These lyrics are for "In the Flesh", without the question mark.
Here's my interpretation of that one:
When I listen to the story of The Wall and hear this one, my mind split in two and I think like this:
I can either take the lyrics strictly, based on the songs that preceded them:
Pink is now completely isolated from the outside world by his psychological wall. Because of all the things that happened in his life, namely:
His father dies in WWII, he has an overprotective mother, he has a very abusive teacher who give him a very hard time in school, he become a rock star, then eventually start to question whether his fans really likes him, gets bored with his life as a celebrity, starts doing drugs, cheates on his girlfriend*, his girlfriend (whom is the real love of his life) leaves him for another man while he is on tour, he then gets his new girlfriend to join him in his hotel room, but finds that nothing is exciting anymore, so he smashes his hotel room out of frustration and scares his new girlfriend away.
Because of this anger and frustration that's been building up during all of his life, the drugs (see "Comfortably Numb") and his recently failed relationship, he becomes explosively angry inside. His doctor revives him from a drug overdose so he can perform, and they drag him up on stage (see "The Show Must Go On",) which proves to be a very bad mistake.
Pink then throws out all of his anger and frustration onto his fans. Why? Because at that time, he feels that he has to blame someone for his mistakes, he thinks they just scream and yell, and they all look different.
I then begin to realise what a confused person Pink really is, and he later realises this himself (see "Stop".)
Or, I can see it from a wider perspective; namely that if you have a very grim childhood and never really find your way in life, you will eventually ask yourself why this all happened and who is to blame for it.
If you are unlucky, you can become like Pink in this song and blame anyone that seems to act and look a little different, and stay that way all your life. You then think that you have found a solution for all your problems and someone to blame, but in reality, you are just a confused person who needs to open up to the outside world. Because if you don't, you will never truly understand what your problem really is or how the world really works, and we have learned from history what can happen in extreme cases.
This is no official interpretation, just my personal thoughts.
*) In he movie "Pink Floyd - The Wall", Pink actually seems to be loyal to his girlfriend until he finds out that she has found another man; he isn't shown with another girl until he learns about it. On the album, it's the other way around.
*) In he movie "Pink Floyd - The Wall", Pink actually seems to be loyal to his girlfriend until he finds out that she has found another man; he isn't shown with another girl until he learns about it. On the album, it's the other way around.
I forgot to add the second (**), but I know that Roger Waters used his personal experiences from the "Animals" tour for the "The Wall" story. But again, this is just how I feel and think when I hear the song.
I forgot to add the second (**), but I know that Roger Waters used his personal experiences from the "Animals" tour for the "The Wall" story. But again, this is just how I feel and think when I hear the song.
These lyrics are for "In the Flesh", without the question mark.
Here's my interpretation of that one:
When I listen to the story of The Wall and hear this one, my mind split in two and I think like this:
I can either take the lyrics strictly, based on the songs that preceded them:
Pink is now completely isolated from the outside world by his psychological wall. Because of all the things that happened in his life, namely:
His father dies in WWII, he has an overprotective mother, he has a very abusive teacher who give him a very hard time in school, he become a rock star, then eventually start to question whether his fans really likes him, gets bored with his life as a celebrity, starts doing drugs, cheates on his girlfriend*, his girlfriend (whom is the real love of his life) leaves him for another man while he is on tour, he then gets his new girlfriend to join him in his hotel room, but finds that nothing is exciting anymore, so he smashes his hotel room out of frustration and scares his new girlfriend away.
Because of this anger and frustration that's been building up during all of his life, the drugs (see "Comfortably Numb") and his recently failed relationship, he becomes explosively angry inside. His doctor revives him from a drug overdose so he can perform, and they drag him up on stage (see "The Show Must Go On",) which proves to be a very bad mistake.
Pink then throws out all of his anger and frustration onto his fans. Why? Because at that time, he feels that he has to blame someone for his mistakes, he thinks they just scream and yell, and they all look different.
I then begin to realise what a confused person Pink really is, and he later realises this himself (see "Stop".)
Or, I can see it from a wider perspective; namely that if you have a very grim childhood and never really find your way in life, you will eventually ask yourself why this all happened and who is to blame for it.
If you are unlucky, you can become like Pink in this song and blame anyone that seems to act and look a little different, and stay that way all your life. You then think that you have found a solution for all your problems and someone to blame, but in reality, you are just a confused person who needs to open up to the outside world. Because if you don't, you will never truly understand what your problem really is or how the world really works, and we have learned from history what can happen in extreme cases.
This is no official interpretation, just my personal thoughts.
See comments for star (*) explanations.
*) In he movie "Pink Floyd - The Wall", Pink actually seems to be loyal to his girlfriend until he finds out that she has found another man; he isn't shown with another girl until he learns about it. On the album, it's the other way around.
*) In he movie "Pink Floyd - The Wall", Pink actually seems to be loyal to his girlfriend until he finds out that she has found another man; he isn't shown with another girl until he learns about it. On the album, it's the other way around.
I forgot to add the second (**), but I know that Roger Waters used his personal experiences from the "Animals" tour for the "The Wall" story. But again, this is just how I feel and think when I hear the song.
I forgot to add the second (**), but I know that Roger Waters used his personal experiences from the "Animals" tour for the "The Wall" story. But again, this is just how I feel and think when I hear the song.