+ Changed since last version
* New since last version
This Document Copyright 1994, 1995 by the Echoes Mailing List and its Members For questions on distribution, contact: echoes-faq@fawnya.tcs.com
There have been several reported problems with the CD of TFC, all of which deal with where the title track begins. The three versions we've been able to isolate have the following "features":
For finally tracking down the solution to this vexing problem, we are forever in the debt of Scott Plumer:
This was noticed just recently, and basically surprised everyone that they hadn't noticed it before (I know I was surprised). In "Your Possible Pasts," there is the following stanza:
By the cold and religious we were taken in hand
Shown how to feel good and
told to feel bad.
> Tongue tied and terrified we learned how to
pray
> Now our feelings run deep and cold as the clay.
And strung out
behind us the banners and flags
Of our possible pasts lie in tatters and
rags.
The two lines with ">" on them were not sung on the album.
[From Steve South:]
During the First World War, the fields of Flanders
were dug over. Not by farmers, but by trench digging, shell and mortar fire,
etc. Now it is a curious thing, but the seeds of the red poppies found in Europe
can lay in the ground for years without germinating, and then grow after the
ground has been disturbed. Consequently, sometime after the battles, the sites
of devastation were transformed into a blaze of colour.
The poppy has become a symbol of that time. Every November, when Americans celebrate Memorial Day, the British have Rememberance Day. Poppy wreaths are laid at the memorial to the Unknown Soldier etc. etc. A national charity collects money for vetarans by selling artificial poppies -- wearing a poppy shows that you remember and that you gave. The same thing happens in the US, for Memorial Day.
It also does have something to do with morphine. Poppies are also a symbol of relief from life's pain, and have been since long before WWI.
[...and more, from Helen Bransfield:]
IN FLANDERS FIELDS by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on
row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing,
fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset
glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we
throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who
die
WE SHALL NOT SLEEP, THOUGH POPPIES GROW
IN FLANDERS FIELDS.
Pink Floyd's The Final Cut made use of a special encoding process that allows the simulation of "three-dimensional" sound, called "holophonics." This was also adopted by Roger Waters for his Pro's and Cons album; while on Amused to Death, he used a somewhat similar mixing process called QSound. Both are explained below...
[From a posting by David Schuetz:]
By the way, has anybody really noticed the "huge improvement" in sound staging produced by Mr Zuccarelli and his labs? If so, explain what's so special.
I noticed it. It really does give a certain amout of imaging, around you rather than just between the speakers. When Waters did his Pros & Cons show on the radio in 1985, he did an introduction where he walked to a timpani, struck it with his fingernail, and then said "If I ask you to point where that timpani came from, [here I pointed over my right shoulder] and if you don't point over your right shoulder, then we're in trouble." It was impressive.
As for just what it is, they were very secretive. They had "ringo the holophonic microphone." The process was based on holography, but of an audio form (you can do holography with any wave-based phenomena). The theory was that there were high frequencies generated by the ear (and some people have been shown to "generate" some frequencies from time to time), and that sounds interfere with these frequencies, and the interference pattern is what we interpret. So, what holophonics is is a conversion of sounds directly to that interference pattern.
Now, the fact that this sounds like a crock is immaterial, because it does work. So, just what is it? Most (including myself) believe it's just a form of binaural recording. That "ringo" is probably just a dummy head with microphones where the ears are. And when you listen with headphones, your ears are right where those microphones were, and you hear it as if you were actually there. Binaural is fantastic fun, and I wish more people would work with it. It's a shame, though, that Floyd/Waters got duped into believing that Zuccareli's process was anything special....
Roger's Amused to Death (and a number of albums from other artists) use the QSound mixing system. It essentially allows sound to be positioned anywhere within a half-sphere around the listener. Roger himself explains how it works in the following interview (from Rockline, Feb. 8, 1993):
It divides any signal into a left and right component...(so it works with any stereo system), and it introduces minute delays at different frequency levels into left and right components to make your brain think that the sound is coming, not from in front of you -- from the two speakers -- but from in any one of a number of other positions around you. But you have to be sitting right between the two speakers, I mean exactly -- to within like an inch or an inch and a half [on] either side of the central perpendicular axis. And it is an amazing effect...
The single for "Not Now John" (obscured) came with the album version of "The Hero's Return" and what was basically an additional verse to the song, called "The Hero's Return part II." The lyrics go something like:
Jesus Christ, I might as well be dead
If I can't see how dangerous it must
feel to be
Training human cogs for the machine
Without some shell-shocked
lunatic like me
Bombarding their still soft shores
With sticks and stones
that were lying around
In the pile of unspeakable feelings I'd found
When
I turned back the stone
Turned over the stone
Of my own disappointment
back home
The following is taken mainly from Schaffner's "Saucerful of Secrets" book, with additional pieces and support from other books, interviews, and articles.
And I think that's about it... I ignored several issues (Ezrin and Wright's involvement, "the record company meeting," etc.) that I don't think are legally relevent -- info on them can be found in the articles and interviews at ftp.halcyon.com. The degree to which they're morally relevent, and the question of whether reviving Pink Floyd was "good," are matters I leave to your judgement...
