Comfortably numb
| Comfortably numb | |
|---|---|
| Pink Floyd | |
| publication | November 30, 1979 |
| length | 6:24 |
| Genre (s) | Rock music , progressive rock |
| text | Roger Waters |
| music | David Gilmour / Roger Waters |
| album | The Wall |
Comfortably Numb ( English for 'pleasantly numb') is a song from the concept album The Wall by the British rock band Pink Floyd , which was released in 1979. It is the sixth track on the second LP of the double album. The piece was played regularly at live performances by the band and was released as a single with Hey You .
In 2004 the piece was ranked 314th in the list of the 500 best songs of all time compiled by the US magazine Rolling Stone . It is one of the most famous Pink Floyd songs. The song was voted the band's best piece of music in 1989 by the readers of the Pink Floyd fan magazine The Amazing Pudding . The second guitar solo was voted number 4 of the 100 best guitar solos by Guitar World magazine .
General
Comfortably Numb is the track on The Wall that guitarist David Gilmour has had the greatest musical influence on. The text, however, comes entirely from Roger Waters .
Text and music
The text tells a key scene of the concept album, namely the point at which Pink slips from his lonely but reality-bound existence "behind the wall" into a madness in which he sees himself as a fascist agitator who compensates for self-hatred and despair by incites against minorities, which is made clear in the next four songs The Show Must Go On , In the Flesh , Run Like Hell and Waiting for the Worms .
In both verses sung by Roger Waters , the doctor speaks. As the film explains, he was summoned by Pink's management and tried to use drugs and platitudes (in the sense: “This hardly hurts”, “This will get you back on your feet” etc.) to help the artist Get ready to show. It is not clear whether the doctor is aware of the severity of Pink's problems. Even the introductory sentence that the doctor directs to the psychologically absent Pink (in a sense: "Hello, is there anyone in there?" ) Can be understood both as a failed attempt at a joke and as a cynical handling of Pink's condition.
In the chorus (sung by David Gilmour) Pink speaks himself and reports that the doctor's voice and other perceptions come from a great distance for him, such as “The distant smoke of a ship on the horizon” : “Your lips move, but I can't hear what you are saying ” . He also reports hallucinations that are mixed up with vague childhood memories “When I was a child, I had a fever; my hands felt like two balloons. Now I have this feeling again, I can't explain it. You wouldn't understand. I became pleasantly numb. " He closes each story with the statement that he is now in this state: " Pleasantly numb " ( Comfortably numb ).
In addition to the haunting text , the effect of the song is mainly explained by two guitar solos by David Gilmour: While the first solo is tonally based on the choruses "spoken" by Pink and is more melodic and romantic, the second solo (played over the Minor chords of the “doctor's stanzas”) darker and more aggressive. This could illustrate the deterioration in Pink's health.
Implementation in the film The Wall
The rock musician Pink , the main character of the concept album The Wall, was unable to perform a concert when the song started due to drug abuse and mental disorders . In order not to have to cancel the expensive concert, a doctor is called in to prepare Pink for the show with stimulants. While Pink reports on his hallucinations and states that he is " comfortably numb", the doctor is only interested in the administration of the medication that should enable his patient to give the concert . However, after the injection, Pink's condition rapidly deteriorates and he falls into delusional drug fantasies.
While the text of the song only depicts the conversation between Pink and the doctor, the film also illustrates the circumstances of the situation and brings in Pink's manager. He accepts the health risk in order not to have to cancel the costly concert.
Emergence
David Gilmour had already completed large parts of the song, namely the melody of the chorus and the "floor plan" of the first guitar solo, before work on The Wall began. Originally planned for the solo album David Gilmour , Comfortably Numb was revised by Gilmour and Waters and inserted into the album The Wall . Since both musicians had different ideas and ideas about the song, the completion of the composition , which was developed under the working title The Doctor , took a long time. Waters ultimately prevailed with his approach of simply orchestrating the song - by the standards of Pink Floyd - and thus, with the exception of the second solo, producing a relatively calm and harmonious song. In addition to the four musicians in the band, the sound is primarily shaped by the strings arranged by Michael Kamen .
According to Waters, the text is partly autobiographical : he himself was persuaded to play concerts several times during the 1977 tour, although he was actually in no condition to do so. Public pressure and the enormous cost of performing live would have put him in the position of having dubious doctors give him fast-acting drugs to get through a show. In 2003 an early demo version of the album The Wall hit the Internet, on which various tracks are not yet available in their final form. The demo version of Comfortably Numb is musically very similar to the later studio version on the album, but the text differs greatly from the later end product, is overall even darker in tone and more focused on the doctor.
