Pink Floyd All the Songs
Page 57
Production
“Goodbye Cruel World” is faded in over the end of “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3).” Roger Waters rocks very slowly between octave Ds on his bass (tuned in drop D). The sound brings to mind the swinging of a clock pendulum, and, inevitably, the inexorable passing of time. Moreover, this idea is reinforced by two chimes (at 0:16 and 0:26). Rick Wright provides the only harmonic support, with synth pads produced on his Prophet-5. It is over this that Waters launches into his lead vocal after thirty-five seconds of intro. His voice is simultaneously solemn, resigned, and relieved. No sooner has he has uttered his last “goodbye” than a glacial silence prevails. In the live show, it is on this final word that the last brick is inserted into the wall.
Goodbye Cruel World is also the title of the eighth album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, which was released in 1984.
Hey You
Roger Waters / 4:42
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, vocal harmonies, six- and twelve-string acoustic guitars, electric rhythm and lead guitar, fretless bass
Rick Wright: organ, Rhodes Fender, Prophet-5
Roger Waters: vocals
Nick Mason: drums
James Guthrie: drill
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: September 1978–March 1979
Super Bear Studios, Berre-les-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes (France): April–July 1979
Studio Miraval, Domaine de Miraval, Le Val, Var (France): April–July 1979
Producers Workshop, Hollywood: September 12–November 1, 1979
Technical Team
Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters
Co-producer: James Guthrie
Sound Engineers: James Guthrie, Nick Griffiths, Patrice Quef, Brian Christian, Rick Hart
Genesis
Roger Waters had originally conceived of The Wall with “Is There Anybody Out There?” as the opening song of the third act. After Bob Ezrin pointed out to him that side three would not really work with that structure, the decision was made to start the side with “Hey You,” and this explains why the lyrics for the song were printed in the wrong place on the inner sleeve, that is to say at the end of the third side, after “Comfortably Numb.” “In fact,” explains Waters, “I think I’d been feeling uncomfortable about it anyway. I thought about it and in a couple of minutes I realised that ‘Hey You’ could conceptually go anywhere.”126 Thus the song opens the third act of the concept album, as Pink lies prostrate in his hotel room (until “Comfortably Numb”), sheltered by the wall he has erected, his only contact with the outside world now the sound of the freeway that reaches him through the broken window. The rock star wanted to cut himself off from the world, but now that he has achieved that aim, the solitude is weighing on him. This song, one of the most remarkable on the whole album—and one of the most important in terms of the storyline devised by Waters and Ezrin—is actually an appeal for help directed to anyone capable of understanding him and with the strength to battle to help him. Or is it simply Pink calling out to the world without any expectation of help (Hey you, don’t help them to bury the light, don’t give in without a fight)? In any case he cannot be heard because of the thickness and height of the wall he has erected. Another theory is that a part of Pink wants to be helped while another part of him does not. This schizophrenia becomes painfully obvious from this point forward, and the wall itself is a metaphor of the schizophrenic incarceration of the self. And the worms ate into his brain, writes Roger Waters. For the songwriter, worms, to which this is the first reference in the conceptual work, symbolize decay.
