Don't Leave Me Now (Pink Floyd song)
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| “Don't Leave Me Now” | |||||
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Cover of Pink Floyd The Wall
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| Song by Pink Floyd | |||||
| Album | The Wall | ||||
| Released | 30 November 1979 (US), 8 December 1979 (UK) | ||||
| Recorded | April-November, 1979 | ||||
| Genre | Art rock/Progressive rock | ||||
| Length | 4:16 | ||||
| Label | Harvest Records (UK) Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US) |
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| Writer | Roger Waters | ||||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters | ||||
| The Wall track listing | |||||
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"Don't Leave Me Now" is a song by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on The Wall album in 1979.
Contents |
[edit] Composition
The song is split into two main portions; the first of which is very dissonant and quiet in dynamics, reflected in a sluggish piano and reverb-laden synthesizer. The lyrics are rather cynical-sounding (as in The Thin Ice) and have a lackluster quality to them, accentuating the plot. The second section contains a more protracted and emotional plea, and is louder in tone. The song ends as Pink quickly switches between different channels on his television, and finishes the song with a hysteric scream. The song, arguably the saddest in tone on the album, marks the infidelity of Pink's wife and his corresponding isolation from society. The music has a slow, haunting quality to it culminating in a mournful guitar solo.
[edit] Plot
As with the other songs on The Wall, Don't Leave Me Now tells a portion of the story of Pink, the album's protagonist. Having failed to win over his wife or a groupie, Pink falls into a bout of depression. Pink has mixed emotions about his wife's infidelity; in one instant, he pleads her not to go, claiming that their relationship is not over, and in the next instant, he threatens to put her in the shredder in front of friends, and beat her to a pulp on a Saturday night, something that goes against Pink's character, who was previously established as borderline docile. Waters stated on the 1992 US radio special Pink Floyd: The 25th Anniversary Special that the lyrics had nothing to do with his personal life and had a more cordial relationship with his wife in real-life than the character Pink did.
[edit] Film version
The song begins with a close-up of the debris in Pink's hotel room, then switches over to the hotel's pool, where Pink is seen floating in a crucifix position. With his left hand having been cut earlier in a shard of glass (when Pink thrashered his penthouse), his blood pours out and stains the pool water. What follows is a fantasy sequence in which Pink watches The Dam Busters on TV. The shadow of Pink's wife emerges on the back wall before materializing into a praying mantis-like monster, which then transforms into the vagina shaped flower from "What Shall We Do Now?". The song ends with Pink cowering in a corner of the room, tortured by both the imaginary mantis in front of him and the thoughts of his wife's adulterous acts superimposed on the screen.
[edit] Personnel
- Roger Waters - guitar (through echo),[1] VCS3,[1] vocals[1]
- Nick Mason - drums[1]
- David Gilmour - bass guitar,[1] guitars,[1] backing vocals,[1] breathing[1]
- Richard Wright - bass pedals,[1] organ,[1] piano,[1] synthesizer[1]
