The Division Bell

Produceret af Bob Ezrin og David Gilmour
Udgivet 5. april 1994
Optaget på Astoria Recording Studio, Britannia Row Recording Studios, Abbey Road Recording Studios, Metropolis Studios, og det græske Recording Studios
Cover Design af Storm Thorgerson

Så var Pink Floyd kommet så langt. De havde bevist at Gilmour kunne lede bandet videre uden Waters. De havde haft megasucces med udsolgte stadions i hele verden med deres turne. Der var lavet en dobbelt liveplade som også solgte solidt. Det var heldigvis bare ikke nok for de nu tre medlemmer af Pink Floyd. De juridiske tovtrækkerier var fo rlængest overstået, og Wright var atter en del af Floyd.
Nu skulle de videre i så ægte Floyd-stil som overhovedet muligt. Kritikkere vil bemærke at der er en del hjælp udefra til at komponere numrene. Det var i endnu højere grad tilfældet med forgængeren A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
Os der er mere positivt stemte overfor dette Gilmour ledede projekt, vil bemærke at både Mason, Wright og Gilmour arbejder sammen her, og forsøger som Floyd altid har gjort, at gå nye veje. Derfor ligner denne plade selvfølgelig hverken Atom Heart Mother eller Dark Side of the Moon.

Men musik kan diskuteres til hudløshed. Enten kan man lide det eller ej. Lad os i stedet kigge på en del fakta om denne plade.

Titlen The Division Bell er et begreb fra det Britiske parlament. Når der var en uenighed i parlamentet blev der ringet med klokken, så alle parlamentsmedlemmerne kunne komme rendende og afgive deres stemme. Her er et billede fra pubben Westminster Arms i London, hvor parlamentsmedlemmerne tydeligvis ofte kom. Det er ikke "klokken" men mere en "underklokke" såsom en forlænget arm til den der sidder i parlamentet. Skal jeg være ærlig, ved jeg ikke om klokken stadig ringer den dag i dag når der skal afstemmes...

Titlen blev foreslået af forfatteren Douglas Adams ("Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") Faktisk kom han med denne titel som tak for en donation Gilmour havde givet et af Adams velgørenheds projekter. Faktisk havde Gilmour gså bedt Adams rode lidt med teksterne til pladen, men dog blev intet af det der kom frem brugt på den endelige plade.

Sideløbende med udgivelsen af pladen og de efterfølgende koncerter, kørte der en udspekuleret gåde. Ja, helt præcist hvad det egentlig var har jeg aldrig helt fattet. Der er en Pink Floyd nyhedsgruppe hvor en eller anden hele tiden kom ind med THEMESSAGE og han kaldte sig selv for PUBLIUS. Mange fandt ham ret irriterende. Indtil en dag under Floyds tour, hvor han sagde at folk skulle holde øje "et blinkende hvidt lys" på et bestemt angivent tidspunkt. Og dér kom teksten "ENIGMA PUBLIUS" frem midt under koncerten! Så vågnede folk op.

Moralen fra Publius side var vist at man havde hørt pladen, men havde man forstået den ? Det var en opfordring til at gennemlytte pladen igen.
Som jeg indeledte dette afsnit med, så har jeg aldrig helt fattet denne "enigma". Faktisk var der vist ingen der kom med en endelig løsning. Derfor er sagen diskuteret i langt tid. Vil du læse mere, vil jeg anbeffale denne side : Publius Enigma

Hvad angår coveret behøver jeg vel ikke sige at det er Storm Thorgerson der har været på spil her igen.
I den lille folder/bog er der i stedet for almindeligt sideantal skrevet tallet med forskellige sprog :Side 3.Spansk, 5.Engelsk, 7.Hindi, 8.Italiensk, 11. Tysk / Hollandsk, 13. Japansk (romatisk), 15. Swahili, 17.kinesisk (Japansk), 19. Fransk, 21. Hebraisk, 22. Russisk (Cyrillic)

Den mekaniske stemme man hører i starten af Keep Talking tilhører Stephen Hawking en britisk videnskabsmand. Han lider af Amyotrofisk lateral sklerose -ALS, som er en nervesvækkende sygdom der gør ham stærkt handicappet og som også har sat sig på stemmebåndet. Han taler derfor gennem et avanceret computerprogram.
På The Endless River er der et nummer kaldet Talkin' Hawkin' hvor der er lidt mere af Hawkngs tale.