Well, it's not on the album, and since RoIO's aren't always all that great, it's hard to be sure exactly what the lyrics were. But here's a pretty close approximation:
Ooh Babe, where ya been?
You bring back the feeling
the flavor of damp
teenage skin
and hot afternoons by the river
spent crushing the
clover
I said "Lie down, roll over
I wanna go back there again"
Oh
baby, sweet Fassbinder lady
ooh, where ya been?
Also, during several shows after "Sexual Revolution" they did an additional bit, mainly the line "let's go to the country" repeated several times.
"Fixed on the front of her Fassbinder face was the kind of a smile
that only a rather dull child could have drawn while attempting a graveyard in
the moonlight."
Fassbinder is a German playwright/filmmaker. He's been called "artsy," "grim," and "simplified." The line could refer to the kind of leading lady that he'd use in a movie, or perhaps it means "grim/mournful."
[From a posting by Marshall Wood:]
Regarding Yoko Ono, I read an interview with Roger somewhere where he said that those lyrics had been inspired by a dream that the drummer on the album had had (that would be Andy Newmark, I guess?). In Andy's dream, said Roger, he was standing on the wing of an airplane ("standing on the leading edge, the eastern seaboard spread before my eyes") and Yoko Ono was telling him to jump. Personally, I don't tell people when I have dreams like this... :-)
There are some differences between the respective lyrics sheets. For one thing, the British version has the characters who say each bit listed, but the CBS version does not. This is from a posting by Dave Cowl:
Type of difference British EMI US/Japan CBS
Extra Surgeon:"Drill" drill
Man:"Oh God!" Wake up..
Extra Wife:"What border? Uh, what border
Go back to sleep"
Extra bit after Arabs Arab:"Don't cut the
with knives woman Mohammed,
I want the woman"
Extra line You've got to admit
it was wrong what
you did.
Difference oder drinken Mehr Ha.. oder drinken bier, ha..
Extra from Clerk Room Clerk:"Goodnight
Keys bit Sir"
Extra in Stay with Me! Woman:"No...I'm sleeping"
Bit
Lost bit 4 lines of Sexual
Revolution Missing
Extra (Thunder)
Difference And trailed our.. And we trailed our..
Extra ..gets two presents"
(Man pauses to light
a joint)
Difference Jump says Yoko Jump says Yoko Ono
"Oh No!..
Extra Trucker:"Hey ...Turn
the fucking Juke Box
Down"
Difference In the company of has In the company of
beens In bent backs has beens and bent
In sleeping backs and sleeping
Under tube trains in Under tube trains and
commuter accidents commuter accidents
Difference On loading ramps On unloading ramps
Difference Then the moment of And the moment of
clarity. clarity
I thought this would be of interest. The most amusing part is that in the music book, the listed lyrics are the British ones, but the words against the music are the CBS lyrics. Weird, huh!
The cover is pretty easy to decipher--it says:
ROGER WATERS RADIO KAOS WHO NEEDS INFORMATION THE POWERS THAT BE HOME THE TIDE IS TURNING RADIO WAVES
The morse code at the beginning and end of the album, however, is harder to decipher, and supposedly contains a deleted verse from "The Tide is Turning." Here's what we've been able to figure out, from Douglas Whisler and David Truckenmiller:
Start: /..|-|..-|.--|-.|..|-.|--.|...|-.?--|(.-..)
End: --|.-|-.-.|....|---|-...|..-|.-..|.-..|...|....|..|-|.-|-.|-..|
--|.|-..|..|---|-.-.|.-.|..|-|-.--|---|....|-|..|-.-|.|..?../
Start: I TUWNING SYL
(turning Sylvester)
End: MACHO BULLSHIT AND MEDIOCRITY OH TIKE H
(tide)
See the next question for an explanation...
There was supposed to be another verse to this song, but it was removed because Waters was worried about lawsuits. He did, however, sing part of it (the last two lines) during some live concerts. The lyrics are:
Now the past is over but you are not alone
Together we'll fight Sylvester
Stallone
We will not be dragged down in his South China Sea
of macho
bullshit and mediocrity
This is also who Waters refers to later in the song when he sings "The tide is turning, Sylvester."
This is taken from Q&A in TAP (#53):
According to "Psycho Pink" Eric Wayne Morrison (Colorado Springs), it's "...back to the beginning" and "That's...".
That's Nick Mason, who recently received a pilot's license. I believe that David Gilmour is his co-pilot. The conversation is an actual conversation between Nick and the tower, during one of his first solo flights.
Roger liked the KAOS concept so much that, during a break in the KAOS tour, he began writing material for a new album about Billy and Jim, to be called "Amused to Death."
The album was rumored to be ready for release in early 1989, and included a Gerald Scarfe cover that depicted three familliar musicians drowning in a giant martini glass. But the album was reportedly rejected by the record company, and later on by Waters himself.
