BLATHER REVIEW

The Wall, pt 4 (Side Two)

Fair warning: My ideas for most of side two are very underdeveloped as I've given these songs the least amount of thought. But, I'll chime in with little I've got so far anyway...

So, having dispensed with "Mother"'s final line "Mother, did it need to be so high?", the music continues as Pink and Wife dance as if at their wedding.
Then the room darkens a bit as the omenous strains of "Good-bye Blue Sky" begin to take over, which then give way to the gentler "Ooo-oo, ooo, ooo, ooooo" part.

My idea for the song is to have Pink and Wife dance together throughout, but to gradually become more and more distant. Wife will want to continue to dance close, but Pink will become less and less interested, eventually spending more and more time near Mother. The trick is NOT to give the impression that he'd actually prefer to BE with Mother, but that Mother's psychological hold on him -- her fear and protectiveness -- is a large part of him now, and is overruling his Wife's influence.

As the omenous music returns for the lyric, we'll see images of war beginning with WW2, and running through the Vietnam era; probably including some Kent State footage, the famous photos of the Vietnamese General shooting a Viet Cong in the head, the naked napalm victim girl, etc. Pink and Wife, and Pink and Mother, may embrace and search the sky for danger at various appropriate moments as the lyric goes:

Did did did did you see the frightened ones?
Did did did did you hear the falling bombs?
Did did did did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath the clear blue sky?

...the flames are all long gone
but the pain lingers on...

When the song ends with the "Good-bye blue sky, good-bye...." refrain, Pink and Wife will be on opposite sides of the stage, and Mother will be standing at extreme stage right -- outside the wall.
She will have an air of accomplishment about her, maybe even gratefully patting the bricks as if to say "Nice wall; Please serve my son well..."

At this point the album goes into "Empty Spaces"; the intro to "Young Lust". But the inner sleeve of the LP has lyrics to a much longer song that isn't actually on the album called "What Shall We Do Now?". Without that song we have no segue from Pink and WIfe's marriage to their estrangement.

In lieu of the song that was intended for the album, I'll add here a song from Pink Floyd's 1971 album Atom Heart Mother called "If".
It's a slow and sparse song, sung with only an acoustic guitar (but I'll want my buddy Pete to add a viola part to it). The only word to describe it might be "wistful", and it'll be a duet between Pink (withdrawing from Wife out of force of habit), and Wife (withdrawing from Pink out of near self-pity).

Here's the lyric:

Wife: If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
If I were a train, I'd be late.
Pink: And if I were a good man,
I'd talk with you
More often than I do.

Pink: If I were to sleep, I could dream.
If I were afraid, I could hide.
Wife: If you go insane, please don't put
Your ideas in my brain.

Wife:: If I were the moon, I'd be cool.
If I were a rule, I would bend.
Pink: If I were a good man, I'd understand
The spaces between friends.

Wife: If I were alone, I would cry.
And if I were with you, I'd be home and dry.
Pink: And if I go insane,
Will you still let me join in the game?

Wife: If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
If I were a train, I'd be late again.
Pink: If I were a good man,
I'd talk with you
More often than I do.

The only spark of an idea that I have so far for what might actually happen during the song is for the Worms (the gals in pink) to dance slowly and gracefully while flying light streamers around while trying - and failing - to tie them together. Needs more thought...

Initially I was going to dispense with "Empty Spaces" and "Young Lust" because A) I've never cared for either one of 'em, and B) they don't really do much for moving the story forward.
But I think I've decided to keep them in because A) a lot of people I know seem to like "Young Lust", B) it's an uptempo rocker, which would be refreshing at this juncture, and C) it could be fodder for some comic relief -- also refreshing at this juncture.

At the end of "If", Wife will also end up outside the wall, though at stage left -- the opposite side from Mother. Pink is at stage left just on the inside of wall from Wife (who probably has her hands and ear against it, listening for him), and he very slowly and methodically places one (1) brick into place as he moans very slowly and barely in control:

What shall I use to fill the empty places
where we used to talk?
How shall I fill the final spaces?
How shall I complete the wall...?

The set becomes brighter as "Young Lust" thunders in. We'll see colors we haven't seen yet showing that Pink is "a new boy... a stranger in this town". He's willfully becoming someone he's never let himself be before: someone looking for "a dirty woman".

If you don't know the lyric, yer not missing much. It was written mainly by David Gilmour, not Roger Waters, and has no real point or insight to it. The title's words "young lust" could describe the state of mind of the author more than the specific topic (there is none). It's just "Ooo, babe, set me free... I need a dirty woman... ".

But there's some oportunity for light comedy here. Pink could maybe pull a Bowser and try to impress Dirty Woman by flexing a non-existent muscle. And he could then rip open his shirt to reveal a t-shirt with his zodiac symbol on it -- visually asking What's yer sign? -- as she turns away unimpressed.

But, of course, they do end up together. Pink sits in the chair at center stage almost ignoring Dirty Woman as she makes her way around the "fabulous room!". Pink is fidgetting a bit. He's not ignoring her because he wants to be alone. No, he's just frustrated. It's not her physical presence that bothers him. It's her identity -- her needfulness for attention and conversation that's too demanding on his now natural state of isolation. In short; she's talking too much.

