The Thin Ice

To me, this is just showing their cynical, pessimistic view of life, saying to younger generations "Go for it, but dont be surprised when life turns bad".

My theory (entirely my own from listening to the song so it might not make any sense when you read it because my thoughts aren't very organized.):

Going skating on this ice is being compared with being naive about life and just skating along without a care in the world. Going through life hardly aware about the fact that you're on thin ice or maybe even thinking that your thin ice is perfectly supportive and there's no way it would cave in. In the song when it says "Dragging be hind you the silent reproach of a million tear stained eyes" the million tear stained eyes are all the people that are aware of all the evil. They also could have already been ignorant before and and suddenly fallen through the ice. They also could be the people effected by all the evils like people living in poverty, or even more pertinent with the theme of this whole album, victims of war. By dragging behind the naive skater it means that they are trying to warn him, or stop him. Or they are simply just present and he is not aware and that's why they would be silent. So then the crack in the ice is when the false protection finally gives way and the naive person is bombarded with reality and all the evils of modern society. When it says "You slip out of your depth and out of your mind" it means he will slip out of his understanding, or realize the things that aren't in his depth of understanding. He had formerly only been looking at the surface of his life and the people close to him and now he sees all these other people out there and all these problems he wasn't aware of and he can't comprehend any of it so it drives him insane. "With fear flowing out behind you as you claw the thin ice" He suddenly becomes afraid and tries to cling to the thin ice that had been supporting him for so long. He tried to stay innocent and away from all the scary things he fell into.

I might have left some things out, but i'm interested in hearing what other people think. So say something.

I think this song is sort of a warning from someone whos already been through it all

yeah, there's the innocent, unknowing verse at the beginning, followed by the cynical, experienced words of wisdom at the end

I completely agree. The contrast between the gentle voice of Gilmour and the abrasive voice of Waters works well for the song.

But I really don't understand what the "tear stained eyes" and the "thin ice of modern life" alludes to. My best guess is that the water embodies all of the negative outcomes possible in Pink's life, and the "thin ice" is the protectiveness Pink's parents constantly enforce. Perhaps his parents sacrificed their own dreams and aspirations, and that is the cause of the "tear stained eyes." Just guessing.

i love this song. maybe one of my favorites on the album. it is so sweet and soft at the beginning, and while the melody stays soft, the lyrics become somewhat dark. i love it when that happens.

ok every1 listen...its really hard to get this song, but i have it...ok dragging behind you silent reproach of a million tear stainded eyes means that with life one has to accept the fact that some1 will always despise, hate them its a hard song to get....skating on modern life means getting wrapped up in life itslef until life actaully kills you...witch is falling through the ice.....im pretty sure thats what it is

on the movie it showed the army camp pinks dad died with while dave was singin then when roger started you saw the hotel room then pink layin there in the pool i think the thin ice is your mental self ready to crack at any moment what i think a million tear-stained eyes means is all of your bad memories that you have gotten and brought tears to your eyes and when your ices finally cracks all you have is a world of bad memories and get nothin but new bad memories while your clawin the thin ice tring to set everthing back to normal

I believe this song means that at first life is great and all but once you get older as a natural human being you become more careless skating on the thin ice shows the carelessness one has and the tear stained eye you drag are all the people you hurt unwillingly of your own carelessness and as you go deeper you start to realize what life is but its too late the ice cracks you should'nt be surprised what you do will effect you later on and all the cold darkness you created you drown in and you drown in your own demise. So this is a message to value life and not let yourself lose your humanity just cause of your carelessness. Everything has an effect , just like the butterfly effect. You can't just ignore everything.

In about 1980 I saw Adolf Hitler at Mark Olson's house in Salt Lake City. Several people were in the apartment and we went for a ride around town in one of their cars. The million tear stains were on Jewish people shocked to see him maybe. In 1979, in San Francisco I tried out for a band that could have bee Pink Floyd