Pink Floyd - The Wall

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Pink Floyd's 11th studio album, The Wall is also their first album I listened to. I had been a fan of the songs 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Hey You' for quite some time but never listened to the album, and looking it up finally, it was a delight to find it was a concept album. Oh, my joy. It was back in 2016, my first year of college as a hospitality student. The first time I found myself listening to the album late at night, in one sitting, as it's intended to be experienced. I find myself coming back to it time and time again for the sheer brilliance of it. It follows Pink, a depressed rock star as he builds a symbolic Wall around him to isolate him from the world. I was particularly fascinated by the concept since I've always felt disconnected from everything around me. This seemed like THE album for me. Let's take a look at this masterpiece!

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Introduction

We are introduced to Pink, the protagonist of the album. In The Flesh? drops us at Pink's concert, and asks us if this wasn't what we expected to see when meeting Pink. And tells us that we'll have to "..claw your way through this disguise" to find out about him. The music then cuts out as a bomb is dropped from a plane, symbolizing the death of his father in World War II, and the first brick in Pink's wall. Pink is born. The Thin Ice begins with a crying Pink with his mother singing a lullaby for him. It then proceeds to criticize the modern life, and telling us how if we go skating on thin ice, it may crack.

Troubled Childhood

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Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 1 discusses the distance between Pink and his father, and how he is only a memory. Pink feels a disconnect with his father which are bricks in the wall.

The Happiest Days of Our Lives and Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 talk about the cruel teachers in Pink's school and how they crush the children's individuality. Even though they're not cruel anymore, I personally feel even today, schools don't let children be who they are and discover themselves. This cruelty contributed as more bricks in Pink's wall.

Mother showcases the relationship between Pink and his overprotective mother. She thinks she can protect him from the world, but it only ends up hurting him, as the song goes on to say "Of course, Mamma's gonna help build the wall".

Goodbye Blue Sky reinforces the trauma of the war and how it affected Pink, as it was to the war that he lost his father. "The flames are all gone but the pain lingers on".

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The Final Bricks

With all the bricks added to his wall, it becomes a familiar place for now an adult Pink, so much that in Empty Spaces he wonders how to fill up the remaining spaces in his wall.

In Young Lust Pink seems to throw himself into a persona he creates of a rock star, with his life filled with drugs and sex. At the end it is hinted that his wife is cheating on him, alas, another brick. One of My Turns explores an outburst Pink has when he invites a groupie to his apartment. I feel anyone with a ton of bundled up feelings is bound to have an outburst at some point, although I haven't had one in years, let's see when I erupt. :P

Don't Leave Me Now shows us Pink's desperate yet abusive side as he begs his wife to stay with him, but also talks about being abusive towards her. It really shows what a fit he's in, where he loves her but is angry with her for cheating on him. Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3 and Goodbye Cruel World talk about the final bricks and Pink secluding himself completely from the world, and inside the wall, and more literally, locked in his hotel room.

Hey You, Inside the Wall

We are immediately greeted by the melancholic yet iconic acoustic guitar intro to Hey You as Pink is inside the wall. Hey You is a cry to the outside world as he calls out for help. It is a very popular single, which is still revered today. Notably, it was used in a hilarious scene in the 2010 movie Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifinakis.

Hey You plays in a scene in Due Date. GIF credit: Gifer

In Is Anybody Out There? Pink looks at the wall, realizes how high it actually is, and how alone he is. He calls out to anyone who might be out there. Nobody Home sees him look at the different things he has with him, and how even if he tries to reach out, there doesn't seem to be anyone home to answer him. He remembers a singer Vera Lynn in Vera who sang during WW2 inspiring hope, and wonders what happened to Vera, the idea of blue skies again. In Bring the Boys Back Home we can hear war protests to bring the boys fighting wars back home,, but in the second half we hear the voices from the past inside Pink's head, owing to his drugged-up state inside his hotel room.

Comfortably Numb

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In Comfortably Numb, Pink is in his hotel room, in a different state when his band's management comes in his hotel room with a doctor to get him ready for the show. The song is a conversation between Pink and the doctor who gets him ready for the show with a pin prick, supposedly some kind of stimulant. Comfortably Numb was the first song I heard from The Wall, and my most favorite, as I have related with the numbness described as one feels when disconnected from the world, and it gives me goosebumps every time I play it! It has been labelled as a stoner song, however, I feel you don't need drugs to be, comfortably numb.

Insanity and Pink's Fascist Self

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The Show Must Go On sees Pink trying to perform the song with the different substances at war within his body. In the Flesh, now without a question mark, sees Pink in his crazed state adopt a fascist persona, symbolized by a hammer, looking at his fans and imagining getting them shot. Our Pink at this point can be seen as going insane. In Run Like Hell, Pink is seen to have another eruption, warning his fans to run away from his violent, insane self. It could also be interpreted as him running away back into his wall. The persona continues in Waiting for the Worms with the song starting in German, turning Pink into the same fascist dictator persona that got his father killed all those years ago in the war.

Self-Realization and Tearing Down the Wall

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In Stop, Pink suddenly stops to look at himself, and realizes what he has become, and wants to take off his uniform, his persona, and go home, exit the wall. He also wonders if he is the one who has been "guilty all this time". The Trial portrays an imaginary trial that happens inside Pink's brain, with prominent figures from his life appearing, as manifestations inside his brain; the schoolmaster, his wife and his mother, to present their case in front of the judge. For the first time we see Pink's mind opening up to the possibility that he was to be blamed for the creation of the wall. The judge declares him guilty of treating his 'exquisite' wife and mother poorly, and as punishment, to tear down the wall. However, it is not the worst punishment, since he was suffering inside the wall.

Outside the Wall talks about how your friends and loved ones are always there, walking up and down outside your wall, and how it is so hard to reach someone inside. I think the album ends on a beautiful note, telling us how there is help out there, we just have to reach and grab it, hold on to our loved ones!