Another Brick in the Wall

"Another Brick in the Wall" is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera, The Wall, subtitled Part 1 (working title "Reminiscing"), Part 2 (working title "Education"), and Part 3 (working title "Drugs"). All parts were written by Pink Floyd's bassist, Roger Waters. Part II is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular.^[1] It was also released as a single and provided the band's only number-one hit in the United Kingdom, the United States, West Germany and many other countries. In addition, in the US, along with the tracks, "Run Like Hell", and "Don't Leave Me Now", "Another Brick in the Wall" reached number fifty-seven on the disco chart.^[2]

In the UK, it was Pink Floyd's first single since 1968's "Point Me at the Sky"; the song was also the final number-one single of the 1970s. For Part II, Pink Floyd received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group and lost to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind". In addition, Part II was number 375 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[3] The single sold over 4 million copies worldwide.^[4]

The single, as well as the album The Wall, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after the song was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequities in education under the apartheid regime.^[5][6]

Concept

Each of the three parts has a similar tune, and lyrical structure (though not lyrics, aside from the "all in all" refrain), and each is louder and more enraged than the one before, rising from the sadness of Part I to the protesting Part II to the furious Part III.

Part 1

Composition

Part 1 of the song is very quiet dynamically and features a long, subdued guitar solo. The vocals are softer and gentler in tone than in Parts 2 and 3, although there is a short, sharp rise in dynamics and tone for a brief period towards the end of the lyrical portion. Sniffing, shouting, wailing, calling, and children can be faintly heard in the background. The song's beginning coincides with the final chord of "The Thin Ice", and the echoing multi-guitar solo (after the lyrics) crossfades into the helicopter and yelling-teacher sounds of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives".

Plot

"The Thin Ice" discussed during the previous song breaks when Pink becomes older and learns of the death of his father. Pink is devastated by this reality and begins to build The Wall.

Film version

Pink's mother is seen praying in a church after the death of her husband overseas. Pink, however, is, at this point, oblivious of his death, and can be seen playing with a toy aeroplane. The song continues with Pink playing in a public park after his mother leaves him to go shopping. He sees a man who he takes a liking to in the absence of his own father. The man gives Pink a lift onto a ride, and it's clear Pink feels as if this man is his real father. Pink follows the man's son around, copying him, but doesn't understand why the other boy's father isn't paying attention to him. He grabs the man's hand but is shooed away, only to grab the man's hand again. The man pushes Pink away again, and dejectedly he sits on a swing (which is too far off the ground for him to swing himself). He looks over at the other parents swinging their kids, feeling even more alone.

Part 2

"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album The Wall
B-side	"One of My Turns"
Released	23 November 1979 (UK) 8 January 1980 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Recorded	April–November 1979
Genre	Progressive rock disco
Length	3:11 (single version) 3:59 (album version) 3:54 (A Collection of Great Dance Songs version)
Label	Harvest (UK) Columbia (US)
Writer(s)	Roger Waters
Producer(s)	Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"Have a Cigar" (1975) "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" (1979) "Run Like Hell" (1980)
The Wall track listing 26 tracks Side one "In the Flesh?" "The Thin Ice" "Another Brick in the Wall Part 1" "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" "Mother" Side two "Goodbye Blue Sky" "Empty Spaces" "Young Lust" "One of My Turns" "Don't Leave Me Now" "Another Brick in the Wall Part 3" "Goodbye Cruel World" Side three "Hey You" "Is There Anybody Out There?" "Nobody Home" "Vera" "Bring the Boys Back Home" "Comfortably Numb" Side four "The Show Must Go On" "In the Flesh" "Run Like Hell" "Waiting for the Worms" "Stop" "The Trial" "Outside the Wall" Audio sample file info · help

Composition

In the album version of The Wall, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" segues from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", with Roger Waters' signature scream. The song has strong drums, a well-known bass line and distinctive guitar parts in the background with a smooth, yet edgy guitar solo. The song also features a choir of schoolchildren singing in the second verse: as the song ends, the sounds of a school yard are heard, along with a Scottish teacher who continues to lord it over the children's lives by shouting "Wrong! Do it again!", and "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!", and "You! Yes! You behind the bikesheds! Stand still, laddie!", all of it dissolving into the dull drone of a phone ringing. It trails off into the next song, ending with a deep sigh.

