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FBG'S TOP 100 PINK FLOYD SONGS - #01 - Comfortably Numb from The Wall (1979) (3 Viewers)

Pip's Invitation said:
#05 - Brain Damage / Eclipse from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
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This is brilliant for all the reasons already stated. The only reason it's not on my list is that I didn't want to overload it with DSOTM and I'm not quite as moved emotionally by this as I am by the DSOTM songs that did make my list. (Also I think Brain Damage probably would have been improved with a Gilmour vocal -- Eclipse is best suited for Waters, though.) Pensive and soulful, this pair is an excellent capper to the sonic and philosophical themes of the entire album.
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I think Roger's voice goes well with Brain Damage, because the verses are almost spoken, which I think his voice is more suited for. His voice gives off a fragile like vibe, so I think it goes well with the lyrics in the verses. Gilmour has the nice soothing singing voice.
 
PIK95 said:
Beethoven began losing his hearing in his mid-20s, after already building a reputation as a musician and composer. The cause of his deafness remains a mystery, though modern analysis of his DNA revealed health issues including large amounts of lead in his system.
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I believe he was totally deaf by the time of his 9th symphony, thus he never actually heard what he was composing.
 
Leroy Hoard said:
PIK95 said:
Beethoven began losing his hearing in his mid-20s, after already building a reputation as a musician and composer. The cause of his deafness remains a mystery, though modern analysis of his DNA revealed health issues including large amounts of lead in his system.
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I believe he was totally deaf by the time of his 9th symphony, thus he never actually heard what he was composing.
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Now that’s what I call playing hurt. 🦾
 
DocHolliday said:
zamboni said:
Pip's Invitation said:
It's got heroic guitar work,
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We’ve gone on ad nauseum about Dave, but to me Dogs is his very best work. Even better than Echoes and three more behemoths still to come - again, just my opinion.
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Dave’s guitar work in Dogs is what carries the song for me. I don’t know if it is his best work but it is top notch. I liove the lyrics but the music outside of the guitar playing doesn’t move me as much as many other PF songs. I don’t listen to this album as much as their other work which may not be fair to Animals either.
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Would have been my #1 song had I got my **** together and sent in a list. It’s my number 1 based largely on DG’s solos being my all time favorite solo.

Funny enough prior to the list I would have assumed I was an outlier with my love of Dogs. Good to see it ranked so high in the collective.
 
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#03 - Wish You Were Here from Wish You Were Here (1975)

Appeared On: 29 ballots (out of 33 . . . 87.9%)
Total Points: 605 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 73.3%)
Top Rankers: @FatMax @BrutalPenguin @Just Win Baby
Highest Rankings: 1 x 3, 2 x 6, 3 x 8, 5 x 3

Original Version, Alternate Version, Boston - 1977, DSOT, Venice, Pulse, DG - Meltdown, RW & EC, Live 8, DG - Remember That Night, DG - Pompeii, RW - Us + Them, RW - Acoustic 2022

Live Performances: PF: 55, DG's PF 313, RW: 539, DG: 98, NM: 1

Covers: Sparklehorse, Ed Sheeran, Wyclef Jean, Billy Corgan with DG, Geoff Tate, Candlebox, L.A. Guns, Velvet Revolver, Warren Haynes, Miley Cyrus, Goo Goo Dolls & Limp Bizkit, Great White, Slash, Europe, Mark Masse, Avenged Sevenfold, Sally Semrad

Our first selection with 20 Top 5 votes. One of 5 PF songs with 1,000+ performances. Ranked #1 by 3 outside rankers. The initial plan for the album after DSOTM was the full version of SOYCD on one side and Raving and Drooling and You've Gotta Be Crazy on the other. The song is the most covered PF song. There are probably 500+ versions.

RW partly based the song on a poem he wrote about Syd Barrett's break from reality. RW believes LSD fed into Barrett's eventual insanity but wasn't the sole cause, as he suspected Barrett was already teetering on the edge of schizophrenia. Lyrically, the song is often considered to be a direct tribute to Syd. However, DG and RW separately describe the original concept that differs from this interpretation. RW, who mainly wrote the lyrics complementing DG's initial riff idea and subsequent joint composition, describes the lyrics as being directed at himself, as his lyrics often are. Being present in one's own life and freeing one's self in order to truly experience life is a main topic in this song. DG, on the other hand, recognizes that he never performs the song without remembering Syd Barrett. Waters later adds that the song is nevertheless open to interpretation.

