 'Now I've got that feeling once again. I can't explain, you would not understand, this is not how I am. I have become comfortably numb,' seem to fit with my theory easily enough; through his dreaming and soul-searching (and maybe the unanticipated effects of the drugs the doctor gives him), Pink suddenly remembers this time and is filled with the same feelings of hope and compassion he did then, remarking that his doctor, manager, etc., 'would not understand,' because that's really not how he has been most of his life, having been devoid of such feelings--after suffering the loss of them, he has become comfortably numb to their presence or absence, save for this brief moment of clarity and memory." -- Matt Weber "In the Comfortably Numb sequence you comment about how Pink is gradually covered in a slimy mass of worms. Another possible interpretation of this is that many habitual drug users, especially users of cocaine or even more so amphetamines, often suffer or begin to suffer from delusional parasitosis, which is the belief that the sufferer is infested with parasites...a symptom of which can be the belief that the parasites (insects, snakes, etc.) are crawling over the skin. This is why meth users often have pockmarked faces--they've been desperately scratching at themselves. That is also how I read the beginning pool sequence, where Pink is floating and then he thrashes about and claws at his face and the pool goes pink..." - Anna Vanha The Show Must Go On "On 'The Show Must Go On' you mentioned that Pink says 'Ooooh, Ma. Let me go', and that it meant how Pink wanted to escape from his mother's 'prison',so to speak. However, I think the part that says 'Ooooh, Ma, Ooooh, Pa / Must the show go on? / Ooooh, Pa. Take me Home' is also important. I think it relates heavily to suicide. 'Must the show go on?' is fairly obvious, since 'the show'has been a metaphor for life throughout the movie. However, when Pink says 'Take me home', he is asking his father to take him home *with him*, that is, to take Pink wherever it is he (the father) has gone, in other words, death (or any possible redemption or alternate reality, like heaven, that would be found afterwards)." -- Daniel Brod Webmaster's Addendum: There is definitely a suicidal undercurrent in the song, that alternation between leaving "the show" (ie Life) and continuing. Another possibility is that Pink is still struggling to live even though his instincts are telling him to give up on life. Note that when the chorus sings "oooh ma" the background vocal says "take me home" (home as in the afterlife, death, or home as in his childhood), and with "oooh pa" the background vocal says "let me go," as if Pink is pleading the memory of his father to let him go, to let him live a normal life free of the shadow of his father's death. In The Flesh "Why does Pink think of himself as a racist dictator? You mention in your analysis how Pink feels victimized by the world and feels that the world hurts him undeservedly. The Dictator Persona of Pink is his way of getting revenge on the world, his way of hurting the world as the world hurt him. The rest of the human race destroyed him by alienating him and hurting him, so he will get revenge on the human race by destroying it. In the dictator persona he does this the only way it can be done, by exploiting humanities deepest, darkest recesses. After his life Pink knows better then most what it is to be hurt and to mistrust so he knows better then anyone how to exploit these things for his own ends, in the form of the rally. By playing to peoples natural racist tenancies (the tribalism that still hangs over from our primitive origins) he knows he can manipulate the rest of the human race into doing as much damage to itself as it did to him. Racists are just misanthropes that have realized they can do far more damage to the human race by pretending to be on the side of one of it's various divisions then by opposing them all equally." - Tom Stokoe "A great metaphor used in the movie sequence that I thought you missed is the one shown on the banner of your site. Pink with his fisted arms crossed. Obviously it can represent the hammer logo, but more importantly it can also represent the wall. In the final seconds of the song in the movie he puts his arms across his face, as if blocking something, or protecting his face." -- Greg Lewis Webmaster's Addendum: crossing your arms is also a technique they teach you in self-defense training...it's a way of separating yourself from your aggressor, a way to minimize damage to yourself. So in a way it's a physical representation of Pink's defense mechanisms, distancing himself from his family, his audience and the world. "I would suggest a copy of Karl Dallas's book "Bricks in the Wall", printed in the 80s, which gives a very in-depth look at the band from the Syd era and prgresses album by album until the end of the band circa 1985, and has its own synopsis of the wall. I hav emisplaced my own copy, but in it Dallas touches on a few things as a journalist it would be impossible for you or me to dig up, having the oppertunity to interview Waters and Gilmour themselves. One thing Dallas mentions in musing on the wall is that Waters and Parker diliberately staged the events in the second section of "In the Flesh" on