Roger Waters would also explain that “Hey You” was not merely a bottle desperately cast into the sea by Pink, but “a cry to the rest of the world,”126 a message of unity and harmony of more universal significance. Pink concludes the song with a flash of lucidity: Together we stand, divided we fall, but he very quickly sinks back into pessimism, and the song ends with the multiple repetition of the last two words: we fall. As Waters would explain: “At the end of ‘Hey You,’ he makes this cry for help, but it’s too late.”9
Production
“Hey You” is a real showcase for David Gilmour’s musical talent. As well as singing one of the lead vocal parts, he plays no fewer than five different types of guitar, including bass. He begins with arpeggios on his Ovation Custom Legend 1619-4, played in nonstandard “Nashville” tuning, which is often used by country musicians. Nashville tuning is also used in “Wild Horses,” the superb Rolling Stones song on the album Sticky Fingers (1971). The four lowest strings (E, A, D, G) are replaced by the corresponding strings (the finer-gauge ones) of a twelve-string guitar. Gilmour introduces a further variation, however, in which the bottom E (the sixth string) is identical to the top E (the first string). In order to reinforce the resulting crystalline sound, his Ovation was recorded by a Neumann U67 mic connected to an Alembic F-2B preamp and then played through Yamaha rotary speakers whose output James Guthrie captured by means of three mics positioned in front of each of the three individual speakers! Hence the incredible whirling sound. In the second verse (1:20), Gilmour introduces a Martin D12-28 twelve-string acoustic (doubled). He also plays various rhythm parts with Big Muff distortion on his “Black Strat.” Finally (from 1:58), he plays an excellent solo in which his use of string bending and the whammy bar lends his playing a unique character. An unusual thing about this solo is that it is based on the melodic motif of “Another Brick in the Wall,” as is the accompaniment played on two distorted rhythm guitars. Also, right from the intro (end of the fourth bar), Gilmour can be heard playing a good bass line on a Charvel fretless red sunburst P-bass, as he had previously done in “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” on Animals. When asked in 1992 if it really was him playing this part, he replied: “Yeah. Hmm. Roger playing fretless bass? Please! [laughs]”132 On top of all this, Gilmour also sings lead vocal in the first two verses, harmonizing with himself in the second.
Rick Wright contributes some good keyboard parts, firstly on the Fender Rhodes, with unmistakable phrasing, and then on the Hammond and Prophet-5. Meanwhile Nick Mason supports his bandmates from the second verse on with some powerful drumming with a clear sonority.
Roger Waters takes over the lead vocal in the bridge of “Hey You” (from 2:57) and in the final verse, singing in a strained and high-pitched voice. Separating the bridge from the final verse, however, is a short and curious instrumental section (from 3:21). We hear the famous “ping” from “Echoes” on the album Meddle, which resounds, ghostlike, six times, and the Prophet-5 is used to create a kind of swarming noise, reinforced by James Guthrie with an electric drill, in order to illustrate the last phrase of the bridge: And the worms ate into his brain.
“Hey You” was left off the movie soundtrack of The Wall when it was decided the accompanying footage was redundant.
Is There Anybody Out There ?
Roger Waters / 2:41
Musicians
David Gilmour: backing vocals, electric lead guitar (with wah-wah)
Rick Wright: Prophet-5
Roger Waters: vocals, bass
Bob Ezrin: synthesizers
Joe DiBlasi: classical guitar
Unidentified Musician: violin
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: September 1978–March 1979
Super Bear Studios, Berre-les-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes (France): April–July 1979
Studio Miraval, Domaine de Miraval, Le Val, Var (France): April–July 1979
Producers Workshop, Hollywood: September 12–November 1, 1979
Technical Team
Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters
Co-producer: James Guthrie
Sound Engineers: James Guthrie, Nick Griffiths, Patrice Quef, Brian Christian, Rick Hart
Genesis
This song might just as well be called “Pink’s Agony.” As in the preceding song, Pink is calling for help, and repeats the same phrase four t
imes: Is there anybody out there? A question to which the answer, for the time being, is “no.” Pink is alone, and is going to remain so…
Musically, this second track in the third act of The Wall is a real triumph thanks to the way it creates an oppressive atmosphere that compellingly reflects the feelings of alienation overcoming the rock star. Roger Waters has described this as a transitional piece.