RW said the song itself came out easily: "I played a few chords and wrote the song very, very quickly. Probably in an hour. It was one of those happy times when stream of consciousness works and words come out. The idea was to encourage myself not to accept a lead role in a cage, but to go on demanding of myself that I keep auditioning for the walk-on part in the war,
I want to be in the trenches. I don’t want to be at headquarters; I don’t want to be sitting in a hotel somewhere. I want to be engaged. That's where I want to be."

This was a rare case of RW and DG mutually collaborating on a song - they rarely wrote together. DG had the opening riff written and was playing it in the studio at a fast pace when RW heard it and asked him to play it slower. The song built from there, with the pair writing the music for the chorus and verses together, and Waters adding the lyrics. The radio section was recorded from DG's car radio.

Recording the album overall was a tough experience. "It could equally have been called Wish We Were Here. I felt that at times the group was there only physically. Our bodies were there, but our minds and feelings somewhere else. And we were only there because this music allows us to live and live well, or because it was a habit, to be in Pink Floyd and operate under that banner. I wanted to write something about it all.

Both have praised the song as one of their finest. RW noted that the collaboration between them was "really good. All bits of it are really, really good. I'm very happy about it." DG has playfully called WYWH "a very simple country song" and stated that "because of its resonance and the emotional weight it carries, it is one of our best songs."
 
Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 1
UCR Ranking (out of 167 songs): 3
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 3
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 1
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 6
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 1

Vulture Ranking (1 out of 165 songs): Again, you see a good but troubled band put aside the fights, collaborate on a good song, and then record it in a way that makes the sound of it still timeless, more than 40 years on. WYWH is a funerary for Barrett, again, but it’s also a love song, and it’s also a meditation on life and ambition and a quest, and also finally about what we don’t know, which is everything. RW had moved on from the ridiculous lyrics of PF’s earlier work, and passed even the plain speak of DSOTM; on WYWH, he finally achieves something like good rock poetry — which is to say, words that make it clear what they mean, even if that meaning isn’t there on the page — and here manages to deliver them that way, too. WYWH was sturdy enough, and magnanimous enough, to serve the band one final time, in the group’s one reunion appearance together, at the Live 8 concert, where it was clearly about them as well. RW, older and wiser, clearly regretted the dissolution, and felt it was a time to hug and make up; but it was also clear that DG was having none of it. After The Final Cut, RW pressed on with a series of cranky, crackpot rock operas. (Radio K.A.O.S. is about a kid named Billy, who is “almost a vegetable,” but who has some sort of telekinetic powers, or something. It’s all a little unclear, but apparently the kid, a friendly radio DJ, and a mad scientist who gets turned around by Live Aid join together to … avert a nuclear holocaust. Whew!) RW then bore the humiliation of taking the accompanying dog-and-pony show around to smallish venues the same summer his former band mates played stadiums. The years have mellowed RW somewhat; he is older and even handsomer now. He remains highly politically principled and, now, since he actually gives interviews, you can hear how smart he actually is. And yet, he can probably still walk down most streets in the world and not be recognized. He actually seems happy now. We should have his problems.

UCR Ranking (3 out of 167 songs): This is PF at their most vulnerable. It’s practically a country tune, neither overwritten nor overextended nor over-performed. Its importance in their catalog isn’t down to sound or size or scope. It’s because of the song’s beating heart: an open, honest yearning. Whether it refers to Syd (as DG believes) or is self-directed (as RW recalls) doesn’t really matter. It’s a request for deliverance from the ugly things in life, a prayer that the subject can tell life’s pleasures from pain, a hope that he or she doesn’t get duped by false friends. It’s a wish for closeness and clarity and peace. It’s a wish worth making.

Louder Ranking (3 out of 50 songs): Rewind to January 1975, and Abbey Road hummed with bad vibes as PF embarked on sessions for their ninth album. With DG admitting that 1973’s DSOTM had left them “creatively trapped”, RWs explaining the WYWH concept as working “with people whom you know aren’t there anymore”, and NM quipping on Capital Radio that “I really did wish that I wasn’t there”, this latest album was the signpost to the great PF fallout.

And yet, even on a record that DG remembers “started quite painfully”, the title track brought a moment of easy serendipity and happy synergy between the members. “I had bought a 12-string guitar,” DG recalled. “I was strumming it in the control room of Studio Three at Abbey Road, and that opening riff just started coming out. Roger’s ears pricked up and he said, ‘What’s that?’ I had a terrible habit of playing bits of songs by other people that were good. And I think Roger was a bit nervous asking, in case it came from something else, by someone else.”

