Pink Floyd

Released: July 15, 1982

Songwriter: Roger Waters

Producer: Roger Waters James Guthrie Michael Kamen

[Verse 1]
It was just before dawn one miserable
Morning in black Forty-Four
When the forward commander was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn
And the Generals gave thanks as the other ranks
Held back the enemy tanks for a while
And the Anzio bridgehead was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives

[Verse 2]
And kind old King George sent Mother a note
When he heard that Father was gone
It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll
With gold leaf and all
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp

[Verse 3]
It was dark all around, there was frost in the ground
When the Tigers broke free
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers Company Z
They were all left behind
Most of them dead, the rest of them dying
And that's how the High Command
Took my daddy from me

Pink Floyd was a British rock band who managed to carve a path for progressive and psychedelic music in a way that was uniquely fascinating at the time and has remained equally momentous in the modern age. The name “Pink Floyd” came from two blues musicians that founding member Syd Barrett idolized—Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

The band was formed in 1965 London by Barrett (guitars, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass), and Richard Wright (keyboards). Sometime after releasing their debut album, 1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the group saw the addition of a second singer-guitarist, David Gilmour. This acted largely as a means of replacing Barrett, who was forced to leave in 1968 for mental health reasons, resulting in Waters taking over as the main vocalist.

The band broke into the mainstream with 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, an album that became one of the best-selling and most influential records in music history. Their follow-up efforts, 1975’s Wish You Were Here and 1977’s Animals, also sold well. However, the band started to see some in-fighting while making their next album, a rock opera about how Waters felt frustrated and detached from his audience. Waters seemingly became extremely controlling, firing Wright over disputes about touring and his contributions to the album. The result, 1979’s The Wall, became the best-selling double album of all time. It spawned iconic songs such as the #1 hit, “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2,” and the melodic “Comfortably Numb.”

more tracks from the album

Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd

From the albums

Pink Floyd popular songs

When the Tigers Broke FreePink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd