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The Wall
Studio album by Pink Floyd
Released	November 30, 1979 (UK) December 8, 1979 (U.S.)
Recorded	April 1979 – November 1979 at CBS Studios, New York, Producers Workshop, Los Angeles, and Super Bear and Miraval, France
Genre	Art rock, progressive rock
Length	81:27
Label	Harvest (UK original) EMI (UK reissue) Columbia (original US) Capitol (US re-issue)
Producer	Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Blender link Robert Christgau (B-) link Rolling Stone (Favorable) link
Pink Floyd chronology
Animals (1977) The Wall (1979) A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981)

The Wall is a concept album/rock opera by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in 1979. In 1999 the RIAA certified The Wall at 23x platinum, denoting sales of 11.5 million copies of the double album in the United States. The album reached #1 on the Billboard album charts in the US where it stayed for 15 consecutive weeks in early 1980, and it remained on the US charts for two years. The album peaked at #3 in the band's native UK.

"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" was the band's only number one single, reaching #1 in both the UK and the US. Around the world, the album produced a number of hit singles for Pink Floyd, including "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", "Young Lust", "Hey You", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell". The Wall was the last Pink Floyd album to feature Rick Wright until his return in 1987. During the recording, Roger Waters demanded a great deal of artistic control, which led to tensions.^{[citation needed]} The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,^[1] and in 2003, Rolling Stone placed it 87th on their 500 greatest albums of all time list.^[2]

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 Disc 1 (on CD) (side one of the cassette) 1.1.1 Side 1 (first record) 1.1.2 Side 2 (first record) 1.2 Disc 2 (on CD) (Side two of the cassette) 1.2.1 Side 3 (second record) 1.2.2 Side 4 (second record) 1.3 8-Track cartridge track listing 1.3.1 Program 1 1.3.2 Program 2 1.3.3 Program 3 1.3.4 Program 4 1.4 Additional non-album tracks 2 Recording history 3 Concept and storyline 3.1 In the Flesh? 3.2 The Thin Ice 3.3 Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 1 3.4 The Happiest Days of Our Lives 3.5 Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 3.6 Mother 3.7 Goodbye Blue Sky 3.8 Empty Spaces 3.9 Young Lust 3.10 One of My Turns 3.11 Don't Leave Me Now 3.12 Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3 3.13 Goodbye Cruel World 3.14 Hey You 3.15 Is There Anybody Out There? 3.16 Nobody Home 3.17 Vera 3.18 Bring the Boys Back Home 3.19 Comfortably Numb 3.20 The Show Must Go On 3.21 In the Flesh 3.22 Run Like Hell 3.23 Waiting For the Worms 3.24 Stop 3.25 The Trial 3.26 Outside the Wall 4 Concert and filmed versions 4.1 Film version 5 Post-split 6 Trivia 7 Cover Version 8 Quotes 9 Singles 10 Charts 10.1 Album 11 Awards 12 Personnel 13 References 14 External links

All songs are by Roger Waters except as noted. All lead vocals performed by Roger Waters except as noted.

1. "In the Flesh?" – 3:19
2. "The Thin Ice" – 2:27
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour and Roger Waters
3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" – 3:21
4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" – 1:46
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" – 4:00
   • Lead vocals: Roger Waters (double tracked) and the Islington Green School Choir
6. "Mother" – 5:36
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour and Roger Waters

1. "Goodbye Blue Sky" – 2:45
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour
2. "Empty Spaces" – 2:10
3. "Young Lust" (Roger Waters/David Gilmour) – 3:25
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour
4. "One of My Turns" – 3:35
5. "Don't Leave Me Now" – 4:16
   • Lead vocals: Roger Waters, "ooohh babe.." section at the end sung by David Gilmour
6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" – 1:14
7. "Goodbye Cruel World" – 1:13

1. "Hey You" – 4:40
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour and Roger Waters
2. "Is There Anybody Out There?" – 2:44
3. "Nobody Home" – 3:26
4. "Vera" – 1:35
5. "Bring the Boys Back Home" – 1:21
6. "Comfortably Numb" (David Gilmour/Roger Waters) – 6:24
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour (bridges and chorus) and Roger Waters (verses)

1. "The Show Must Go On" – 1:36
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour
2. "In the Flesh" – 4:13
3. "Run Like Hell" (David Gilmour/Roger Waters) – 4:19
4. "Waiting for the Worms" – 4:04
   • Lead vocals: David Gilmour and Roger Waters
5. "Stop" – 0:30
6. "The Trial" (Roger Waters/Bob Ezrin) – 5:13
7. "Outside the Wall" – 1:41

Total length of album: 1:21:27

1. "In the Flesh?"
2. "The Thin Ice"
3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)"
4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (shortened)
6. "Mother"

1. "Goodbye Blue Sky"
2. "Empty Spaces"
3. "Young Lust"
4. "One of My Turns"
5. "Don't Leave Me Now"
6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" (shortened)
7. "Goodbye Cruel World" (shortened)
8. "Hey You" (part 1)