While DG became “mildly obsessed” as he developed the guitar part, the band’s brainwave was to open WYWH with the effect of a listener cycling through radio stations, alighting on Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, before finally settling on a distant-sounding 12-string riff, which is shortly joined by a warmer acoustic passage.

“The idea,” explained Gilmour, “was that it was like a guitar playing on the radio and someone in their room at home, in their bedroom or something, listening to it and joining in. So the other guitar was supposed to be a kid at home joining in with the guitar he’s listening to on the radio. “And therefore,” he added, “it wasn’t supposed to be too slick – and it wasn’t. Every time I listen to the actual original recording, I think, ‘God, I should have really done that a little bit better.’”

While a cameo by the French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli was largely edited out (some claim it’s just audible at the end), more significant was RW’s wistful lyric, with a standout couplet that could be read as a nod to the bassist’s unraveling marriage, but was principally a salute to the fallen Syd Barrett. “Although SOYCD is specifically about Syd, and WYWH has a broader remit,” noted DG, “I can’t sing it without thinking about Syd.”

Indeed, when the classic Pink Floyd line-up reunited in London at Live 8 in 2005, RW and DG made sure that the Hyde Park audience were in no doubt of WYWH’s subject matter as they performed the song on acoustic guitars. “We’re doing this for everyone who’s not here,” announced the bassist, pointedly. “And particularly, of course, for Syd.”

WMGK Ranking (1 out of 40 songs): RW has said that the song isn’t specifically about Syd Barrett. DG says he can’t sing the song without singing about Barrett. But whatever the song means to them, what matters is what it means to you. It’s probably PF’s most relatable song: no matter who you are, there’s always someone that you miss. Even if most of the lyrics are just impressionistic and may not have any deep meaning to you, the line “How I wish, wish you were here” resonates with nearly everyone.

Billboard Ranking (1 out of 50 songs): Feels kinda wrong, doesn’t it? To have a relatively straightforward ballad as the crowning achievement of one of history’s greatest progressive rock bands — it’s sorta like putting Patience at the top of a GNR list, no? Fair, but you have to consider that being PF means even an accessible lighter-waver like WYWH has untold layers of subtle production and structural depth to it. Consider the radio crackle the opening riff emerges from — a thematic holdover from the preceding Have A Cigar outro — and the way the song’s acoustic solo lands on top of it with such comparative clarity, with every finger-on-strings slip audible, that it’s heart-piercing from the first note. Or how the bleating synths come in to fortify the melodic refrain in between the first verse and chorus. Or how despite being among the most legendary sing-alongs in rock history — epochal enough that even a mook like Fred Durst knows all the words — the song’s chorus only appears once in the entire song.

WYWH lands like no other song in the band’s catalog, because it does all these clever, unobtrusively inventive things, but the song’s core remains as emotive and relatable as a Lynyrd Skynyrd classic. It’s about Syd Barrett, of course — though he probably would’ve hated the lack of bongos or feedback freakouts — but it doesn’t have to be, not by a long shot. And even with a chorus so sky-scraping, you don’t need to deploy it more than once when you’re falling back to a riff that anyone who’s ever learned the acoustic has attempted to master within the first month. WYWH packs the obligatory anti-authoritarian messaging into its verse, but its ultimate feeling is one of human connection, of needing friends and family and loved ones to give you a reason to keep fighting in the first place. It’s as beautiful a composition and production as the ’70s produced, and it should live on well after the last DSOTM poster is torn down from a college undergrad dorm room.
 
Anarchy99 said:
Ghost Rider said:
DocHolliday said:
Let it go folks. Let’s not soil such a wonderful thread. We all have different tastes in music. I love hearing the reasoning why someone loves, hates, or is only okay with songs. We don’t need discussion to go south.
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To be fair, the thread was soiled by the trolling, not those of us tired of the nonsense.
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Can we please just discuss the music and not each other? How about folks just provide their own opinions of the band and a song and not even comment on any other posts?
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That is fine, but people talking about the songs and not discussing any other posts (see: not having discussions on a discussion forum) means this countdown will end with a thud.
 
Ghost Rider said:
That is fine, but people talking about the songs and not discussing any other posts (see: not having discussions on a discussion forum) means this countdown will end with a thud.
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You know what I mean. Let's just stick to discussing the actual songs themselves and eliminate the snarkiness or comments on other posters. I just spent 4 hours and 2,000 words pulling together info from multiple places on WYWH. I don't really feel like I should have to babysit people to act like adults, and it really doesn't motivate me to want to finish up our last couple of songs.
 
