I've always loved how the end of the line, "When I pick up the phone ..." it is expertly and crucially used to bookmark so quintessentially with HEAVY laced sarcasm, by Gomer Piles' "Surprise, surprise, surprise"...Just Awesome!
ikr, he attention to detail in the editing is amazing. I think it goes back to PF (the band) considering all sounds "music" and incorporating everyday sounds into their works.
I do wonder if Amy, and other "kids", recognize Gomer's voice since I think part of what makes the moment is knowing Gomer's face at that moment. I also wonder if Amy has any frame of reference for "13 channels"
Yeah, I consider those three words almost part of the lyrics... and I inject them in my mind the first time through, too, even though I know they're only there the second time.
Perhaps my favourite piece from this master-piece album. I particularly enjoy the line "I've got a strong urge to fly, but I've got nowhere to fly to..."
"Swollen hands" comes back in "Comfortably Numb" and the creaking door comes back in "The Trial". Even the line "I've got a strong urge to fly" harkens back to "Mother".
It's like having the best theoretical music lessons in a top notch exclusive private school. You'd have half the classes where some madman or wackywoman would be teaching us how to play instruments, then the other half would be these lessons, with a completely different tutorious mesmeriser, teaching us what music means and how, whilst hypnotising our brains. It's great! Lol
There's always a very eccentric and wacky band teacher in every school, it's like an unwritten rule. I loved my band director, she was the perfect mix of crazy that kept us interested and willing to learn. I really miss her, thank you Ms. Bryant for the years of teaching and fun
You mentioned the touches of blues. Syd Barrett named the band after two American blues artists he enjoyed.. Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Blues is part of the bands DNA.
Ultimately, Roger's music represents every fear, every bad experience, every glimmer of hope (including those eventually crushed by subsequent events), the descent into substances to ease the pain, its failure to mitigate it. Basically, he has summed up the lives of every person born between 1950 and 1970.
I couldn't have put it any better... Also, the swollen hands blues may be making reference to the same swollen hands he mentions in Comfortably Numb.. 🤔
I got lucky and grew up with Pink Floyd. I'm 35, was born in 87, and my mom absolutely is in love with them. I was introduced as a baby and knew every word to the Wall by the time I was 10. I got to watch the movie as a kid and experience the greatness that is this band. I thank my mom often for this gift. She's seen them several times live both when they were all still together and just Roger doing a light show. She went to the movie in theaters where she and my aunt were singing every song. They almost got kicked out but how can you watch that movie and not sing it?
I’m glad that I’m not the only one who can’t hold back the tears. Even if I lacked any capacity to empathize, this whole album would still have me crying uncontrollably simply due to recognizing that the largest portion of every song is Roger Waters so clearly articulating his personal pain.
The song was written after an argument between Gilmour, Waters, and co-producer Bob Ezrin during production of The Wall in which Gilmour and Ezrin challenged Waters to come up with one more song for the album. Waters then wrote "Nobody Home" and returned to the studio two days later to present it to the band. Very well done in two days!
This song contains one of the single greatest lines of any song ever written: "got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains." Chills, even after all these years. This is, to me, the epitome of Roger Waters' genius.
And now there is a fantastic PF exhibition called Their Mortal Remains that tours around the world. I saw it in Montreal last year-so well done- 2 hours of pure bliss. I think it's in Toronto right now.
I know the common meaning of "mortal remains", but it struck me that in this case "mortal remains" could mean his mortal body is all that remains, no feelings, no soul.
A lot of the imaginary in the lyrics of this song refers to Syd Barrett. "Got a bag with a toothbrush and a comb in", "I've got elastic bands keeping my shoes", "the obligatory Hendrix perm", etc. The lyric "Ooh, babe when I pick up the phone, there's still nobody home", I always viewed as his ex-wife not wanting to have anything to do with Pink for the way he mistreated her and blaming him for the failure of their marriage (referred to in Don't Leave Now & also later on in The Trial - "have you broken up any homes lately?"). So, the wall (in this case Pink's) can be a two-way obstruction. Someone on the outside of the wall (the wife) who only sees and experiences the ugly external "wall" of the person hiding behind it, ends up rejecting this ugly exterior and thus totally rejecting the person (in this case Pink). Nobody's home because nobody else wants anything to do with Pink in this isolated disconnected state. This also in a sense is a throwback to Syd Barrett's time in the band. The effects of his drug taking/mental illness made working and performing live with him so difficult and problematic that the other members of the band decided to no longer bother picking Syd up before heading off to gigs and resulted in Syd no longer being a part of the band after 1968.
@@markhamstra1083 I think it's legit here: he's first talking about "Pink" and then about Waters as a WRITER... His comment was about lyrics and meaning, not music or production. But generally, I know what you mean, and I think neither of "each of them" is good enough compared to what they did "as a team". Geniuses made even greater together.
@@markhamstra1083 But I red it in my box :). Ok thank you, that's right, I remember now that Rick had this bad habit of "She don't lie, she don't lie..." and women too IIRC... :)
One of my favorite things about Roger's lyrics are the way he enunciates certain words. When I'm singing along it's impossible for me NOT to basically mimic his vocals.