1. "Hey You" (conclusion)
2. "Is There Anybody Out There?"
3. "Nobody Home"
4. "Vera"
5. "Bring the Boys Back Home"
6. "Comfortably Numb" (shortened)
7. "The Show Must Go On"

1. "In the Flesh"
2. "Run Like Hell"
3. "Waiting for the Worms"
4. "Stop"
5. "The Trial"
6. "Outside the Wall" (shortened)

• "We'll Meet Again" - The original Vera Lynn song was the first track on Roger's home demo and the first production demo. As the track went on, it would gradually blend with guitar sounds, bombers, and a helicopter. This intro was later replaced by "In The Flesh?."
• "When the Tigers Broke Free" (Used in the movie version of The Wall. Composed prior to the recording of the album, released on a vinyl single, Echoes (Disc 2, Track 05) and on the 2004 re-release of The Final Cut)
• "What Shall We Do Now?" (Used in the movie version of The Wall. The song was left off the original album due to lack of space, the reprise "Empty Spaces" which was originally meant to go between "Don't Leave Me Now" and "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" was moved from its original spot on the album and put in its place for the sake of space. It is used during the wall-building sequence during the live show). A majority of writers and aficionados of the album, film, and live show always seem to think that "Empty Spaces" is actually the introduction to "What Shall We Do Now?" and it is not. The Wall engineer James Guthrie has always stated that "Empty Spaces" is a reprise of "What Shall We Do Now?" and not the introduction. However, a rough cut of "Empty Spaces" is used as the introduction to a rough cut to "What Shall We Do Now?" on The Wall 1978 demo tape. See Brain Damage, the definitive Pink Floyd podcast, show #51 "The Wall - Demos".
• "Sexual Revolution" - Originally on Roger's home demo for The Wall, but later reworked for his solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking.
• "Death Disco" - On Roger's home demo, this song introduced the fascist ideas that were later used for "In The Flesh." The guitar riff from this song was also later developed into "Young Lust."
• "Is There Anybody Out There (Part 2)" features previously unheard lyrics, part of which were later worked into "Hey You"
• "Is There Anybody Out There (Part 3)" and "Empty Spaces (Part 2)" were cut for time.
• "The Thin Ice (Part 2)" - On Roger's home demo and the first production demo, The Wall ended with a reprise of the instrumental section at the end of "The Thin Ice."

The live version of The Wall, Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81, included the following tracks not on the original album:

• "What Shall We Do Now?" after "Empty Spaces"
• "The Last Few Bricks" after "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)"; usually a medley performed while the construction crew was finishing off the massive wall on stage

The album was originally written to be a triple-LP album, although Waters cut it down and left material out for the band's next release, The Final Cut.

• "Your Possible Pasts" later re-written for use on The Final Cut, however, the line "Do you remember me/How we used to be/Do you think/We should be/Closer?" was used in the film.
• "One of the Few" - working title, "Teach" - was later re-written for use on The Final Cut
• "The Hero's Return" - Originally called "Teacher, Teacher" on Roger's original home demo for The Wall. The lyrics were revised for its use on The Final Cut.
• "The Final Cut" also re-written for use on The Final Cut. A line from this song goes: "Dial the combination/Open the priest-hole/And if I'm in, I'll tell you what's behind the wall". A gunshot is played over "behind the wall" in the final version of the song, to sever its connection to the album The Wall. The complete lyrics are still written in the inside sleeve of the album. These lyrics can be heard sung (minus the shotgun) on the bootleg CD with the demos of The Final Cut.

In 1977, Pink Floyd were promoting Animals with their In The Flesh tour. The final night of the tour, in Montreal, Canada, Waters spat in the face of a fan who was trying to climb over the netting between the audience and the stage, and get up with the band. The incident later helped inspire Waters to develop the idea of The Wall.^[3]

The album was recorded at four studios over eight months, due to English tax laws and to benefit from the cheaper recording costs in the South of France. During the recording, Waters fired Richard Wright after The Wall was finished, arguing that Wright was not contributing much^[4], in part due to a cocaine addiction.^[5] Waters claimed that David Gilmour and Nick Mason supported Waters' decision to fire Wright, but in 2000, Gilmour stated that he and Mason were against Wright's dismissal.^[6] Author Nick Mason claims that Wright was fired because Columbia Records had offered Waters a substantial bonus to finish the album in time for a 1979 release. Since Wright refused to return early from his summer holiday, Waters wanted to dismiss Wright. ^[7] Wright was fired from the band but stayed on to finish the album and perform the live concerts as a paid musician.

For "Another Brick in the Wall" (Part II), Pink Floyd needed to record a school choir, so they approached music teacher Alun Renshaw of Islington Green School, around the corner from their Britannia Row Studios. The choir were not allowed to hear the rest of the song after singing the chorus. The chorus was overdubbed twelve times to give the impression that the choir was larger. Though the school received a lump sum payment of £1000, there was no contractual arrangement for royalties. Under 1996 UK copyright law, they became eligible, and after choir members were tracked down by royalties agent Peter Rowan of RBL Music, through the website Friends Reunited, they sued. Music industry professionals estimated that each student would be owed around £500.