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Anarchy99 said:
#03 - Wish You Were Here from Wish You Were Here (1975)
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My #1 on my list this time. It's probably a top ten song for me of any artist in any genre. I love this song. I cannot hear the opening without getting a little emotional. It works when I'm feeling good, feeling bad, feeling introspective ... pretty much everything. It's a rare song that does that. There are a few personal memories tied in with this as well that I don't really feel like sharing, but that just adds to it (for me). And I love the fact that there are a seemingly endless amount of live version as well.
 
Anarchy99 said:
Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 1


Vulture Ranking (1 out of 165 songs): Again, you see a good but troubled band put aside the fights, collaborate on a good song, and then record it in a way that makes the sound of it still timeless, more than 40 years on. WYWH is a funerary for Barrett, again, but it’s also a love song, and it’s also a meditation on life and ambition and a quest, and also finally about what we don’t know, which is everything. RW had moved on from the ridiculous lyrics of PF’s earlier work, and passed even the plain speak of DSOTM; on WYWH, he finally achieves something like good rock poetry — which is to say, words that make it clear what they mean, even if that meaning isn’t there on the page — and here manages to deliver them that way, too. WYWH was sturdy enough, and magnanimous enough, to serve the band one final time, in the group’s one reunion appearance together, at the Live 8 concert, where it was clearly about them as well. RW, older and wiser, clearly regretted the dissolution, and felt it was a time to hug and make up; but it was also clear that DG was having none of it. After The Final Cut, RW pressed on with a series of cranky, crackpot rock operas. (Radio K.A.O.S. is about a kid named Billy, who is “almost a vegetable,” but who has some sort of telekinetic powers, or something. It’s all a little unclear, but apparently the kid, a friendly radio DJ, and a mad scientist who gets turned around by Live Aid join together to … avert a nuclear holocaust. Whew!) RW then bore the humiliation of taking the accompanying dog-and-pony show around to smallish venues the same summer his former band mates played stadiums. The years have mellowed RW somewhat; he is older and even handsomer now. He remains highly politically principled and, now, since he actually gives interviews, you can hear how smart he actually is. And yet, he can probably still walk down most streets in the world and not be recognized. He actually seems happy now. We should have his problems.
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Lol...After several of you busted this guys chops he comes back and delivers the facial.

Had this tune at #6. Amazing song but it's a little to countryish and slow to check all my boxes.
 
FatMax said:
Anarchy99 said:
#03 - Wish You Were Here from Wish You Were Here (1975)
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My #1 on my list this time. It's probably a top ten song for me of any artist in any genre. I love this song. I cannot hear the opening without getting a little emotional. It works when I'm feeling good, feeling bad, feeling introspective ... pretty much everything. It's a rare song that does that. There are a few personal memories tied in with this as well that I don't really feel like sharing, but that just adds to it (for me). And I love the fact that there are a seemingly endless amount of live version as well.
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What a great description of the song. I’ve never thought of it this way but it totally makes sense.
 
Wish You Were Here is generational. I was teaching my daughter how to play guitar and this was the song that made her want to really dig in and practice. Maybe it's because I used to put on this album to help my kids go to sleep when there were little. But it was an all-time dad moment to play the lead riffs while my daughter played the intro chords. And while this thread has gotten a little divisive as of late, let me just say that the guitar-playing daughter and I just went to a Brit Floyd show recently and I can't put into words how incredible it was to share that experience with my kid who gets it and feels it the same way that I do about the music.
 
#02 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5) from Wish You Were Here (1975)

Appeared On: 31 ballots (out of 33 . . . 93.9%)
Total Points: 641 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 77.7%)
Top Rankers: @Dwayne Hoover @PIK95 @turnjose7 @Todem @New Binky the Doormat
Highest Rankings: 1 x 5, 2 x 7, 3 x 2, 4 x 3, 5 x 3
Non-Rankers: @jabarony @BrutalPenguin

Early Version, London - 1974, Los Angeles - 1975, Oakland - 1977, DSOT, Knebworth - 1990, Pulse, Remember That Night, Pompeii, RW - 2023

Live Performances: PF: 111, DG's PF 302, RW: 232, DG: 91

Covers: Steve Lukather, Transatlantic, Jack Irons, Les Claypool, Stone Temple Pilots, 48th Collective, Greg Hoy, Malachai, Christy Moore, Clawfinger, Umphrey's McGee

The song started out called Shine On as a tribute to Syd. It was used to open shows on the 1974 tour. It was the first track they started recording in 1975, but it was the final song completed for the WYWH album (and took 7 months to finish). The band was having chemistry and communication issues, and struggled to get along.