What happened next is a matter of speculation. In a Rockline interview at the time of ATD's release, Waters said he had been putting the songs together for the past four or five years (interuppted, presumably, by his work on the "Caira" project). Another article notes that most of the album was written and conceived before the Gulf War. So one might assume that at least some of the KAOS 2 material was worked into the new, "TV-concept" Amused to Death. But we don't know for sure...
Some time ago, Penthouse magazine printed an interview with Roger Waters in which some lines of "Amused to Death" were printed. The lyrics survived unchanged to the release of the album, so there's nothing special to report here.
The voices in ATD of somebody trying to rescue a comrade are those of Alf Razzell, a WWI veteran. Here's a (small) bit of background to his story (appparently from the same TV special from which Waters took the sound bites):
Alf Razzell had the job af collecting the dead soldier's pocket-books, whatever they are, (some kind of ID thing I expect) and usually the corpse had to be rolled over to get it out of the top pocket. You would then see why the man had died. There were guys with empty brain cavities, faces blown off, limbs blown off and half the time he was walking through intestines of dead men.The Germans picked up Alf and took him to the trenches where he found Bill. The Germans would not help at all. Bill had a large hole in his back exposing his intestines and it was dirty with oil, chalk and all kind of shit from the trenches. The Germans wanted Alf to take him back and to be quick about it but due to the injuries Bill couldn't stand it and with the Germans getting impatient and abusive, he decided that he would have to leave him behind. Bummer.
Its not all that gory. Alf looks in pretty good condition for a 90 odd year old. He reckons war is completely unnecessary. At the end of any war, everyone sits around a table and comes to some agreement. Why don't they do that before the war instead?
It's really (REALLY) difficult to decipher. I've managed to sample this thing into my computer (but with some distortion since I was connecting a line out into a microphone in, but that's another story). [if anyone's got a good 44.1kHz stereo 16-bit sample, I'd love to see it!] Anyway, here's what I've been able to decipher, so far [along with further information from Piet de Bondt]:
July [pause] however [pause] in the light and visions of the [very soft] issues of sterling [pause], we have changed our minds. We have decided to include a backward message [pause] Stanley [pause] for you [pause] and all the other [dramatic pause] geek partners. [pause] [very loud, noisy, screamed sentence][end of song (well, actually the beginning, but we're backwards, now, remember?)]
The story goes like this: Waters had asked Stanley Kubrick if he could use some lines and "breathing effects" from his "2001: A Space Odyssey" film on the album. Specifically, Waters wanted to include the part about HAL's shutdown [from the ATD songbook]:
HAL: Dave, my mind is going...I can feel it...I can feel it...My mind
is going...There is no question about it...I can feel it...I can feel it...I can
feel it...I'm afraid...
Mr. Kubrick refused. So Waters dubbed in his own breathing effects, and recorded a nasty message for Kubrick's benefit. Heaven only knows if he's heard it, or more importantly, if he cares.
[translation courtesy of Fady Alajaji:]
Some of the phrases were really hard to grasp because they were being spoken very quickly in the background of the high tempo beating drums.
Anyway I tried my best and here is the translation (although not very accurate) of what I could grasp: 1) At the end of the song, while Roger is singing the following:
"And in Tripoli, another ordinary wife [....] in the street
below"
a woman is shouting in the background in egyptian arabic. Apparently she is complaining to her husband and blaming him for her sufferings. Her words run as follows:
".... And then what !!!! why don't you ever help me ? you all the time leave me alone at home and go join your fat friends in your endless useless discussions....I work for you and your family from dawn to dusk, and you don't give a damn !
I badly need to rest, I just wish the devil's angel will soon come and take me with him......"
2) Then the beating drums start, and here everything is very chaotic. There are different voices in the background. I was able to distinguish a TV (or radio) commentator talking (but I can't get what he's saying) and at the same time there is a crowd shouting slogans in arabic. I could not grasp all their words. This what I could get:
"..... is Great;.......is Great; God is great........ Death, Death , Death to the ..... (imperialists ?)..."
I am not sure if the last word is "imperialists". Anyway you get the meaning. I think it's kind of a demonstration of fundamentalist muslims. However I'm not really sure.
3) At the end of the beating drums, right before the missile explosion, the voice of the TV commentator becomes more clear, and he says the following:
".....his days are rarely spent at home....as for her, she stays alone, she stays alone at home..... while all the men are out gathered at the squarre, she's left to loneliness and (oblivion ?)................BBBBBOOOOOOOOUUUUMMMMMMM"
That's it folks. I want to point out that this translation is not completely accurate, and it's not completely word by word. Arabic cannot be translated word by word into English because it won't make any sense. However, overall I think the translation is 90% accurate.
By the way I think Roger got these arabic phrases from an Egyptian movie and mixed them into his song. I am certain the arabic is Egyptian arabic and not Lybian arabic as it was meant to be ; since this song is supposed to be about the bombing of the Lybian capital, Tripoli.