Originally released on Columbia Records in the U.S. and Harvest Records in the UK, The Wall was then re-released as a digitally remastered CD in 1994 in the UK on EMI. In 1997, Columbia Records issued an updated remaster (which sounded superior to the EMI remasters from 1994) in the United States, Canada, Australia, South America and Japan. For The Wall's 20th Anniversary in April 2000, Capitol Records in the U.S. and EMI in Canada, Australia, South America and Japan re-released the 1997 remaster with the artwork from the EMI Europe remaster. The Wall was the first Pink Floyd album since 1967's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn whose cover was not done by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis. Instead, Gerald Scarfe designed the cover and gatefold sleeve. David Gilmour recalls Storm Thorgerson falling out with Roger Waters over issues such as the credit for the Animals sleeve design.^[8]

The storyline portrays the fictional life of an anti-hero named Pink Floyd, who is hammered and beaten down by society from the earliest days of his life: having lost his father (killed in Anzio during World War II, as was Roger Waters' own), smothered by his over-protective mother, oppressed at school by tyrannical, abusive teachers who tried to mould him and the other pupils into the "right" shape for society (hence the recurring image of the meat grinder) and a cheating wife, Pink withdraws into his own fantasy world, building an imaginary wall, an allegory for being emotionally distant, to protect himself from the rest of the world. Every bad experience in his life is "Another Brick in the Wall". After heavily contemplating how to fill in the last few empty spaces in the wall, Pink puts off its construction for a while. He becomes a rock star and gets married, only to be cheated on by his wife due to his distance and coldness, as well as the life as a rock star. After this, he resumes and eventually finishes building the wall.

Pink slowly goes insane behind his freshly completed wall. He is lost on the inside, but is forced to surface by his demanding lifestyle, and I.V. drug use distributed by his crew to "keep [him] going through the show". Hallucinating, Pink believes that he is a fascist dictator, and his concerts are like Neo-Nazi rallies where he sets his men on fans he considers unworthy, only to have his conscience rebel at this and put himself on trial, his inner judge ordering him to tear down his wall in order to open himself to the outside world. At this point the album's end runs into its beginning with the closing words "Isn't this where..."; the first song on the album, "In the Flesh?", begins with the words "...we came in?" – with a continuation of the melody of the last song, Outside the Wall – hinting at the cyclical nature of Waters' theme. Then Pink Floyd went on to say "I will force it underground."

The LP's custom picture labels tied in with the album's concept. Side one had a quarter of the wall erected and a sketch of the teacher. Side two saw half of the wall erected and a sketch of the wife. Side three had three-quarters of the wall erected and a sketch of the character of Pink, while side four had the wall completely erected and a sketch of the prosecutor.

Bob Ezrin played a major part in taking Waters' demo material and clarifying the storyline by writing a script, which even called for additional songs to complete the plot.^[8]

All the lyrics and most of the music was written by Roger Waters. David Gilmour and Bob Ezrin's contributions are noted below.

This first song signifies the beginning of the show (which is being narrated by Pink himself). The stage directions are used to show that Pink is going to tell us the story of the building of The Wall. The lyrics say that despite his outward appearances, things are much different "behind these cold eyes" and that if the listener (sunshine) wants to find those things out, he'll have to "claw his way through this disguise". The song also informs the listener, although not directly, that Pink's father is killed; this is done using the sound effect of the dive-bomber, indicating his death during World War II.

This song narrates the first couple of years of Pink's life, before he is old enough to realize what has happened to his father. The "Thin Ice" represents the fragile period of innocence in our lives before we can really understand the world around us.

Furthermore, the third and fourth lines from the third verse:

"Dragging behind you the silent reproach / Of a million tear-stained eyes"

act as a very poignant metaphor for the psychological and/or spiritual effects war can have not only on the populace that suffered it, but also the generation of children left to suffer as the final bearers of the pain of that war.

The Thin Ice discussed during the previous song breaks when Pink becomes older and learns of the death of his father. Pink is devastated by this reality and begins to build The Wall.

Pink is sent to a school run by overly strict and often violent teachers who want to mould their students into the "right" shape for society.

The teachers hurt the children physically and spiritually: "Exposing every weakness, However carefully hidden by the kids."

The second part of the song tells us that the teachers themselves were hit by their wives. The chain reaction is pretty clear: Wives hit Teachers. Teachers hit children. Children grew up to be violent as the tradition.

After being insulted by the teacher, Pink dreams that the kids in Pink's school begin to protest against their abusive teachers. This causes Pink to continue to become more isolated from society.

Bob Ezrin was instrumental in turning Waters' composition into a hit single. He arranged the song's disco style and added the children's chorus after the band refused to add a second chorus of their own.^[8]

The song narrates a conversation by Pink (voiced by Waters) and his mother (voiced by Gilmour). We learn of the ridiculous overprotectiveness of Pink's mother, who is helping Pink build the wall to try to protect him from the outside world. The line "of course mother's gonna help build the wall" spoken by Pink's mother shows this. She insists that Pink stay by her side even after he grows up, and cannot stand it when Pink eventually grows older and falls in love.

