Why I love The Wall

[Cail]

When I was growing up, the music in my house was relatively antiseptic. John Denver, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, Don McLean. I'd heard Led Zeppelin and liked it, but wasn't really encouraged to listen to it. The most mainstream stuff I listened to was Peter Frampton.

In late '79 or so I heard Another Brick in the Wall Part II, and it was a life-changing experience. It was the first time I'd heard angry music. As an 11-year old kid, I liked the anti-school message.

Then I went to California.

My parents split in '76, dad moved to Sunnyvale in '77. I didn't deal with this really well, as the only time I saw my dad was over summer break when my mother would unload my brother and I for two months.

The summer of 1980, KSJO, KOME, and KMEL played the living crap out of The Wall....Practically the whole album. I didn't totally get the intent of the lyrics, but I damn sure got this....

Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me?!?
All in all it was just a brick in the wall.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.

Dad didn't exactly fly across the ocean, but he was living on the opposite coast from me. This passage cut right through me and spoke to me. I was hooked.

Then I heard this....

Hush now baby, baby, dont you cry.
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true.
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you.
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She wont let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm.
Ooooh baby ooooh baby oooooh baby,
Of course mama'll help to build the wall.

Holy shit. I didn't know who these people were, but they obviously knew me. The angelic counterpoint of the way this verse is sung compared to the questioning verses (I thought it was a single singer at the time), just got me. And the guitar. Dear God, the smoky, bluesy solo from ABitW was one thing, but the airy, coddling one from Mother was from another world.

I can pick lyrics out of this album left and right that spoke to my sense of isolation and not belonging...

But it was only fantasy.
The wall was too high,
As you can see.
No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain.

...To a call to matricide, especially with the guitar following this line..

Open your heart, I'm coming home.

...to general emptiness...

I've got wild staring eyes.
And I've got a strong urge to fly.
But I got nowhere to fly to.

And speaking of emptiness, the simple acoustic guitar in Is There Anybody Out There? is the sound of empty. At the lowest points of my life to this day, that's what I hear in my head.

Yes, I was probably a prime candidate for shooting up a school or something.

I've heard plenty of criticisms of The Wall over the years, mostly concerning the amount of "filler" on the album. Bullshit. There isn't a wasted note or word on this album. Dave Gilmour's guitar and voice are absolutely perfect. The counterpoint between the two solos in Comfortably Numb are simply stunning. The second solo is balls-out fury.

As life as gone on, and I've come to understand the point behind the album, I don't care. Dave, Roger, Rick, and Nick wrote this album for me.

I just felt like writing. Write what you like, whether it's about The Wall or about the album that speaks to you.

[Worm of Despite]

Yes, I was probably a prime candidate for shooting up a school or something.

Welcome to the club! But yeah: The Wall has some massive, broad appeal. I certainly can tune in with Waters and his feeling of dejection/helplessness, despite being a powerful figure in the music industry.

He had everything, yet the bugger was still depressed (or at least acerbically cynical). Sometimes I get down, despite all the blessings about me (people constantly remind me that I've got "true feeling"/"gifts"). Times like that makes The Wall really speak.

I've heard plenty of criticisms of The Wall over the years, mostly concerning the amount of "filler" on the album. Bullshit. There isn't a wasted note or word on this album. Dave Gilmour's guitar and voice are absolutely perfect. The counterpoint between the two solos in Comfortably Numb are simply stunning. The second solo is balls-out fury.

I felt the album had filler initially, but it took a few listens to truly appreciate each tune. And you're right: every single one, despite not being as hook-filled or tuneful as "Another Brick", have their place in The Wall.

Not sure if you have, Cail, but check out the PULSE version of Comfortably Numb. Gilmour called it his best solo, and I tend to agree.

[Lord Mhoram]

Good post. I also love The Wall, but never related to it personally. But I have had similar moments with other works of music. It's a great feeling when you're a teenager especially. Like LF says, I think one reason Waters was such an effective lyricist was that not only were his lyrics personal to him, but they had and still have personal appeal for a lot of people.

[Menolly]

I love The Wall musically, but at 19 when it was released, I think I was already too content with life to appreciate the emotions expressed.

As I lost each of my parents to one form of cancer or another before the next decade was up, there was other music that spoke to me at that time though. Perhaps that's why my preference in rock doesn't go much beyond The Wall. I still enjoy new releases from my favorite groups, but my musical taste is definitely mostly stuck in the late '60s through '81 (when Mom passed) or so, unless it's stuff like Tangerine Dream or David Arkenstone, with the rare group breaking through now and again.

[amanibhavam]

What is amazing about the perfectness of the record is the way they arrived there. If you listen to the demo recording they did halfway through the creative work (it can be found under the name "Under Construction"), it's all there, but raw, ragged, unpolished, still powerful and enjoyable.

But that is the way with PF - listen to the early versions of Dogs or Sheep ("You Gotta Be Crazy" and "Raving and Drooling" were the working titles), you'll be amazed by the changes.

[Cail]

Personally, I think Gilmour's best solo is the Delicate Sound of Thunder's version of Sorrow, but his take on Comfortably Numb's solos on Pulse were quite good.

Looking at my post in the light of day, I'm a bit embarrassed, but I stand by it; The Wall is perfect to me.

[dlbpharmd]

Don't be embarassed, it's a great post.

As an 11-year old kid, I liked the anti-school message.

This was the key for us way back then

We don't need no education

The solos for "Hey You" and "Comfortably Numb" will always stand out for me (it's no accident that CN has been voted best guitar solo ever.)

[danlo]

Not much to add expect the live versions of Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell are two of the greatest pieces of music out there. I'm also very glad that I saw the movie totally sober. I'd already been through enough changes and my crazy days were over by then-if I had take a certain "mood alterer" I don't think I'd ever be the same.

[Menolly]

I'm also very glad that I saw the movie totally sober. I'd already been through enough changes and my crazy days were over by then-if I had take a certain "mood alterer" I don't think I'd ever be the same.

*vigorously nodding*

[matrixman]

Excellent post, Cail. Your musician background allows you to describe the particulars of why a certain passage moves you, and I envy that. I have zero musical training, so when I try to say why I like a certain piece of music, I can only do so in a clumsy, vague way.

I saw the movie of the Wall at the theatre sometime in the '90s. It was a midnight viewing, and it was a memorable film experience. The haunting imagery combined with the music was extraordinary.

Other bands and some other songs have spoken to me more personally about feelings of emptiness and alienation, but you're absolutely right about the anger of Another Brick In The Wall Part II. That song galvanized me, too, when I first heard it.

[Cail]

I haven't watched the film in well over a decade. It's not bad, especially the animation during Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?, but overall it just doesn't do much for me. Which I credit entirely to my initial take on the album.

I would be curious to see it if there's a commentary track from the band.

[Menolly]

I only saw the movie once, in the theater upon initial release.

It was...enough.

[Cagliostro]

Yeah, I was in grade school when the album came out, and I remember marching around school with me mates singing "We don't need no education" as I'm sure so many did. I bought the single of that, which had One Of My Turns on it. I remember really liking the B side more than the A side after a while. It always held a bit of a mystery for me.
Then when the movie came out, I was in middle school, and my sister and I went to see it. She is older, had the album, so on and so forth. She said that it was okay, but just so full of symbolism. I didn't know what she was talking about.
A year later, I picked up the album used. I listened the hell out of it, as I was a pretty depressed youth, especially in those days as all my friends were going to another school, and pretty much everyone I knew and liked I barely saw. The friends I made were total creeps. I embraced this album in that same way you hear people in the 50's embracing rock & roll. "THIS IS MINE!!!!! FOR ME!!!!"
The movie was one of the first that I got on VHS, and I watched the hell out of it. I met other friends who felt the same way about it, and basically agreed nobody could talk during the movie. HAD to be watched silently. Later I found out who Bob Geldof was, enjoyed the Boomtown Rats quite a bit, and remembered, that hey...he's that guy who did Live Aid. I cheered up and The Wall didn't speak to me as much. The Final Cut, new purchased, however, did. But later read Geldof's autobiography and he became my favorite human.
Recently, a friend introduced me to Luther Wright and the Wrongs album "Rebuilding the Wall." So funny at first, as it is a bluegrass version with slight lyric changes here and there to make it more hillbilly, and done really well, including all the weird bits we all can repeat in an instant. Then listening to it several times made me realize that yes, this is indeed a brilliant album, and the things this bluegrass version does really brings it through. I must admit that some of the guitar solos sound pretty "standard" to me, like Gilmour (right?) developed a solo and kept playing mild variations through the album and the Final Cut. Still, good stuff. But I agree with Cail that the acoustic solo in Is There Anybody Out There is something special, and I'd probably still say that is one the best pieces of music not only of the entire album, but maybe of all time. Just astounding, and Luther Wright and the Wrongs do it complete justice as well. If you don't listen to the entire album, just at least check out that bit.

Umm..whew...rant over. Sorry folks.

[Mortice Root]

I've been a PF fan for quite a while (20 years... God that sounds like a long time) and for me, it was usually Gilmour's guitar that spoke to me and kept me coming back for more. Probably something about the universality (is that a word? sorry) of emoting through music as opposed to lyrics. And The Wall certainly has some of his strongest playing on it.

But, when Waters was "on", lyrically speaking, he was "on" and IMO the lyrics of Wall and Final Cut are the best he ever did with PF. "One of My Turns" is probably one of my favorites.

Day after day, love turns grey
Like the skin of a dying man
Night after night we pretend it's alright
But I have grown older and
You have grown colder and
Nothing is very much fun, anymore.

And I can feel one of my turns coming on
I feel cold as a razor blade
Tight as a tourniquet
Dry as a funeral drum

God that's good. One of the things that strikes me about a lot of Water's stuff is how I get different things out of it, the older I get. I think that's something that's true for a lot of good art, in whatever form. It resonantes differently with you, the more life you experience. It makes it always fresh, in a way.

[Cail]

I've been a PF fan for quite a while (20 years... God that sounds like a long time) and for me, it was usually Gilmour's guitar that spoke to me and kept me coming back for more. Probably something about the universality (is that a word? sorry) of emoting through music as opposed to lyrics. And The Wall certainly has some of his strongest playing on it.

Yes! That's exactly it. There's just something about his playing that.......I dunno, transcends whatever he's playing on. He did a lot of session work in the '80s, and his playing lifted the stuff he was on ("No More Lonely Nights" is a perfect example of this; crap song with a great solo).

Here's a perfect example. I love the album Animals, but I'd be hard pressed to transcribe more than a few lines of the lyrics. The music, on the other hand, is etched in my brain. The band was able to convey the emotion of the song through the music, far more than the lyrics ever did (with obvious exceptions). On Animals in particular, David and Roger could have just been repeating, "Spaghetti" over and over again, and I doubt I'd like the album any less.

[Mortice Root]

Yup. Couldn't agree more about "No More Lonely Nights" and Animals.

Have you ever heard Gilmour's solo stuff? The first two ("About Face" and the self-titled one) I found actually a little disappointing. They were good, and all, but .... I just didn't think there were many of those "transcendant" moments that I was hoping to hear. His latest, "On An Island", on the other hand, I thought was fantastic, on par with most of his later-day PF stuff.

[Cail]

His first solo album didn't do much for me. I love "About Face". It's very much a product of the '80s and the Cold War, but I still listen to the entire LP regularly.

I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't picked up "On An Island" yet.

[Mortice Root]

Hmm... You really liked "About Face" that much, huh? Admittedly, it's been a while since I listened to it. Maybe it's time for a re-evaluation. But if you do get the chance, pick up "On An Island". You won't be disappointed.

[Cail]

Yeah, I really did/do. A lot of people really criticize it due to the '80s production and the Cold War themes, but I look at it as a time capsule. David's singing is arguably some of his best ("Out of the Blue"), and "Murder" is as good as anything else he's done.

[amanibhavam]

On a side note: the current issue of the Mojo magazine sports a set of interviews and articles dealing with Syd and the early years of Pink Floyd. The apropos is teh 40th anniversary reissue of the Piper album. They are really really good and finally several people acknowledge my pet peevee, i.e. Rick Wright's excellence and huge contributions to teh first half of PF's output.