The Last Few Bricks

"The Last Few Bricks" is an instrumental bridge/medley used by Pink Floyd and Roger Waters at The Wall live shows, between "Another Brick in the Wall (Part III)" and "Goodbye Cruel World".

Composition

It was composed specifically for the purpose of allowing the bricklayer roadies more time to finish constructing the wall, to seal off the stage almost completely, before Waters appeared in the last one-brick-wide space in the wall to sing "Goodbye Cruel World", and end the first part of the show.

The piece doesn't have a strict composition, varying from venue to venue, but it usually contained themes from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", "Don't Leave Me Now", "Young Lust", "Empty Spaces" / "What Shall We Do Now?", and occasionally, when the bricklayers were running especially late, a jam (in the jazzier style of the earlier, improv-oriented Floyd) similar to "Any Colour You Like" (D minor to G major), was played. The themes from "Don't Leave Me Now" and "Young Lust" were transposed down a whole step, so, like much of the album, "The Last Few Bricks" is in D minor -- which leads to a "brightening" effect, when "Goodbye Cruel World" begins in the parallel key of D major.

Title

Interestingly, before the release of the live album, this bridge never had an official title. Fans called the track Almost Gone on some bootleg albums of the shows, but the official name – The Last Few Bricks – was not used at the shows in 1980–1982, and instead was suggested to Roger Waters by producer James Guthrie during the mixing of the live album.

Performance

The longest performance of this medley was on 7 February 1980 at Los Angeles Sports Arena when "Another Brick in the Wall (Part III)" was stretched to over 13 minutes.^[1]

References