School choir

Producer Bob Ezrin had immediately recognised the hit potential of this song, but it took some manoeuvring behind the band's back until "Part II" took its eventual form.

It was Ezrin's idea to use a school choir for this song, as he explained to Guitar World in 2009:^[7]

The most important thing I did for the song was to insist that it be more than just one verse and one chorus long, which it was when Roger wrote it. When we played it with the disco drumbeat I said: "Man, this is a hit! But it's one minute 20. We need two verses and two choruses." And they said, "Well you're not bloody getting them. We don't do singles, so fuck you." So I said, "Okay, fine", and they left. And because of our two [tape recorder] set up, while they weren't around we were able to copy the first verse and chorus, take one of the drum fills, put them in between and extend the chorus.

Then the question is what do you do with the second verse, which is the same? And having been the guy who made Alice Cooper's School's Out I've got this thing about kids on record, and it is about kids after all. So while we were in America, we sent [recording engineer] Nick Griffiths to a school near the Floyd studios [in Islington, North London]. I said, "Give me 24 tracks of kids singing this thing. I want Cockney, I want posh, fill 'em up", and I put them on the song. I called Roger into the room, and when the kids came in on the second verse there was a total softening of his face, and you just knew that he knew it was going to be an important record.

Griffiths approached music teacher Alun Renshaw of Islington Green School, around the corner from Pink Floyd's Britannia Row Studios, about the choir.^[8]

Though the school received a lump sum payment of £1000, there was no contractual arrangement for royalties from record sales. Under a 1996 UK copyright law, they became eligible for royalties from broadcasts, and after royalties agent Peter Rowan traced choir members through the website Friends Reunited and other means, they lodged a claim for royalties with the Performing Artists' Media Rights Association in 2004.^[9]

Disco beat

The idea for the disco beat came likewise from Ezrin. As David Gilmour explained in 2009:^[7]

It wasn't my idea to do disco music, it was Bob's. He said to me, "Go to a couple of clubs and listen to what's happening with disco music," so I forced myself out and listened to loud, four-to-the-bar bass drums and stuff and thought, Gawd, awful! Then we went back and tried to turn one of the [song's] parts into one of those so it would be catchy.

Of the final outcome, Roger Waters has commented:

It was great—exactly the thing I expected from a collaborator.

David Gilmour said:

And it doesn't, in the end, not sound like Pink Floyd.

Plot

After being insulted by the teacher, Pink dreams that the kids in his school begin to protest against their abusive teachers. The song talks about how he had a personal wall around him from the rest of the world, the teachers were just another brick in the wall.

Film version

Following "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" Pink starts to daydream during his class. He imagines several students marching in unison to the beat of the song, following a path until they enter a steamy tunnel section to re-emerge as putty-faced clones void of individual distinction and proceed to fall blindly into an oversized meat-grinder. Starting with Gilmour's guitar solo, the children destroy the school building using hammers (foreshadowing the subsequent neo-fascist Nazi-like animated sequence with its marching hammers) and crowbars, creating a bonfire, dragging their teacher out of the burning school kicking and screaming while chanting "We don't need no education." The song ends with Pink rubbing his hand, which the teacher slapped with a ruler in the song previously.

During the song, the teacher's "meat and pudding" lines are folded into the first few lines of the school choir's lines (with the instrumental breaks between shortened by a bar in 2 places), and are performed by the teacher in the film, played by Alex McAvoy.

Music video

Prior to the film, the first video for the track, directed by album/concert/film art designer Gerald Scarfe, depicted students running in a playground (Kings Square Gardens, Islington) and the teacher puppet from The Wall concerts was used. The video also mixed in some animated scenes later used in "The Trial" and "Waiting for the Worms". The opening shot, a pan across the London skyline was filmed from the top of Turnpike House in Islington, both St Lukes Church and St Clements Church (the one overlooking the playground) are both clearly visible in the shot. After the media furore surrounding the song, the Islington Green school head teacher Margaret Maden refused permission for the children who sang on the song to appear in the video or on Top of the Pops, although at the time they were told it was because they didn't hold Equity Cards.^[10]

Once the film was completed, the actual scenes of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" were combined into a new video, which now represents the music video for "Another Brick in the Wall".

