Pink Floyd, Another Brick In The Wall (II) - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction
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- Опубликовано: 14 янв 2023
- #pinkfloyd #thewall #thewallsong #rogerwaters
A beautiful manifesto against one of the most horrible forms of tyranny: a corrupt educational system. Continuing the “heart-beat” motif that he started with in the first song, Waters moves further along the path of his character’s alienation.
Here’s the link to the original song by Pink Floyd:
• Another Brick In The W...
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
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Credits: Music written and performed by Pink Floyd
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As usual, please write here your questions only.
6:13 "I think I've said enough about my emotional reaction here."
No, you didn't. I've never seen you listening so intensely to a guitar solo before. DID YOU LIKE IT? WAS THIS SOLO BEAUTIFUL TO YOU? Did you also recognise the mastery of it?
6:56 No sophistication? Didn't you hear that amazingly sophisticated guitar solo?
By the way, at the end there's a subtle different chord, after 5:14, right before the screaming teachers start. That chord manifests itself in a sophisticated way.
9:40 "There's a sort of deadening pulse (...) that goes on, and on, and on."
This is a song with a strong groove, probably influenced by the Disco that was happening at the time. This groove makes you want to move, which feels good. This track makes you want to move your head up and down. The 'dance' quality of this number is quite strong. Can't you ever acknowledge, or even like, that side of Pop/Rock?
Finally, can't you value the slickness of the production? The s o u n d s are beautiful. Can't you hear that? It's an art in itself to produce such a sound.
We're you watching the video? Because the song itself is not disturbing. My take is children rebelling Against conformity in the school system where everybody is treated as a part of the collective not as an individual
My sister gave me a Brick for my birthday one year . Wrapped in one whole roll of wrapping paper 😂😂 and Duct tape with bubble wrap .
It's a doorstop , a one time remote control , a window opener , a argument winning statement and if course a Brick .
As a teacher yourself did you feel being attacked a little yourself.... or did you go back to your own being a kid that got wronged by a teacher is some way?
once you are done a song by song reaction will you be going back and listening to the whole album at once?
Being a Guitar player for 45 years, I must say that the Electric Guitar, in the hands of a Master like David Gilmour, just cannot be matched in expressiveness, by any other instrument.
The Guitar Solo is Extraordinary, the slides, bends, the subtle changes in attack on the strings, the dynamics changes as He plays, are all perfectly executed, with all of it there by design.
And the transitions from the chink-a-chink guitar to the fully-distorted power chords. Genius.
Indeed. I find it disheartening that Amy pays it no mind whatsoever, just deeming the song unartistic.
@@dago87able No offence to Amy, but She could only fantasize about the Harp having that much tonal variation, even amplified. I can see how someone who values orchestral treatment to music, just not able to "feel" the passion of an electric guitar solo. David has so many for Her, surely She cannot ignore them all.
@@michaelyork4554 Oh, I hope, for sure, but I mean, ain’t THIS solo designed precisely to stand out in this particular song as the encapsulation of all that Amy says is not to be found in the song, namely individual nuanced artistic expression…? oh well.
@@dago87able I agree, I suppose She was too caught up in the lyrics to really "hear" the solo.
Another brick is nowhere near the best track on the album but as a kid it got the most airplay. Can't wait for you to go through mother and comfortably numb. And thank you for doing this. I'm getting reintroduced to one of my favorite albums by my favorite band. I feel like a kid again.
Nice... for me, it's Goodbye Blue Sky and Vera
I agree. This is the only song that ever gets played on the radio, but it's far from the best of the album. This is also their most over-rated song as it's the most listened to on Spotify, and seemingly also the most known song amongst non-fans.
@@notlolpan4255 I think it got promoted due to length. Comfortably numb is pretty long and radio stations are scared to play anything over 4 minutes due to lack of attention span. So they pushed it. Also it's kinda the title track of the album. So promotes the sale of albums. The labels don't promote music. They promote sales. Of which Floyd saw nearly non of the proceeds.
@@diamondback2085 Taken out of context of the previous songs (as played on the radio), I feel like this was mostly taken as a superficial teenage rebellion song which was why it was so popular. Not that there weren't people listening to it on the radio with a deeper connection to it, but that wasn't my impression of the typical reading. (In other words, listening to it as a the kind of rebellion song that Zappa's "Teenage Wind" was a parody of.)
@@hackbod oh for sure. But I was referring to the decisions made by the record label. Remember they pick and choose what to promote on the radio. And yes out of context it loses a lot of it's power and bite.
My sister was in middle school when this song came out. She and her classmates drove one of their more abusive teachers (who I had had a couple years prior, so I can testify to his abusiveness) nuts by singing this in the lunchroom. Later the music teacher came in and voiced his support for kids singing in the lunchroom.
I love that, the power of song and solidarity
As you correctly guessed, this was THE protest song of the students at the time. I just went to middle school and you heard it ten times a day somewhere. Was a massive hit also on the radio
I think probably a year or two before that song was released, the older kids at my school would go out onto the school football pitch and protest about something or other. I don't remember what. Must've been something in the air at the time with the Winter of Discontent in the UK. When Another Brick in The Wall was released it immediately resonated!
Fun fact: this song was banned in South Africa by the apartheid regime bc it became an anthem of the anti-apartheid movement.
South African here. The biggest act of rebellion was to play this song over the school intercom.
The SA government of the time banned anything that had a whiff of anarchy about it, whether music, art or literature. Everything was interpreted literally by those troglodytes, and this particular song was viewed as a heinous and communist attack on everything that the christian-conservative establishment held dear. I had just entered high (secondary) school in South Africa when The Wall was released, and the banning of the entire album only stoked our interest. I was lucky that my older brother had purchased the album the day before it was banned and all the copies disappeared from the shops. (So we made plenty of copies on audio tape and distributed those among the friends at school.)
Oh not just there:) in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship it was banned on television because people there very quickly tied this song to the dictator’s education policy:) this is why Pink Floyd/Roger Waters is quite beloved
@@JacoWiumI was in high school during the 1990s and the song/album got unbanned during that time.
@@WayneKitching Yep, that's right, most of the banned materials were unbanned from the late 1980's onwards, at the end of PW Botha's reign and then after FW de Klerk set the ball rolling for a new democratic era and a less constrictive time culturally. I think a few of those grey minds realised that the more you suppress something, the stronger you make it.
As an ex pupil of Islington Green School (who are the kids singing) I’ve always had a love for this track beyond the simple love for the greatness of the track. As a child of teachers who agreed with the sentiment and taught in other London schools I’ve seen the other side of the narrative and it holds true for teachers too. And it has always humoured me that the kids who sang were taken out of school to sing on the track by the schools music teacher under the pretence of a school trip. The same teacher went on to be a schools inspector but sadly the New Labour Government of the 90’s and early 00’s used the same system he went on to work for to close Islington Green down! Sad times but such a wonderful mark on the world that this small rebellious made school.
Quality input.
A friend of mine was one of those kids, always loved listening to her story of that day
I love that the proper London accent comes out in the chants, for me that's what makes it so relatable
I grew up in Grimphorpe House, Agdon St, just round the corner from where I'm sure parts of the video were filmed. Not 100% sure, but I think the end of the video, where kids are filmed from high up running around a playground, was filmed from the roof of Turnpike House in Goswell Road, overlooking King Square. I could be wrong. By the way, I went to the new infant and junior school Hugh Myddleton in the 70's.
Dave Gilmour's outro solo is certainly not crude or boring. It's soulful and delicate, highly expressive and exquisitely melancholic (as is a lot of Dave's lead work).
It’s criminally overlooked.
I’ve never seen a cover that comes even near this performance.
Not even Gilmour himself matched it.
Agreed!
She is not saying the guitar solo is crude or boring. She is saying how strong the tune is by been brutal, crude and 'unimaginative'. It represents what happens when education is crude, boring and unimaginative. How kids can be turned off by certain type of teachers. I encourage listening to her in-depth review of the previous song. Now I will listen to this in-depth review.
@@rk41gator Yes it lacks of nuance... The movie shows it better: the "boring" part is the industrial machine to make sausages, while Gilmour solo is kids getting freedom in the mind of Pink... The solo is the creative mind of Pink... And then back to Pythagoras. (Which is the part which really annoys me: I LOVE mathematics...)
To me, it's actually the best guitar solo ever! I also love others like EVH's 'Eruption' or Alex Lifeson's in 'La Villa Strangiato', but there's just something about this Gilmour solo that puts it above all of them for me 😊
As someone who is hearing impaired and was abused by teachers and students growing up in the 1970s, this song struck me in such a way that actually felt the same way. Roger Waters was expressing the emotions of millions of school children growing up in the post war generation.
My sister in law is also a teacher and whenever this track plays on the car radio, the station is changed before the "need no" comes through the speakers.
I thought it was basically a protest song against outdated establishment and the techniques/systems of the authorities. It always remind me of the line from Bowie's Changes "and these children that you spit on as they try to change their world".
The line goes "We don`t need no education". It is a double negative. The meaning is "We need education but not of the described sort". So no need to switch station for your sister in law. 😉 I guess she does not promote "dark sarcasm in the classroom".
@@Monitorreiniger The next line is also double negative: "We don't need no thought control." Does that mean we DO need thought control?
The double negative is just street slang. It's something people of all ages do all the time. It's grammatically incorrect, but the people who use it don't really care.
@@robertbryant4669 Could very well have both meanings, as what these abused children "need" is someone to teach them how to think so they don't have to suffer the anguish of their own intrusive thoughts. Have a dictator instruct them how to act, what to believe. Perhaps Pink got his first taste of absolute power....
@@SanguineMalcontent "It's a Saturday night and I ain't got nobody!" Well obviously, he has somebody in his life, so what's he complaining about?
"I can't get no satisfaction!" Clearly, that means he can get satisfaction, which of course undermines the whole message of the song.
"You ain't never had a friend like me!" Obviously, that means Aladdin had at least one other genie friend.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Excellent reaction! That was Number 1 in the singles chart in the UK for five weeks when it came out, when I was a teenager. We knew which of the teachers at our school it was referring to with its "dark sarcasm in the classroom." And they knew too, and hated the song. Writing "We don't need no education" on the school blackboard would, if you were caught, get you a caning.
Was also Christmas number 1, back when we had proper Christmas number ones.
I'm an older male, and have been forced into a change in my life where I have gone back to school. There is one teacher that is SO great, and she does an amazing job. I have a disability that makes school a bit of a struggle, but the way she teaches makes it so easy for me to follow along and learn. I see her in you. I can only imagine that you would be cut from the same cloth. I wish we all had teachers like the two of you. I have watched your videos, learning and feeling things about music I have been listening to for 30 years. Thank you for being a teacher, and someone with empathy and the ability to share yourself with everyone on the interent. You are valuable and very much appreciated. Thank you.
The Happiest Days of Our Life and Another Brick in the Wall II aren't just one song, the ENTIRE album is one song.
It's a rock opera, plain and simple.
I really see it as 4 songs on for each side
Yes, even for non English people who didn't understand the words when the song came out, it was protest song against school and teacher power. Yet, I find it strong musically because of the bass line and this incredible guitar solo at the end. Well unimaginative and boring, that's not how we felt it when it came out. I still love it because, as you say, it's disturbing and it's strong.
David Gilmore wrung raw emotion from minimal notes brilliantly played at a time when speed and power were coming to the forefront. With few exceptions, his solos have stood the test of time unlike few other artists of his era.
@@craenor it's weird because the newness of their songs and DG's solos were so magnetic and intrusive that it's hard to fathom how much more we could appreciate them today because of just knowing music better than we did back then. Going from a concept to execution must've been remarkable to watch when they put it all together in the studio.
The song has just five lines. Five very iconic lines.
It could have been a throwaway but producer Bob Ezrin championed the idea of it being a disco track, which it is. The band hated the idea, but the proof is in the song. It’s amazing.
I never saw it as a disco track. I saw it as being the last No. 1 of the 1970's, a great way of finishing a great decade of music.
@@70AD-user45 The 4/4 beat and the rhythm guitar is a kind of disco. But you wouldn't really dance to it!
There is nothing 'disco' about this classic rock track
Basically this song is somewhat of a rehash of Alice Cooper's 'School's Out' also produced by Bob Ezrin, only half as fun though.
@@rootstothebone2939 The irony for me is that one of the most impactful introductions to Pink Floyd when I was growing up as a kid was from the dance troupe Hot Gossip performing this on the Kenny Everett video show. It is quite likely the reason that shortly after I "borrowed" my older brother's copy of The Wall and never looked back.
I’m no musician but I’ve found this song to be incredibly sophisticated musically since I started listening to it in the early 1980’s. The guitar work all through it is incredible, and of course especially the solo outro.
It's very simple actually, it's mostly Dm with the odd C,G and F chords thrown in, basic pop, a relative beginner guitar player that's fine with barre chords can easily play along to this, the solo is a different thing though, however it's not that complicated, it's mainly all about feel and getting those bends right.
@@luvstellauk Who said sophisticated is complicated?
Someone who only pays attention to the sheet music would find it simple. The nuance of the performance and the effectiveness of the complete song is brilliant! The solo is a demonstration of complete mastery. There is no real flash or shock to it. It instead exhibits the tone, phrasing and execution of a player with complete control over the emotional impact he's trying to make. The note choice, the empty spaces, the BENDS! The slow rake up the the 13th fret whole step bend... Come on!!
Very interisting point of view.
Nowadays I dont listen to that song as often as I did as a kid. Maybe once or twice a year. But everytime I do it gives me goosebumps. The structure of the song, the chanting kid choir and this outerworldy guitar solo. Simply wow!
And it never ever comes to me to see this precious little diamond as boring in any way. But thats just my humble opinion.
Boring and unimaginative? I don't agree. The subtle dynamics of the guitar strum and bass line linking between the spoken chants as well as the riff leading into the chorus are wonderful. To me, at least. Love the reactions!
I think she is refering to the disco inspired parts of the song, which is quite intentional. The guitar solo is quite different from the parts she is talking about. The main chunk of the song is this driving disco beat.
@@AustinRea27 You'd think she would have commented on the solo then if it stood out so much.
She just hates the lyrics and story. I think she's a teacher
"Boring and unimaginative" She doesn't mean that as an insult, tho! The seeming simplicity of it is the perfect background for a song about the painful monotony of school.
Yes, there is indeed more going on beneath the surface, so subtly that it's barely noticeable. It's insidious
Growing up in rural New Zealand i attended a small school one of the teachers was a tyrant, and I remember after the release of this song the whole school of children between the ages of 5 and 11/12 marched around the school chanting the chorus older kids taught the younger kids the words and someone had it on tape so played it while we marched protesting this tyrannical teacher. It felt like a victory of being able to express our utter distain for her. Very powerful song as is the album. You have nailed this album well done!!
similar scenario at my intermediate school in the South Island.
Kia ora from Wellington! 👋😀 I was 9 and growing up in Germany at the time this was a Hit, though 😊
@@irianscott1062 Might have been a kiwi thing aye??
@@mightyV444 it was a big hit. Miss good old Wellington.
@@darrens7040 - Weather is very nice here right now, too! 😊 May I ask where you live now? Hopefully not in the Hawke's Bay, though! I hear it's been raining there pretty much since Christmas!
As you listen to more Pink Floyd, would you care to comment about David Gilmour's solos? I think he has a great sense of melody and how to form a contour of range and dynamics to come up with a cohesive and powerful musical "sentence"
I too was surprised that she didn't even _touch_ on his solo (which is my favourite of all guitar solos), but I'm sure this will happen in her in-depth analysis 😊
Exactly what I thought
Gilmour's solos are very blues-like, it's very likely not her cup of tea.
@@MetalGearyaTV not the point
Every element in Pink Floyd's music is deliberate.
I knew you were going to get mad about this one after seeing your reaction to “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”. Fortunately for you, it’s the last one that really addresses the lyricist’s school experiences and unhappiness with how the children were treated.
That said, I completely agree with your assessment that it’s intentionally a simple (or plain) sounding song because it gives more impact to the lyrics, which are also very simple but very impactful. Another wonderful reaction. Well done!
Yeah, I commented after her impression of “Happiest Days of our Lives” that if this made her upset, wait for ABITW Part II and I was not wrong. 😂. #calledit
I bought this 7” single when it came out. I was 12 years old and had been getting the shit kicked out of me by the teachers and the nuns since Kindergarten. Who wouldn’t build a wall?
How awful! 😯 You have my sincere compassion for having had to endure such horrible things! 😞 School had also scarred _me_ to a degree, and I still have bad, school-related dreams now that I'm 53, but that's already _without_ any physical abuse! 😬
Listened to this album a lot as a kid but now revisiting it as an adult I realize more profoundly how crushingly sad it all is.
Wow, at last! I actually thought you'd abandoned this series. Glad I was wrong.
I had the same feeling. I feel anxious. But finally it's here. Lol
I think she did the wall in one take but they upload the songs one by one.
1:43 Your reaction when the children's choir starts singing is priceless :)
Two things I love about this song - Roger's bassline and the kid's of Islington Green School's North London accents.
... in contrast to Gilmour's and Waters' more American-sounding accents here, yes! That's always stood out to me, too! 😀 _My_ favourite part is the guitar solo, over Rick Wright's organ pad, and it's actually my favourite of all guitar solos 😊
This was a number 1 single in the UK, in fact the last number 1 single of the 70s.
and pink floyd's only #1 with this line up. i'm not sure if they had another after waters left.
@@DannyD714 it was their only number 1 single in the UK (I think but don’t quote me)
And the first no.1 single of the 1980s
It played on the radio a lot when I was young, and I went to the concert in Stockholm in 1984. I always liked this song because of the raw power of contained rage, I guess I'd call it. And Gilmour's solo cuts like a knife.
Best solo ever! 😍👍
Only Pink Floyd could write a Disco song with dystopian lyrics!
This song spelled the end for corporal punishment in Britain. It had been so normal and expected and accepted up until this became Floyd’s first and only number one single.
One of the best albums to go through song by song. Thank you.
Come on, this has one of the best guitar solos ever. Such great feel.
Absolutely,how can a professional musician not even comment on it? sublime
This came out in the late 70's. Many kids at the time in the UK experienced dull lessons, verbatim learning, tyrannical teachers. Schools could still dish out physical punishment and psychological damage on impressionable young minds, without redress. So, if this is what education is, then we don't want it!
I think we were all waiting for you to get to this song in the album. I love your honesty about the music itself and also realizing that it was intentional.
This song came out to the radio by itself about the time I was the age of the children singing. Without the rest of the album, kids in my school treated this as an anthem. Since I just discovered your channel and how you went about doing this album, I'm going to watch every track, then see how you did the movie, when I will write a little about that because I did see this in the theater.
I must say how much I enjoy your reactions, analysis, and review of the music, lyrics, and substance of each song. Such a joy, thank you. ;)
I was in the 7th grade when this song was released. Someone brought the album to school on cassette and played this song. That was the first time I heard it. Great song. Great album.
The guitar solo is very nice and great musical content
The analysis of this song genuinely brought tears to my eyes. You really are fantastic at this.
This song was very disturbing to many when it first came out. The music video had some very shocking visuals as well. Your analysis is spot on.
This channel is the best ive watched on youtube. These reactions are so perfect and informative, as well as genuine. Cant get enough
Was a student when song came out. Maybe it was free time and teacher had radio and this hit came on. I vaguely recall wondering if he had any thoughts. Fast forward 25 years and I'd been a teacher for 2 weeks, and at rowdy club band plays this and I was like holy crap I've crossed to the dark side! I think it's helped me keep perspective.
'Dark Side Of The Moon'! 😉😁
@@mightyV444 Hah, I didn't (consciously at least) notice that!
😁@@ykmgeedee. And I'm sure you're actually one of the _good_ teachers! 😉👍
I was at school in the 70s and the teachers would shame you in front of the class if you got a question wrong. Teachers were allowed to hit you across the knuckles with the edge of a ruler and up until my last year the headmaster could give you the cane. It was a terrifying and brutal place and I didn't learn much apart from survival. This album is a storyline. All of floyds albums are stories or concepts. It's good that you understand that the music has to fit the narrative. Not all rock music is dark, some of it is quite beautiful and soothing, depends what they are trying to say. As someone who started playing music aged 4 and I'm now 60 I've played just about every type of modern music and 7 different instruments but I'm always drawn to progressive rock because it is without a doubt the deepest and most challenging to play. Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush etc. Great reaction Amy.
Sorry that it happened to you (and others). I was at school in the 70s too, part of it in a catholic-oriented school, but apart from maybe a single episode my recollection is different. Sorry to ask, but I'm curious if this was in the UK?
@@Pedro_MVS_Lima yes, it was in the UK. I left school in 1977 aged 16. It was the roughest school in the borough, but corporal punishment was quite normal in most secondary comprehensives. I was well behaved but tended to day dream. I was actually composing an entire piece of music in my head until the teacher shouted at me. But it was the public humiliation that hurt the most.
@@coot1925 Well, yes, that sucks big, bigtime. 😟 I see several comments mentioning that kind of thing happening in the UK. In here, as much as I perceived in my little corner of reality, there might have been the threat of corporal punishment (at school, at home it wasn't a threat but there was no public exposure) and that usually settled it.
@@Pedro_MVS_Lima to be honest, I think it's gone too far the other way now. Kids don't fear teachers or police because there's no negative outcome for bad behaviour, so can do whatever they want with no consequences. I'm the youngest of 6 kids and were taught to be respectful, helpful and kind, so we didn't fear our parents, but I hated school and left at 16 and straight out to work. I'm 60 now and I'm so knackered from too much physical work.
@@coot1925 I feel many parents nowadays don't know what to do as they can't forward the way they were themselves educated.
Each case will be a case, but children may feel somewhat lost in this scenario, engaging in risky attention-grabbing behavior or trying to get the approval and attention they crave from other sources like their peers. I'm sure you know how savage and brutal children can be, this can be a problem. I'm not even specifically thinking of bullying here.
So while trying to save children from potential abusive environments at the "grown-up" level, we may be exposing them further to abusive environments at a level where "grown-ups" might fear to interfere.
I think we should be more pragmatic and try to resolve the issues as they come instead of trying to enforce a particular idealization of how things should be.
Anyway, I might have given the wrong idea before and I should clarify that I wasn't fearful of my parents, or of physical punishments for that matter.
It's a pity you dropped school as it can be of the most liberating experiences one can have at any age.
This song grabbed my attention as a young schoolkid in primary school in Australia, it was just different from other songs I had heard on the radio, and the kids singing was a complete surprise but totally apt. Later as an older man, I realised the sculpting and design that had gone into the piece musically: the imagery is that educational institutions can become like non sensing machines that batter and press sensitive kids and spit them out the other end as a product. The music is a machine, the rhythm guitar like the gears clicking and whirring away, the bass and share drums pounding and the hi hats opening like steam being released as the bass like metal hammers and rods do their work. The kids and Rog/Dave mimic the dull drone of wrote learning by repetitive chanting. This is very clever stuff that goes beyond being just a catchy disco blues hit record - which it truly is as well! That's what I like about PF, so many layers to explore and appreciate.
I never thought I would ever come to RUclips and find someone speak so beautifully.
If nobody's mentioned this already, you need to listen to the album "The Final Cut". It's even more of a Roger Waters project than this album was, but it has some of the most emotionally moving music you'll ever hear. You'll like it.
Going to elementary school in the 70s and early 80s, this song was on the lips of many many students. It’s still my daughter’s favourite PF song, so it definitely has resonated through the years. I heard an interview with with Waters or Gilmore a few years ago and interestingly they said that this song was a PF take on disco music, which was at its height in the late 70s.
This song was my introduction to Pink Floyd, I'd just turned 13 when this was released as a single, and I've been a fan of the band ever since. It was the first single the band had released in years, and it went straight to the top of the charts in the UK. The video for the song contained some of Gerald Scarfe's animations - the scene that stuck in my mind was the animation of the teacher putting the kids into a meat mincer, and in the movie this image was turned into a live action sequence. The song may be simple, uncomplicated, basic.... but it spoke volumes to 13-year-old me. I'd spent a year at a grammar school by this time and was starting to feel like I was part of that sort of educational system, so I related to the message in the lyrics and I enjoyed the repetitive nature of the song.
You and me both - I was also 13 when it came out, and in an English grammar school, with many teachers who had come into teaching after being demobbed at the end of the war and carried a burden with them that sometimes came out in the classroom. It was quite a tough time. This song was no1 for a long time for more than the reason it's a great piece of music.
@@davidalexander-watts6630
It was the last No. 1 of the 1970's, a great song to finish off a great decade of music.
Yeah, that mincer scene is what has stuck also with _me_ over the years, especially the movie version. I was only 9 at the time this was a hit, and I liked it a lot; When my then 16-year-old cousin heard this, he told me he had the actual 'The Wall' album and said he'd copy it onto tape for me... I'm still waiting for that tape today! 😂
The entire series you’ve done here is absolutely wonderful. Very very in depth and thoughtful. Insightful
I'm really looking forward to when you've completed the album to see if and how your thoughts on the individual songs might change when you're able to appreciate their places and the roles they play in the whole.
Amy: I am amazed how intuitive you are to the core meaning to this music.
Your empathy for the children and your passion for the role of a good teacher is obvious!
You are going to make a fantastic mother👍😊
VERY WELL DONE
For not misunderstanding simplicity of music as being simple or artless. Especially for someone with your classical training and lifelong immersion in complex music style. Many of the most moving or beautiful songs are so simple that one can wonder where in all this seemingly lack of musical substance is the magic creating the effect hiding.
Corporal punishment in institutions that affect a student's psychological, mental, social, and kinetic performance was a bad way to go. I love this song and your reaction.
The visible reaction is fascinating. Great reaction to an epic rock piece.
it's about teachers pouring their own beliefs into students heads, when we need freedom as children and forever! Society is just full of bricks! and that rebellion, thats rock n roll!
I am so looking forward to you analysing 'The Trial', know this series is already finished but each episode cant come fast enough - 'The Wall' has been in my life for ever and I love the analysis - I was a kid in primary school singing "we dont need no education" - rock of my age. Fantastic stuff.
The Wall Part II is the radio version you still hear to this day on classic rock stations. Always a great listen and even better in concert. Watch the live version in the PULSE concert. you won't be disappointed.
I was 9 when this song was a hit at the end of '79, and when my then 16-year-old cousin heard that I liked it a lot, he told me he had the actual 'The Wall' album and that he would record it onto tape for me 😃 ...I'm still waiting for that tape today! 😏😄
I love your long silences trying to understand what's going on... the confusion, the anger, the passion involved in these stories full of nonsense and need.
Great listen. I feel the same way about this song.
I attended a boys' high school in the 1960s, and this song has always resonated with me. I achieved quite well academically so wasn't derided as much as many of the lads. However my self esteem still took many years to recover. 'The Wall', being from the late 70s, is reflective of what is hopefully a bygone era. There was always the odd good teacher, encouraging and decent. But sadly the culture of my type of school attracted and supported the opposite.
You've analyzed this song in a way I've never thought about and in a way I'd never considered--before this. I think your analysis actually helps me with the terrible grammar of the lines, which now make so much sense. It's not "we don't need any education" or "leave those kids alone"; it's unstable grammar reflecting the instability from which it rises and strongly shows the result of abusive education: namely, revolt and no education, neither of which should be the case. Your analysis strongly suggests to me that the lyrical and musical banality (apart, perhaps, from the guitar solo--itself a kind of whimpering punctuated by cries of frustration exploding and then dying into impotence) are the musical realization of the lyrical theme! Brilliant!
When I was a kid and heard this song (in the 1980's), musically it had a strong emotional power to me, and that was purely the music, since I didn't understand the lyrics. I disagree that it is boring, unimaginative, it certainly is not trying to be sophisticated, but the vast majority of rock music is very simple (maybe not the songs that you have reviewed so far), but when it succeeds it has a strong emotional effect on many people. Of course now I'm in my 40's and I've heard this song too many times, and I've also been used to listen to much more sophisticated music, and I wouldn't normally decide to put on this song. But I can still see the value of it, I think you should not underestimate how simple music can touch people when they are at the right age, in the right state of mind, even if they may not be musically sophisticated.
My musical life was practically born with this album. Not sure how it happened but this ended up on my headphones in the very early 90s when i was 5-6 years old and Ive loved the album ever since, dissected it, and have probably heard it thousands of times no exaggeration. I 100% understand her analysis and get it but at the same time this song is pivotal and important to the album. It is the adolescent stage of the album.
This was such a huge hit I but I never listened to the full album, so I missed the real meaning. Thinking this song was against 'education' I never really liked it. But now, thanks to your analysis I have the true meaning and understand that Pink Floyd is crying against abuse as dished out by some teachers. Your reaction is understandable and so justified. The cycle of abuse.
Emotions ,that’s what music should do to us.
Two things to note about this track. 1 it was for general single release so had to fit in that sort of box. Secondly "we don't need no education" is a double negatI've so can be interpreted as we need education but what we are getting isn't really education and th at is what we don't need
Actually, the outro solo was cut a little short in the single. But I don' t think the idea "we must release a single" is anywhere close to Roger Water's engaging concerns.
@@Pedro_MVS_Lima quite so it was most likely a contractual obligation though. having said that having grown up with this song it was very important to me and my age group, it was very popular in my school. and was actually how I discovered Pink Floyd
@@geekexmachina Yes, it would appear it was a contractual obligation, and what you many times do, or did, in these situations is take an "appropriate" track of the album and single-ize it, which may be a difficult thing to do with a concept album where the tracks segue into the others.