Production
The track opens with the sound of a television channel being selected and dialogue from an episode of Gunsmoke (“Fandango,” to be exact). We also hear traffic noises that were recorded from the roof of the Producers Workshop by Rick Hart. These are the very same sound effects that can be heard in “One of My Turns,” establishing the same American motel atmosphere as the backdrop to Pink’s unfolding drama. A Prophet-5 synth pad is faded in, followed by chords almost certainly played on the ARP Solina, before Roger Waters’s lugubrious voice (doubled for the last words of the phrase, and with shortish reverb) asks the question: Is there anybody out there? The harmonies are dominated by spacious, crystalline sonorities from the Prophet-5, blending with a kind of extraterrestrial siren. Waters poses his question a second time, giving rise to the astonishing sound of seagull cries, the same ones that are heard on “Echoes.” Following the “ping” on “Hey You,” this is the second time the group has harked back to the masterly second side of Meddle. These birdcalls were created by Gilmour on a “Black Strat” plugged into his wah-wah with the connections reversed. The swarming noises heard on the bridge of “Hey You” then resurface, leaving Waters to repeat his question a third time. After this, the tension is suddenly dissipated by a change of key, giving way to some very fine backing vocals sung most probably by Gilmour alone. The seagull cries return furtively and Waters’s voice then rings out for one last time with, Is there anybody out there?
The second section differs radically from the first. Roger Waters came up with a subtle and melancholy arpeggiated part for classical guitar that should, of course, have been played by Gilmour. Gilmour’s attempt to play it having proved less than convincing, a classical guitar player named Joe DiBlasi was brought in under Michael Kamen’s supervision. “There’s a guy playing the Spanish guitar on ‘Is There Anybody out There’; I could play it with a leather pick but couldn’t play it properly fingerstyle.”133 This beautiful classical guitar passage is accompanied by the Prophet-5 and a violin sound presumably produced on the ARP. A bass joins in for eight bars from 2:07, and Joe DiBlasi ends the song with a real violinist playing a particularly melancholy tune (from 2:24). Flute sounds (produced on the Mellotron?) can also be made out at the back of the mix. The traffic noises then come to the fore again, and the sound of a sixties sitcom, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., playing on the television in the background, brings “Is There Anybody Out There?” to a close.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
The acoustic guitar part played by Joe DiBlasi was rerecorded for the soundtrack of Alan Parker’s movie.
Nobody Home
Roger Waters / 3:25
Musicians
David Gilmour: bass
Rick Wright: Prophet-5
Roger Waters: chant, VCS3
Bob Ezrin: piano
Michael Kamen: orchestration and conducting
New York Symphony: orchestra
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: September 1978–March 1979
Super Bear Studios, Berre-les-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes (France): April–July 1979
Studio Miraval, Domaine de Miraval, Le Val, Var (France): April–July 1979
CBS Studios, New York City: August 1979
Producers Workshop, Hollywood: September 12–November 1, 1979
Technical Team
Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters
Co-producer: James Guthrie
Sound Engineers: James Guthrie, Nick Griffiths, Patrice Quef, Brian Christian, Rick Hart, John McClure
Genesis
In a state of utter isolation and abandonment, Pink is reminded to make a kind of Jacques Prévert–like inventory of all the items he has at hand: a black book in which he writes poems, a toothbrush and comb… thirteen channels of shit on the TV to choose from, and a telephone that only adds to his suffering because there is never anybody to talk to on the other end. This idea of a nonexistent phone conversation is really a grim reflection on his wife, who has abandoned him for another man and is ignoring him. There is nothing, in other words, to stave off his boredom or help him out of his despair. At the end of the song, Roger Waters refers to fading roots. This is a new source of anguish given that Pink wants to reconnect with his roots at this point. “If you like,” explains Waters, “he’s getting ready here to start getting back to side one [of the album].”126
In this song, Roger Waters has projected onto Pink part of the experience and soul of Pink Floyd. “There are some lines in here that hark back to the halcyon days of Syd Barrett,” explains Waters to Tommy Vance, “it’s partly about all kinds of people I’ve known, but Syd was the only person I used to know who used elastic bands to keep his boots together, which is where that line comes from, in fact the ‘obligatory Hendrix perm,’ you have to go back ten years before you understand what all that’s about.”126 Roger Waters is referring here to Jimi Hendrix’s Afro, which was copied by numerous guitar heroes at the end of the sixties, including Eric Clapton and… Syd Barrett. Other references pepper the song, not least the small silver spoon on a chain, a utensil from which many a cocaine-loving rock star (including a certain Rick Wright) would not be separated for the world. There are also various other, reasonably precise, allusions to the Floyd keyboard player, notably the phrase Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains; this inevitably brings to mind “The Mortality Sequence,” Wright’s sublime composition renamed by the group “The Great Gig in the Sky (on the album The Dark Side of the Moon), featuring Mr. Rick Wright on the grand piano!
Production
This very beautiful Roger Waters ballad is another song that opens with television sounds, with the inevitable traffic noise in the background. The show we can hear is the continuation of the extract from Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. that began at the end of the previous track, “Is There Anybody Out There?” The particular episode being broadcast is called “Gomer Says ‘Hey’ to the President”! James Guthrie has explained that most of these extracts were recorded on quarter-inch tape, with a few exceptions that were captured direct on the twenty-four-track. “Nobody Home” is one of these exceptions. A little later, we hear a girl (or possibly a woman) screaming. And then a man shouting: Shut up!… I’ve got a little black book with my poems in!
Finally, after six seconds of dialogue, the music begins with grand piano played by the talented Bob Ezrin, accompanied by a weak rhythmic pulse that moves around the stereo field, probably a sequence programmed into the VCS3. Roger Waters comes in on lead vocal in the sixth bar and gives a superb performance. His voice is doubled by a soft mono delay that is present enough for the repetition of each word to be clearly distinguishable without becoming muddied. The strings of the New York Symphony, orchestrated and conducted by the excellent Michael Kamen at the CBS Studios in New York City in August, then make their magnificent entrance. The brass comes in soon after, supplementing the strings to create a rich and superbly rounded orchestral sound. Waters gives a very fine performance, adapting his emotions to the words. David Gilmour plays a reasonably discreet bass part (from 1:48), and in the third verse Rick Wright comes in with pad sounds on the Prophet-5, thickening the texture even further. Waters’s vocal reaches a climax at 2:51, his intense voice betraying extraordinary emotion, before sinking back into resignation with “There’s still nobody home,” a phrase to which, by some strange coincidence, one of the actors in the television series (which is still playing in the background) replies: Surprise, surprise, surprise!
In a 2009 interview, David Gilmour recalled that during preproduction for The Wall, Roger Waters would submit his demos
to the rest of the band for approval. In the event of rejection, he would come back the next day with an improved and often brilliant version. “Some of the songs—I remember ‘Nobody Home’—came along when we were well into the thing and he’d gone off in a sulk the night before and came in the next day with something fantastic.”116
Vera
Roger Waters / 1:34
Musicians
David Gilmour: bass, acoustic guitar
Rick Wright: Prophet-5
Roger Waters: vocals
Michael Kamen: orchestration and conducting
New York Symphony: orchestra
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: September 1978–March 1979
Super Bear Studios, Berre-les-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes (France): April–July 1979
Studio Miraval, Domaine de Miraval, Le Val, Var (France): April–July 1979
CBS Studios, New York City: August 1979
Producers Workshop, Hollywood: September 12–November 1, 1979
Technical Team
Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters
Co-producer: James Guthrie
Sound Engineers: James Guthrie, Nick Griffiths, Patrice Quef, Brian Christian, Rick Hart, John McClure
Genesis
Roger Waters had originally envisaged opening The Wall with “We’ll Meet Again,” a composition by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles that was a huge success for the British singer Vera Lynn on the eve of the Second World War. The performer from London, who presented a radio show called Sincerely Yours and gave concert after concert in order to boost the morale of the troops, became a big star during these anxious, uncertain years. “We’ll Meet Again” also became the emblematic song of RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain.