The Gunner's Dream

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"The Gunner's Dream"

Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Final Cut
Released	March 21, 1983 (UK) April 2, 1983 (US)
Recorded	July-December 1982
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	~5:07
Label	Harvest Records (UK) Capitol Records (US)
Writer(s)	Roger Waters
Producer(s)	Roger Waters, James Guthrie and Michael Kamen
The Final Cut track listing
The Hero's Return (5)	"The Gunner's Dream" (6)	Paranoid Eyes (7)

"The Gunner's Dream" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1983 album The Final Cut which tells the story and thoughts of a gunner as he falls to his death. Though never performed live by the band, it was featured in Roger Waters's 1984 and 1985 live performances.

The 1984 renditions were extended to include a new guitar solo improvised by Eric Clapton each performance, who was touring as Waters's guitarist at the time. The 1985 versions featured a standardized solo from his replacement.

It was taken out of Waters' setlists until 2006, when it was played in the first setlist, amongst other older Pink Floyd songs and Waters's solo works.

The line "and maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control" is a reference to the 1981 Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings.

The line "in the corner of some foreign field, the gunner sleeps tonight" alludes to the poem "If I Should Die Tonight" by First World War poet Rupert Brooke which contains the lines "If I should die tonight, think only this of me/ That there is a corner of some foreign field, that is forever England," as well as the 1950s hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a modified version of a 1939 African pop song.