Comfortably Numb

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"Comfortably Numb"
"Comfortably Numb" cover
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album The Wall
B-side(s) Hey You
Released 1979
Format 7"
Recorded April–November 1979
Genre Art rock/Progressive rock
Length 6 min, 21 s
(6 min, 53 s on Echoes,
7 min, 26s on Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81,
8 min, 2 s on The Wall: Live in Berlin,
8 min, 10 s on In the Flesh Live,
8 min, 56 s on Delicate Sound Of Thunder,
7 min, 59 s on The Departed Soundtrack,
9 min, 29 s on Pulse)
Label EMI
Writer(s) David Gilmour & Roger Waters
Producer(s) Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Pink Floyd singles chronology
Another Brick in the Wall, Part II
(1979)		 Comfortably Numb
(1980)		 Run Like Hell
(1980)
The Wall track listing
"Bring the Boys Back Home"
(5)		 "Comfortably Numb"
(6)		 "The Show Must Go On"
(7)

"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the British (progressive) rock band Pink Floyd, which was released on the 1979 double-album The Wall. It was also released as a single in the same year, with "Hey You" as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger Waters and David Gilmour – most of the music on "Comfortably Numb" was written by Gilmour, while Waters contributed the lyrics and some additional notes. "Comfortably Numb" is one of the most famous Pink Floyd songs, and is known especially for its guitar solos. In 2004, the song was ranked #314 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Contents

[edit] History

While most songs on The Wall were written by Waters alone, most of the music for "Comfortably Numb" was written by David Gilmour, who originally recorded it for his first solo album. Gilmour later decided not to use it for his album, and instead brought his demo of it to The Wall sessions.

The song is one of two tracks on The Wall which are completely freestanding and do not fade into or out of an adjacent track. (The other freestanding song is "Mother.") This is because on the original LP there was a break on the music as side three of the album finished. (However, for the CD release of earlier Pink Floyd records, such as The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, crossfades were added to link the two sides of the respective albums.)

According to Rolling Stone the lyrics came from Roger Waters' experience when he was injected with tranquillizers for hepatitis by a doctor prior to playing a Pink Floyd show in Philadelphia on the band's 1977 tour for the Animals album. "That was the longest two hours of my life," Waters said. "Trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm." The experience gave him the idea which became this song.

Waters and Gilmour disagreed about how to record the song as Gilmour preferred a more grungy approach to the verses. In the end, Waters' preferred opening to the song and Gilmour's final solo were used on the album. Gilmour would later say, "We argued over 'Comfortably Numb' like mad. Really had a big fight, went on for ages." [Rock Compact Disc magazine, September 1992]

[edit] Plot

Like the rest of the songs on the album, "Comfortably Numb" tells a part of the story of Pink, the album's protagonist. Pink, feeling completely isolated from society, cannot stand the pressures of life as a rock star and collapses in his hotel room before leaving for his concert. A doctor is sent into the room and gives Pink an injection that gives him the energy he needs to perform. The lyrics are written as a conversation, with Waters voicing the doctor and Gilmour voicing Pink.

[edit] Guitar solos

Music sample:

This song features two guitar solos by David Gilmour, and is a particular favourite with Pink Floyd fans. The final solo (outro, coda, or fade out), is widely revered by fans and air-guitarists worldwide as one of Gilmour's best, and is an archetypal rock guitar solo.

In 1989 the readers of the Pink Floyd fanzine The Amazing Pudding voted this song the best Floyd song of all time. David Gilmour's solo was rated the 4th best guitar solo of all-time,[1] by Guitar World magazine, in a reader poll. It was named the Greatest Guitar Solo of All Time by DigitalDreamDoor, just ahead of "Stairway to Heaven". And in August 2006, Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb" was voted the greatest guitar solo of all time. [2] in a poll by viewers of TV music channel Planet Rock.

[edit] Live performances

In December of 1988, a video of the live performance from Delicate Sound of Thunder reached #11 on MTV's Top 20 Video Countdown. The video was two minutes shorter than the album version and the video clip had some different camera angles as opposed to the released home video version that would emerge in June of 1989.

In 1984, when David Gilmour was on a solo tour, the song was referenced in the set list as "Come On Big Bum". Gilmour also revised the verses to his preferred more grungy approach when the song was played on 1990s Pink Floyd tours after Waters left the band. Currently, his live guitar solos for this particular song have been a source of many hits on the shared video site YouTube. The first is the Live 8 concert where he and the other members of Pink Floyd reunited with Roger Waters as a one-off performance in order to raise awareness for debt relief for African nations. The second comes from the post-Waters live album P*U*L*S*E (1994) which includes a longer, 4 1/2 minute long version of the concluding guitar solo. A 10-minute version of "Comfortably Numb" was performed at Earls Court, London on October 20, 1994, as part of the Division Bell tour. The P*U*L*S*E video release unfortunately edited out approximately 1 1/2 minutes of the ending solo much to the disappointment of Floyd fans. (The original pay per view video has the unedited version). Gilmour also is said to have stated that the version of "Comfortably Numb" as played at the Superdome in New Orleans on the 1994 tour was the best version he has played[citation needed]. The P*U*L*S*E solo has been particularly revered for its length and accuracy, being voted by DigitalDreamDoor as the 5th best live solo.

[edit] Cover versions

  • In 2004, a disco-oriented cover of the song was released by Scissor Sisters on Polydor, a remix by Canadian electronic musician and DJ/producer Tiga. Although the cover (sung entirely in falsetto) has irked some Floyd fans, David Gilmour and Nick Mason[2] have expressed a liking for the group; Roger Waters is also known to have contacted the band to congratulate them on the version.[3] It is performed in a style reminiscent of The Bee Gees' disco era, and in particular, "Stayin' Alive". The word "I" in the chorus lyric "I have become, comfortably numb" is sung with the same style as the repeated "Ah ha ha ha" in the chorus of "Staying Alive". It is the biggest UK hit single to be a cover of a Pink Floyd song to date.
    • Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears was invited by Gilmour to sing "Comfortably Numb" with him in some shows, but Gilmour went back on his offer and Shears offended him publicly[4]
  • In 2005 Dar Williams included a version of "Comfortably Numb" on her album My Better Self, duetting on the track with Ani DiFranco. Unfortunately, for some Pink Floyd fans, this version does not feature the guitar solo. "I always thought a woman should record it," Dar Williams explains, "So I decided to do it, but I thought it needed another woman. Ani was my dream choice and she just nailed it," Williams says, "The song is a commentary on who we are in the aftermath of the last election, no matter who you voted for. On one level it is about a dream which seems to have died in our society and the ultra convenient numbing I am witnessing these days."
  • In 2006, Sarah Slean covered the song on the Pink Floyd Redux album.
  • In 2006, Australian Hard Rock band The Amendments formed. The very first song they played together was Comfortably Numb. The song remains a band favourite to cover during rehearsals and on stage.
  • English band Anathema also covered the song in their several gigs.
  • Dream Theater has covered the song in several of their gigs including one in which they performed it with the band Queensrÿche. Dream Theater has also performed the entire Dark Side Of The Moon album on some of their special shows.
  • The British progressive rock band Mostly Autumn covered the song and included it on their Pink Floyd Revisited DVD and performed it on several gigs. The chorus is sung by female lead singer Heather Findlay.
  • Bruce Hornsby often covers the song in concert (usually as part of a medley with his own "Fortunate Son"). A version of this medley can be found on the DVD Three Nights on the Town.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://guitar.about.com/library/bl100greatest.htm
  2. ^ Interview with Nick Mason
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Scissor Sisters star lashes out at Pink Floyd legend

[edit] References

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