[With much help from Adam Floro:]
In general, he just doesn't like ALW's music, and doesn't mind saying so. But specifically, there's a section of Webber's Phantom of the Opera that bears a marked similarity to a part of "Echoes." The opening notes to the "Overture" of Phantom (Track 2, Disc 1) are C# C B Bb A C#. This matches rather closely a section of "Echoes," approximately 6:06 to 6:16.
While Waters was less than pleased with this similarity, it has been pointed out that such a chromatic pattern is fairly common; by no means a Floyd invention.
Television. Specifically, a book by Neil Postman, called "Amusing
Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business."
It's apparently a very well-received book, and worth reading. Publishing information, for anyone interested:
(cloth: New York: Viking, 1985; ISBN: 0670804541)
(paper: New
York: Penguin, 1986; ISBN: 0140094385)
It really depends. The MLOR and TDB tours made LOTS of money, as you can see below. The Wall tour, however, lost money in a big way. And, as happens to many mega-successful entertainers, the Floyd have made their share of bad investments. But the following two tables are presented to give an indication of at least what league they're in. (taken from Forbes magazine)
GROSS INCOME 2YEAR TOTAL
RANK 89 88
1989 1988 Star/age ---------million $---------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 1 Michael Jackson/31 65 60 125
2 3 S.Speilberg/41 64 41 105
3 2 B.Cosby/52 60 35 95
4 8 Mike Tyson/23 26 45 71
5 6 Charles Schulz/66 28 32 60
6 5 Eddie Murphy/28 22 35 57
7 19 Pink Floyd (3 members) 25 31 56
8 __ The Rolling Stones (5 members) 44 11 55
9 14 Oprah/35 30 25 55
10 13 George Michael/26 11 36 47
Here are similar figures for 1994 and 1995 (projected), again from Forbes.
Steven Spielberg $355 million Oprah Winfrey $105 million Barney $84 million Pink Floyd $62 million Bill Cosby $60 million Barbra Streisand $57 million The Eagles $56 million [...] The Rolling Stones $53 million
One of Nick Mason's favorite pastimes is auto racing. He, David Gilmour, and Steve O'Rourke (their manager) participated in a road race in Mexico called "La Carrera Panamericana" in late 1991. They later released a TV-movie of the car race, directed by Gilmour, with a little "new" Pink Floyd music for backing (including "One Slip").
During the race, there was an accident. The movie didn't provide in-depth coverage of the accident, just about the same coverage as other crashes received. Here is a transcription of the voice-over regarding Dave & Steve's crash (courtesy of Martin Pitwood):
"They went into a corner too fast. Either through misreading the pace notes or whatever and, er, basically took off over the edge of a cliff and landed, I think upside-down, on a small road below. The general feeling seems to be that they are incredibly lucky to have got away with it so lightly. Dave is fine, maybe a few cuts and bruises, and Steve - broken leg." Then shots of the car being towed away.
As stated before, Richard Wright was essentially fired from Pink Floyd just before the Wall tours. He did not appear on TFC. He did, however, appear as a "session" musician on AMLoR, and also participated in the DSoT tour. This was seen by fans as a promising indication that he's about to be fully re-instated in the band.
With the new album, it appears that he's finally back in the band:
[from MTV News]
Wright: On this one I have been involved
right from the begining. Writing and singing, and it's a compleatly different
situation this time, and I'm not on a wage (big smile). I'm in partnership with
them, and very happy about that. We are actually three of us making a Pink Floyd
album.
[From a post by Chris Solnordal]:
[In the UK and Australia] during parliamentary sessions, if there is a disagreement about a matter then a vote must be taken. The house is said to be divided on the issue, and the division is decided by voting. At this point, The Division Bell is rung for some time, and during that time every parliamentarian who is eligable to vote must proceed to the house. When the Division Bell stops sounding, the doors are shut and so if you're late you miss out on casting your vote. The Division Bell thus plays an important role in both communication and conflict resolution.
The use of this for the title was suggested by Douglas Adams (author of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" radio show, book series, TV show, and computer game, among other things), which is why he is listed in the album's credits. Adams made the suggestion in exchange for Gilmour donating a certain sum of money to a charity of Adams'. Adams has also said that Gilmour asked him to fool around with the lyrics a bit, but that none of his suggestions were actually used on the album.
Douglas Adams also appeared at the October 28th Earl's Court show, playing acoustic guitar on "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse."
[Thanks to David R. Rorabaugh and Microsoft's Encarta]:
Hawking, Stephen William (1942- ), British theoretical physicist, best known for his attempts to unite general relativity theory with quantum mechanics and for his integrally related contributions to cosmology. Hawking is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. Much of his work has dealt with the black hole concept. His research indicates that general relativity, if true, supports the big bang theory of the creation of the universe. He wrote "A Brief History of Time" (1988). Hawking has made his important contributions to science while battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable disease of the nervous system.
It is this disease, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, which forces him to use a speech-synthesizer to talk, which is what you hear on "Keep Talking." The phrases he speaks are sampled from a British Telecommunications commercial that Gilmour heard after the song was otherwise completed. DG liked it so much (said it almost brought him to tears) that he asked BT if he could sample it.
NOTE: The complete text of the advertisement is in the TDB lyric file at ftp.halcyon.com
3. Spanish 15. Swahili 5. English 17. Chinese / Japanese * 7. Hindi 19. French 8. Italian 21. Hebrew 11. German / Dutch 22. Russian (Cyrillic) 13. Japanese (romaticized)
* On some CD booklets, you can see "Dix-Neuf" written faintly under the characters.
It has also been suggested that the circles on page 2 are a binary representation of the number 2.
With all the small differences, not only between EMI and Sony, but also between the various recording media (CD, LP, MD, cassette), The Division Bell is quite annoying to keep track of. For now, let me just give a summary of the differences between the British and US CDs, based on info from Piet de Bondt, bear, and Gerhard:
Finally, the following is from Demetri S. Mouratis:
I own both the English and US CD's of TDB. I found that there were some audio glitches on the English version, that were not on the US. Mainly, if you listen VERY carefully at the end of TIB through the beginning of CBTL, you will hear pops/buzzing that sounds like someone jiggling a cord. Also around 1:55 into CBTL you can hear a fair pop in the left channel.
[Taken from asummary done by Mark Brown:]
During the TDB U.S. tour, someone describing himself as a messenger, and using the common Latin name Publius, started posting anonymously to the newsgroup, using the following subject line or variations:
" >>>>>>>>>> T H E M E S S A G E <<<<<<<<<< ".
NOTE: The name Publius was also used as a pseudonym early in U.S. history by the writers of The Federalist Papers. John Jay, James Madison, and James Monroe wrote under one name to promote discussion of an idea.
The posts continue on an irregular basis, with a mysterious tone and many ambiguous clues, inviting us to look at the new album with open minds, discuss it in the newsgroup, and investigate some sort of enigma or puzzle in The Division Bell music, lyrics, art, and other tour materials. Publius says a tangible prize is to be found.
The newsgroup was generally pretty annoyed by the posts, but on July 16, Publius told us to watch for a sign: flashing white lights, East Rutherford, New Jersey, July 18, at about 10:30 p.m. At the Pink Floyd show in N.J. that night, "ENIGMA PUBLIUS" was displayed from the foot of the stage by the lights they use during KT and ABitW. Then, some people accepted the idea that Publius was a messenger with some connection to the band and began to take the enigma seriously.
Many theories have been entertained, but we don't know who Publius is. Publius says that his/her/their identity is unimportant. Douglas Adams, the friend of the band who suggested the name of the album, has said that he is not involved and is not aware of any involvement by the band members.
Another sign was later predicted by Publius, and on October 20 the word "ENIGMA" was projected in large letters on the back of the stage during the beginning of "Another Brick in the Wall, pt.2" during a show at Earls Court in London. This show was televised in Europe the same night, and in the U.S. on November 1. A further "clue" was also found in the booklet of the MiniDisc release of A Momentary Lapse of Reason. On one photo is the plain white text "ENIGMA," and on another "PUBLIUS."
Guitar World magazine received a packet of newsgroup articles about the
enigma by anonymous mail and a writer collected information from the newsgroup
via email. The resulting article in the January 1995 issue unfortunately
features artwork that confuses newcomers to this investigation. The pictures
depicting clues hidden in the TDB cover art are purely fictional products of the
artist's imagination.
This is how the situation now stands. If you wish to take part in the enigma discussions, the main forum for them is the alt.music.pink-floyd newsgroup. Because of polarizing effect Publius discussion produces, it is requested that, if you wish to discuss the enigma, you include the word "Publius" in the subject header of your post. Likewise, if you have no interest in reading Publius-related posts, put the word "Publius" in the kill file of your newsreader (or simply don't read posts with that subject.)
For those wishing to learn more about Publius, check out what's available in the "publius" file area of echoserv. There you will find a history of past Publius posts, as well as some summaries of past solution theories. [See also P0Q7.1]
The following bits of interest don't really warrant an individual topic, so here they all are, ordered by album.
The album's title comes from the the seventh chapter of Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" (the book was a favorite of Syd's).
On the "Pink Floyd 25th Anniversary" radio show last year, Roger said that the lyrics for "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun" came straight out of a book of Chinese poetry from the late Tang period. Except for the title, which he said came from within him, somewhere.
The following, straight from the Fillmore West 24 April 1970 show, sheds a bit more light on the song "Cymbaline": Roger: "This one's called Cymbaline, and it's about a nightmare"
It's also notable that "Cymbaline" is a self-referential song: "...will the
final couplet rhyme?"
The final couplet in fact is the only one that
doesn't...
On the Capitol pressing of the More LP (SW-11198), the record (not the sleeve) has following titles for "Up The Khyber" and "Quicksilver":
Up The Kyber (Juke Box)
Quicksilver (Water-Pipe)
Ummagumma was a slang term for knockin' boots. (Knockin' boots of course being a slang term for doing the Wild Thang, which is, of course, slang for having sex.) [from Steven Dobbs] Of course, Rock and Roll was a slang term for--you get the picture. So, looked at that way, the album "Ummagumma" could simply mean "Rock and Roll." [djs]
On the Ummagumma album cover, the last "reflection" in the wall is of the cover to A Saucerful of Secrets.