Cluster One (Wright, Gilmour) [5:58]

(Instrumental)

What Do You Want From Me (Gilmour, Wright, Samson) [4:21]

As you look around this room tonight
Settle in your seat and dim the lights
Do you want my blood, do you want my tears
What do you want
What do you want from me
Should I sing until I can't sing any more
Play these strings until my fingers are raw
You're so hard to please
What do you want from me

Do you think I know something you don't know
What do you want from me
If I don't promise you the answers would you go
What do you want from me
Should I stand out in the rain
Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you
I'm not the one you need
What do you want from me

You can have anything you want
You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water
Anything you want

You can own everything you see
Sell your soul for complete control
Is that really what you need

You can lose yourself this night
See inside there is nothing to hide
Turn and face the light

What do you want from me

Poles Apart (Gilmour, Samson, Laird-Clowes) [7:04]

Did you know...it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes

Hey you...did you ever realise what you'd become
And did you see that it wasn't only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes

The rain fell slow, down on all the roofs of uncertainty
I thought of you and the years and all the sadness fell away from me
And did you know...

I never thought that you'd lose that light in your eyes

Marooned (Wright, Gilmour) [5:28]

(Instrumental)

A Great Day For Freedom (Gilmour, Samson) [4:18]

On the day the wall came down
They threw the locks onto the ground
And with glasses high we raised a cry for freedom had arrived

On the day the wall cane down
The Ship of Fools had finally run aground
Promises lit up the night like paper doves in flight

I dreamed you had left my side
No warmth, not even pride remained
And even though you needed me
It was clear that I could not do a thing for you

Now life devalues day by day
As friends and neighbours turn away
And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone

Now frontiers shift like desert sands
While nations wash their bloodied hands
Of loyalty, of history, in shades of gray

I woke to the sound of drums
The music played, the morning sun streamed in
I turned and I looked at you
And all but the bitted residue slipped away...slipped away

Wearing the Inside out (Wright, Moore) [6:48]

From morning to night I stayed out of sight
Didn't recognise what I'd become
No more than alive I'd barely survive
In a word...overrun

Won't hear a sound
From my mouth
I've spent too long
On the inside out
My skin is cold
To the human touch
This bleeding heart's
Not beating much

I murmured a vow of silence and now
I don't even hear when I think aloud
Extinguished by light I turn on the night
Wear its darkness with an empty smile

I'm creeping back to life
My nervous system all away
I'm wearing the inside out

Look at him now
He's paler somehow
But he's coming round
He's starting to choke
It's been so long since he spoke
Well he can have the words right from my mouth

And with these words I can see
Clear through the clouds that covered me
Just give it time then speak my name
Now we can hear ourselves again

I'm holding out
For the day
When all the clouds
Have blown away
I'm with you now
Can speak your name
Now we can hear
Ourselves again

He's curled into the corner
But still the screen is flickering
With an endless stream of garbage to
...curse the place
In a sea of random images
The self-destructing animal
Waiting for the waves to break

He's standing on the threshold
Caught in fiery anger
And hurled into the furnace he'll
...curse the place
He's torn in all directions
And the screen is still flickering
Waiting for the flames to break

Take it Back (Gilmour, Ezrin, Samson, Laird-Clowes) [6:12]

Her love rains down on me easy as the breeze
I listen to her breathing it sounds like the waves on the sea
I was thinking all about her, burning with rage and desire
We were spinning into darkness; the earth was on fire

She could take it back, she might take it back some day

So I spy on her, I lie to her, I make promises I cannot keep
Then I hear her laughter rising, rising from the deep
And I make her prove her love to me, I take all that I can take
And I push her to the limit to see if she will break

She might take it back, she could take it back some day

Now I have seen the warnings, screaming from all sides
It's easy to ignore and God knows I've tried
All of this temptation, it turned my faith to lies
Until I couldn't see the danger or hear the rising tide

She can take it back, she will take it back some day

She can take it back, she will take it back some day

She will take it back, she will take it back some day

Coming Back To Life (Gilmour) [6:19]

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
And where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun
Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And headed straight into the shining sun

Keep Talking (Gilmour, Wright, Samson) [6:11]

There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
No one can bother me
I think I should speak now ___________ Why won't you talk to me
I can't seem to speak now ___________ You never talk to me
My words won't come out right _______ What are you thinking
I feel like I'm drowning ______________ What are you feeling
I'm feeling weak now _______________ You never talk to me
But I can't show my weakness ________ What are you thinking
I sometimes wonder _________________What are you feeling
Where do we go from here

Why won't you talk to me _____________ I feel like I'm drowning
You never talk to me _________________ You know I can't breathe now
What are you thinking ________________ We're going nowhere
What are you feeling _________________ We're going nowhere

Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
Where do we go from here

Lost For Words (Gilmour, Samson) [5:14]

I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralysed
I thought that everything else would just wait

While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night

To martyr yourself to caution
Is not going to help at all
Because there'll be no safety in numbers
When the Right One walks out of the door

Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
Stuck in a word of isolation
While the ivy grows over the door

So I open my door to my enemies
And I ask could we wipe the slate clean
But they tell me to please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win

High Hopes (Gilmour, Samson) [8:31]

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun

Along the Long Road and on down the Causeway
Do they still meet there by the Cut

There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before times took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
When friends surrounded
The nights of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever

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