Pink Floyd

Released: March 21, 1983

Songwriter: Roger Waters

Producer: Michael Kamen James Guthrie Roger Waters

Jesus, Jesus, what’s it all about?
Trying to clout these little ingrates into shape
When I was their age all the lights went out
There was no time to whine and mope about
And even now part of me flies over
Dresden at angels one five
Though they’ll never fathom it behind my
Sarcasm desperate memories lie

Sweetheart, sweetheart, are you fast asleep? Good
‘Cause that’s the only time that I can really speak to you
And there is something that I’ve locked away
A memory that is too painful
To withstand the light of day

When we came back from the war
The banners and flags hung on everyone’s door
We danced and we sang in the street and
The church bells rang
But the burning in my heart
The memory smolders on
Of the gunner's dying words on the intercom

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.”

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