The "Jude" listed alongside Waters is Judy Trim, Roger's first wife.
Zabriskie Point Song Titles (from NeXT Digital Webster): Fin-gal's Cave
(fin'g'lz):large cavern on an islet (called Staffa) west of Mull in
the Hebrides, W Scotland
Oe|no-ne (e no'ne) [L < Gr
Oinone]:Gr. Myth. a nymph deserted by her husband, Paris, for Helen
of Troy
In the AHM Suite, there are two voices that can be clearly heard:
17:28
"Here is a loud announcement"
19:08 "Silence in the studio!"
Stanley Kubrick wanted to use music from AHM for "A Clockwork Orange." It didn't work out...
The title "Meddle" was meant to be a pun--"a play between 'medal' (the thing that you wear for achieving something) and 'interfere'" The picture on the cover depicts a close-up of a human ear.
A portion (the instrumental bits) of "Seamus" was used as the theme song for the movie "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead."
On "Seamus," you can hear someone say "Here is the real dog" right before one of the dog's solos.
Nick Mason loses a drum stick during 'One Of These Days...', then continues to play furiously with one hand while he gets a new stick from a little container attached to his drum kit.
The guitar part Gilmour is playing on "Brain Damage/Eclipse" was not used on the album; however, a mix of the songs with the part was made, and is available on some RoIOs.
The fourth best-selling rock album of all time is Dark Side of the
Moon:
1 - Thriller
2 - Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
3 -
Rumors
4 - Dark Side of the Moon
It stayed on Billboard's top 200 album chart until July 23, 1988, when it dropped off the charts for good. It had been there for 736 weeks, the longest of any album, ever. The second longest chart stay was somewhere around 9 and 1/2 years, for Johnny Mathis' Greatest Hits.
After this, Billboard changed the format so that once an album dropped off, it could not return. Otherwise, DSotM would still be accumulating weeks.
[From AJTS&Tw/PF, courtesy of Toapher (summary chart by djs):]
"Dark
Side of the Moon" on the USA Top 200 Charts: Debuts on 17 March 1973 and stays
until 19 October 1974 (84 weeks) but falls off. Appears on the charts again on
12 April 1975 and stays until 6 March 1976 (lost 24 weeks, but stays for 48
weeks more). Back on charts again on 18 December 1976 and stays for a record 11
years until 23 April 1988 (lost 40 weeks but gained 591 weeks). On USA charts
for a grand total of 723 weeks:
on chart off chart on chart off chart on chart 17Mar73 --> 19Oct74 12Apr75 --> 6Mar76 18 Dec 76 --> 23 Apr 88 weeks: 84 24 48 40 591 723 on, 64 off months: 19 6 11 10 125 155 on, 16 off years: 1.6 0.5 .9 .8 11.3 13.8 on, 1.3 off
An alternate lyric ("laying supine in the sunshine") was used in "Time" at some DSotM concerts.
What the heck is a VCS3??
The VCS3 is an analog synthesizer. It possibly
means:
Voltage
Controlled
Synth.
3 [ three osc. for waveform
generation ]
It is mentioned in Walk Away Rene that the cover of DSotM was specifically designed by Hipgnosis so that if you fold it out (the LP, that is) and put it end to end with other copies then they all fit together, thus perpetuating the cyclic theme of the album.
The cover to A Nice Pair was comprised of several different cover
ideas that Hipgnosis came up with, plus several more new ones (they couldn't
make up their minds, so, "why not use them all?") Many of these pictures
represent common sayings or phrases:
Frog in your throat
Fork in the
road
Kettle of fish
Laughing all the way to the bank
A nip in the
air
Flying saucers
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
going in
circles
There's a violin at the end of "Wish You Were Here," but it's nearly impossible to hear (it's at the end, right after all the wind stuff starts). Violinist Stephane Grappelly was recording in a downstairs studio, and Gilmour had suggested that there be a little "country fiddle" at the end of the song, so they talked Grappelly into coming up and recording a bit. They hardly used anything of his (in fact, they felt that giving him an album credit would be insulting), but they enjoyed listening to him play. He did get about 300 Pounds for it, though...
When Pink Floyd was recording "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (and on the very day of David Gilmour's wedding to his first wife, Ginger), they received a visitor in the studio. He basically kept to himself, occasionally getting up to brush his teeth. From Pink Floyd: The Illustrated Discography:
"During the WYWH sessions a fat, shaven-headed person wearing grey Terylene trousers, a nylon shirt and string vest wandered into the studio. The band ignored the visitor and kept on playing and it was the visiting Andrew King who finally recognised their guest: 'Good God, it's Syd! How did you get like that?' To which Syd replied, 'I've got a very large fridge at home and I've been eating a lot of pork chops.' The whole event was slightly un-nerving since the theme of the album was based on Syd and his subsequent madness."
The coughing sounds on the title track were caused by Gilmour's smoking habits. It has been reported that when DG heard the sounds on the album, he decided then and there to quit.