real events on the pre-war fascist movement in England. The name escapes me who the name was of the person who gave these rallies -- I have heard of the 'Hammerhead' group you mention but I believe this was seperate from them -- but the tactics were specific to what happens in the song. At rallies speeches were given that, while not looking like Neuremburg, had an established tradition where the speaker would identify minorities in the crowd, a spotlight would focus on them, and security personnel would descend on the man, roughing him up and tossing him out into the street. These rallies were known at least on one occasion to be held in Albert Hall itself, I believe, the same location that Pink Floyd would hold its first live performance of 'The Wall' some 40 years later. Also of note is Dallas was able to dig up larger plans for the second 'In the Flesh' sequence, which was supposed to combine live action and animation and was accomplished earlier in the film when Pink is attacked by an animated version of his wife. The sequence was originally supposed to contain much more violence and the first solid appearance of the animated hammers, with bombs being thrown from the stage and giant hammers marching through and crushing Pink's audience with the audience cheering it all on even as they died. This was Water's depiction on how bad stadium rock could get, becoming sadistic and maschoistic which he didn't understand, and compared it as seen at the beginning of the film with fighting wars like WWI and II, with the exception as he notes in his interview with Dallas that, to paraphrase, "those soldiers had clear motivation, they've been bloody well ordered to do it and it had nothing to do so much about choosing to be there or not. And I don't understand that with big audiences. It can be maschosistic where it seems the more it hurts the better they like it." That's not the exact quote, but the gist of it." -- Brandon Butler "In the the song, "hey you", Pink says, "hey you with your ear against the wall, waiting for someone to call out, would you touch me". In light of that, I find it interesting that Fascist Pink commands his minions to "get 'em up against the wall". It's like there's a double-mindedness in Pink, since the people who are outcasts or different ignored his pleas from inside his wall, he now commands that they be forced up against the same wall. On the other side, he may also feel a bond with these people who "don't look right", and wish to connect with them in an attempt to better understand his situation. But, true to form, Pink only manages to harm the very people he wishes to connect with. I'm reminded also of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the fascist thought policeman O'Brien tells Winston Smith that he likes him, that their minds are alike... if only Winston weren't insane." -- Matt Run Like Hell Waiting For The Worms "I first heard The Wall while I was in the U.S. Navy in 1979. My friends and I discussed it endlessly, and we came up with some of the same ideas you've expressed here. But only in the past few years have I perhaps caught on to something else. This first came when I saw a retrospective of the Sex Pistols and the whole punk movement of the mid to late 1970's. I recall Johnny Rotten saying how much he and his cohort hated Pink Floyd. They said that Floyd represented everything they hated about modern music, stadium rock, etc. They wore anti-Floyd t-shirts. The punk movement in Britain was large and violent. There were riots between punks and blacks in Brixton (recalled by the voiceover making slight mention of "Brixton town hall" in the text). I think that Waters saw the punks as neo-fascists, espousing some of the same ignorant hatreds that Pink's father died fighting against in WWII. The references in "The Show Must Go On" and "Waiting for the Worms" are clearly related to fascism, and I think that the group saw it raising its ugly head again in the sometimes incoherent but threatening messages of many punks. So Pink's persona near the end of the album is a slam against this movement and the evil that lies within it." - Paul A. McNaney "I was just looking at your analysis fo "Waiting for the Worms" (by the way, your site is excellent), and when I was reading about the many Nazi-esque references, another jumped out at me. At the end of the song, when Gilmour sings, "Would you like to see Britannia rule again, my friend?", he sings it in a stunningly beautiful voice found nowhere else on the album. Then comes Waters with his more sinister, less disguised voice singing, "All you have to do is follow the worms." This is followed by another repitition of beauty and sinister suggestions, which is how the Nazis attracted followers. By baiting them with sweet words (restore the Motherland to a respected position, end poverty, etc.), and once they were hooked, unleashing the full force of their evil and hatred upon them (kill the Jews, gays, gypsies, etc.), they managed to attract most of Germany to their cause. This may not be particularly insightful, but I personally found it quite interesting." - Michael Graham "The Hammerskins were not even considered a potential
group until 1979, and only adopted the logo in 1988. Pink Floyd
was not making fun of them, they were making fun of themselves.
