Coming Back to Life

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"Coming Back To Life"

Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Division Bell
Released	March 30, 1994 (UK) April 5, 1994 (US)
Recorded	1993
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	~6:49
Label	EMI (UK) Columbia Records (US)
Writer(s)	David Gilmour
Producer(s)	Bob Ezrin and David Gilmour
The Division Bell track listing
Take It Back (7)	"Coming Back To Life" (8)	Keep Talking (9)

"Coming Back to Life" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1994 album The Division Bell, and is credited solely to David Gilmour. It is about a spiritual renewal on the part of the narrator. The narrator is addressing a specific person, although their actual identity is never made explicit, and criticizes this person for "hanging yourself on someone else's words"--in other words, believing what other people say about the narrator, rather than the narrator himself. The speaker then realizes that this person is a part of the past, and that the time had finally come to let him/her go and move on with their life.

Like many of the songs on The Division Bell, the song could be seen as David Gilmour addressing his ex-bandmate, Roger Waters. It would not be the first time that Pink Floyd had created a song that was generally-stated, but personal in nature (the entirety of the album "Wish You Were Here" was dedicated to their ex-bandmate, Syd Barrett). However, Gilmour has denied any but the most tenuous connections between the band's near-breakup and the lyrics of the album and he has said (as can be heard in the David Gilmour in Concert DVD) that the song was written about his wife, Polly Samson.

It was also featured on both the video and CD versions of the 1995 live album, P*U*L*S*E.