Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) And Comfortably Numb – The Meaning of the Songs by Pink Floyd
So you have heard about the songs, Another brick in the Wall (Part 2) and Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. They are both terrific songs which come from the album ‘the Wall’ and are both itching to be played, especially with the great guitar solo of Comfortably Numb. Great! But maybe you can learn about what the songs are actually about. Well.. Lets get started.
Album ‘The Wall’
The Wall was made in 1979 and is heavily inspired by Roger Water’s experience in life, his parents and how he sees life in society. That is generally what both of the songs are about. However I shall explain in more detail.
Another Brick In The Wall (part 2)
Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2 was written by Roger Waters and started off by the fact that his mother was so obsessed with education. This is combined with his views of education and how he felt, himself and others were treated whilst attending school. With the bricks in the wall being that all students were perceived as the same, with nothing, and that they were being molded into society. You can see this in The Wall movie when students are passed along a conveyor belt and immediately dropped into a molding container. The graphics are quite intriguing I have to say. The views of this person, Roger, is portrayed as the character, Pink as seen in the movie.
The song was made as a single when Bob Ezrin approached the band with his view of including children singing in the background stating that it will become a potential hit when released. So the band approached a school in Islington and successfully acquired some students to sing in the background, “We Don’t Need no Education”. As we might have guessed, Roger Waters was extremely satisfied. When released, Another Brick In The Wall ended up as a hit single and it spent 8 weeks in the Billboard number 1 spot in the US and appeared number 1 in the UK too.
Comfortably Numb
The lyrics of Comfortably Numb refer to The Wall’s character Pink, arguably Syd Barrett. Pink Floyd’s former leader who is a burned out and drugged rock star who has passed out in his hotel room, being too drugged to perform. Because of what happened to Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd, many believe that the song and character was influenced by him. The verses, sung by Waters, are the words of the doctor treating Pink, while the chorus, sung by Gilmour, is Pink’s vision and thoughts whilst he is passed out answering questions about his feelings and reactions, etc, to treatment of being revived from his idle state. But answering only to himself.
There were many debates and arguments between Waters and Gilmour over the song with issues concerning the drum rhythm and Roger’s lyrics and probably most of the song. There were many arguments between the two during their times and Comfortably Numb boasts much of these arguments
What makes this song fantastic is the long and spine tingling guitar solo at the end. It just makes your day listening to it. It is personally the best guitar solo I have heard by a great guitar player, David Gilmour.
As of many, you may have listened to Another brick in the Wall (part 2), due to it being released as a single. I really recommend that you listen to Comfortably Numb too as it is more of a meaty song as many will agree.