Outside the Wall

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“Outside the Wall”
“Outside the Wall” cover
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 1:41
Label Harvest Records (UK)
Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US)
Writer Waters
Producer Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters
The Wall track listing
"The Trial"
(12 of disc 2)		 “Outside the Wall”
(13 of disc 2)


"Outside the Wall" is a song by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on The Wall album in 1979. It was written by Roger Waters.

This song is meant as a dénouement to the album and reveals the moral or central point of the story. The story ends with The Trial, therefore not telling what actually happened to Pink after the wall was torn down.

Contents

[edit] Composition

The song is one of the quietest on the album. It is about 1 minute, 41 seconds in length. A fifteen-second segment of the melody of this song is duplicated in the introduction to "In the Flesh?," with the result that the album itself is cyclical in nature: the last spoken words before the song cuts off are: "Isn't this where-". At the beginning of the first track of the album, "In The Flesh?" the first words are: "-we came in?". The "Isn't This Where" and "We Came In" segments were removed from the 8-track cartridge issues of the album.

[edit] Plot

Unlike the other songs on the album, this particular song offers little to the plot involving Pink as a whole. It acknowledges that "the wall" has now been demolished (as a result of actions in The Trial), and goes on to "discuss" the idea that many people have social barriers, and that this is somewhat repetitive in nature; as one person re-integrates themselves with society, another leaves.

A more traditional interpretation of the song follows: If one does not tear down their own metaphorical wall those trying to get in will eventually give up and leave you to live out a lonely life. This is what happens to the main character, Pink, during the course of the film.

[edit] Film version

A longer and more elaborate version was recorded for the film which runs for a little more than four minutes and includes orchestration and a choir and Roger Waters singing the lyrics melodically, rather than reciting them as on the album version; in order to run through the entire end credits, it includes the chords and melody from "Southampton Dock", from The Wall's eventual successor, The Final Cut. This version was never released officially and was later reused for the credits for The Wall Live in Berlin.

[edit] Stage performance

At the stage performances of The Wall, the show ended with "Outside the Wall" after The Trial, where the performers came walking over the stage in front of the now demolished wall, with them playing guitar and singing the vocaltracks, while Roger Waters sang the lead vocals and played the Clarinet.

[edit] Personnel

Roger Waters played clarinet during the 1980-81 tour.[7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p. 113
  2. ^ Fitch and Mahon, p. 113
  3. ^ Fitch and Mahon, p. 113
  4. ^ Fitch and Mahon, p. 113
  5. ^ Fitch and Mahon, p. 113
  6. ^ Fitch and Mahon, p. 113
  7. ^ Fitch and Mahon p. 185

[edit] References