This song was riveting to twen age me and 40 years later still draws me in on some weird emotional level. IDK, this damn album never stops giving. Love your insights!
I think my favorite bit of this song is the echo effect on the words "fly to". Because it's not *really* an echo effect. The pitch changes when the chord changes. I always loved little studio tricks like that. Another good one is on the Album "Animals" in the song "Sheep" the voice crossfades into a synth sound
Devastating song, a very relatable pain. Needing someone to be there..calling and finding that the other party doesn't share the same urgency. That horrible silence after you surrender and hang up. Anyway, thanks for another fun reaction! BTW, I think the "fading roots" line also alludes to his advancing age - his hair is turning grey at the roots and this adds to his mounting insecurities and is another blow to his self-esteem.
@@SelfEvident the implication is that as a rock star he needs to keep up appearances, however at this stage he can't even bother keeping up appearances and has stopped even dying his hair because he's become so demoralized, the interpretation is subjective - that's how art works. I know what I meant, thanks.
Thanks Amy, Roger was and is, very much influenced by the military brass bands that were prevalent in Great Britain during his youth, including the brass band sounds of the ‘Salvation Army’ (hence the ‘French horn’ colourations) In keeping with the military story within the work.
This was one of the last songs written for the album. They were in the middle of making the album and realised they needed another track, so they sent Roger off to write it, who wasn't that happy about doing it reportedly. Anyhow, they were pleasantly surprised when he came back with this song. I think it's definitely one of the highlights from the album. I love it. Incredible lyrics
I used to watch pink Floyd the wall as a kid. Still love it to this day as I grew to understand it more and more each year. Without the video I feel you won't get the full sense of the meanings. Why the French horn and why the blues keys and subtle little hints.
Acording to Gilmour, they found a hole in the narrative, and Waters went ito another room and came back minutes later with this new song. (and now I'm going to see yur reaction to Love Reign o'er me, which I love since I was a kid.
My favorite song of the album (and there are so many masterpieces in The Wall). It was the last song added to it, after the band challenged Waters to add a last one. And, damn! He delivered!
One of my favorite songs. Bob Ezrin came up with the piano part and the NY Symphony played on it as well. The lines that end with propping up my mortal remains were a jab at the Rick Wrights cocaine habit at the time. It was one of the last songs added and when Roger first played it to the band they hated it. David Gilmour said Roger came back the next day with something really beautiful and then they arranged it for the album.
I hope when you next do the song "Vera" that you will include "Bring the Boys Back Home" at the same time. While they are indeed two separate compositions they work together as one as one complete thought or memory.
Your timing is uncanny. Been to a 1940's rally today in Lytham, England. The track is just another example of the utter genius Roger was in this period of time. The line "But I've got nowhere to fly to" gets echoed and the sound treated into what sounds like a pilots voice speaking through his flight mask and later the TV show in the background stating surprise, surprise, surprise! In a timely response to "when I pick up the phone". The whole album is a masterpiece of: Artistry, vision, virtuosity and will never be surpassed. The French horn and orchestral sound that leads into the WW2 section is just sublime. Whichever guardian angel got my dad through his full service in the war. THANK YOU.
Over the years, I have interpreted the 'fading roots' and also the 'baby blues' lyrics as meaning, that with the end of yet another relationship, Pink feels the loss of a chance for a normal family life, after the band. Time to set down roots of his own, to have a child, to love something greater than himself. The brass sound, bringing echoes of English brass bands, which are closely associated with community and family. Thanx . Peace All
You say "I"m sorry I have to keep interrupting" and got to be tell you I *LOVE* your interruptions because they are always full of something new. I've been listening to this album for over 40 years and yet you keep pointing out new things with your interruptions. Keep it up! Love it.
"Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!" I saw The Australian Pink Floyd Experience perform The Wall live, and at that point, everyone in the audience said Gomer Pyle's catchphrase at the appropriate moment. 😂 (I'm going to see them again a week from today here in DFW!)
I appreciate you taking on this track. I am probably an outlier here but Nobody Home is my favorite track on The Wall. What hooked me was the opening line. "I've got a little black book I put my poems in." It resonated because I had so many black notebooks full of my poetry. When I discovered The Wall, I was using poetry as a form of therapy. So ironic that I stopped writing for years and only after facing the dissolution of my marriage of 22 years that I started writing in little black books to, once again, give healing to deep wounds. That kind of brings it full circle with context. I'm older and wiser and I'm reconnecting to my fading out roots...who I am again.
It's great to see your facial expressions as you listen. You know far more about music than I do but you react in just the same way and then explain what's going on so I understand why it affects me the way it does. The piano always hits me in this song, it's very melancholic but the brass is a little ominous but becomes warm and triumphant which all fits the lyrics which climb and dive in mood.
The emptiness, the unanswered calls, the literal and physical empty home and heart. The echos ring back to us because there is nobody else. Self deprecating honesty hurts the most because we cannot lie to ourselves.
Your closing comment about the contrast between the grand swelling orchestration of this song clashing with the real desolation of the lyrics and the voice was spot on. I feel like that contrast is playing at a couple different levels. One is the lonely, desperate individual (solo piano) vs the larger society (French horn and rich orchestra). I also feel it at a sort of personal level - the broken and alone, closed-off addict vs his more fully realized, fully human potential self that he is not experiencing, that he cannot become behind the wall.
This song and “one of my turns” live the deepest in my heart. This came out the year I was born and I’ve listened to it 1000s of times since. The visions the film evokes, the lifetime of ups and downs that this was my soundtrack to are embedded in me. Mother is my favorite song of all time but this is a very close second. One of my turns film version is third.
With regard to the brass sounds in this track, there is some cultural context to consider. At the time Waters was growing up in England, there was a common and long standing tradition of marching brass bands parading through the streets on a Sunday. This was particularly true in colliery towns, where there would be a colliery band. This was behind the excellent movie “Brassed Off.” There were still many such bands about when The Wall was released. Waters’ use of bras on this album (and The Final Cut, made up of many pieces rejected from the Wall) reminds me a lot of the England of theb70’s.
I also associate the brass sound on this track with English brass bands, which rarely - if ever - contain French horns, but rather tenor and baritone horns and euphoniums. It would be interesting to see the orchestral score.
Side 3 has always been my favorite side (I am showing my age here) and this has always been my favorite song on this side (and on the album, as a whole). There are so many dimensions to this piece and I find that it ties Pink's past to is future lyrically and musically. His sense of abandonment and lone-ness is all there; even in the initial "call & response" of traditional blues music that leaves us (& Pink) with the orchestration and the use of the French horn (which I feel to be more nostalgic and forlorn as used in this piece). And its abrupt ending is a signal of the change to come. Thank you Amy, for continuing the journey. I look forward to the in-depth analysis video.
The Hendrix Perm, the Pin Hole burns, the Satin shirt, the Gohills Boots, the Fading Roots (Hair Dye) " His Favorite Axe" (guitar)... it's all reference to Pink's lifestyle as a Rock Star. Thank you again :) you have help me learn soo much even after 40yrs of listening!
Producer Bob Ezrin on lovely piano here. And for the orchestrations on this and other songs like "Comfortably Numb,", Ezrin and the band handed over the tapes to an arranger named Michael Kamen and essentially told him, "Michael, do your thing."
For me, 'Nobody Home,' could be seen in the context of Hey You, and Is There Anybody Out There. Pink is stuck in this hotel room, the TV is on in the background nonstop, he's torn between the safety of the space he's in (behind the wall) and reaching out to something he connects to 'home,' he hasn't completely lost his emotional connection to his wife/partner and so tries to call her on and off, there's no reply, no way of making any kind of connection with what/who was once his 'home'; where he is isn't a home in any sense, but he seems to yearn for a sense of belonging somewhere and a sense of connecting to his own true self, in at least two ways, there is Nobody Home. Thanks Amy, what an absolute treat to share all this with you.
This has been a great series with you covering "The Wall". My mother bought me this double-album on Valentine's Day 1980, I was 12 and must have listened to it a thousand times. Very interesting to hear your perspectives on the story and the music.
Amy, I interpret the French horn, with its classical formality and subtle omnipresence, to be a callback to the British Empire, whom Pink blames for his father's death and all the consequences that flow from that event.
I love this song. To me, it speaks of the alienation of knowing that the person you were supposed to feel most connected to has written you off, and all you have now is a sorry little bag of possessions. They can't relate to you, but at least they'll never leave you. I was able to arrange this song for acoustic guitar without much trouble, so now the song is eminently portable. "Comfortably Numb" may be my favorite song on the album; but musically speaking, I think this song may be the best one on the album..
Pink Floyd works multiple threads and patterns into their thematic progressive music tapestry. It can be found in this album, The Wall, and a couple other albums of theirs, such as Animals and Darkside of the Moon. Albums you might enjoy analyzing while providing us those free music lessons. Thanks for your insights, they are informative; it encourages my further curiosity in music theory. 🖖😎
Brass is British so its the english school system and its about a british setup so makes sense. you can do this 'things in common' words here and there music here similar all through the pink floyd category 'album to album '. I've got electric light And I've got second sight I've got amazing powers of observation
One cool thing about this song is that recalls a scene in the later made movie during “the happiest days of our lives”. The teacher grabs Pink’s black book with his poems in. The poem he reads is some of the lyrics to the song “Money “ from Dark side of the moon. I don’t remember from the top of my head if the black book is referenced anywhere else in the album, but cool that you can see it in the movie. Pretty cool what you’ve been doing with one of my favorite albums. Had to subscribe to your channel.
The 'grandeur' in the orchestal arrengement goes along with the luxury hinted in the lyrics: as a famous rock star, he has gathered a lot of expensive things which just don't work any longer for him. There's a kind of dark humour there, like the grand piano to prop up his mortal remains.