The lake on the Wish You Were Here inner sleeve is Mono Lake, in California. The strange rock formations are a result of the extremely high mineral content of the water there. It's a protected area.
The weird noises and radio sounds between "Have a Cigar" and "Wish You Were Here" were picked randomly from a radio. The music includes a snippet of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony, and the interview includes "and you, Derek, this star nonsense, what do you think of it?" In concerts, the band extended the bit by playing live off-air samples from the local town, and then switching into the pre-recorded bit from the album.
[From Barth Richards:]
In the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" radio
series, there is a gag in the scene where the five main characters are stepping
out of the starship HEART OF GOLD onto the planet Magrathea. The music in the
background is the opening of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5)," which, it
turns out, is being provided by Marvin. At one point, Arthur says, "Ford, do you
realize that robot can hum like Pink Floyd?"
When the radio series was released on cassettes and CDs, this scene was cut for legal reasons.
According to Gilmour, "'Mihalis' is the name of my boat...It's Greek for Michael. That's what it was called when I got it and, in Greece, they say it's bad luck to change it..."
In the movie "The Wall," there are a lot of scenes in the background of a WWII film called "The Dambusters." It's the story about 617 squadron, which attacked 3 Ruhr dams in 1943 flying specially converted Lancasters carrying Barnes Wallis's "bouncing bomb" and it is the film of this event featured in the Wall movie. The raid was lead by Wing Commander Guy Gibson who survived the raid and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in it. Guy Gibson died later in the war.
There are a number of uncredited session musicians on The Wall. Freddie Mandell plays Hammond organ on "In the Flesh," Lee Ritenour plays rhythm guitar on "One of My Turns" (Gilmour "couldn't think of a good part to play"), and there's some guy playing Spanish guitar on "Is There Anybody Out There?" because Gilmour couldn't play the part without a pick.
"Where the hell are you? Where the hell are you Tyler?" heard just before the song "Vera" is from the movie "Battle of Britain". The airplane that you hear crashing afterward is Tyler's.
Toni Tennille (credited on The Wall LP) is from The Captain and Tennille. Bruce Johnston is from The Beach Boys -- the original plan had been to have all the Beach Boys harmonize on "The Show Must Go On" and "Waiting for the Worms," but this was scrapped.
On "Gohill's Boots:"
Gohill's is a shoe store in Camden, North London
(UK). The boots referred to in The Wall would have been short ankle boots with
an elasticated "gusset" (rather than laces). These were "de rigeur" in London in
the late '60s and Gohill's was THE place to get them. A picture of Syd wearing a
pair of yellow Gohills can be found in the Mick Rock photo sessions book.
"and maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control"
This refers to an event that happened in the summer of 1982. The Royal Green Jackets band was giving a concert in Regent's Park, when a bomb planted under the stage by the Irish Republican Army detonated, killing 6 and injuring 28, most of them bandsmen.
"...nailed ducks to the wall..."
Nailing painted wooden ducks to the wall was a British post-WWII symbol of settling down to the quiet life (hence "Dunroamin").
"There's a blood red dragon on a field of green"
This is a description of the Welsh flag. It can be seen on, among other places, the Radio KAOS video EP.
The voices that can be heard in "Yet Another Movie" are Humphry Bogart, in a famous scene from "Casablanca."
The DSoT album cover is meant (according to its designer) to capture what was so special about a Pink Floyd concert--sight and sound. "So you have Mr. Light in a showdown with Mr. Sound. The whole thing was shot in Spain."
One concession made by Pink Floyd to Roger Waters as a result of the great Floyd Lawyer Wars was the concept of the "Pig." Waters had sued to stop the Floyd from using many of their now-standard concert features, like the huge screen, weird animated movies, and in particular, the floating pig. So when Pink Floyd went on the road, they not only credited Waters with the concept (seen in the DSoT Video closing credits - "Original Pig Concept: R. Waters"), they also changed the pig's gender.
"And we all like the bit when you take
The jeans from the
refridgerator and
Then the bad guy gets hit"
This is based on a television advertisement.
Semtex is an "inexpensive" Czechoslovakian plastic explosive.
Each man has his price Bob
and yours was pretty low
Waters explains this line..."When we recorded the album I would sometimes rehearse vocal takes by impersonating Bob Dylan. That line originally read 'Each man has his price my friends...' so make of that what you will. As a joke I sung Bob instead and Pat insisted that we left it in. So although it was unintentional I'm happy that it's there for Bob Ezrin. I hope he appreciates it."
On the box set, in the print around the weird logo (with all the overlapping album titles) is the working title for Shine On, "The Big Bong Theory." This was suggested by Mason, but wasn't approved.
The sounds at the beginning of "Cluster One" are the crackling noises beneath the earth's crust. They were recorded by California seismology buff G. William Forgey, who offered them to the band. [From the Toronto Star]
Right after the 3:00 mark in "Take it Back," you can hear the following: [From Charles Panati's 'Extraordiary Origins of Everyday things', thanks to Demetri S. Mouratis]
[Don't be surprised if you learned the song slightly differently -- I did, too -- but this is the original version.]