This song explains Pink's depression as a result of being forced to grow up in a postwar world with only his overprotective mother to care for him. It also describes Pink's sadness as a result of not having the childhood he should have had, due to his father being taken away from him before he was even born.

This song can also be interpreted as a reflection of the English post World War 2 generation, notably those whose childhood took place during the Blitz of London. It is, along with Bring the Boys Back Home, the most obvious statement of the effects of WWII upon Pink.

Pink is now grown up and married, but he and his wife are having relationship problems because of his distance as a result of his halfway built wall. Pink wonders what he should use to complete its construction. Within the song you'll hear the backmasking "…congratulations. You've just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont." (voice in background) "Roger! Carolyn is on the phone!"

(Waters/Gilmour)

Pink has become a rock star, and is always away from home as a result of his demanding lifestyle. As a result, he begins inviting groupies into his room between concerts, having not seen his wife in months.

The end of the song is part of a dialogue between Pink and a telephone operator; it is at this point he realizes that his wife has been having an affair for some time, and his mental breakdown accelerates. The dialogue with the operator was the result of an arrangement Waters made with a friend in Britain during the recording of the album in Los Angeles. He felt that the operator actually had to believe he'd caught his wife having an affair, and so didn't inform the operator she was being recorded. The first operator Waters used to place the call apparently missed the significance of what had apparently transpired; the second is the one heard on the album.

Pink invites a groupie into his room after learning of his wife's affair. At first when the groupie tries to get his attention, he is too busy thinking of his wife to hear her. As the groupie continues to try to get his attention, Pink explodes into a fit of violence and destroys his room.

In this song, Pink is attempting (and failing) to deal with his wife's infidelity. At this point in the album, he blames her for causing him to suffer; contrast with the subject as raised in the penultimate song, The Trial, when his attitude changes somewhat.

Pink decides to finish this wall as a result of his rage after his wife's betrayal. He concludes he no longer needs anything at all, dismissing the people in his life as just "bricks in the wall".

This song details Pink's reaction to the completion of his mental wall, and marks his acknowledgement of his isolation from society.

Pink realizes the mistake he has made completely shunning himself from society, and is attempting to regain contact with the outside world. However, his wall blocks any calls he makes. Pink's call becomes more and more desperate as he begins to realize there is no escape.

The metaphor used in the song's bridge "...and the worms ate into his brain" describes Pink's deteriorating mental state as if his mind had been rotted by worms.

As his isolation continues, Pink's sanity threatens to unravel as he wonders if there is anyone else "out there," beyond the wall.

Pink describes his lonely life behind his mental wall. He has no one to talk to, and all he has are his possessions. Also, the song is an allusion to Syd Barrett. "I've got wide staring eyes" is a reference to the eerie stares that Syd would make after indulging on acid. This is another example of Roger Water's obsession with using Syd as an example of the problems of rock stars.

The name is a reference to Vera Lynn, a British singer during World War II and her popular song "We'll Meet Again". The reference is ironic, as Roger Waters (and his fictional character "Pink") would not meet his father, lost in the war. The lyric "Vera, what has become of you?" suggests that Vera Lynn herself, like her promise, vanished. It has also been interpreted to mean that hope is gone. Interestingly, the name Vera comes from the Russian word for "faith". It also stems from the Latin for "truth."

"Bring the Boys Back Home" is about when the young boy Pink goes looking for his father when everyone comes home from the war, only to find out he did not make it. The people around him are happy and carefree singing "Bring the Boys Back Home". At the end of the song, the orchestra fades out with memories of events that drove Pink to mental isolation: the teacher from "Another Brick in the Wall," the operator from " Young Lust," and the groupie from the beginning of "One of My Turns." Pink's manager yelling, "Time to go!" (to play a concert) and manic laughter are also mixed into the closing seconds, followed by chorus vocals from the first half of "Is There Anybody Out There?."

(Gilmour/Waters)

Pink, feeling completely isolated from society, cannot stand the pressures of life as a rock star and collapses in his hotel room before leaving for his concert. A doctor is sent into the room and gives Pink an injection that gives him the energy he needs to perform. The lyrics are written as a conversation, with Waters voicing the doctor and Gilmour voicing Pink.

This was David Gilmour's most significant contribution to the album; though he, Waters and Ezrin disagree on how finished his music was before Waters finished the song.^[8]

It is about society's demands for Pink's show to continue even though, unbeknownst to the managers and record companies, that he is in a complete mental lock down behind the wall that he built through the course of the album. It also shows how Pink is reluctant to continue with the show by asking the questions "Will I remember the songs?" however he understands that the show must go on.

Alternatively, "the show" could be a metaphor for, essentially, life. Pink is debating what to do after building his wall: he realizes that an isolated life is dull. He decides that "the show must go on," but the stress of continuing creates the hallucination beginning in "In the Flesh".