Live Versions

When performed as part of the various live shows of The Wall, the teacher is represented by a giant inflatable puppet, based on the figure from Scarfe's animations. This puppet duly becomes the focus of the song's anger and frustration.

Alternative versions

• The single version has a short 4-bar rhythm guitar and drum intro before the initial lyric, but fades out earlier—ending after approximately 3 minutes 11 seconds.
• The 1981 compilation A Collection of Great Dance Songs includes a hybrid (3:54) version which, like the single version, omits the segue from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and includes the 4-bar guitar/drum intro—but retains the longer playground ending of the studio version, fading out just before the telephone sounds.
• The versions from live albums and videos Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse (recorded after Waters' departure from the band) feature the main guitar solo by David Gilmour, followed by an additional tapping guitar riff by touring guitarist Tim Renwick. These are backed by Guy Pratt's slap bass lines. On Delicate Sound of Thunder, the children's choir part is played from tape, while on Pulse, it is performed by the backing singers. The version on Delicate Sound of Thunder starts right after Money with the single four-bar intro, then stops, until the vocals start after a short break. The ending is also similar to the one on The Wall but without the shouting and other sound effects. In contrast, the version on Pulse is more of a reworked version with excerpt from all three parts: It starts with the telephone from the end of Part 2, then a helicopter can be heard, before David Gilmour starts playing the main guitar riff of Part 1 and the band join in for a couple of bars. Then the end part of Happiest Days comes up and the transition into the actual song is the same as on the studio album. After the second guitar solo, the keyboard staccato from Part 3 can be heard while the helicopter comes back shortly before the track ends with a cold stop. On the Pulse DVD, the vocal echo from the song Dogs can be heard during that final part, but it is not audible on the CD.
• The version from Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81 (from the 1980–81 concerts at Earls Court, London) also features an extended solo by Snowy White and an organ solo by Richard Wright.
• In 1990, prior to The Wall – Live in Berlin a rare, limited edition promo CD titled "The Wall Berlin '90" was issued to radio stations (Columbia CSK 2126) which included "When the Tigers Broke Free" and a new version of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" credited as a "New Recording by The Bleeding Heart Band / June 1990".
• The version from The Wall Live in Berlin has Cyndi Lauper singing lead vocals, and features Rick DiFonzo playing the original solo, Snowy White playing a second guitar solo, Peter Wood playing an organ solo, and Thomas Dolby playing a synthesiser solo.
• The song was included with "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" in the compilation Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd,^[11] and segues into the first note of an edited version of "Echoes".
• Roger Waters' 2000 US tour, In the Flesh – Live (released on CD and DVD in 2006), featured the song—segued in from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"—with live backup singers and the taped children's choir singing with Waters in the second verse, and—after two guitar solos—a third verse (same lyrics as second verse).
• During The Wall Live tour 2011, Waters added an acoustic coda to "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" with brand new lyrics referring to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.^[12] According To the 2012 Tour program this song is called The Ballad Of Jean Charles de Menezes.

All in all it's just another brick in the wall

All in all you're just another brick in the wall

Just another blunder

Just another lousy call

Just another clap of thunder

And apologies ring hollow

From the guilty in Whitehall

And there's no hint of sorrow

Just the whitewash on the wall

Just one man dead

And nothing is gained

Nothing at all

And Jean Charles de Menezes remains

Just another brick in the wall

Charts and certifications

Part 3

Composition

This song is louder than the previous two parts, expressing Pink's rage. It is also the shortest part of "Another Brick in the Wall", and cross-fades into "Goodbye Cruel World". On the live version the song gets an extended ending seguing into the instrumental "The Last Few Bricks" which continues its keyboard staccato.

Plot

Pink decides to finish this wall as a result of his rage after his wife's betrayal. He states that he has seen "the writing on the wall". He concludes that he no longer needs anything at all, dismissing the people in his life as just "bricks in the wall". The song also contains the line "I don't need no drugs to calm me", possibly foreshadowing what is going to happen in the song Comfortably Numb (Waters has stated that Comfortably Numb is not about drugs,^[47][48] but it is not unheard of for artists to deny drug references and then come clean later).