She wanders the stage commenting on various aspects of his room:

Are all these YOUR guitars?!

Is that a Monet?!

Look at this TUB!! Wanna take a ba-a-a-th...?

Hey... Are you feelin' okay?

The piano comes in as "One Of My Turns" begins. The lights reduce to two spots; one on Pink and (barely at the edge) Dirty Woman, the other on Wife and (barely at the edges) the wall.
Pink sorta shrugs as he mutters

Day after day
a love'll turn grey
like the skin of a dying man

Wife sings:

Night after night
we pretend it's all right
But I have grown older
and you have grown colder
and nothing is very much fun.. anymore

The spot on wife dims as Pink leans forward -- like's "coming to".

I. Can. Feeeeel...
one of turns coming on

Dirty Woman is sitting him, staring into his eyes. Imagine the Zapruder film; how Jackie was staring into Kennedy's face after he'd been pierced through the throat. Her look is just plain blank concern. At that moment she knew absolutely nothing other than that something was terribly wrong and she cared. It's obvious that Dirty Woman cares in a way that Pink, right now, can only hope to try to understand.

I... feel...
cold as a razorblade,
tight as a tourniquet,
dry as a funeral drum...

Pink explodes on Dirty Woman, demanding that she go get his "favorite axe" (guitar).
Once again I'll assume that you're familiar with the album and that I don't need to describe the confrontation between Pink and Dirty Woman anymore than the visuals that the lyric implies will do it. Which means, yes, I haven't quite worked 'em out yet.

"Don't Leave Me Now" comes and goes. The only interesting part is that it'a a duet between Pink and Mother. Pink agonizingly wails Don't leave me now..." just as Mother does in the second half.
The ending with it's sad and sultry "Oooooo, ba-a-a-be..." refrain gives way to the angry "Another Brick, pt 3":

I don't need no arms around me...!

Pink is willing to surrender, and the Worms (the gals in pink babydoll dresses) are ready to help him. Pink turns his back and heads for the chair at center stage while the Worms softly sing with and/or for him.

The Worms gracefully help the withering Pink into a white vest with lines signifying a brick structure. Finally the audience sees that they represent his worst and most basal instincts. They've looked and sounded pretty 'til now. But from here on out they'll seem sinister; even more so for having fooled us by quietly doing their beautiful thang. Dang, we should've seen it coming.
Yep, the audience will never see these four sweet-singing angels-of-something the same way again.

Anywho, the lyric to "Good-bye Cruel World" is simply (and sung by both the Worms and Pink in a way that yer not sure who's leading):

Good-bye cruel world
I'm leaving you today
Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye.

Good-bye all you people.
There's nothing you can say
to make me change my mind.
Good-bye.

Only, it doesn't sound like that. It'll, instead, be sung to the beat, key and tempo of "Wish You Were Here" because that's exactly what will follow.

The images through the quiet song will be of the Madrid bombing of 3/11, and headlines proclaiming Spain's withdrawal from the war on terror.

Again, Side Two is the hardest to visualize. But I think that there'll be hell to pay for cowardice if a video montage can't be made and put to work here. :)
The images will, of course, be in tune with the tone of the live action/music.

As Pink has withdrawn, we hear from Wife, still patiently seated at stage left:

So,
so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

[Update: I'm thinking now that maybe the Gunner/Father should sing that verse and the next one. He appeared at the very beginning of the show, and will appear again at the end. As this is the half-way point, it might be timely to give him an appearance here. Not only is it apropriate for Pink's soldier Father to speak during the Madrid bombing images, but it'd be a surprise for the audience to see him again, and anything that'd make the audience go "ooo..." is okay in my book. mheh.]

This is where the lights get pretty bright and the entire cast -- led by the Schoolmaster -- walks on to support Wife. The images of Madrid are playing and newspaper headlines scrawl across the wall: "Spain Withdraws Troops From Iraq"... and the like.

Wife continues:

Did they get you to trade
your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for Change?
Did you exchange a walk-on part in a War
for a lead role in a Cage?

[Update:]
Wife, Pink and Mother will sing the final verse together, line by line, like this:

Pink:How I wish, how I wish you were here
Mother: We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl
Wife: year after year
Pink: Running over the same old ground, what have we found...
Wife: the same old fear
Mother: Wish you were here

If Gunner/Father sings the first two verses, then Pink's first line could be thought of as being adressed to him; which would make even more sense than if it were adressed to Wife.
Mother then admits that there's a problem, though seems unable to find a way around it, while Wife seems to have more regret about it than Mother.
Pink is beginning to agree and asks "what have we found" and Wife give him the answer.

But my favorite part is Mother's last line. The first instinct is to assume that she's addressing Pink. But, since Pink began the verse possibly addressing Gunner/Father, it might be heard that Mother is also thinking all the way back to the beginning of the "troubles".
But, also, since Mother's line immediately follows Wife's, it could be heard that she's saying one of two things to her: pleadingly, "I wish you in my shoes and could better understand me"; or, enviously, "I wish I were more like you". The beauty is that, I think, any of those interpretations could work.

Like I said, I have a lot of thought yet to put into side two. But side three is coming up, and (at least once we get past "Hey You") should get mighty interesting.

Hopefully!

Posted by Tuning Spork at August 26, 2004 11:57 PM