This song marks the first of a series of songs in which Pink, fuelled by a drug-induced state, likens himself to a dictator figure, crowing over his faithful audience; this particular song is his hallucination that his concerts can be likened to a political rally, and the song is essentially a satire of the fan-following modern musicians such as rock and pop stars are responsible for. It may also serve as an exploration of the actions of some as an effect of insecurity; behind their respective 'walls.'

This song and the two which follow it on the album - "Run Like Hell" and "Waiting for the Worms" - can also be compared to three stages of Hitler's rise to power. "In the Flesh" is his rallying cry for everyone to follow him. "Run Like Hell" is the beginning of his attempt to destroy those he hates, and "Waiting for the Worms" is the culmination of his insanity. In the end he forces his people to fear him rather than to follow him. In the movie this is seen in the sequence of people throwing their curtains closed as he passes by on the street.

(Gilmour/Waters)

The song is from the point of view of anti-hero Pink during a hallucination, in which he becomes a Nazi-like figure and turns a concert audience into a hate mob. He sends the mob out to raid nearby neighborhoods that are full of minorities.

At this point in the album, Pink has lost all hope and has let bad ideas, or "worms", control his thoughts. In his hallucination, he is a fascist dictator who spreads hatred, with the promise that his followers would see "Britannia rule again" and "send our coloured cousins home again," and announces he is "waiting to turn on the showers and fire the ovens." The count-in is Eins, zwei, drei, alle – German for "one, two, three, all..." (Probably intended to rally the masses to flock to Pink's call).

Pink becomes disgusted by his actions as a fascist dictator and the hallucination ends. He is also tired of The Wall, and puts himself on trial in his head. The song is also about the realization he has that everything that led up to his wall was all his own fault, hence the line "Have I been guilty all this time"

(Waters/Ezrin)

The song centres on the main character, Pink, who having lived a life filled with emotional and (later) substance abuses has reached a critical psychological break. "The Trial" is the fulcrum on which Pink's mental state balances. Through the course of the song, he is confronted by the primary influences of his life (who have been introduced over the course of the album): the rigidly strict and abusive schoolmaster, Pink's emotionally distant, adulterous wife, and his smothering, overprotective mother. Pink's subconscious struggle for sanity is overseen by a new character, "The Judge" ("Worm, your Honour") (the characters are all worms who have eaten into Pink's brain, first noted in "Hey You"). A Prosecutor conducts the early portions, which consist of the antagonists explaining their actions, intercut with Pink's refrain, "Crazy; / Toys in the attic I am crazy". The culmination of the trial is the Judge's sentence for Pink "to be exposed before [his] peers" whereupon he orders Pink to "tear down The Wall!" At one point in the song Pink sings " There must have been a door there in The Wall, for when I came in" representing that he is confused by his revelations, and trying to find a way out of The Wall and away from his mental tormentors, the animated "antagonists," through a door in his Wall that does not exist. This song might also be seen as a metaphor for how cruelly society sometimes treats those who are different by exposing and mocking them.

This and the following song "Outside the Wall" are the only two songs on the album which the story is seen from an outsider's perspective, most notably through the four antagonists of The Trial, even though it is all in Pink's mind. The film creates an interesting effect by showing the three characters making it past The Wall in one of the famous animated sequences, symbolically invading Pink's mind, and telling The Worm their part of the story:

The School Master is brought down like a puppet on strings by his wife, referencing the earlier song "The Happiest Days of Our Lives". The Wife comes out from underneath The Wall, represented as a scorpion, which is done during "Don't Leave Me Now". The Mother comes from above in an abstract, morphing image of an airplane (referencing the plane which killed Pink's father, and also the plane which Pink was playing with in Another Brick in the Wall (Part I)), which then encircles Pink. Hearing what mother, school master, and wife have to say about Pink's state makes many of the reasons for building his Wall seem absurd. This is really represented in the wife's speech:

"...You should have talked to me more often than you did, but no, you had to go your own way..."

This further emphasizes the fact that Pink is the true guilty one, leading to the Judge's response to the trial "...the way you made them suffer, your exquisite wife and mother..." and his sentencing "...since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fears, I sentence you to be exposed before your peers..."

It is not clear as to what the tearing down of Pink's Wall entails, but there is a clue in the song The Final Cut from the album of the same name. The lyrics, "...Dial the combination, open the priesthole. And if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind The Wall." The portion where Waters sings "behind The Wall" is overdubbed by a shotgun shooting, suggesting that Pink eventually tore down his wall by shooting himself. (This also served to sever the album's link with The Wall.)

Unlike the other songs on the album, this particular song offers little to the plot involving Pink as a whole. It acknowledges that "the wall" has now been demolished (as a result of actions in The Trial), and goes on to "discuss" the idea that many people have social barriers, and that this is somewhat repetitive in nature; as one person re-integrates themselves with society, another leaves.