I never saw the orchestral style being a "hint to luxury"... First it's an OPERA rock, then they've already done stuff with symphonic orchestra (at least "Atom heart mother"), then it's about making people "to fly", because classical orchestra are "lyrical"... And he got a strong urge to fly...
@@garryiglesias4074Let's say, in my perception, it works here as a way to promise some kind of artistic and spiritual relief which, in the end, doesn't work for him. Like that grand piano.
@@Al59redux Yeah, I follow you on the description of have "so much" and feeling "so bad and lonely", in this song. This makes it heartbreaking to me. I cry every time.
I think your experience of the French Horn has something to do with both the frequency range and envelope of the instrument - the frequency feels almost resonant with the human body (particularly the torso), and the swelling initial volume (as contrasted with the sharp attack of most brass) emulates a shiver! We can shiver, of course, from simple temperature, or from pleasure ... or from fear! In my limited experience of classical, it seems that the instrument is used most often to evoke the overwhelming beauty of a scene: Grofe uses the instrument to impress the listener with the majesty of the sunrise after the storm in the Grand Canyon Suite, while Grieg similarly uses it for a sunrise in "Morning Mood", but later implies the cold mountainside in the opening stopped note of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" - then it is joined by other low-pitched instruments with slower, swelling attack - bass, cello, and bassoon to intimate the looming threat! Could this be where Roger Waters got the idea? Who knows - but interesting thought. 🙂 Of course, this is all just my impression - no particular expertise on my part should be implied 😛
It's so much fun hearing your analysis of the musical themes. I hope you continue to do this with more of their music. My favorite part of this song (so many) is probably just after he sings the line "When I pick up the phone" you hear Jim Nabors speaking his famous Gomer Pyle character catchphrase "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!", followed by the line "There's still nobody home". The use of a TV show in the background to fill in the lyrics is just amazing.
I've always loved how the end of the line, "When I pick up the phone ..." it is expertly and crucially used to bookmark so quintessentially with HEAVY laced sarcasm, by Gomer Piles' "Surprise, surprise, surprise"...Just Awesome!
ikr, he attention to detail in the editing is amazing. I think it goes back to PF (the band) considering all sounds "music" and incorporating everyday sounds into their works.
I do wonder if Amy, and other "kids", recognize Gomer's voice since I think part of what makes the moment is knowing Gomer's face at that moment.
I also wonder if Amy has any frame of reference for "13 channels"
The film Full Metal Jacket was released many years after The Wall. Did Stanley Kubrick put a link to this album?
Yeah, I consider those three words almost part of the lyrics... and I inject them in my mind the first time through, too, even though I know they're only there the second time.
P.S. 10:48/10:53 in case anyone is unfamiliar or wants to just hear it again.
"Got those swollen hand blues" echoes Comfortably Numb"s " When I was a child, I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons. "
Perhaps my favourite piece from this master-piece album. I particularly enjoy the line "I've got a strong urge to fly, but I've got nowhere to fly to..."
Damn
That hits deep every time I hear it.
Echoes the lines from Mother - “she won’t let you fly, but she might let you sing.”
"Swollen hands" comes back in "Comfortably Numb" and the creaking door comes back in "The Trial". Even the line "I've got a strong urge to fly" harkens back to "Mother".
One of My Turns - "Would you like to learn to fly? Would you like to see me try?"
Swollen hand blues refer to Sid's hands after prolonged physical restraints ie: leather handcuffs
It is not bluesy it is deep nihilistic pain
It is Sid's surrender into the institution reality
The french horn takes you into Sid's painful slide into an existential hell
It's like having the best theoretical music lessons in a top notch exclusive private school.
You'd have half the classes where some madman or wackywoman would be teaching us how to play instruments, then the other half would be these lessons, with a completely different tutorious mesmeriser, teaching us what music means and how, whilst hypnotising our brains. It's great! Lol
There's always a very eccentric and wacky band teacher in every school, it's like an unwritten rule. I loved my band director, she was the perfect mix of crazy that kept us interested and willing to learn. I really miss her, thank you Ms. Bryant for the years of teaching and fun
If one doesn't "feel" the music, it's just a cacophony of dissonance; that is to say "NOISE!!!"
You mentioned the touches of blues. Syd Barrett named the band after two American blues artists he enjoyed.. Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Blues is part of the bands DNA.
And the Em7 or Em9 being their "staple chords"...
Ultimately, Roger's music represents every fear, every bad experience, every glimmer of hope (including those eventually crushed by subsequent events), the descent into substances to ease the pain, its failure to mitigate it. Basically, he has summed up the lives of every person born between 1950 and 1970.
I couldn't have put it any better...
Also, the swollen hands blues may be making reference to the same swollen hands he mentions in Comfortably Numb.. 🤔
This song leaves me all teared up.
So much stuff i can relate here.
This album... damn it.
Yup, "hashtag metoo"... I always cry to this song, it was a pain to have it paused son many times :).
