| Roger Waters wrote this about his views on
formal education. He hated his grammar school teachers and felt they
were more interested in keeping the kids quiet than teaching them.
The wall refers to the wall Waters built around himself because he
wasn't in touch with reality. The bricks in the wall were the events
in his life which propelled him to build this proverbial wall around
him. His school teacher was another brick in the wall. (thanks,
Daniel - Tyler, TX) |
| The chorus came from a school in Islington,
England, and was chosen because it was close to the studio. It was
made up of 23 kids between the ages of 13 and 15. They were
overdubbed 12 times, making it sound like there were many more kids. |
| Their producer, Bob Ezrin, had the idea for
the chorus. He used a choir of kids when he produced Alice Cooper's
"School's Out" in 1972. Ezrin liked to use children's voices on
songs about school. |
| There was some controversy when it was
revealed that the chorus was not paid. It also didn't sit well with
teachers that kids were singing an anti-school song. The chorus was
given recording time in the studio in exchange for their
contribution; the school received 1000 pounds and a platinum record. |
| The Disco beat was suggested by their
producer, Bob Ezrin. This was completely unexpected from Pink Floyd,
who specialized in making records you were supposed to listen to,
not dance to. He got the idea for the beat when he was in New York
and heard something Nile Rodgers was doing. |
| Pink Floyd rarely released singles that were
also on an album. They felt their songs were best appreciated in the
context of an album, where the songs and the artwork came together
to form a theme. Producer Bob Ezrin convinced them that this could
stand on it's own and would not hurt album sales. |
| The concept of the album was to explore the "walls"
people put up to protect themselves. Any time something bad happens,
we withdraw further, putting up "another brick in the wall." |
| The Wall was one of 2 ideas Waters
brought to the band when they got together to record in 1978. His
other idea was The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, which he
ended up recording as a solo album. |
| Water's original demo for this was just him
singing over an acoustic guitar. |
| When they first recorded this, it was 1 verse
and 1 chorus, and lasted 1:20. Producer Bob Ezrin wanted it longer,
but the band refused. While they were gone, Ezrin made it longer by
inserting the kids as the second verse, adding some drum fills, and
copying the first chorus to the end. He played it for Waters, who
liked what he heard. |
| This is often paired with "Happiest Days of
Our Lives" when played on radio stations, and it follows "Happiest"
on the album. "Happiest Days of Our Lives" depicts how childhood was
great and there was nothing to worry about, until the teachers came
along and tried to oppress and suppress the children. Waters then
describes that the teachers must have it rough in their own homes,
and take out their frustration on the students. (thanks, Patrick -
Conyers, GA) |
| To make this album, they came up with the
concept of the character "Pink." Bob Ezrin wrote a script, and they
worked the songs around the character. The story was made into the
movie The Wall, starring Bob Geldof as "Pink." Many people
believe you have to be stoned to enjoy the film. |
| For the stage show, a giant wall was erected
in front of the band using hidden hydraulic lifts as they played. It
measured 160x35ft when completed, and about halfway through the
show, the bricks were gradually knocked down to reveal the band. |
| Waters sang lead. When he left Pink Floyd and
the band toured without him, Gilmour sang it. |
| The original idea for the concept of the
actual Wall they wanted to create came from a problem Roger Waters
was having during their concerts. When he started thinking about the
show, he wanted to isolate himself from the public because he
couldn't stand all the yelling and shouting. "The Wall" was not just
a symbol and a concept, but a way of separating the band from their
audience. (thanks, raul - Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
| The line "We don't need do education" is
grammatically incorrect. It's a double negative and really means "We
need education." This could be a commentary on the quality of the
schools. |
| On July 21, 1990, Waters staged a production
of The Wall in Berlin to celebrate the destruction of The
Berlin Wall. |
| The 1998 movie The Faculty has a
version of this song remixed by Class Of '99. (thanks, Riley -
Elmhurst, IL) |
| In England, this was released in November 1979
and became the last UK #1 of the '70s. (thanks, Alan - Blackpool,
Lancs, England) |
| Part 1 of this song is often overlooked. It is
saying that because Pink's father went off and died in WWII, he
built The Wall to protect him from other people. In the movie you
see him at the playground with the other kids and their fathers,
then one of the kids leaves with his father and Pink tries to touch
the father's hand. The father pushes him away quite aggressively
then leaves. (thanks, Andres - Santa Rosa, CA) |
| In 2004, Peter Rowan, a Scottish musician who
runs a royalties firm, started tracking down the kids who sang in
the chorus, who were by then in their 30s. Under a 1996 copyright
law, they were entitled to a small amount of money for participating
on the record. Rowan was no so much interested in the money as in
getting the chorus together for a reunion. |
