Each Small Candle

this song inspired me to sponser a child in Africa.

http://www.roger-waters.com/candle.html This explains it all. The most awe inspiring song of all time. The music, the words, the singing. All of it. Stories like these and the power behind it should be burnt into the minds of every human at birth. Roger Waters is the greatest philosopher and musician of our time and more people need to know this.

agreed. I heard this song just a week back and since then I have been playing it over and over. It's lyrics is the best part and of course sung in a typical 'Waters' style.

Out of all of Waters' solo material, this is the one that sounds the most like a Pink Floyd song (in my opinion), with the soft synth intro, the echoing vocals in the first verse, and the powerful guitar solos (although, I'm sure if done by the then Floyd, the song would probably stretch to 12, even 14 minutes long, and have less female vocals).

The song basically says that even one person can have an effect on the world, and that that one person might influence others to follow in their actions.

To me, this is arguably Waters' best song since departing himself from Pink Floyd.

I changed up the lyrics just a bit more according to the live version taken from In the Flesh Live.

Not the torturer will scare me Nor the body's final fall Nor the barrels of death's rifles Nor the shadows on the wall Nor the night when to the ground The last dim star of pain is hurled But the blind indifference Of a merciless unfeeling world

Lying in the burnt out shell of some Albanian farm An old Babushka holds a crying baby in her arms A soldier from the other side A man of heart and pride Breaks ranks, lays down his rifle to kneel by her side He gives her water and binds her wounds and calms the crying child A touch gives absolution then across the great divide He picks his way back through the broken China of her life And there at the curb The Samaritan Serb turns and waves goodbye

And each small candle Each small candle Lights a corner of the dark Lights a corner of the dark Each small candle Each small candle Lights a corner of the dark Lights a corner of the dark Each small candle lights a corner of the dark When the wheel of pain stops turning And the branding iron stops burning When the children can be children When the desperadoes weaken When the tide rolls into greet them When the natural law of science Greets the humble and the mighty And the billion candles burning lights the dark side of every human mind

Each small candle Each small candle Each small candle Each small candle Each small candle Each small candle lights the dark side of every human mind

And each small candle Each small candle Lights a corner Of the dark

I hate people who claim the first verse was written by a torture victim in South America. It's a translation of the poem "Ikke Bødlen" by Danish poet Halfdan Rasmussen.

The song itself is about the way the individual can do great good. In this example, if the Serb had not broken ranks to help the Babushka and the baby, they would likely have starved or been killed by other soldiers.

Truly? Even the official site says it's from the tortured person. That's a pretty nasty mistake!

In any case, brilliant song with a phenomenal build up of tension and way of keeping it all the way through.

A great, great song!