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[Burger]

Big Pink Floyd fan, got alot of their albums, all of the albums from roughly Meddle/Animals forwards, don't like the Syd Barret stuff much.

Anyway, I was listening to Comfortably Numb today, from The Wall which is one of my favorite songs by the band. (I love the live version from Pulse, but the studio version seems a bit nastier/puchier if you know what I mean).

So I interpret this song as a conversation between a WW2 soldier who has been mortally wounded, and a Medic who is trying to help. My question is, is it Waters who is playing the part of the medic "...you might feel a little sick..." and Gilmour who is singing the main chorus part "I have become... comfortably numb" ???

I can usually differentiate between the two, although most of The Wall is sung by Waters and so I'm not quite sure on this one.

Thx.

 

[demon]

I always thought it was Gilmour singing the first part, and Waters singing the second.

Anyways, the song is actually about drug addiction as far as I know.

Best fucking guitar solo ever, btw.

 

[Burger]

Drug addiction ??

Time to hit up google...

Oh and you have heard the Pulse version of the song right ? The guitar solo is super extended, which when you are talking about Dave Gilmour, is never a bad thing.

 

[MaverickX9]

Waters usually dressed up as some type of doctor when they played this song live, so...

 

[Burger]

Google wins again.

Re: The song

As mentioned before, "Comfortably Numb" begins as if in answer to Pink's final question at the end of "Bring the Boys Back Home." The moody bass, gradual drums, and wavering guitars build to the song's first line as if musically representing Pink's drifting consciousness and his hazy realization of being spoken to from both outside of his mental wall and inside his physical one, the hotel room. Curiously, though, the song begins with the questions of what is for now a total stranger, one who inverts Pink's last question by asking if there's "anybody in there?" referring to both the hotel room as well as Pink's comatose state. Quite possibly mirroring Pink's own state of mind, first time listeners are often confused as to just who is speaking. Is this another of Pink's hallucinations? Is this Pink speaking to himself? Is this a real person? It's hard to say if Pink even knows, but thanks to lyrical implications as well as Roger Waters's interviews, it's safe to assume that the new speaker is a doctor who, along with Pink's manager and others, has broken into Pink's hotel room in an attempt to try and revive him for that night's concert. As Waters states, the rest of the song becomes Pink's "confrontation with the doctor," with "confrontation" taking on both senses of its meaning. It is both a meeting between the two as well as a battle as the doctor attempts to reinvigorate the indifferent Pink who just might not be ready to be resuscitated. After all, his journey to reevaluate his "fading roots" is terminated almost abruptly with the intrusion of his manager and doctor having only just begun in "Vera" and "Bring the Boys Back Home."

Re: who is singing

(Roger Waters)
Hello, is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?
Come on, now, I hear you're feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain
And get you on your feet again.
Relax, I'll need some information first.
Just the basic facts.
Can you show me where it hurts?
(David Gilmour)
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.
(Roger Waters)
Ok, just a little pinprick.
There'll be no more aaaaaaaaah!
But you may feel a little sick.
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good.
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go.

And so on...

 

[lexi]

Yeah, it's definitely a drug addiction. The album does have a lot of war references though, so it's probably easy to think that. Edit -- Owned by Google.

The Wall is a good, well rounded album, I love the seamlessness of the songs.