I got lucky and grew up with Pink Floyd. I'm 35, was born in 87, and my mom absolutely is in love with them. I was introduced as a baby and knew every word to the Wall by the time I was 10. I got to watch the movie as a kid and experience the greatness that is this band. I thank my mom often for this gift. She's seen them several times live both when they were all still together and just Roger doing a light show. She went to the movie in theaters where she and my aunt were singing every song. They almost got kicked out but how can you watch that movie and not sing it?
@@atheist101 now you made me feel old, damnit.
I was 13 when I discovered PF, and that was 87...
I’m glad that I’m not the only one who can’t hold back the tears. Even if I lacked any capacity to empathize, this whole album would still have me crying uncontrollably simply due to recognizing that the largest portion of every song is Roger Waters so clearly articulating his personal pain.
The song was written after an argument between Gilmour, Waters, and co-producer Bob Ezrin during production of The Wall in which Gilmour and Ezrin challenged Waters to come up with one more song for the album. Waters then wrote "Nobody Home" and returned to the studio two days later to present it to the band.
Very well done in two days!
This song contains one of the single greatest lines of any song ever written: "got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains." Chills, even after all these years. This is, to me, the epitome of Roger Waters' genius.
And now there is a fantastic PF exhibition called Their Mortal Remains that tours around the world. I saw it in Montreal last year-so well done- 2 hours of pure bliss. I think it's in Toronto right now.
Amen. How do u like the lines about "two strangers passing on the street" in the song Echoes?
I know the common meaning of "mortal remains", but it struck me that in this case "mortal remains" could mean his mortal body is all that remains, no feelings, no soul.
Can't argue with that.
This is the transition into "Pink", the/his wife is the last bastion of "him"; that tie is severed, thus the descent into madness is complete
A wall is something that simultaneously protects and isolates us.
The in-depth video is going to be so good I'm betting.
A lot of the imaginary in the lyrics of this song refers to Syd Barrett. "Got a bag with a toothbrush and a comb in", "I've got elastic bands keeping my shoes", "the obligatory Hendrix perm", etc.
The lyric "Ooh, babe when I pick up the phone, there's still nobody home", I always viewed as his ex-wife not wanting to have anything to do with Pink for the way he mistreated her and blaming him for the failure of their marriage (referred to in Don't Leave Now & also later on in The Trial - "have you broken up any homes lately?"). So, the wall (in this case Pink's) can be a two-way obstruction. Someone on the outside of the wall (the wife) who only sees and experiences the ugly external "wall" of the person hiding behind it, ends up rejecting this ugly exterior and thus totally rejecting the person (in this case Pink). Nobody's home because nobody else wants anything to do with Pink in this isolated disconnected state. This also in a sense is a throwback to Syd Barrett's time in the band. The effects of his drug taking/mental illness made working and performing live with him so difficult and problematic that the other members of the band decided to no longer bother picking Syd up before heading off to gigs and resulted in Syd no longer being a part of the band after 1968.
Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn ?
100%.
@@markhamstra1083 I think it's legit here: he's first talking about "Pink" and then about Waters as a WRITER... His comment was about lyrics and meaning, not music or production. But generally, I know what you mean, and I think neither of "each of them" is good enough compared to what they did "as a team". Geniuses made even greater together.
@@garryiglesias4074 sorry, that comment ended up in the wrong place. Deleted.
@@markhamstra1083 But I red it in my box :). Ok thank you, that's right, I remember now that Rick had this bad habit of "She don't lie, she don't lie..." and women too IIRC... :)
One of my favorite things about Roger's lyrics are the way he enunciates certain words. When I'm singing along it's impossible for me NOT to basically mimic his vocals.
One of my favorite tracks on the album. Love the lyrics, love the orchestrations by Michael Kamen.
This song was riveting to twen age me and 40 years later still draws me in on some weird emotional level. IDK, this damn album never stops giving. Love your insights!
Fame, fortune but ultimately an empty broken man.
Love the line "a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains"
"I don't play french horn because, you know, you can only do so much in one lifetime" made me laugh, but it's so true.
Gohil's boots refers to Syd Barrett who wore them. Gohil's is the name of a leather goods store in London.
I think my favorite bit of this song is the echo effect on the words "fly to". Because it's not *really* an echo effect. The pitch changes when the chord changes. I always loved little studio tricks like that. Another good one is on the Album "Animals" in the song "Sheep" the voice crossfades into a synth sound
Devastating song, a very relatable pain. Needing someone to be there..calling and finding that the other party doesn't share the same urgency. That horrible silence after you surrender and hang up. Anyway, thanks for another fun reaction! BTW, I think the "fading roots" line also alludes to his advancing age - his hair is turning grey at the roots and this adds to his mounting insecurities and is another blow to his self-esteem.
@@SelfEvident the implication is that as a rock star he needs to keep up appearances, however at this stage he can't even bother keeping up appearances and has stopped even dying his hair because he's become so demoralized, the interpretation is subjective - that's how art works. I know what I meant, thanks.
