Pink Floyd

[JONEZY]

Frank,

I have a suggestion, smoke a good amount of weed, along with a few beers or whatever your drinking pleasure is, put on the headphones and listen to "The Wall".

Now if that doesn't turn you on to Pink Floyd, nothing will.

Just a thought.

[frankwhite]

Frank,

I have a suggestion, smoke a good amount of weed, along with a few beers or whatever your drinking pleasure is, put on the headphones and listen to "The Wall".

Now if that doesn't turn you on to Pink Floyd, nothing will.

Just a thought.

y'know, u pretty much just made my point for me there dude

[Binge_And_Slash]

Comfortably Numb is written to be like a Doctor talking to a patient/injured soldier in a comatose.

It comes across quite well..

[LCG]

I've got the same problem with the Velvet Underground

Like Frank said, one of the best bands ever.

Amen. I love The Velvet Underground - one of my favorite bands

[UYIllusion]

I'd rather see Gilmour and Waters reunite and do a full tour then Axl and the original members of GNR. It was great to see them together at Live 8. I saw Waters at the Hollywood Bowl last year and it was amazing.

[stevGNR666]

try this frank: http://www.thewallanalysis.com/Intro.html

As mentioned before, "Comfortably Numb" begins as if in answer to Pink's final question at the end of "Bring the Boys Back Home." The moody bass, gradual drums, and wavering guitars build to the song's first line as if musically representing Pink's drifting consciousness and his hazy realization of being spoken to from both outside of his mental wall and inside his physical one, the hotel room. Curiously, though, the song begins with the questions of what is for now a total stranger, one who inverts Pink's last question by asking if there's "anybody in there?" referring to both the hotel room as well as Pink's comatose state. Quite possibly mirroring Pink's own state of mind, first time listeners are often confused as to just who is speaking. Is this another of Pink's hallucinations? Is this Pink speaking to himself? Is this a real person? It's hard to say if Pink even knows, but thanks to lyrical implications as well as Roger Waters's interviews, it's safe to assume that the new speaker is a doctor who, along with Pink's manager and others, has broken into Pink's hotel room in an attempt to try and revive him for that night's concert. As Waters states, the rest of the song becomes Pink's "confrontation with the doctor," with "confrontation" taking on both senses of its meaning. It is both a meeting between the two as well as a battle as the doctor attempts to reinvigorate the indifferent Pink who just might not be ready to be resuscitated. After all, his journey to reevaluate his "fading roots" is terminated almost abruptly with the intrusion of his manager and doctor having only just begun in "Vera" and "Bring the Boys Back Home."

The verses in the first part of the song do little more than detail the doctor's initial examination of Pink, testing his awareness of himself ("just nod if you can hear me"), his emotional situation ("I hear you're feeling down"), as well as other medical generalities ("can you show me where it hurts"). What is most interesting for me about the doctor's introduction lies in the irony behind his questions rather than what is actually said. As mentioned before, his first question ironically reverses Pink's main question since "Hey You." Asking if there's "anybody in there" could very well be what Pink has wanted to hear all along: there is someone "out there," and they are trying to get behind his wall and help him. Yet in another irony, the "help" the doctor ultimately brings is far from what Pink really needs. The doctor then asks if there's "anyone home," recalling, unbeknownst to him, Pink's earlier fixation on the ideas of home. It's questionable as to whether Pink is "home," that is fully cognizant at this time, or even if he is found "home" in the brief journey back into his mind. As if calling through the haze and muddle of Pink's brain, the doctor's wavering voice finally asks Pink to show him "where it hurts" in one of the verse's most blatant ironies. For Pink, the truth is that it hurts nowhere and everywhere. That is, the pain is not physical, not something that can be pointed out, poked at, and remedied. Rather, the pain is deeply seeded within his mind and quite possibly within his very being.

