After a quick countdown in German, "Waiting for the Worms" begins with a musical interlude that provides the listener with a short break from the overwhelming dictatorial persona that has dominated the previous two songs. Yet in light of "In the Flesh" and "Run Like Hell," the theatrical beginning for "Worms" offers more than a slight repose from the racial slurs and threats of Pink's latest incarnation. If anything, it shows that despite the dominance of the Hitler-esque figure over Pink's mind, there is still a slightly reasonable, somewhat cognizant self trapped beneath; there is a glimmer of the old Pink beneath the furious eyes of his fascist shell.

Stepping away from the delusion of autocratic supremacy, Pink, at first in the multiple voices of his splintered personality, recounts his current state behind his self-created tomb. He bids "goodbye [to the] cruel world" once again, though this time his farewell is spoken more out of the sorrowful realization over what he's done rather than the egotistical need for self-isolation that ended the album's first half. He has discovered that his "perfect isolation" is far from ideal and far from being isolated in that he continues to wage war, perhaps even more now, within his own mind. Like so many troops throughout history whose lives are merely chess pieces in the hands of military dictators, he is a solitary soldier trapped behind his bunker not so much lamenting his situation as he is accepting of it. He waits for the imminent death and decay (the dictatorial voice that continually interrupts his musings) that he knows must surely come rather than hoping, in vain as he sees it, for a way out. Yet despite the fact that Pink is doubtful of his fate and that his dictator persona resumes full control over his mind only a few verses into the song, the very presence and continual existence of this underlying authentic self hints at the potential for change and eventual rebellion over the worms of decay.

But for the time being the fascist takes over Pink's mind with his next phase of ethnic cleansing. Just as "In the Flesh" socially paralleled the first stages of Hitler's rule with the labeling of "outsiders," and "Run Like Hell" represented the next step, recalling Krystalnact and the removal of Jews into the ghettos, "Waiting for the Worms" symbolically depicts the final stage of the Holocaust, a period in which over 6 millions Jews and minorities were slaughtered by the ruling Nazi party. In the course of three songs, Pink's autocratic personality has moved from ethnic branding, to segregation, and finally to minority obliteration, spouting various phrases of "social purification" through a megaphone at his audience as the baritone voices of his followers punctuate his every decree with the foreboding "waiting." Fascist Pink has progressed beyond the ethnic slurs and threats of the previous songs; he now promises the wide-spread destruction of those who stand in his way, a promise that cements his transformation into the very despotic, oppressive forces that killed his father and stained his life from birth.

The Hitler / World War II parallels are as abundant as they are blatant, from "the final solution" referencing the slaughter of millions of innocents, the final phase in Hitler's ethnic cleansing, to "turn[ing] on the showers and fir[ing] the ovens," alluding to the gas chambers and large ovens that respectively killed and incinerated the bodies of countless Jews. Other dictators are referenced throughout the song, as well, such as the Blackshirts (also known as camicie nere or squadristi), referencing the fascist paramilitary groups comprised of nationalist intellectuals and former soldiers which Benito Mussolini used between the two World Wars to intimdate and often murder his opponents. Another fan known as Sagi also wrote that Pink's "fascist character might be based on a British politician… named Sir Oswald Mosely who established the British-fascist party. Their sign was a megaphone and some of his slogans can be recognized in 'Waiting for the Worms.'" Similar to the movie image of the three hanged men that alludes to a past of human corruptibility, "Waiting for the Worms," though written from a WWII slant, is nevertheless broad enough so as to reference the recurring decay of the human condition throughout history as a result of personal and social isolation. Accordingly, it is not a song specifically about Hitler or the tyranny of his oppressive regime, nor is it solely about Mussolini or Mosely or any one dictator. Rather, it is about all of these and more. It is a conglomeration of corrupted leaders and fascist ideas, a song that ceases to be about one person or leader or idea and becomes the universal force of oppression that has plagued the egotistical minds of men since the beginning of human history. It is the deceptive impetus by which one believes his nation is supreme over others ("would you like to see Britannia rule again?") or that a group can and should be segregated and annihilated because their ethnicity or beliefs differ from the ruling majority ("would you like to see our colored cousins home again?"). It is the hammer-like drive of creation by which nations rise and men are made famous just as much as it is the worm-like force of decay by which those same countries and men fall and are made infamous.

But ultimately it's this very force of oppression as well as the endurance of his true persona that snap Pink back to reality. Roger Waters says in his 1979 interview that as the drugs in Pink's system wear off, "he keeps flipping backwards and forwards from his real, or his original persona if you like, which is a reasonably kind of humane person, into this waiting-for-the-worms-to-come persona, which…is ready to crush anybody or anything that gets in the way." As the dictator shouts various unknown slurs and threats through the megaphone and the crowd chants "hammer" in unison, the feelings of oppression, isolation, hatred, and every other negative feeling associated with the wall culminate in a swirling, chaotic blend. Yet just as the frenzy reaches its climax, it is abruptly eclipsed by old Pink's final cry for freedom as he screams "stop," a singular command of action from the depths of his self-made prison that overthrows the preceding repressive turmoil. Old Pink has had enough and is finally ready for change.

Though much of the song is cut out in the movie, the sequence for "Waiting for the Worms" does a brilliant job at visually depicting the foreboding, oppressive tone of the album's track. While the song begins with Pink's theatrical farewell to the "cruel world," set over images of the fascist followers carrying the crossed hammer banners and constructing a stage in the middle of a street, the rest of old Pink's musings are excised and the song proceeds as his dictator self takes the platform with a black megaphone through which he announces his edicts. The rest of the abridged song cycles through various rioting shots, the animation sequence from "Goodbye Blue Sky" in which a fascist member bashes in the head of an innocent man, and the famous animated sequence of the army of hammers, marching synchronously with the crowd's "hammer" chant. Yet buried beneath the autocratic images that populate the screen are a few shots that, like the appearance of old Pink's rational voice at the beginning and ending of the album's song, show that the protagonist's true self is still extant and capable of redemption. As Pink sings of his entrapment at the beginning of the song, there is a brief shot of a group of concert fans trampling a Pink doll underfoot, followed by an image of that very same doll huddled against a grate. The symbolism of the scene is dark and ominous, showing how those who are often in the public eye are often thrashed by those they serve. In this case, in trying to live up to the godlike standards placed upon him by his followers, Pink has lost his individuality, his soul, and has become nothing more than a faceless doll. Yet at the same time, the very inclusion of this image is a welcome sight for the viewer, who has been absorbed by the unrelenting images of Fascist Pink's rule over the past two songs. If nothing else, these shots are a reminder that there is another, more rational Pink beneath the surface of this Nazi-like incarnation, one who continues to appear throughout the song's otherwise frightful visuals in brief glimpses, silently screaming for release. Like the album, this rational self finally finds his voice at the climax of the song, screaming "STOP" above the roaring crowd, the marching hammers, and the hate-filled cries of his soon-to-be dethroned dictator self.