RW was keen to carry on working, despite obvious tensions. “We pressed on regardless of the general ennui for a few weeks and then things came to a bit of a head,” he recalls. “I felt that the only way I could retain interest in the project was to try to make the album relate to what was going on there and then – the fact that no one was really looking each other in the eye, and that it was all very mechanical.” RW’s vision was cemented at a band meeting. “We all sat round and unburdened ourselves a lot, and I took notes on what everybody was saying. It was a meeting about what wasn’t happening and why.”

Waters extended further still his ideas of general themes of absence and detachment by opting to write yet more new material. "I suggested that we change Shine On to somehow to make a bridge between the first and second halves. Dave was always clear that he wanted to do the other songs (that ended up on Animals). He never quite copped what I was talking about. But Rick did and Nicky did, and he was outvoted so we went on.”

With DG and RW – the principal players in the band – at complete cross purposes, recording carried on, even if DG wasn’t convinced: “After Dark Side we really were floundering around. I wanted to make the next album more musical. I always thought that Roger’s emergence as a great lyric writer on the last album was such that he came to overshadow the music.”

Even by agreeing to disagree there was also a sense they were being held back by general lethargy, promoted by an alarming divorce rate within the band. Although his own marriage had hit the skids very recently, RW was able to divert his energies into songwriting. But in NM’s case his impending split “manifested itself into complete rigor mortis. I didn’t quite have to be carried about, but I wasn’t interested. I couldn’t get myself to sort out the drumming, and that of course drove everyone else even crazier.”

Having finally settled on what it was they were going to record, they set about putting it all down on tape. Shine On eventually featured their tour saxophonist **** Parry, who switches between baritone and tenor sax. Particularly problematic were RW’s vocal sessions. “It was right on the edge of my range. I always felt very insecure about singing anyway because I’m not naturally able to sing well. I know what I want to do but I don’t have the ability to do it well. It was fantastically boring to record, and I had to do it line by line, doing it over and over again just to get it sounding reasonable.”

Consequently further tensions surfaced as the boredom of the process took its toll and band members became increasingly disinterested in turning up for sessions at all. “Punctuality became an issue,” NM recalled. “If two of us were on time and the others were late, we were quite capable of working ourselves up into a righteous fury. The following day the roles could easily be reversed. None of us was free from blame.”

Layered on top of all that, there were constant technical and recording issues. When they finally recorded sections they were happy with, their were problems with the equipment. Or the technicians and engineers accidentally recorded over sections that had already been completed. At one point, the introductory section had a segment called Wine Glasses (most of which was absorbed into the main song. (They also recorded a track called The Hard Way, which I didn't have a good spot to list anywhere.)
 
Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 3
UCR Ranking (out of 167 songs): 1
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 2
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 8
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 1
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 11

Vulture Ranking (3 out of 165 songs): WYWH is the thinking person’s PF album. This meditation on friendship, madness, and — what am I forgetting? oh, yes, the music industry — encourages examination and revels in its own over- and undertones. Everything that PF is at its best is right here, the opening 12-plus minutes. Oozing soundscapes, laid down on keyboards by Richard Wright; a dramatic and meaningful guitar workout, from DG; one of RW’s most sincere set of lyrics and certainly a notably vocal performance — and all recorded with a humanizing warmth. (In the end, that’s what would be lacking in Animals.) DG, at his best, starts out soft; his solos carefully dramatize themselves. Later, when Part 2 starts, his guitar’s ringing clarity — four authoritative notes — sounds familiar and also heralds something new. Things never get boring — there’s even a terrific blues solo. Now, DG is not an extravagant student of sounds, and he never creates an otherworldly moment; compare this, unquestionably his greatest work on record, with say, Steve Howe’s Going for the One. There’s really no comparison. But for what the band did, and for what the band heeded, he was nonpareil. The song itself, of course, is Waters’s most full-bodied tribute to Barrett. The angularity of the images captures the modernity Barrett fought against, and was ultimately felled by, with a sobering and yet affectionate emotion. And when, in Part 5, the song begins to lag, saxophonist **** Parry steps up, the tempo redoubles, and we fade into the menacing mixmaster of WTTM. It’s deceiving, at first, with more talk of suns and moons and black holes; but that’s just to get the setting right for a story about a space-rock band and the leader from another dimension who drifted away.

UCR Ranking (1 out of 167 songs): For a band that had three distinct “leaders,” multi-faceted albums and many eras, there’s no singular song that can encapsulate PF. But the first 5 parts of SOYCD probably come the closest. There’s the sweep and slow build of the first 3 portions, the musicians’ dexterity in shifting environments, DG’s dynamic rhythm playing and emotive soloing, Wright’s magical keyboard textures and billowing organ, Mason’s pounding attack and impeccable tom hits, and RWs’ soothing bass and earnest lyrics about the band’s first visionary, Barrett. There’s such a wealth of sound and expression, such a feast for both ears and sides of the brain, such depth to the recording and interplay that it's a journey worth taking again and again. Close your eyes and drift along with the band: “Remember when you were young?”

Louder Ranking (2 out of 50 songs): A cornerstone of the band’s repertoire, DG has called SOYCD “the purest Floyd song”, the summation of their mid 70s development. The entire thing unwinds over some 26 minutes, marked by DG’s distinctive four-note guitar figure and undergoing a series of inspired transformations that involve lap steel, distorted riffs, tenor sax and multi-tracked synths. RW conceived the lyrics as a tender tribute to Syd Barrett, then in the midst of a descent into mental illness. Like the music itself, it’s a malleable construct, bittersweet feelings of regret tied up in the memory. The recording of the song also coincided with one of the most famous incidents in Floyd mythology, when Barrett himself – bald, overweight and with shaved eyebrows – wandered into Abbey Road studios during the mixing stage of the track. It was some time before the band even recognized him. “He just, for some incredible reason, picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him,” Wright recalled. “Very strange.”

WMGK Ranking (8 out of 40 songs): Put together, SOYCD is 26 minutes long, although parts 1-5 open the album and parts 6-9 close it. The song is a tribute to – and almost a memorial to – Syd Barrett, who had been pushed out of the band years earlier, due to his failing mental health (which was not helped by his drug use).

Billboard Ranking (11 out of 50 songs): Regardless of how much you believe the apocryphal-seeming story of Syd Barrett wandering into the studio as his old band was recording their sympathetic symphony to his lunacy, there’s definitely at least a sprinkling of Syd’s magic in SOYCD, the epic opener to their WYWH masterwork. The composition’s majesty shimmers with every synth twinkle and guitar echo, and the alternately despairing and chuckling lyrics seem to conjure Barrett’s madcap spirit, even as the production displays a fundamental pristineness his chaos would never have allowed.
 
Anarchy99 said:
move off the personal attacks
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Not to keep this going - but I’m a stickler for accuracy - I was one of the people involved in a silly back and forth but did not personally attack anyone. It started as a music discussion with me wanting to know how “Comfortably Numb” could possibly be considered “repetitive” and then me getting too hung up on his incorrect usage of the word “repetitive” and then him doubling down instead of saying “my bad” and actually trying to learn something (which is very difficult for some people to do on this board). I have no ill will towards PIK and unlike another false characterization it had little to do with him not liking the song. I actually only laughed at his constant Wall bashing and didn’t take that as personal as some.

It was hardly the dust up that some over sanctimonious third-parties tried to claim it was - but that’s also common here.

Nevertheless I am sorry for my role in “ruining” all of your hard work and what’s been a great thread. I won’t participate in junk like that again. I should learn some people just like attention no matter how they get it.
 
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Wow. I can't believe I didn't know STP covered Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Interesting. Some of the comments say they played the entire song, but it's hard for me to imagine them playing parts 6-9. I assume they just mean parts 1-5. Anyone know?
 
turnjose7 said:
Wow. I can't believe I didn't know STP covered Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Interesting. Some of the comments say they played the entire song, but it's hard for me to imagine them playing parts 6-9. I assume they just mean parts 1-5. Anyone know?
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I don’t believe they ever played the entire song. If they did, I never came across it (and as an STP fan, I’ve searched for it).
 
