The Wall

Album

CD One - In the Flesh? The Thin Ice Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 1 The Happiest Days of Our Lives Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 Mother Goodbye Blue Sky Empty Spaces  Young Lust One of My Turns Don't Leave Me Now Another Brick in the Wall pt. 3 Goodbye Cruel World

CD Two - Hey You Is there anybody out there? Nobody Home Vera Bring the Boys Back Home Comfortably Numb The Show Must Go On In the Flesh Run Like Hell Waiting for Worms Stop The Trial Outside the Wall

CD ONE

The Wall is mostly credited to Roger Waters. The album follows the rise and fall of a complex character and damaged rock star name Pink Floyd, and his transition from an innocent young boy to a man who is corrupted by the war, violence, sex, drugs, overprotective parenting, terrible education and unfaithful relationships. Here I take apart each of the 26 songs to tell the story of Pink Floyd's life, piece-by-piece. (This is mostly based on my interpretation).

The first song, In The Flesh? is welcoming a listener to Floyd's show. 

"So ya Thought ya Might like to go to the show To feel the warm thrill of confusion That space cadet glow Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine? Is this not what you expected to see? If you want to find out what's behind these cold eyes You'll just..."

He is introducing his act as 'unexpected', foreshadowing that he is experiencing a sense of isolation that can only be understood by the listeners later in the album.

The Thin Ice is where Pink begins to look back at his life, starting out as a baby:

"Momma loves her baby And daddy loves you too / Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice Appears under your feet You slip out of your depth and out of your mind With your fear flowing out behind you"

In these lyrics, the parents are warning their young and innocent son about the dangers of the modern world. 

The next song introduces a theme in Pink' life, which is the Wall. In the songs Another Brick in the Wall (part 1), Pink reminisces on the time when his father is killed in war, making him a 'brick in the wall' as he is one of many soldiers to violently die. However, the 'brick in the wall' is also describing that this event is one of many that create a psychological 'wall' in which Pink Floyd is isolated behind.

"Daddy's flown across the ocean Leaving just a memory The snapshot in the family album Daddy, what else did you leave for me? / All in all it was just a brick in the wall All in all it was all just bricks in the wall"

The Happiest Days Of Our Lives is a sarcastic title describing the days in which children spend at school. Many times, adults will refer to these days as carefree, when they are, in fact not. Rather, Pink describes them as a place where the cycle of cruelty is both born and continued, from teacher to student. The teachers, unhappy with their jobs and marriages, take out their misery on the students, who will later grow up to do the same. 

"When we grew up and went to school There were certain teachers who would Hurt the children any way they could"

Another Brick in the Wall (part 2) continues to described the corrupted education system as well as how it affected Pink and added more 'bricks' to his psychological wall. It also describes the students themselves as 'just another brick in the wall' which could be Roger Waters criticizing the school system for creating workers for the industry rather than encouraging creativity and innovation for young students. 

"We don't need no education We don't need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teachers leave them kids alone Hey, teachers, leave them kids alone All in all it's just another brick in the wall All in all you're just another brick in the wall"