Perhaps in reply to the doctor's question, Pink tries to show the origin of his suffering as best he can through his mentally entombed and drug-dulled state. As if answering "where it hurts" and "nod if you can hear me," Pink sings in the vaporous chorus that "there is no pain / you are receding." It appears his wall has fulfilled its purpose in blocking out the emotion, the feeling, and the connectivity with life outside of the mind. All is dulled for Pink; all is distant like a ship's "smoke on the horizon," an image that is as enigmatic as it is eloquent. Some might argue that the line is nothing more than a metaphor, an image conveying Pink's feelings of isolation and helplessness, as if he is adrift on the sea with help visible but equally out of reach. Others might argue that it is a childhood memory, that Pink's mind is lapsing between the present and the past as a result of being interrupted from his regression by the manager and doctor. It's even possible that the mental picture symbolically portrays the root of Pink's disorder. Ship imagery was often used by Waters to convey the departure and sacrifice of English soldiers during World War II. Many examples of this can be found in Pink Floyd's followup album, "The Final Cut," in songs such as "Southhampton Dock," which lamentingly pictures the symbolic figure of England's innocence "bravely wav[ing]the boys goodbye again" as they disembark for the war from the harbor. Applying these same ideas to "Comfortably Numb" and Pink's story, it's easy to see how the ship on the horizon could symbolize Pink's father, having gone and died in the war and constantly hovering on the horizon of his son's mind. It is also interesting to note the oceanic implications in this and the next line, both with the ship and when the doctor's voice is "only coming through in waves." Keeping in mind that water is often a maternal symbol, the mother's overprotection of Pink is also implied in the image. It was also mentioned before that water is often a symbol of the mind as well, reflecting the multiple layers and unfound depths of the human psyche. By both readings, the water (Pink's mother / mind) intensify the root icon of the ship constantly on the horizon, ultimately producing the overwhelming sense of distance and isolation. It is the story of Pink's psychosis in a single line.

From here Pink regresses back into his mind and, more specifically, the childhood memory of being sick, as previously mentioned in the analyses of "Mother" and "Nobody Home." Many fans are puzzled by this sudden mentioning of some childhood illness which, until now, has remained unmentioned throughout the album, barring the movie version of "Mother" and the implications of the "swollen hand blues" in "Nobody Home." Though I wish I could provide more specifics about this illness, there is little information to go by in the song itself. But perhaps that is what makes Pink's story so universal, so applicable to everyone in this world. Nearly all of us have been sick, and many to the point of the disorientation Pink felt as a child. Listing specifics ("I, Pink, contracted a serious case of the flu when I was 13 years old, which lasted 4 weeks and…etc.") would not only detract from the ethereal quality of the song but also from the universality of Pink's story. When it comes down to it, we know all that we need to know. Pink was sick as a child and the only reason he recalls that memory now is because at the present moment, he is feeling similar effects to that illness many years past. While that which is causing his "hands [to feel] just like two balloons" (most likely drugs) differs from the cause of his adolescent ailment, the feelings of disorientation are the same. By one argument, this parallel between the past and present shows what little has changed. Sure, the innocence of Young Pink has been left in the dust of experience, but the raw emotion and the impression of being lost, isolated, and without an anchor are relatively the same. It's like the meeting between old and young Pink in the movie sequence for "Is There Anybody Out There?" except this time Pink realizes that relatively nothing has changed aside from the completion of his wall. In a way the wall becomes Pink's present illness. It is that which causes him to feel disoriented, to feel incapable of any connection, even linguistic, and which prompts him to simply state that he "can't explain [and] you would not understand."

In light of this parallel between old and young Pink as well as the rest of the album, his next cry that "this is not how I am" is generally read by some as ironic ignorance. The fact is that this IS how Pink is. He has been this way since he was a child and with the construction and completion of his wall, this is how he has remained. From what we've heard, Pink has nearly always been distant, uncommunicative, and disordered (at least from early adulthood).. While he might view his recent pitfalls as new developments in his life, the audience has the ability to see the story as a whole and thus conclude that these recent occurances are merely the recycled experiences of his past. Pink has been in this state before (as evidenced in the young / old parallel) and will continue to remain here until he destroys his wall and progresses into life without being "comfortably numb," that is without dulling the pain and past trauma by whatever means necessary.