Dr. Octopus said:
Anarchy99 said:
move off the personal attacks
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Not to keep this going - but I’m a stickler for accuracy - I was one of the people involved in a silly back and forth but did not personally attack anyone. It’s started as a music discussion with me wanting to know how “Comfortably Numb” could possibly be considered “repetitive” and then me getting too hung up on his incorrect usage of the word “repetitive” and then him doubling down instead of saying “my bad” and actually trying to learn something (which is very difficult for some people to do on this board). I have no ill will towards PIK and unlike another false characterization it had little to do with him not liking the song. I actually only laughed at his constant Wall bashing and didn’t take that as personal as some.

It was hardly the dust up that some over sanctimonious third-parties tried to claim it was - but that’s also common here.

Nevertheless I am sorry for my role in “ruining” all of your hard work and what’s a great thread and won’t participate in junk like that again. I should learn some people just like attention no matter how they get it.
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I love the back and forth discussion on songs. I don’t care how personal it gets but Joe will not allow that and we all have to stay within his boundaries to avoid threads being locked. This is his house. I hope everyone continues giving their opinions and even counterpoints to the opinions of others so that I can continue to learn more about music in these threads.
 
I ranked Shine part 1 at 9 and WYWH at 5 but would flip them if doing the ranking today. Wish You Were Here is a lovely and fantastic song but Shine is much more interesting to me when I listen to them back to back. Maybe WYWH has been played so much that I am a little tired of it as well.
 
I had WYWH at #1 and I wouldn't change that today. It's my favorite song from my favorite album. Playing along to the radio at the beginning is something I had never heard or thought of, but it would make sense to a musician. The song is upbeat and poignant at the same time. It's just beautiful.
 
I know I am going to come across as Ebeneezer Scrooge here, but whatevs . . .

Us & Them: Like I already posted. When I give it a legit listen every now and then, it's a great song. But the next 100 times, it's a skip for me. A little too slow for me, and the echo / reverb on words bugs me for some reason. Didn't vote for it.

Dogs: I like every other song on the album better. Not sure if it's too long, if I don't love the chord progressions, if I think Dave has way better solos, if I don't love the lyrics, or if it's something else. I just don't love it. I probably like Animals the most out of PF albums, so I obviously don't hate it. But it also is a skip candidate if I'm not in the mood. I like Pigs and Sheep exponentially better. Can't really explain why. Didn't vote for it.

Brain Damage / Eclipse: I never got the fascination over this tandem. I agree with DG that the lyrics tend to overshadow the music at times on DSOTM. To me, this is a prime example. I don't think musically this is their best work. The quotes by random people were interesting 50 years ago but at this point sort of take away from the album for me all these years later. The production and mixing is great, but not enough to grab me. Didn't vote for it.

Time: Teenage Anarchy would have had this in his Top 3. I've grown tired of the clocks in the beginning (and the drums in the intro as well). By this point, the only thing I really enjoy is the blistering guitar solo, but that wasn't enough for me to include it over other songs. Didn't vote for it.

Wish You Were Here: As already posted, this song never moved me. To me, it seems overly saccharine . . . excessively sweet to the point where it bugs me. PF to me is loud, angry, abrasive, and cantankerous . . . exemplifying a rebellious world view with a bit of an attitude. There's none of that in WYWH. The performance is stellar, but the slow tempo, the sappy lyrics, and the drunk people in concert that scream the lyrics turn my off. Didn't vote for it.

Comfortably Numb: I get that good songs get overplayed for a reason. But they are still overplayed. Great guitar solo. The rest to me is pretty meh. I actually like the live Dave versions better than the album version. I miss RW's vocals in those, but Dave often takes the guitar solo to another level. Clearly, it's one of the band's top songs, but for me I would not be disappointed if I never heard it again. Didn't vote for it.
 
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Anarchy99 said:
I know I am going to come across as Ebeneezer Scrooge here, but whatevs . . .

Us & Them: Like I already posted. When I give it a legit listen every now and then, it's a great song. But the next 100 times, it's a skip for me. A little too slow for me, and the echo / reverb on words bugs me for some reason. Didn't vote for it.

Dogs: I like every other song on the album better. Not sure if it's too long, if I don't love the chord progressions, if I think Dave has way better solos, if I don't love the lyrics, or if it's something else. I just don't love it. I probably like Animals the most out of PF albums, so I obviously don't hate it. But it also is a skip candidate if I'm not in the mood. I like Pigs and Sheep exponentially better. Can't really explain why. Didn't vote for it.

Brain Damage / Eclipse: I never got the fascination over this tandem. I agree with DG that the lyrics tend to overshadow the music at times on DSOTM. To me, this is a prime example. I don't think musically this is their best work. The quotes by random people were interesting 50 years ago but at this point sort of take away from the album for me all these years later. The production and mixing is great, but not enough to grab me. Didn't vote for it.