Publication and live performances
After appearing on The Wall , Comfortably Numb was released as a single. It is also included on various compilation, live and best-of albums by Pink Floyd and its (former) members, these are:
- Delicate Sound Of Thunder
- Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd
- In Concert (David Gilmour)
- In the Flesh (Roger Waters)
- Live in Gdansk (David Gilmour)
- Pulse
- Remember that Night (David Gilmour)
- Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81
- The Wall: Live in Berlin (Roger Waters) .
Studio version and early live versions
The studio version on the album The Wall follows Roger Waters' idea of creating the song rather calmly, in addition it is accompanied in parts orchestral. A similar version of the song is also on the live album Is there anybody out there? The Wall live 1980–81 by Pink Floyd, which includes recordings from The Wall tour and shows Roger Waters' influence on the musical implementation of the pieces.
Roger Waters
Waters performed the piece regularly during his years as a solo artist and after separating from Pink Floyd. In doing so, he was mainly based on the classic studio version of the piece, including his live album In the Flesh . An exception was the 1990 performance of The Wall under Waters' direction in Berlin. During this performance the two guitarists Snowy White and Rick DiFonzo shared the second solo among themselves and deviated comparatively strongly from the original form of the solo in their improvisation.
On the new The Wall Live tour by Roger Waters (2010-2013), a more classic version of Comfortably Numb was also played. While Waters continued to sing his parts, Gilmour's share of the vocals and the solos are taken over by two members of the accompanying band. During the final solo, the destruction of the wall and then a pulsating sea of colors was projected onto the wall built during the concert, apparently interactively with Waters' movements , which later had to give way to a gloomy abyss in which the solo closes and the further show could continue.
In 2011, David Gilmour surprisingly appeared as a guest musician during Comfortably Numb in London's The O₂ ; he sang and played both solos.
David Gilmour and Pink Floyd
David Gilmour's ideas of Comfortably Numb as an even darker song are at least partially realized on the two live albums Pulse and Delicate Sound of Thunder , which were created without Waters . There the piece is much slower, more bass-heavy and carried by heavy keyboard sounds. The second guitar solo is longer and more pompous. The verses originally sung by Roger Waters have now been interpreted with several voices.
On the tours for the albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell , on which the band (without Waters) played the piece as standard, a huge mirror ball placed in the middle of the auditorium was used as a visual effect , which was placed during the guitar solo opened and in which there were further strong spotlights, which then became the only lighting of the hall or the stadium.
The live DVD In Concert by David Gilmour contains two versions which - apart from Gilmour's electric guitar solos - were recorded exclusively with acoustic instruments .
On the live DVD Remember That Night , also by David Gilmour, there are again two versions, one with Richard Wright singing the part of the doctor, the second with David Bowie .
Cover versions
Of all the songs in the group, this one (after Wish You Were Here ) is one of the ones with the most cover versions :
- In 2001 the Canadian country band Luther Wright and the Wrongs released a country version of the song on their album Rebuild the Wall , a country cover of the full album The Wall .
- In 2004 the Scissor Sisters released a dance version of the piece. The version differed greatly from the original and borrowed from disco music in the style of Bee Gees and Eurodance .
- In 2005, the American singer-songwriter Dar Williams released a version of the title on the album My Better Self . She sings the song in a duet with Ani DiFranco .
- The band The Sisters of Mercy also covered the song.
- On the DVD A Moment in Time by the British rock / metal band Anathema there is also a live cover version of the song that closes the concert. The band is accompanied (as during the entire concert) by a string quartet. The two brothers Vincent and Daniel Cavanagh share the vocals here. The latter apparently loses his composure when he plays the final guitar solo, the outbreak ends in the destruction of his guitar amp in the stage pit .
- There is also a cover version of the piece sung live on the CD The Singles 1996-2006 by the band Staind, which was released in 2006 .
- In 2006, the song by the group was Gregorian on their album Masters of Chant Chapter V gecovert.
- The 2006 film The Departed by Martin Scorsese contains the version of Roger Waters' The Wall concert The Wall: Live in Berlin from 1990. In this version, Waters sings with Van Morrison , Levon Helm , Garth Hudson and Rick Danko .
- The Bad Plus released a jazz interpretation on the album For All I Care in 2008.
- Kirlian Camera released a cover version on their album Odyssey Europe in 2009.
Trivia
Comfortably Numb is the last piece of music ever to be played publicly by Pink Floyd in the classic line-up of David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and the late Richard Wright. This performance took place in early July 2005 at the Live 8 concert in London , when the band played together for the last time after 25 years of separation (Wright had left Pink Floyd in late 1979, Waters in 1985).
occupation
- Roger Waters - vocals, bass
- David Gilmour - vocals, electric guitar
- Nick Mason - drums
- Richard Wright - keyboard
Web links
- Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd , entry on Songfacts
- Comfortably Numb - information and text with German translation on the website of Brother Franziskus
literature
- Vernon Fitch: The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia , 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8