About you and your age group, I can perfectly understand that. PF is strongly important to me on a personal level and, strange as it may sound, it's actually the following album that carries that significance.
I was surprised to hear you describe this song as “boring.” It was a monster hit when the album was released. Whenever it came on the radio I was always completely transfixed. It tapped into something almost elemental in the consciousness in 1979. The song also won the Juno Award for International Song of the Year and the American Music Award for Favourite Pop/Rock Single. It was a monster.
butthurt
I'd love to see you do a reaction to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon. A very different sound to their later stuff, and far more musical. But just as deep lyrically. The whole album is very melancholic, and sometimes ecstatic.
This song resonated with me a lot when I was in primary school (I have ADHD, went to a Catholic school but wasn't baptized) back in the late 80s to mid 90s in Australia
I was always looked down upon mistreated and left out
Welcome to the sublime state of mind where you soar through the clouds one moment, and you are down in the deep darkness of the soul in the next. Like most of the great albums, this grabs you and won't let you go the more you listen to it and get absorbed by it. Music the generates emotions like this are just simply fantastic!
My local radio station always plays both Happiest Days Of Our Lives and this, never just this
One of the most soulful and beautiful guitar solos of ALL time - it has ALWAYS moved me since it first came out (and I'm not really a Pink Floyd fan). But oh, Gilmour DOES know the blues! 😀👍❤️
The inner meaning of this song is so true.
It is unsophisticated…the exemplary musicianship makes it very pleasing to the ears
This was a HUGE radion hit when I was a young teenager when it first came out. It's still an all time classic. If you read on, you will see that it was never Pink Floyd's intention to Pop Rock stars. They have stated that it is almost impossible for them to write a Pop single for radio airplay. I think this song just happened by chance and was a monumental success.
I waited so long for this!! I love ur videos 😍
I'm really enjoying your reactions to The Wall album. You mentioned the cycles happening again and again, well there is a sound byte, at the start and end of this album, a spoken phrase. The first half is at the end of the album and the second half right at the start of track 1. Easy to miss, it says "Is this where we came in?". There's your cycles.
I will always remember this song from 1980, sitting in my senior math class on the 3rd floor with this old glass windows that tilted out; one of the delinquent students, who should have been in class somewhere, stopped their car right under the window and cranked this song to max volume, right at the part with "Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!." The teacher walked abruptly over to the window and slammed it shut. It was funny, but I felt a little bit sorry for the teacher, she was a good one...
I think it depends on you’re stage of life when you hear this song for the first time. I still feel the same emotional response I had as a rebellious 17 year old when The Wall was first released. It’s still my favorite Pink Floyd album.
As a child growing up when this came out, it has an effect on me. To question what I was taught. To think for myself. Question authority. I reckon I perhaps got those traits from this song. The video was brutal to see as a young kid on TV, had nightmares. Figures (of people) getting crushed and ground up I recall from memory at least.
Did you enjoy the bluesy guitar solo at the end? I agree the music is simple and repetitive but that guitar solo is still revered today for it's iconic sound and masterful control. David Gilmour is known for being one of the greats at putting "emotion" into his guitar work (rather than playing like a "speed demon" with no melody) as well as a master of string bending - especially in this song as he does a couple of 4 semitone string bends that can often result in a broken string.
I wonder if the song "Stop" will get its own video even though it's just 30 seconds long
Yes. And there will be a 40-minute analysis of it to follow..
Just kidding!
Simple songs with hooks often reach No.1, including novelty songs. The solo was probably a commercial decision to give the song more colour. The song serves its purpose in the context of the album even though it is musically simplistic.
'Star-Trekking Across The Universe' by The Firm comes to mind, in regards to "novelty songs" 😂 For literally decades I had believed this was the same The Firm that Jimmy Page had been in, until I finally learnt only last year that it wasn't! 😆
My dear friend:This was written in the early seventies in UK. Schools were brutal and abusive, and from a child’s perspective, “ if this is education, then we don’t need it”. I agree wholeheartedly. And btw, Gilmore’s outro guitar solo is beautifully sophisticated. My education was literally a waste of time. None of my interests were incorporated in it and it was learning for the sake of learning, farming out workers for the industrial world, hence all children sitting in rows, obeying commands, and bells, just like factory workers do. It was a conveyor belt of children, most of whom never dared dreaming of a vocation outside of the parameters of that which 12 years of programming had forced into them.
The schooling was late 50s Cambridge
When this album was released, I was 17 or 18 and just finishing school. I was at the time (and still am) a huge fan of Pink Floyd, but I, and many of my friends, some of whom went on to be successful musicians, were, at the time, highly critical of this song, feeling that the band was pandering to the "general dissatisfaction" of teens for purely commercial reasons.
I wouldn't and don't feel that way now, but now I'm over 60 and no longer 18...
But I do feel that is a mistake to view this work on a "song" by song basis...