Here is their grammar light, delusional autobiography http://www.hammerskins.net/history.html/
(or http://www.hammerskins.net/
and click on History). A quick note in case you decide not to waste
your time on such trash: The hammers stand for " strength,
pride, and solidarity" and are an adaption of the Rebel Flag
Rebel Flag - http://militarysurplusstore.com/catalog/rebel-flag.jpg,
Hammerskin Flag - "The whole song seems to be presented with similar musical instrumentals from past songs in the album. The song opens with a similar musical approach as to that of "The Show Must Go On", and recalls the song "Goodbye Cruel World" in it's lyrics. Possibly to represent Pink's realisation that now that his neo-nazi party has been assembled and has already killed/harmed some of the "queers and the coons and the reds and the jews", he can't turn back and that the show (refering to his facist party) must continue their plan. The lyrics to this also seem to refer to this fact. The whole sequence with Pink and his nazi party singing may also be refering back to "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2" with the school choir singing. Symbolising the similarity between the school children rioting and burning their teachers, similar to how Pink and his clan are rioting and planning to burn those of other minorities. As sparse as the connection may be, still sheds a valid comparison. A little further into the song, there is a guitar solo heard. The guitar solo is actually very similar to that used mid-way in "Hey You", which also seems to borrow some parts of the one put forward in "The Thin Ice" and parts of that in "Comfortably Numb", as well as (in places) becoming a similar, more aggressive, version of the riff from "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1". Concerning the (possible) references to these past songs could be to represent Pink looking back at his most recent actions in the movie. The song ends with Pink yelling "STOP!" at the top of his voice; perhaps showing his desire to have these flashbacks stop. He's looking back at his recent madness (symbolised with the guitar solo), and he's not liking it one bit. The hammers marching, accompanied by said guitar solo and images of Pink yelling are a very powerful image, imo." - Liam Elcoat "Your description of the 'many troops throughout history whose lives are merely chess pieces in the hands of military dictators' got me thinking about the 'sitting in a bunker'lyric. Pink could be viewing himself as a pawn of his dictator persona." - Tyler Sutton Stop "Just a point to add about the movie version of 'Stop' - You mention that you can hear cheering in the background, as the camera pans around the washroom, but it's in fact more than that. Turning up the volume very high, I could hear the voice from the track 'Master of Ceremonies' from the live album of the Wall, 'Is There Anybody Out There?'. The voice was simply an introduction to the concert, interrupted during his speech by the crashing chords of 'In the Flesh?'. This reinforces the idea that Pink is in a washroom at one of his concerts, and everything outside is proceeding along as it should, save for the (anti-)hero, who's locked himself away." -- Michael Fulton "The final decision (for lack of a better word) to break down the wall mightn't be based entirely on Pink's own internal dialogue. The last shot in the concert toilets, chronologically the last shot in the 'real world' has the Security Guard opening the door to the cubicle which Pink is hiding in. While it cuts away before the audience can see the Security Guard's response, logically it can be ascertained what happens next. The Security Guard would see Pink at his absolute lowest, crying desperately and distraught beyond all measure. He would see the real Pink, the one that hides behind his Rock Star Persona, behind the drugs that he takes and the Wall that he's built to protect himself. Someone seeing Pink without these barriers is the literal tearing down of the wall, in the cubicle he is showing actual human feelings (namely sadness) while before he had hidden them behind the Wall of facades and other defensive mechanisms that he has built up. The sentence of the judge to tear down the wall doesn't mean Pink has resolved to reveal his true self to someone to get help, it is referring to the Security Guard's seeing of Pink with his facade gone rendering the Wall useless, as someone has finally seen past it and it can no longer protect him. It has been torn down, once again by a cruel world (represented by the Judge) that Pink resents for forcing his cruel teacher, overprotective mother, unfaithful wife and absent father on him and now through this serendipitous act tears down all the walls he built up in response to those past traumas." - Tom Stokoe The Trial "Wouldn't you think that it is totally reasonable to believe that the Rag doll representation Of Pink during The Trial could very well be due to the wall people associated with the song in general? You stated that the school master, and his mother figures in the song are both playing upon the idea of the innocence and individuality of Pink's childhood. Also with the addition of the lyrics 'Toys in the attic' and all the rest of Pink's actual dialogue revolves around a very child-oriented basis. The rag-doll representation could simply be an extension of Pink longing for his lost childhood. The same with viewing the school master as a marionette. Both can be associated with youth. Also the representation of the wife could be reminiscent of his childood. Children would probably associate scorpions with something they would be afraid of, and this is fitting because her testimony is by far the most damaging of the three." -- Shane Webmaster's Addendum: Interpreting the doll as a symbol of Pink's stunted childhood also provides a ready explanation for the clips of the large rag doll entangled in barbed wire...Pink's innocence is perpetually tied up with the death of his father on the battlefield. (Perhaps why he keeps envisioning those moments over and over, watching the war films on TV, etc.) "The Judge in The Trial (Pink's conscience) condemns Pink for selfishness and hurting people who loved him, and then sentences him to be exposed, which is what the album is: an exposure of Pink's narcissism. So, at the beginning of the album you are listening to the Judge's sentence: exposing Pink before his peers." -- Chris Wilson "Every time I hear The Trial, the phrase "your exquisite wife and mother", strikes me as the judge speaking about the same person, true the mother (biological) appears in the trial, but I've always sensed that the judge is actually berating him with this phrase for not being "man enough" and that he needed his wife to "mother" him so to speak... look after him like a child. Remeber the scene at the piano... how she first looks at him very tenderly, hopefully, and yes motherly... then her face turns to disappointment when she realizes no matter what she does.. she is definately not getting through. And remember... the detonator for Pink's madness is not the mother or schoolteacher, but the fact that he has lost his wife and that is why the Trial's mother and schoolteacher are treated with such contempt... because they are memories for Pink, bad memories, yes... but, his wife is a very real close failure... he realize |
