Sorrow

It always irritates me to see people say that David Gilmour is a bad lyricist. If you have ever seen a Pink Floyd show, you can see the precision this band has. I have only ever seen ONE recorded error at a Pink Floyd show, and it was David losing his place in the lyrics! Why would a person that precise about music show anything less than perfect precision in his lyrics? This song is exactly what it says it is about.... The sorrow a man feels due to having screwed up at something he felt strongly about, and due to the massive male ego, it has paralyzed him to the point where he can't get on with the living of his life. I've seen it happen dozens of times in my life!

"The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky: a man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers but awakes to a morning with no reason for waking"

This is the great heavy burden of a man who has given up- who sees no point in going on. He sees his entire life as having gone up in smoke, and while he dreams (Dreams almost always represent PRAYER) of a beautiful and fertile life available to others, he doesn't see it in his own life...

He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise in his youth or a dream, he can't be precise he's chained forever to a world that's departed It's not enough, It's not enough

He sees the memory of a mistake he has made that he thinks is irrevokable- lost love he cannnot regain- and although he isn't sure EXACTLY when it all fell apart, he is sure in his heart that it HAS fallen and left his grasp forever- Something that to the male ego is just unacceptable as an out come. It can never be repaired, so it has ruined everything he held dear forever- nothing can be recovered- He should have TRIED harder.

His blood has frozen & curled with fright (The word should be "curdled"- as in milk) his knees have trembled & given way in the night his hand has weakened at the moment of truth his step has faltered

Again re-iterating that at the very MOMENT he could have succeeded in his quest, his strength gave out, he crumpled under the weight of the burden, he FAILED, miss-stepped, and fell flat on his face, causing him a shame that he cannot regain his ground.

One world, one soul Time pass, the river roll

He had ONE chance... ONE lifetime, and he blew it so badly that he now spends the rest of his life treading water, waiting to die.

And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication and silent replies that swirl invitation flow dark and troubled to any oily sea a grim intimation of what is to be

He sits as life passes him by and relives his defeat over and over, never realizing that while he sits their torturing himself the river that he sees as his life keeps passing by, ending in a death of disgrace that didn't have to be, but he sees as terminal, with no other possible outcome.

There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night and there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight and silence that speaks so much louder than words of promises broken.

Whatever mistake or infidelity he has caused has left him completely blinded to any other outcome. his fragile male ego KEEPS him disabled, blind, legless, and unable to move forward. The silence of his own self-inflicted solitude has left him incapable of moving forward in any way. Due to one failure in his life, he has lost the will to go forward.

The reason I use "male" ego, is that women are not afforded the aability to wallow in self pity and just quit- It is the women of the world who have to carry on, regardless of our miss-steps, misfortune, and broken hearts. We have to brush ourselves off, raise the children, and nurture the world in order for life to continue. Women very rarely get the opportunity of just giving up on life... Women's egos are not influenced to be the most invaluable piece of our existence. That is only a choice open to the Alpha males, whose job is to sow the seeds, and not neccesarily tend the gardens of moving forward.