Rehearsals for The Wall concerts began shortly after the album's release in December 1979 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles and rehearsals would run until January 1980 when it moved to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena for the first performance.

Pink Floyd performed the concert version of The Wall only in a handful of cities. This was due to the grandiosity of the performance, which involved constructing a giant wall across the stage between band and audience, not to mention staple Pink Floyd props such as giant screens, flying pigs and pyrotechnics. It was performed first in Los Angeles from February 7 to 13, 1980 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, then in New York from February 24 to 28, 1980 at Nassau Coliseum. It was followed by performances at Earls Court in London from August 4 to 9, 1980, then again in Dortmund, Germany at Westfalenhalle from February 13 to 20, 1981. Finally, the band did one more week at Earls Court in London from June 13 to 17, 1981. Roger Waters would later perform it in 1990 at a concert in Berlin.

The performances began with a Master of Ceremonies, who rotated from show to show, reading a list of "do's" and "don'ts". A "surrogate band", which wore masks of their counterparts in Pink Floyd, would perform "In the Flesh?." The sound of a plane crash would be made, and the surrogate band would stop playing. The real Pink Floyd would come into full view, and a giant wall is constructed by roadies out of roughly 100 cardboard bricks throughout the first half of the performance augmented by appearances by an inflatable teacher, wife, and mother. In the second half, the band would still be playing but were completely obscured from view behind the wall. A few bricks revealed David Gilmour playing classical guitar on "Is There Anybody Out There?". Roger Waters sang from an open hotel room on "Nobody Home" and "Vera". During "Comfortably Numb", Roger Waters sang his parts dressed as the doctor wearing a white coat in front of the wall while guitarist David Gilmour was hoisted hydraulically on to the top of the wall singing his parts and playing his famous guitar solos in full view of the crowd. The surrogate band returned, wearing life masks of the four band members while the four Pink Floyd members all wore Hammer guard T-shirts, jeans and shoes/sneakers (Gilmour, Mason and Wright) except for Roger Waters who wore a long leather trench coat with hammer logos and storm-trooper boots. The wall was dramatically torn down during "The Trial", and Pink Floyd themselves joined the surrogate band in front of the wreckage of the wall to perform the finale, "Outside the Wall".

During the performance, giant puppets of the Teacher, Wife, and Mother, designed by Gerald Scarfe, were used, and animations by Scarfe were projected onto a circular area and onto the wall itself. Added to this, a hotel room (where much of the story is set) emerges from the wall midway through the second half for the song "Nobody Home".

The large stage shows required huge equipment (including full sized cranes), and cost an extraordinary amount of money to produce. As such, the band lost money from them, with the exception of Rick Wright, who was retained on a fixed salary for the concerts after being fired during the mixing sessions of the album in Los Angeles. The intent of the band for these concerts was to give the audience a truly theatrical experience instead of a typical rock concert where the band played the songs. As such, during many songs, Waters assumed the role of the anti-hero, Pink, singing and acting but not playing his bass.

The 1980 Earls Court live show was filmed but after Roger Waters left the band he refused to give out the footage, despite this the footage was leaked and a VHS of it did eventually appear. The video though was unprofessionally edited with very low sound and picture quality.

Main article: Pink Floyd The Wall (film)

A film version of The Wall was released in 1982 entitled Pink Floyd The Wall, directed by Alan Parker and starring Bob Geldof. The screenplay was written by Roger Waters. The film features music from the original album, much of which was re-recorded by the band with additional orchestration, some with minor lyrical and musical changes.

Originally the film was intended to be intercut with concert footage and a few of the live shows were actually filmed, but subsequently not used in the film at all. Footage from these concerts has appeared on different web-sites from time to time and on YouTube. However, an official release of this footage by Pink Floyd has not been authorized other than what was used in the documentary Behind the Wall.

After Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, a legal battle ensued over the rights to the name "Pink Floyd" and its material. In the end, Waters retained the right to use The Wall and its material, as his name has been most closely associated with the album. This meant the sole ownership of all The Wall tracks except for the three Gilmour co-wrote the music for ("Young Lust", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell") and images relating to The Wall on the later 1987–1990 and 1994 tours by the three-man Pink Floyd required payments to Waters, including a $800 fee for using the inflatable pig (which Waters had called Algie, and asserted was a sow), although Gilmour narrowly dodged the pig fee by adding testicles to the pig used on these tours.

Waters staged a concert performance of The Wall at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin on July 21, 1990 both to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall and as a fundraising effort for the World War Memorial Fund for Disaster Relief. This performance has several differences to the original Wall show. "Another Brick in the Wall, (Part II)" is extended with solos by various instruments and has a cold ending. "Mother" has the extended intro but a shorter guitar solo. "Comfortably Numb" features longer duelling solos by the two guitarists as well as an additional chorus at the end of the song. "The Show Must Go On" and "Outside the Wall" are omitted completely, while both "What Shall We Do Now?" and "The Last Few Bricks" appearing in concerts and on the 1981 live album, as well as the song The Tide Is Turning from Roger Waters' 1987 solo album Radio K.A.O.S. are included. One notable appearance was Bryan Adams who appeared to only be pretending to play the guitar while he sang. Two other guitarists were behind him in the dark playing what could actually be heard while Adams was making strumming motions with his hand around the neck of his guitar with little to no fingering. The reason for this seems unclear. The two guitarists came out from the dark after a moment seemingly unbeknownst to Adams as he sang and pointed his guitar out at the audience still not playing it. Many other celebrities of the time made cameo appearances including but not limited to Cyndi Lauper and Van Morisson.

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• The original LP packaging just had a wall on it, unlike the CD release. - Although many editions came with a vinyl sticker displaying the band logo & album title. These stickers quickly lost their adhesive quality & fell off, leading many second hand buyers unaware of the album packaging's default state.
• The CD cover has 122 bricks on each cover.
• When combined, the words at the very start (In The Flesh?) and the very end (Outside The Wall) of the album form the sentence: "Isn't this where we came in?" creating a neverending album and in regards to the album's storyline, a neverending journey for our character Pink to tear down his wall.
• "Empty Spaces" begins with a secret message recorded backwards:

Roger Waters: "Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answers to 'Old Pink', Care of 'The Funny Farm', Chalfont..."
[interrupted by engineer James Guthrie who says] "Roger, Carolyn's on the phone..."

• "Waiting for the Worms": Near the end of the track, Roger Waters (as Pink) barks out instructions and directions in street names (most of the words are inaudible):

You are ordered to proceed and go to convene outside Brixton Town Hall where we're going to be… WAITING…to cut out the deadwood. To clean up the city. To put on a black shirt. To weed out the weaklings. To smash in their windows and kick in their doors. For the final solution to strengthen the strain. To follow the worms. To turn on the showers and fire the ovens. Waiting for the queens and the coons and the reds and the Jews. The Worms will convene outside Brixton Bus Station. We'll be moving along at about 12 o'clock down Stockwell Road … twelve minutes to three we'll be moving along Lambeth Road towards Vauxhall Bridge. Now when we get to the other side of Vauxhall Bridge, we're in Westminster area. It's quite possible we may encounter some Jew boys… (continues incomprehensibly)

• This segment contains multiple references to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust:
• The black shirt refers to the uniform of the SS, whose political paramilitaries were known as the "Blackshirts".
• The smashing of windows refers to Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogrom of 9-10 November 1938 during which Jews were attacked and Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed, leaving streets full of broken glass.
• The "final solution" refers to the Nazi plan to exterminate the European Jewish population -- the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question".
• The "showers" and "ovens" refer to the gas chambers (disguised as disinfecting showers) and crematoria of Nazi extermination camps.
• The "queens and the coons and the reds and the Jews" are some of the victims of the death camps: homosexuals, ethnic minorities (such as Roma), communists, and of course the Jews. "Coons" seems more directly aimed at blacks, given the context of Pink calling for a pogrom in Brixton and Stockwell Road.
• Trudy Young provided the voice of the groupie for the infamous "oh my God, what a fabulous room" monologue in One of My Turns.
• Despite being a double album/CD, the album was released on one extended length cassette (US, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK) and one 8-track cartridge. Whilst the full 81 plus minute album fit on one extended length cassette, the 8-track cartridge issues featured shortened versions of "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", "Goodbye Cruel World", "Comfortably Numb" and "Outside the Wall". Also, the famous intro, "we came in", and outro, "Isn't this where", were removed for time constraints on the 8 track as well. Lastly, "Hey You" was split into two parts.
• In the beginning of "Run Like Hell", the crowd can be heard cheering "Pink Floyd", whereas at the end of the song, the crowd cheers "Hammer."
• The album was banned as "undesirable" and "offensive" in 1980 by the South African Publications Control Board.
• The song "Hey You" was cut from the final version of the movie. The DVD of The Wall, however, contains a video of "Hey You."
• In the early 1980s, a teacher in Kentucky was fired for showing the film to her high school class. Ultimately this firing was upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. link
• Long time Los Angeles Lakers radio and television announcer, Chick Hearn can be heard at the 4:07 mark of Don't Leave Me Now as "Pink" flips through the channels just before destroying his television set leading into Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 3. This clip of Hearn appears to have been taken from a actual basketball game between the Lakers and the Chicago Bulls

• In 2003, former Atlantic Records recording artist Rat Bat Blue released The Five Minute Version of The Wall, containing a portion of each composition from The Wall album, in one song. This track appears on the Pink Floyd tribute albums A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd

Maybe the architectural training to look at things helped me to visualise my feelings of alienation from rock 'n' roll audiences. Which was the starting point for The Wall. The fact that it then embodied an autobiographical narrative was kind of secondary to the main thing which was a theatrical statement in which I was saying, 'Isn't this fucking awful? Here I am up onstage and there you all are down there and isn't it horrible! What the fuck are we all doing here?'

