I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralyzed
I thought that everything else would just wait

While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night

To martyr yourself to caution
Is not going to help at all
'Cause there'll be no safety in numbers
When the right one walks out of the door

Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
Stuck in a world of isolation
While the ivy grows over the door

So I open my door to my enemies
And I ask could we wipe the slate clean?
But they tell me to please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win


Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Lost For Words Lyrics as written by Polly Samson Dave Gilmour

Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

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Lost for Words song meanings
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45 Comments

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  • +6
    General Comment

    In my opinion, I think this song is talking about how holding a grudge and hating somebody does nothing helpful. All it does is just traps you in a prison of sadness and anger. And even if you try to escape that prison by making friends of your enemies, those enemies will just spit on you.

    seigion June 18, 2005   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    One of the greatest composition of Pink Floyd ive ever heard...i think its about the stuggle of life, how we create our own prison while trying to compete with others to reach the goal.. i dont know why they wrote those in caps but i think the tried to emphasize and indicate certain individual like a leader or somone guardian in our life...i may be wrong though

    DeepMeaningson October 17, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Yea, I agree with res87cue, if anyone is familiar with the publius enigma, there are some theorys, one that I happen to agree with, that TDB was a self tribute to PF history. If you listen carefully, you can hear certain noises and guitar parts from earlier songs on earlier albums. Im not taking credit for this, for its not mine. Newho, with TBD looking back on their history, gilmour saw how much they really missed waters. And in the line "i open my door to my enemes, and i ask could we wipe slate clean, but they tell me to go fuck myself" i think gilmour reached out to waters and wanted to cool and put the past behind them, waters declining in the line but they tell me to go fuck myself. Bottom line(i feel) dont live in regrent, looking back on all the times they had together, and putting together this tribute, they realized they missed waters. Gilmour produced an amazing album without waters . TBD

    scarpon November 07, 2005   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    This song is about how unfair life can be sometimes, but you have to deal with it anyway, trying to find the best way. even if we fail sometimes! just one of the best songs ever!

    BrazilianFanon April 15, 2003   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Those last few lines ("So I open my door to my enemies...") remind me of a story I heard about a concert at Earl's Court during the '94 TBD tour. Apparently, Waters was there with some friends, and Dave invited him to join the band on stage. Waters declined, and, although I don't know exactly what he said, I would imagine his words were somewhere along the lines of "Go f*ck yourself." Ironic, because, just a few years later, Waters accepted Mason to do some guest-drumming during his In The Flesh tour. Even though Gilmour has said he did not write TBD about Waters, I think there is definately a few references to him, just like the references to Syd in The Wall, which Waters denied the existence of.

    Megoon April 24, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    The Entire Division Bell is full of this same great theme of reminiscence and closer, at least to me. Closure, but not without its few holes in the picture. This song is one of the best by PF, the whole album epitomizing the extent of the bands potential in the post-Waters stage. For since I was 6 and the album came out and was old enough to know it, I've wished they would've made another. It would've been tough to top the division bell, though. In this song, the lines: " Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades / Like shadows into the night " speak to me the loudest. What a gorgeous arrangement of words.

    bluergriffon February 22, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Right One = Rick Wright

    Arnold Layneon April 26, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think the Right One refers to Rick Wright and maybe Gilmour is saying that it was always Gilmour and Wright versus Waters for the songwriting, and with Wright gone there was no more "safety in numbers" and Waters was allowed to completely control the songwriting.

    TheFranzFerdinandon October 15, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think Right One refers to driving yourself to insanity without realizing it. and that holding grudges and hate for people even when you realize what it can do, even with having people around you "safety in numbers" you may lose yourself before you know it

    Rock2hard4uon June 10, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    You should listen to this song first and then to High Hopes. I always listen to them together. In my opinion, those two songs are really great even without Waters. People always say "Division Bell is the worst Pink Floyd album" just because of the absence of Waters, but it's not true - the "worst Pink Floyd album" doesn't exist!

    reptileon March 07, 2006   Link

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