Pink Floyd

Released: March 21, 1983

Songwriter: Roger Waters

Producer: Michael Kamen James Guthrie Roger Waters

[Verse 1]
They flutter behind you your possible pasts
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost
A warning to anyone still in command
“Ranks! Fire”
Of their possible future, to take care
In derelict sidings the poppies entwine
With cattle trucks lying in wait for the next time

[Hook]
Do you remember me? How we used to be?
Do you think we should be closer?

[Verse 2]
She stood in the doorway, the ghost of a smile
Haunting her face like a cheap hotel sign
Her cold eyes imploring the men in their Macs
For the gold in their bags or the knives in their backs
Stepping up boldly one put out his hand
He said, “I was just a child then, now I’m only a man.”

[Hook]
Do you remember me? How we used to be?
Do you think we should be closer?

[Verse 3]
By the cold and religious we were taken in hand
Shown how to feel good and told to feel bad
(Tongue tied and terrified we learned how to pray
Now our feelings run deep and cold as the clay)
Strung out behind us the banners and flags
Of our possible pasts lie in tatters and rags

[Hook]
Do you remember me? How we used to be?
Do you think we should be closer?

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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