– Roger Waters, June 1987, to Chris Salewicz

I don't fully agree with the concept of The Wall. To me it's filled with a catalogue of complaints and I don't want to blame everything on everyone else in my life but myself...There's some wonderful stuff on the album. I think that's one of the wonderful things about music is that you can have a doom-laden lyric on top of an uplifting piece of music. It juxtaposes and gives you an uplifting feeling about it. I think the film got too black and bleak. Like I said, I don't fully concur with everything Roger says on it; I think some parts are very good and some parts are outright bleak to me.

– David Gilmour, May 1992, U.S. Radio interview

And my view of what The Wall itself is about is more jaundiced today than it was then. It appears now to be a catalogue of people Roger blames for his own failings in life, a list of 'you fucked me up this way, you fucked me up that way'.

– David Gilmour, February 1993, Guitar World

In the shadow of the wall, flowers turn into barbed wire; men turn into monsters.

– Gerald Scarfe, Commentary from The Wall

• "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"/"One of My Turns" - Columbia 1-11187; released January 8, 1980 (UK, U.S., France and Italy [with Young Lust as a B-Side])
• "Run Like Hell"/"Don't Leave Me Now" - Columbia 1-11265; released April, 1980 (Holland, Sweden and US)
• "Comfortably Numb"/"Hey You" - Columbia 1-11311; released June, 1980 (US and Japan)

Year	Chart	Position
1979	The Billboard 200	1
1979	UK album chart	3

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1980	"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"	Pop Singles	1
1980	"Run Like Hell"	Pop Singles	53

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1980	The Wall	Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

• Roger Waters — vocals, bass guitar, co-producer, synthesiser, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, sleeve design
• David Gilmour — guitars, vocals, co-producer, bass guitar, sequencer, synthesiser, clavinet, percussion
• Richard Wright — piano, organ, synthesiser, clavinet, bass pedals
• Nick Mason — drums, percussion

with

• Lee Ritenour — Rhythm Guitar on "One of My Turns" and Acoustic Guitar on "Comfortably Numb"
• Joe Porcaro — Marching Snare drum on "Bring the Boys Back Home"
• Blue Ocean — Marching Snare drum on "Bring the Boys Back Home"
• Freddie Mandell — Hammond Organ on "In The Flesh?" and "In the Flesh"
• Bobbye Hall — Percussion
• Ron di Blasi — Classical guitar on "Is There Anybody Out There?"
• Larry Williams — Clarinet on "Outside the Wall"
• Trevor Veitch — Mandolin
• Frank Marrocco — Concertina
• Bruce Johnston — Backing Vocals
• Toni Tennille — Backing Vocals
• Brian Wilson — Vocal Arrangements
• Joe Chemay — Backing Vocals
• Jon Joyce — Backing Vocals
• Stan Farber — Backing Vocals
• Jim Haas — Backing Vocals
• Fourth Form Music Class, Islington Green School, London — Backing Vocals
• Bob Ezrin — co-producer; Orchestra Arrangement; Keyboards
• Michael Kamen — Orchestra Arrangement
• James Guthrie — Co-Producer; Engineer; Percussion; Synthesiser on "Empty Spaces" (in collaboration with David Gilmour), Sequencer; Drums on "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" (in collaboration with Nick Mason), remastering producer
• Nick Griffiths — Engineer
• Patrice Queff — Engineer
• Brian Christian — Engineer
• John McClure — Engineer
• Rick Hart — Engineer
• Robert Hrycyna — Engineer
• Phil Taylor — Sound Equipment
• Gerald Scarfe — Sleeve Design
• Doug Sax — Mastering and Remastering

• Pink Floyd lyrics for The Wall
• Complete Analysis of the Movie
• Pink Floyd The Wall at IMDB
• Pink Floyd full albums lyrics

Preceded by Bee Gees Greatest by The Bee Gees

Billboard 200 number-one album January 19, 1980 - May 3, 1980

Succeeded by Against the Wind by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

v • d • e Pink Floyd
David Gilmour · Nick Mason · Richard Wright Syd Barrett · Bob Klose · Roger Waters
Studio Albums	The Piper at the Gates of Dawn · A Saucerful of Secrets · Ummagumma · Atom Heart Mother · Meddle · The Dark Side of the Moon · Wish You Were Here · Animals · The Wall · The Final Cut · A Momentary Lapse of Reason · The Division Bell
Soundtracks	Tonite Let's All Make Love in London · More · Zabriskie Point · Obscured by Clouds
Live	Ummagumma · Delicate Sound of Thunder · P•U•L•S•E · Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81
Compilations	Relics · A Nice Pair · Masters of Rock · A Collection of Great Dance Songs · Works · Shine On · (The Early Singles) · 1967 Singles Sampler · Echoes · Oh, by the Way
Related articles	Discography · The Sights and Sounds of Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd · Steve O'Rourke · Contributors · Live performances · Household Objects · Pigs · Publius Enigma · Dark Side of the Rainbow · The Man and the Journey · "Give Birth to a Smile" (from Music from "The Body") · 19367 Pink Floyd  · List of Pink Floyd songs by singer  · Unreleased Material