There are a number of sounds in TDB that are a bit familiar...
Polly Samson, listed in the "Thanks" section and co-writer of many songs, is Gilmour's wife (as of summer 1994--he and Ginger seperated during the MLoR tour). Don't know much about her except that she's a journalist and writer.
At 8:18 of "High Hopes" there is the following phone conversation:
O'Rourke: Hello?
Charlie: Yeah...
SO'R: Is that Charlie?
C: Yes.
SO'R: Hello Charlie.
C: <mumbles something and hangs up>
S'OR: Great! <hangs up>
(Steve O'Rourke is the band's manager, and Charlie is Polly's son.)
The LP of TDB is several minutes shorter than the other versions. It lacks the above conversation, and the song ends are trimmed down a bit. "Wearing the Inside..." also has some small structural changes. There was a rumor before its release that TDB would be a double LP, to fit everything on, but apparently the band decided against this.
[From Gerhard:]
I recently found an old Dutch telephonecard (you know, one
of those things with which you can telephone without using cash), and on it was
a stylized picture of 2 faces, facing each other seen from the side, and in
between the faces were some sinal waves...
On Primus' Pork Soda album, there is a lyric on song #12 ("The Air is Getting Slippery") that goes, "If you studied your Floyd properly, you'd know that pigs could fly." Primus has also covered "Have a Cigar" on their Miscellaneous Debris EP.
In the video for the Beastie Boys' song "Gratitude," they play in a "Pompeii-style" arena and have their rotating (Leslie) amps marked "PINK FLOYD -- LONDON", just like in Pompeii.
The ambient group The Orb has used the Battersea Power Station on album covers, features bassist Guy Pratt, and has some obviously Floyd-inspired tunes (eg "Plateau").
The multimedia software company 7th Level features some interesting connections to Pink Floyd. Scott Page is the Executive Vice President, while Bob Ezrin is Co-Chairman of the Board and Executive Vice President of Production. Gilmour is credited for the "guitar effects" on the company's "Tuneland" CD-ROM.
And speaking of software, the Floyd have released a "video CD" version of DSoT, using the MPEG-1 standard. The tracklist is Shine On You Crazy Diamond; Signs of Life; Learning to Fly; Sorrow; Dogs of War; On the Turning Away; One of These Days; Time; On the Run; The Great Gig in the Sky; Wish You Were Here; Us and Them; Comfortably Numb; One Slip; Run Like Hell; Pink Floyd Discography.
According to Autoweek, some of the cars that Nick Mason owns (and races)
are:
Ferrari 250 GTO
F40
246 GTS Dino
Bugatti 35B
Alfa
2300
Maserati 250F
Specialized Bicycle Components makes a series of tires with a greyish, ultra-grippy, ultra-soft rubber compound they call UmmaGumma. It is used for the company's "extreme application" tires.
David Gilmour's name tends to get misspelled quite a bit. It's spelled "Glimour" on the inside credits of some versions of the Final Cut CD, while some ASoS releases have it as "Gilmore." It's also "Gilmore" on the credits to the film, "More" (though this may have been an intentional play on words).
Here we present some questions that have been asked that nobody's really come up with an answer for yet:
There are also a fair number of ROL, CMF, and MIDI files out there. A bunch of these are also on halcyon, among them "Time," "Us and Them," "Comfortably Numb," "Wish You Were Here," and "Shine On."
If you come across any that aren't already available at halcyon, could you do us all a favor and please upload them? Thanks!
These items deal with events far enough in the future as to make them at least somewhat uncertain:
In this interview Waters also states that "there's a distinct possibility
that I may go on the road again at some point in the future."
[Historical note from Colin Bunnell: "Ca Ira" ("It will go") was a popular
song among the French Revolutionaries.]
However, they've also said that they won't wait another 7 years to tour
again...
[Info from the "Saucerful of Secrets" book:] Roger Barrett currently resides in suburban Cambridge. He lives a fairly isolated existence, his affairs looked after by his sister, and spends his time painting, reading, tending his garden and coin collection, and working on a pet-project of his, "The History of Art." The money from his Pink Floyd and solo albums is more than enough to subsidize his low-key lifestyle.
Though there are occasional "Syd sightings," Mr. Barrett finds it difficult to relate and communicate with other people, and anyone attempting to track him down is likely to meet with a closed door.
This comes up all the time, especially when new people join and want to voice their opinions. The problem with this question is that everyone has their own thoughts on the matter, and that these thoughts are entirely subjective. Without going into any details, any pros and/or cons of either Syd's, Waters' or Gilmour's writing, singing, or playing styles, and without delving into the personalities of different members of the band or the concepts they provided or the concerts they performed, I'm just going to say that everyone likes or dislikes any particular version of Floyd or the solo artists for strictly personal reasons, and trying to convince anyone to change these likes is going to be a futile effort.
Posting on this subject is highly frowned upon, both on the newsgroup and especially on echoes. In other words, don't do it.
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! T H A N K Y O U !
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