Thanks Amy, Roger was and is, very much influenced by the military brass bands that were prevalent in Great Britain during his youth, including the brass band sounds of the ‘Salvation Army’ (hence the ‘French horn’ colourations) In keeping with the military story within the work.
The French Horn is also featured on "The Final Cut" and also in the song from The Wall film "When the Tigers Broke Free."
Yeh, it’s an important recurring theme f’sure.
Definitely, the Final Cut is full of it too.
@@thechannel6363i love wttbf!
I love this song. I'm a soppy 54 year old and it still makes me blub.
This was one of the last songs written for the album. They were in the middle of making the album and realised they needed another track, so they sent Roger off to write it, who wasn't that happy about doing it reportedly. Anyhow, they were pleasantly surprised when he came back with this song. I think it's definitely one of the highlights from the album. I love it. Incredible lyrics
That is not true. They even did not included What shall we do now? to the album due to vinyl size problem.
@@RR-vk2tlNobody Home is on side three, What Shall We Do Now? is on side two...
The smooth brass sound is I believe euphonium. A characteristic sound of English northern working class brass bands.
Maybe the best song of them all. This song speaks directly to my soul.
I love this song, it's one of those that makes me cry each time.
I used to watch pink Floyd the wall as a kid. Still love it to this day as I grew to understand it more and more each year. Without the video I feel you won't get the full sense of the meanings. Why the French horn and why the blues keys and subtle little hints.
What always thouch me on that song is the line "I have a strong urge to fly, but nowhere to fly to."
All in all a fantastic piece of music.
I'm so looking forward to you getting to the "The Trial", which is just bananas.
I love this song, timeless, a classic
Also that "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" got me everytime LOL
I feel like I should be at (not in) my seat, waiting for the house lights to drop. As Carly sang... Anticipa-a-a-tion is making me wait
Acording to Gilmour, they found a hole in the narrative, and Waters went ito another room and came back minutes later with this new song. (and now I'm going to see yur reaction to Love Reign o'er me, which I love since I was a kid.
Waters is a lyrics genius.
No, not minutes later. It was two days before Waters was ready to present his response to Gilmour and Ezrin’s challenge.
My favorite song of the album (and there are so many masterpieces in The Wall). It was the last song added to it, after the band challenged Waters to add a last one. And, damn! He delivered!
One of my favorite songs. Bob Ezrin came up with the piano part and the NY Symphony played on it as well.
The lines that end with propping up my mortal remains were a jab at the Rick Wrights cocaine habit at the time.
It was one of the last songs added and when Roger first played it to the band they hated it. David Gilmour said Roger came back the next day with something really beautiful and then they arranged it for the album.
The Wall, all of these years later.., is still a moving release. It still evokes emotion within people.
You are an extremely astute person.
Although I have heard these tracks many times.
Your comments reveal new insights.
I hope when you next do the song "Vera" that you will include "Bring the Boys Back Home" at the same time. While they are indeed two separate compositions they work together as one as one complete thought or memory.
Your timing is uncanny. Been to a 1940's rally today in Lytham, England. The track is just another example of the utter genius Roger was in this period of time. The line "But I've got nowhere to fly to" gets echoed and the sound treated into what sounds like a pilots voice speaking through his flight mask and later the TV show in the background stating surprise, surprise, surprise! In a timely response to "when I pick up the phone". The whole album is a masterpiece of: Artistry, vision, virtuosity and will never be surpassed. The French horn and orchestral sound that leads into the WW2 section is just sublime. Whichever guardian angel got my dad through his full service in the war. THANK YOU.
Ooh that would be a fun time!
Over the years, I have interpreted the 'fading roots' and also the 'baby blues' lyrics as meaning, that with the end of yet another relationship, Pink feels the loss of a chance for a normal family life, after the band. Time to set down roots of his own, to have a child, to love something greater than himself. The brass sound, bringing echoes of English brass bands, which are closely associated with community and family. Thanx . Peace All
You say "I"m sorry I have to keep interrupting" and got to be tell you I *LOVE* your interruptions because they are always full of something new. I've been listening to this album for over 40 years and yet you keep pointing out new things with your interruptions. Keep it up! Love it.
I always look forward to your analyses, thank you and look forward to the rest🤩🦩
Thank you! Waiting for the in-depth :)
"Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!" I saw The Australian Pink Floyd Experience perform The Wall live, and at that point, everyone in the audience said Gomer Pyle's catchphrase at the appropriate moment. 😂 (I'm going to see them again a week from today here in DFW!)
Thank you again for showing that there is such depth to the music PF created. Can’t wait to see what your in-depth analysis will show.
Yes it just shows how good David Gilmore and Richard Wright are. In my honest opinion they took this band to the next level
One of my favorite tracks on the album. I love French Horns too. Very majestic. Makes me want to get on a horse :-)
The sound of a brass band is ingrained into the heart of a Yorkshireman like myself. This is why I've always loved the album version of "The Wall."
it resolves itself within the song, then moves to the next song, but it does resolve itself , like blues or rock.