Others, such as Floyd fans Ryan (AllB923) and Scott Gray interpret Pink' insistence that "this is not how I am" shows fleeting glimpses of sanity. Even though Pink has been numbed by both his wall and drugs and is slipping further and further into a demented state, there is still a part of him that recognizes the damage his self-isolation has done, a part of him that's calling out for help, saying "I know what it looks like from the outside world, but the real me is still here beneath this drug addict, rock star disguise." As Scott Gray writes, "The problem Pink had is that while many can and will wear a game face (a wall, so to speak), most of these people are also capable of dropping it and allowing others to know who is inside. Pink's wall, however, was so complete that there was absolutely no way for anybody to really get to know him, or for him to reach out to others...Pink recognized there was a problem. Unfortunately, he was too close to it to put his finger on it in any other way than simply saying 'this is not how I am'." A part of Pink knows that he is doing wrong, knows that he is harming others and doesn't want to be alone behind his wall. Yet by this time the "real" Pink (the one who still knows right from wrong) has also been buried by the bricks of life and is slowly being drowned out by all the things he originally used to try to find himself (all of his possessions, addictions, etc.). As fan Ryan comments, Pink is both "sane and numb from his wall at the same time."

And so an interesting dichotomy is highligted, one in which Pink is torn between self-realization and self-destruction, much like the beginning of the first "In the Flesh?" where his invitation to the audience to "find out what's behind these cold eyes" and to "claw through this disguise" can be read simultaneously as both a taunt from the facist persona, or a true call for help from the genuine, real Pink, asking for someone to help him find out who he really is. In short, despite the growing dominance of the dictator persona, Pink is still very much fighting an internal war: the corrupted wall-self he has turned out to be versus the potential open-self that he knows he can be.

and that's just a piece of it.

you're a smart fellow frank- this'll give you a good read.

[Spoon87]

Frank,

I have a suggestion, smoke a good amount of weed, along with a few beers or whatever your drinking pleasure is, put on the headphones and listen to "The Wall".

Now if that doesn't turn you on to Pink Floyd, nothing will.

Just a thought.

I never got that combination of Floyd and weed really. Especially with the The Wall movie.

I just don't get it!

That music is brilliant without crappy weed to numb your mind

Agreed.

Pink Floyd is way more than a sad excuse to smoke weed.

"Oh you know, I was listening to Dark side of the moon and I just HAD to smoke a joint, it's so trippy..."

Edited April 22, 2007 by Spoon87

[DCGNR]

Frank,

I have a suggestion, smoke a good amount of weed, along with a few beers or whatever your drinking pleasure is, put on the headphones and listen to "The Wall".

Now if that doesn't turn you on to Pink Floyd, nothing will.

Just a thought.

I never got that combination of Floyd and weed really. Especially with the The Wall movie.

I just don't get it!

That music is brilliant without crappy weed to numb your mind

Agreed.

Pink Floyd is way more than a sad excuse to smoke weed.

"Oh you know, I was listening to Dark side of the moon and I just HAD to smoke a joint, it's so trippy..."

You guys are missing out on a lot. I used to listen to Floyd to get through homework assignments in College, I listen to them while commuting, I listen to them while outside on nice day, a dark day, whatever - Beautiful music is Beautiful music -

[Chris Axl]

agreeing with Chris...

Yeah, im scared to

[metallic ko]

I agree with Frank. Pink Floyd are a crock of shit.

I cannot understand how anyone cannot like the Velvet Underground. One of the greatest bands ever x's a million.

[worldwideboss]

I agree with Frank. Pink Floyd are a crock of shit.

I cannot understand how anyone cannot like the Velvet Underground.

Pink Floyd are a whole lot better than the Velvet Underground. And I am a fan of both bands.

[metallic ko]

Well obviously I beg to differ.

Pink Floyd are boring, they can put someone in a coma.

Edited April 22, 2007 by renthispace

[Ashlar]

I completely agree with the people that say they are fucking shit. Scott Weiland has a better voice then the singer, and thats saying alot. I hate SW.

[worldwideboss]

I completely agree with the people that say they are fucking shit. Scott Weiland has a better voice then the singer, and thats saying alot. I hate SW.

You obviously know jack shit about them, because there wasn't just one singer in Pink Floyd.

[moreblack]

agreeing with Chris...

Yeah, im scared to

Oh I wasn't agreeing with you, I was shaking my head at the person who was.

As for Pink Floyd, may not be for everyone, especially if you like high energy music. But there's a lot more fans than haters... and even they come around eventually.

Edited April 23, 2007 by moreblack

[Ashlar]

ive heard the usual songs everyone has, baritone sleepy crap.