CLA - Università di Napoli

Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II
Cla - Università di Napoli
ENG
Goodbye cruel world ends part 1 of the album – the disc stops as Pink has finally retired behind his wall‚ with communication inexorably breaking down and the reification and alienation of the human-being Pink successfully concluded with no apparent sign of hope – There’s nothing you can say to make me change my mind. Part 2 takes place both inside and behind the wall that has been – unintentionally and yet inevitably – constructed in part 1. Hey you is a desperate heartfelt request from Pink, who starts feeling the need for someone else outside the wall‚ but it was only a fantasy as the wall was too high, as you can see, no matter how he tried he could not break free. Nevertheless, Is there anybody out there? is again a call for help, an almost 100% instrumental piece except for the reiterated hopeless eponymous request, which has no response but emptiness as there is still Nobody home. The song shows Pink now aware there is no one and nothing but (apparently) meaningless objects – a recollection of memories that a Floyd fan would easily identify as a clear reference to the former lead singer of the band, Syd Barrett‚ who had died a few years earlier trying to fight his own demons (e.g. elastic bands keeping my shoes on). Everything seems to be pointless though, as I’ve got a strong urge to fly, but I’ve got nowhere to fly to. Any potential means of communication becomes sterile and cannot prevent his state of isolation. Vera and Bring the boys back home, seemingly unrelated to his personal story, offer a parallelism through the theme of returning home, which Pink needs in terms of reconciliation with his own self. Vera Lynn, a.k.a. Vera Margaret Welch, was a singer who used to perform for WWII soldiers – had Pink’s dad not been one of them after all? – while Bring the boys back home is a solemn orchestral song in which a choir, accompanied by brass instruments and snare drums, begs to bring the boys – i.e. the young soldiers risking their lives on the front – back home. In the meantime, a still catatonic Pink stares into space sitting in his hotel room, while someone from the outside tries and forces the door, repeating what he himself had previously wondered – Is there anybody out there?. Comfortably numb starts, a song that reflects criticism against traditional methods of psychiatry – a doctor breaks in and unsuccessfully attempts to reanimate Pink – while Gilmour’s virtuosity gives life to what is considered one of the best guitar solos in music history. The show must go on – the title perhaps echoes another renowned English band – refers to the awareness Pink develops when he realises that, as a rock machine ready to please the audience, his performance should continue in spite of his torpid apathy. In the flesh – the opening title returns, this time with no question mark – displays him now (supposedly) in person, although what is on stage is just the persona he has decided to portray, i.e. an aggressive nazi dictator wearing a black uniform with crossed hammers embroidered on it. Are there any queers in the theatre tonight? Get ‘em up against the wall!, that is what he orders, unleashing his rage towards anyone who someway deviates from the norm. Not only are dictatorial regimes explicitly reprimanded, but also depersonalised concert audiences who have become flat liquefied masses, incapable of distinguishing good from evil. Run like hell and Waiting for the worms include powerful symbols for oppression and social repression – a gigantic hammer ready to hit in a delusional chase – as well as degradation and corruption – the worms, a clear reference to neo-fascist British organisations, with brainless followers ready to obey blindly. A delusional climax of violence and racist rage reaches its peak until Pink shouts‚ Stop. I wanna go home, take off this uniform and leave the show. And I’m waiting in this cell because I have to know: have I been guilty all this time? – it is time for a trial.
 

TORNA ALLA HOME.