Film version

In the film, the song is accompanied by a montage of events that contributed to the construction of the wall. This version was also completely re-recorded with a faster tempo.

Award

The song, part number unspecified, won Waters the 1983 British Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' from the movie of The Wall.^[49]

Personnel

Part I

• Roger Waters — lead vocals, bass^[50]
• David Gilmour — guitar, harmony vocals^[50]
• Richard Wright — Prophet-5 synthesiser, minimoog ^[50]

Part II

• Roger Waters — bass, vocals (unison with Gilmour)^[50]
• David Gilmour — guitar, vocals (unison with Waters)^[50]
• Nick Mason — drums^[50]
• Richard Wright — Hammond organ, Prophet-5 synthesiser^[50]

with:

• Islington Green School students (organised by Alun Renshaw) — vocals^[50]

Part III

• Roger Waters — bass, vocals, rhythm guitar^[50]
• David Gilmour — lead guitar^[50]
• Nick Mason — drums^[50]
• Richard Wright — Prophet-5 synthesiser^[50]

Cover versions

"Another Brick in the Wall, Pts. 1–3"
Single by Korn
from the album Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
Released	2004
Recorded	2004
Genre	Progressive metal
Length	7:08
Label	Epic
Producer(s)	Jonathan Davis, Korn, and Frank Filipetti
Korn singles chronology
"Word Up!" (2004) "Another Brick in the Wall, Pts. 1–3" (2004) "Twisted Transistor" (2005)

• In 1980, The Barron Knights recorded a humorous version as part of a Christmas single entitled 'Never Mind The Presents' with lyrics including 'Hey, Santa, leave the booze alone'.
• In the wake of The Wall's release, a teacher in Chicago cut his own record as a rebuttal to Pink Floyd, changing the lyrics to "We all need an education."^[51]
• Short-term alternative rock supergroup Class of '99 did a cover of Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1 and 2) for the soundtrack to Robert Rodriguez's 1998 science-fiction horror film, The Faculty. A music video to the song was released featuring clips from the film and an appearance by the cast which includes Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall (who stayed in the character of Stokely by not lip-synching with her co-stars) and Shawn Hatosy.
• In 1999, Tournesol turned Parts I and II into an acoustic thump.^[52]
• In 1999, Salt-N-Pepa sampled the song in song, The Brick Track Versus Gitty Up.
• In 2001, Luther Wright and the Wrongs released Rebuild the Wall, a country and western version of The Wall, including cover versions of "Another Brick in the Wall".^[52]
• In 2005, DJ Snatch produced an electric version of "Part II".^[52]
• In 2008, Out of Phase covered Parts I, II, and III as part of his The Wall tribute.^[52]
• Since 2012, Alice Cooper has been performing "Part II" in the middle of his song School's Out during live performances, as documented on his 2014 live album Raise The Dead: Live at Wacken. A studio version of this medley has also been recorded by Cooper with his supergroup The Hollywood Vampires, which appears on their 2015 debut album.

"Las Mañanitas" version

During Roger Waters's The Wall Live concerts in Mexico City during December 2010, some fans suggested Waters play "Another Brick in the Wall Part II", changing the lyrics of the song to the verses of the traditional Mexican birthday song "Las Mañanitas". He performed it as an "experiment" in front of his fans during the concerts of 19 and 21 December at the end of The Wall performance and using acoustic instruments to the delight of the Mexican public.

For this version Waters used the first part of "Las Mañanitas" song for the normal verse of "Another Brick in the Wall", but he left the original chorus and, as the Another Brick in the Wall song, he performed it twice.

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1980
• Proper Education
• The Logical Song - a Supertramp song also criticizing the education system

References

Further reading

• Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb – A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Wall

• Article on Live2times
• Newspaper article on Islington Green School's contribution
• BBC story on royalties suit
• BBC – ONE Life – Islington Green singers reunion. Aired 3 October 2007.
• Roger Waters's take of Las Mañanitas in one of the Mexico City concerts on YouTube. December 2010.
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics