Pink floyd's The Wall

Pink Floyd was an English band formed in the early sixties by Syd Barret, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Rick Wright. Early on in their career Pink Floyd established themselves as a psychedelic band and received a fair amount of success for their first works. Their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was highly successful and landed them the job of opening for Jimi Hendrix in 1967. (www.keno.org) It was on this tour that Pink Floyd’s lead singer/guit

While Pink sits dying in the chair the same maid from the beginning of the movie is trying to get in the chain locked hotel door. The song “Comfortably Numb,” begins to play as a manager, medics, and a cop break down the door and find Pink close to death on the chair. The song opens on a quiet tone but then grows louder and more complex as the confusion in the hotel room increases. The feeling and sound of the song is more of a progressive rock style than anything else. There is a high level of virtuosity from the members of the band and also a high level of production. The way strings are worked into the song is reminiscent of numerous Beatle’s and George Martin’s works. It is divided into two main parts that both tell the story of personal sickness and distance from others.

As the next song, “The Thin Ice,” begins the war has ended and the wounded are recovered. The beginning of this song is far from our standard rock and sounds similar to the Beatle’s “Yesterday,” containing mainly a piano and one voice. When the film turns from war to a scene of Pink’s room the song picks up a Motown sounding background beat that lightens the mood. Ironically, the lyrics at this point change from love to danger as Pink is shown floating in a pool. As the last lyric is spoken a metal guitar and heavy bass drum explode into the spotlight. The floating Pink begins to thrash as the pool water turns to a blood red (presumably his own blood) while Pink floats motionless in a corner.

The lyrics to “Comfortably Numb,” were one of the few written by band member David Gilmore. The sickness that he writes about can be interpreted a couple different ways. There is literal sickness which Gilmore personally suffered through as a child. There is also the drug reference of being comfortably numb, to be cut off from others and pain free. Lyrics of this double meaning nature were used by many artists at first to hide things from censorship and later as another way of expressing themselves. There are subtle references such as the Beatle’s allusion to LSD in the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Then there is the more obvious Bob Dylan reference to pot in the oddly titled “Rainy Day Women #12 & #35.” Today censorship has become diluted to the point that Cypress Hill can release a song titled “I Want to Get High,” and no one will think twice.

The song is ended by Pink’s scream as the film cuts to him in a bathroom stall. He is sitting on the floor reading words from a tattered notebook. He starts to sing the short song “Stop,” and this attracts the attention of a guard using the bathroom. The song ends just before the guard opens the stall door to check inside. This is the lowest time for Pink as he has suffered a total mental breakdown. The film then switches to an animated sequence as the song “The Trial,” is played. The song is hugely produced and sounds more like a full symphony than a rock song. The lyrics describe a court where Pink stands trial for harming others. His old teacher, his mother, and his wife all testify against him in this animated circus like court. As the judge begins to read the verdict the guitar becomes the front most instrument. It adds a harshness to the verdict and also makes the situation more intense. The judge finds Pink guilty and he sentences him to take down the wall. The wall that the judge is speaking of is the emotional one that Pink built to prevent himself from pain. He let the walls get to tall and they prevented him from getting close to anyone and eventually left him all alone.

The next scene in the movie is the most active and set to the song “Mother.” The song begins and ends with a bass drum that soun

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