I appreciate you taking on this track. I am probably an outlier here but Nobody Home is my favorite track on The Wall.
What hooked me was the opening line. "I've got a little black book I put my poems in." It resonated because I had so many black notebooks full of my poetry. When I discovered The Wall, I was using poetry as a form of therapy. So ironic that I stopped writing for years and only after facing the dissolution of my marriage of 22 years that I started writing in little black books to, once again, give healing to deep wounds. That kind of brings it full circle with context. I'm older and wiser and I'm reconnecting to my fading out roots...who I am again.
Favorite song on this album.
It's great to see your facial expressions as you listen. You know far more about music than I do but you react in just the same way and then explain what's going on so I understand why it affects me the way it does.
The piano always hits me in this song, it's very melancholic but the brass is a little ominous but becomes warm and triumphant which all fits the lyrics which climb and dive in mood.
The emptiness, the unanswered calls, the literal and physical empty home and heart. The echos ring back to us because there is nobody else. Self deprecating honesty hurts the most because we cannot lie to ourselves.
This song has a heart beat that brings out each and every instrument.
I've never noticed that bass in the background that sounds like a heart beat. I have been listening to this song alot over the last 33ish years
hes using it for the laser and target effect , sharpe edges snap high and low sounds violent sounds
Your closing comment about the contrast between the grand swelling orchestration of this song clashing with the real desolation of the lyrics and the voice was spot on. I feel like that contrast is playing at a couple different levels. One is the lonely, desperate individual (solo piano) vs the larger society (French horn and rich orchestra). I also feel it at a sort of personal level - the broken and alone, closed-off addict vs his more fully realized, fully human potential self that he is not experiencing, that he cannot become behind the wall.
One of my favorite songs.
This song and “one of my turns” live the deepest in my heart. This came out the year I was born and I’ve listened to it 1000s of times since. The visions the film evokes, the lifetime of ups and downs that this was my soundtrack to are embedded in me. Mother is my favorite song of all time but this is a very close second. One of my turns film version is third.
With regard to the brass sounds in this track, there is some cultural context to consider. At the time Waters was growing up in England, there was a common and long standing tradition of marching brass bands parading through the streets on a Sunday. This was particularly true in colliery towns, where there would be a colliery band. This was behind the excellent movie “Brassed Off.” There were still many such bands about when The Wall was released.
Waters’ use of bras on this album (and The Final Cut, made up of many pieces rejected from the Wall) reminds me a lot of the England of theb70’s.
I also associate the brass sound on this track with English brass bands, which rarely - if ever - contain French horns, but rather tenor and baritone horns and euphoniums. It would be interesting to see the orchestral score.
Excellent job! Loved your comments on Waters' use of blue. Depending deeper into hopelessness and the blues.
One of my favorite tracks on the album. Some much emotion in music & voice.
It's a masterpiece.
One of my all time favorite songs!
Side 3 has always been my favorite side (I am showing my age here) and this has always been my favorite song on this side (and on the album, as a whole). There are so many dimensions to this piece and I find that it ties Pink's past to is future lyrically and musically. His sense of abandonment and lone-ness is all there; even in the initial "call & response" of traditional blues music that leaves us (& Pink) with the orchestration and the use of the French horn (which I feel to be more nostalgic and forlorn as used in this piece). And its abrupt ending is a signal of the change to come.
Thank you Amy, for continuing the journey. I look forward to the in-depth analysis video.
The Hendrix Perm, the Pin Hole burns, the Satin shirt, the Gohills Boots, the Fading Roots (Hair Dye) " His Favorite Axe" (guitar)... it's all reference to Pink's lifestyle as a Rock Star. Thank you again :) you have help me learn soo much even after 40yrs of listening!
My Favorite Channel! Peace
Producer Bob Ezrin on lovely piano here. And for the orchestrations on this and other songs like "Comfortably Numb,", Ezrin and the band handed over the tapes to an arranger named Michael Kamen and essentially told him, "Michael, do your thing."
If I could play any song on piano it would be this song. Beautiful
For me, 'Nobody Home,' could be seen in the context of Hey You, and Is There Anybody Out There. Pink is stuck in this hotel room, the TV is on in the background nonstop, he's torn between the safety of the space he's in (behind the wall) and reaching out to something he connects to 'home,' he hasn't completely lost his emotional connection to his wife/partner and so tries to call her on and off, there's no reply, no way of making any kind of connection with what/who was once his 'home'; where he is isn't a home in any sense, but he seems to yearn for a sense of belonging somewhere and a sense of connecting to his own true self, in at least two ways, there is Nobody Home. Thanks Amy, what an absolute treat to share all this with you.
This has been a great series with you covering "The Wall". My mother bought me this double-album on Valentine's Day 1980, I was 12 and must have listened to it a thousand times. Very interesting to hear your perspectives on the story and the music.
My favorite song on the album
I'm old enough to remember the 1960's comedy show Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. I love the "Surprise Surprise Surprise!" at 10:52.
Amy, I interpret the French horn, with its classical formality and subtle omnipresence, to be a callback to the British Empire, whom Pink blames for his father's death and all the consequences that flow from that event.
I love this song. To me, it speaks of the alienation of knowing that the person you were supposed to feel most connected to has written you off, and all you have now is a sorry little bag of possessions. They can't relate to you, but at least they'll never leave you.
I was able to arrange this song for acoustic guitar without much trouble, so now the song is eminently portable. "Comfortably Numb" may be my favorite song on the album; but musically speaking, I think this song may be the best one on the album..
Thanks as usual for the great analysis. Cheers.
I like playing this on acoustic guitar.
Thank you for this. We are now een more aware of Roger’s genius.
One of the best song ever written
Pink Floyd works multiple threads and patterns into their thematic progressive music tapestry. It can be found in this album, The Wall, and a couple other albums of theirs, such as Animals and Darkside of the Moon. Albums you might enjoy analyzing while providing us those free music lessons. Thanks for your insights, they are informative; it encourages my further curiosity in music theory. 🖖😎
Brass is British so its the english school system and its about a british setup so makes sense. you can do this 'things in common' words here and there music here similar all through the pink floyd category 'album to album '. I've got electric light
And I've got second sight
I've got amazing powers of observation
Finally, this song is one of my favorities of the album, thank you so much.
Hoping 'Vera' and 'Bring the Boys Back Home' will be in the same video.
the orchestration by Michael Kamen is a big part of the greatness of the wall. so effective at amplifing emotion.
More variety please!! It’s been a TON of Pink Floyd and Queen there is so much more out there
I agree about Queen, as much as I love them; but The Wall, as a whole, is of deep personal interest to me.
I too love the French horn. I think it sounds regal.
Pink Floyd masters at music composition and wonderful lyrics nothing matches them today
One cool thing about this song is that recalls a scene in the later made movie during “the happiest days of our lives”. The teacher grabs Pink’s black book with his poems in. The poem he reads is some of the lyrics to the song “Money “ from Dark side of the moon. I don’t remember from the top of my head if the black book is referenced anywhere else in the album, but cool that you can see it in the movie.
Pretty cool what you’ve been doing with one of my favorite albums. Had to subscribe to your channel.
Pink is the one not at home. Peace/JT
The 'grandeur' in the orchestal arrengement goes along with the luxury hinted in the lyrics: as a famous rock star, he has gathered a lot of expensive things which just don't work any longer for him. There's a kind of dark humour there, like the grand piano to prop up his mortal remains.
I never saw the orchestral style being a "hint to luxury"... First it's an OPERA rock, then they've already done stuff with symphonic orchestra (at least "Atom heart mother"), then it's about making people "to fly", because classical orchestra are "lyrical"... And he got a strong urge to fly...
@@garryiglesias4074Let's say, in my perception, it works here as a way to promise some kind of artistic and spiritual relief which, in the end, doesn't work for him. Like that grand piano.
@@Al59redux Yeah, I follow you on the description of have "so much" and feeling "so bad and lonely", in this song. This makes it heartbreaking to me. I cry every time.
Roger waters lyrics are incredible. They create images.
Btw Michael Kamen did the orchestral arrangements on this album. Fantastic job IMHO.
I'm with you on the French horn. It's one of my favorite instrument sounds also.
Your reactions and analysis are wonderfully singular - am smiling as I listen to the passionate and cheerful delivery - thank you
Arguably best song on the album
A truly wonderful song you never get tired of
this is an underrated song i relate to this one so much
Thank you for your analysis.
Your musical analysis and interpretation, I find it of a lot of value.
Yes very interesting piece, indeed.
I think your experience of the French Horn has something to do with both the frequency range and envelope of the instrument - the frequency feels almost resonant with the human body (particularly the torso), and the swelling initial volume (as contrasted with the sharp attack of most brass) emulates a shiver! We can shiver, of course, from simple temperature, or from pleasure ... or from fear! In my limited experience of classical, it seems that the instrument is used most often to evoke the overwhelming beauty of a scene: Grofe uses the instrument to impress the listener with the majesty of the sunrise after the storm in the Grand Canyon Suite, while Grieg similarly uses it for a sunrise in "Morning Mood", but later implies the cold mountainside in the opening stopped note of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" - then it is joined by other low-pitched instruments with slower, swelling attack - bass, cello, and bassoon to intimate the looming threat! Could this be where Roger Waters got the idea? Who knows - but interesting thought. 🙂
Of course, this is all just my impression - no particular expertise on my part should be implied 😛
There's the Pink Floyd exhibition 'Their Mortal Remains' btw. With their instruments, things, and other stuff. Going on for a few years.
It's so much fun hearing your analysis of the musical themes. I hope you continue to do this with more of their music.
My favorite part of this song (so many) is probably just after he sings the line "When I pick up the phone" you hear Jim Nabors speaking his famous Gomer Pyle character catchphrase "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!", followed by the line "There's still nobody home".
The use of a TV show in the background to fill in the lyrics is just amazing.