Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb' made me feel... Conflicted

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Timestamps:
0:00 My journey with Pink Floyd so far...
1:30 'Comfortably Numb'
10:52 'Comfortably Numb (Pulse Concert)'
22:30 How to win thinksound ov202w

[MaximMelamed]

The spoken word parts are meant to be that way. It's from the wall, a concept album. Those parts originally sang by waters are supposed to be a doctor speaking to Pink trying to revive him. The chorus sang by Gilmour, is Pink answering. The fade out at the end I think is intentional designed to allow for extended soloing while playing live .Also, I think the tempo slowing down at the concert is to give the fans a longer experience. This song is like the magnum opus of Floyd. People wait their whole life to hear this live so they probably wanted to make it as epic is possible.

[chitownlee]

I saw this tour when I was living in Atlanta. The the concert ended, my friend looked at me and she said, I'll never be able to explain this to anybody. That was the best description of that concert.

[Mike-London_se]

Listening to Pink Floyd is not just hearing music. It's a whole sensory experience. Close your eyes and listen and see where your mind takes you.

[Apollo_Blaze]

There is nothing, nothing, that I would change about this song. Nothing.

[AliasMark]

Back in O.C. Calif when I was 30 my wife heard a commercial on the radio about a P.F. show coming up. Knowing I am a Floyd fan she called the radio station (KMET - LA, “The Mighty Met”) to get information on the concert, The DJ on live radio Cynthia Fox…. said...."Congratulations, YOU are caller number 10, YOU just won tickets to the show and the Sound Check Party before the show"...
I met David Gilmour back stage. He gave us both a signed album that I have in my music room. We talked for 22 minutes. I called him…“The Master Of The Stratocaster” He smiled. I told him his music will stand the test of time with anything from Beethoven or Mozart. He smiled even bigger. I asked if I could shake both his hands that make such great guitar solos, he smiled bigger and said “Sure” and shook both hands at the same time, making a cross between us, I smiled HUGE. Hard to explain how awesome that moment was in my life. I asked him to describe his technique of playing guitar, he replied… “I strike a note, bend it, shake it and then release it”…. Yes, he does that quite well, better than any other guitarist I know. . I told him in my eyes he’s a “Legend“. He thanked me and said “Enjoy the show”…. during the concert after the song “Money” he looked right at me and said…. “On saxophone, another Legend, Mr. Raphael Ravenscroft” … acknowledging my comment to him. It is my favorite moment in over 300 shows I’ve seen.
I asked David…. How do you create those awesome solos?… he said….. I sit on a stool and listen to what Roger, Nick and Rick put down and play along. I listen to what I played and pick out what I like, then I put the pieces together into one piece then learn to play it as one. Our fans are fanatics for our shows to sound like the albums so I must play it correctly each time in a show. I have the concert Brochure and album on the wall with David’s picture centerfold.
All of us fortunate enough to have seen this show live were in a TRANCE.... MESMERIZED the entire show... as you can imagine. We walked out saying.... What did we just witness? That was out of this world incredible. The Red Fender Stratocaster he used for this concert in the Guitar Collector World is ....PRICELESS

[joaopaulolopes]

All Stratocasters wants for christmas is a David Gilmour!!

[martharobison]

This was live, dude!! No room for error. They nailed it, plus xtra sauce. 😊

[LearnTechnicalSketching-ye]

Those 'lazy lyrical' sequences represent the doctor talking to his patient, trying to reassure him that with a little medication he will feel 'comfortably numb' and forget the mental trauma. You really need to understand the context and not just see it as a 'song' in isolation, which unfortunately that's what popular music has become, just collections of unconnected bits of music, generally.

[dianewalker]

OMG ITS SPOKEN FOR A REASON. Its dialogue, its meant to be spoken. Nothing lazy about it.

[marifaceawl]

i hope Pink Floyd are paying attention to all these excellent suggestions about how to improve their music.

[JH-wqms]

Instead of being annoyed by their musical choices (the Dr. speaking verse, the fade-out, etc.), stop and ask yourself WHY did they make those choices. Think about what they are conveying, very intentionally, with those choices. It’s introspection, existential crises, and the arc of life…all with beautiful texture.

[direnova]

They weren't a drug fuelled band, their founder went mad with acid early in the bands history and all the others did was a bit of weed and even then it wasn't a big thing with them. Now people who listen to

[patrickgrant]

Imagine being a "music producer" and "composer" today and hearing this for the first time and coming to the realization just how insignificant your career will now be.

[lawrenceking]

David Gilmour grew up bilingual -- English and guitar. Quite eloquent in both.

[-by-_Publishing_LLC]

(19:20) *"Is that a giant disco ball?"* ... To every stoner in the audience, it was the eye of God coming down to check out Gilmour's guitar solo.

[Bloodycape]

OK, there’s no such thing as lazy vocals on this song. That vocal part is part of a story. You gotta listen to the whole album. It’s one of the greatest songs ever written. There’s nothing that you do or anybody else has done after that that will beat that song.

You’re wondering about the fade out of the original version and where it would go where the live version is where it goes and it’s the greatest solo of all time. It’s fucking phenomenal.

[calemobrien]

Judging one of the most creative, groundbreaking, and successful bands ever for "laziness"? Good for you bud...

[LianFarrelly]

And this guys a producer says it all about today's music.

[NicholasChorba]

The fact that he thinks they are high for this song demonstrates how excellently they executed it given the context of the song.

[patricktalley]

There are two characters in the song. One is a depressed rock star (Pink) and the other is his nameless manager trying to get him ready for a show by giving him drugs.

The “spoken” part is the manager. The vocal style reflects the disingenuousness and manipulation behind the manager’s words. He claims to care for the rock star, but he just wants the show to go on for the money.

Meanwhile, the chorus is Pink singing to himself (maybe dreaming) as he slips into a drug induced haze. He remembers being sick as a child and feeling the same sense of detachment as the people and world around him fades like “distant ship smoke on the horizon”.

The Wall is a concept album that follows the life of Pink as he struggles with increasing isolation of rock star fame. It is a deeply psychological exploration that dives into his childhood, his relationship to his mother, who dominates him, and the absence of his father, who was killed in the war.

But the real sparks fly when he falls into such an identity crisis that he begins to fantasize about becoming a new person - a fascistic cult leader that incites his concert audience into a violent frenzy. Ultimately, the only way out is to put himself on trial, which is a truly mind blowing scene.

For those who haven’t seen the film or heard the entire album end-to-end in this context, I’ve already shared too much. You need to experience it yourself.

Peace.