It is a Gesamtkunstwerk and not just an aggregation of its bits and pieces.
Dream wish would be for her to get in touch with Roger Waters or David Gilmor, Waters would probably be the best. I would love to see her dive deep with Roger on construction, and why’s and what’s. Let’s make this happen!
Thank you Amy, for doing such a great job here. I am not musically 'trained', but I grew up on Pink Floyd, Rush, Jethro Tull, etc., and I am so impressed by the way you are able to artfully articulate the underpinnings of these works - it resonates perfectly with the way they made me feel - but I listened to them hundreds of times(!) I was surprised by your reaction to these last couple of Floyd songs, you have a lot of passion on this topic; I hope its not rooted in any real world abuse. Fortunately, the album moves on from "the kids" for now, so hopefully you will be able to more fully enjoy the remainder of this masterpiece album. Cheers! (can't wait for your to break down "The Dark Side of The Moon"!)
Thank you, Kevin, for supporting my work!
My goodness, I thought you had forgotten to post this. lol. With you being pregnant (congrats btw!) This next song "Mother" will get you more emotional. I guarantee it. It's personally my all-time favorite song. Hope you are enjoying this journey.
That lead guitar part is very emotional one of the best...listen again😢😢
For many of us that grew up getting beaten in school, this song took on great meaning. It gave is the energy to fight back and rebel. Unfortunately, we usually ended up regretting it even more, but at least we had our song and Pink Floyd 😊
Love hearing your thoughts on this masterpiece of an album. Thank you for your time and efforts!
"If you want to get laid,
go to college.
If you want an education,
go to the library"
Did you know this album was made into a movie?
A very classic movie, at that.
Simply called Pink Floyd The Wall.
She said in an earlier analysis that she watched the entire movie as well.
Hi Amy, nice reaction to my very favorite of all Pink Floyd songs. Since my teens I recognized that every adult generation consists of destroyed ex-children, and the subconscious compulsion of every adult generation to destroy every new generation of children, is simply a reflection of what has been done to them, and the cumulative incapacity of adult humanity as a whole, to consciously face up to this truth: To the reality of how they were destroyed.
You see humanity making technological progress over decades and centuries. Knowledge of facts increases, but UNDERSTANDING of truth, of reality, of possibility, never does. Because humanity is trapped in a feedback loop, endlessly repeating the same mistakes, the same errors of perception. And it is all because every adult generation consists of destroyed children who MUST destroy all children in order to maintain their own collective emotional homeostasis.
The world is wrong. Every child should be taught to defy every social convention. Not to integrate, not to assimilate, but to dissect with a cold, alien eye, as an outsider. As if he has just arrived from another planet, is not even human, not of the human species. Merely an outsider, trying to figure out why the humans think as they do, act as they do, believe as they do. Not to figure out how to fit in, but how to stand apart. So that in adulthood, they can tear apart this wrong world, and build a new world. But of course this can never happen. No adult generation of destroyed ex-cildren will ever allow children to perceive such freedom of mind. The system simply will not allow it.
The melody of the song is incredibly well written. it's a collection of musical phrases that make perfect sense, each one leads to the next one in the most natural way, with lots of space in between phrases. There's not one note that is out of place, nothing more and nothing less than what's needed. The way it is built is more similar to a folk song actually.
As the husband of a teacher, I could not help to feel your strong emotions.. I had a very strong emotional response to this video.. I could almost feel you holding back tears.. My wife is likely the same type of teacher you are... She tears down bricks...
Amy,
I agree or sympathize with your reaction. In the past I noticed that the percussion work is merely a thump, a pulsation, it's, in a way, lifeless but I never came to the thought that was a musical choice with a meaning, so I liked hearing and learning that remark. And, yes, musically in a technical sense this is straight forward, but then, we are treated to a David Gilmour guitar solo, always worth the price of admission. Keep in mind that this song was planned (business) as the main pull off the album for a "single" issue, heck, I remember it was played in Discotheques as dance music.
For my personal emotions; my upbringing was near perfect, in a safe well functioning, homogenous community and society (in The Netherlands), full of great morals and positive stimulation. My parents were older when they had me, experienced at parenting and stable, they were very loving, yet purposed in raising me. I always say, if there's anything weird and/or wrong with my behavior...it's all on me, not my parents fault, haha!. But for so long I had a naive assumption that almost everyone had a similar youth as I did. It has been years of observing and learning (to this day still) that masses of other people have not been as fortunate as I was. And I am quite emotional about a host of disparities we have in our cultures, specially concerning the well being of children.
Karl is right about rock-music being disruptive as a tenant. Many bands have made hard rock metal music with a Christian theme and while I am sympathetic to Christianity, the wholesome and love filled messaging combined with the aggressive sounds of rock music clashes with my senses. And, Amy, you know full well that art in general often has a disruptive and provocative roll, there are many 200 year old painting of nude ladies, it was the pornography of the era. I look forward to your deeper dive into the song.
Love Seeing Your Reactions To This Great Classic Song 👍😊
The Wall is exceptional album that takes you through the life of a trouble human. Pink Floyd does this so well.