Time: Teenage Anarchy would have had this in his Top 3. I've grown tired of the clocks in the beginning (and the drums in the intro as well). By this point, the only thing I really enjoy is the blistering guitar solo, but that wasn't enough for me to include it over other songs. Didn't vote for it.

Wish You Were Here: As already posted, this song never moved me. To me, it seems overly saccharine . . . excessively sweet to the point where it bugs me. PF to me is loud, angry, abrasive, and cantankerous . . . exemplifying a rebellious world view with a bit of an attitude. There's none of that in WYWH. The performance is stellar, but the slow tempo, the sappy lyrics, and the drunk people in concert that scream the lyrics turn my off. Didn't vote for it.

Comfortably Numb: I get that good songs get overplayed for a reason. But they are still overplayed. Great guitar solo. The rest to me is pretty meh. I actually like the live Dave versions better than the album version. I miss RW's vocals in those, but Dave often takes the guitar solo to another level. Clearly, it's one of the band's top songs, but for me I would not be disappointed if I never heard it again. Didn't vote for it.
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Fair criticisms. Obviously I don't agree with all of them. I didn't have Dogs or Us and Them on my list either, though on redo, I probably would have Dogs. The others are in my top ten, including my one and two. But like I said, I knew the top end of my list would be pretty chalky, and I'm OK with that. I may have had some music burnout on some of these songs, but to be honest, I don't listen to a lot of music these days, and haven't really played a lot of PF in a few years, so the overplayed stuff might be a little fresher for me today than it was ten years ago. If anything, this list/countdown has caused me to revisit and remember how much I love the band.
 
Yambag said:
Had SOYCD at #2 and would not change that today. It's a song I simple never get tired of listening to.
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Originally I had Shine as my #4, but then it was deemed two songs, and ended up being #4 and #5. But they're inseparable in my mind.
 
One thing I haven't brought up is how being famous and in a band wasn't very conducive to having a family life. Between RW / DG / NM / RW, they combined to have 12 wives and 18 children. I'm guessing it would be very difficult having your spouse out on the road or in the studio constantly.
 
Anarchy99 said:
One thing I haven't brought up is how being famous and in a band wasn't very conducive to having a family life. Between RW / DG / NM / RW, they combined to have 12 wives and 18 children. I'm guessing it would be very difficult having your spouse out on the road or in the studio constantly.
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Just imagine how many they’d have if they were chronic drug abusers and philanderers, which by most accounts they were not. Just one uber-opinionated, controlling a-hole.
 
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Thoughts on recent tunes. WYWH is fantastic, and it's one of the few songs anywhere that is too short. They only sing the chorus once, and that is not enough for one this good. It is the rare song that makes me wish for more every time I hear it.

SOYCD has the most sorrowful guitar notes in the early intro section. I am a huge fan of Gilmour's solos, some of which are amongst the very best that rock music has to offer. But the little mournful four-note thing at the beginning here is fantastic (begins at 3:56). Sets the tone for the song and the album, better even than Waters' lyrics.
 
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Looking at the balloting, I don't really see any way that SOYCD1-5 had a path to outscoring CN. So many people had it in their Top 5 to begin with. I guess a couple of people that ranked the song in the teens may have ranked it higher if it was considered one song . . . but it needed a lot more points to catch up. Anyone out there that would have scored SOYCD way higher if it was considered one song instead of two?
 
Anarchy99 said:
Looking at the balloting, I don't really see any way that SOYCD1-5 had a path to outscoring CN. So many people had it in their Top 5 to begin with. I guess a couple of people that ranked the song in the teens may have ranked it higher if it was considered one song . . . but it needed a lot more points to catch up. Anyone out there that would have scored SOYCD way higher if it was considered one song instead of two?
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Wasn't possible for me.
 
Anarchy99 said:
Looking at the balloting, I don't really see any way that SOYCD1-5 had a path to outscoring CN. So many people had it in their Top 5 to begin with. I guess a couple of people that ranked the song in the teens may have ranked it higher if it was considered one song . . . but it needed a lot more points to catch up. Anyone out there that would have scored SOYCD way higher if it was considered one song instead of two?
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I had I-V at #4 and VI-IX at #6. I may have bumped the combo to #3 over Time, but still behind Echoes and Dogs.
 
#01 - Comfortably Numb from The Wall (1979)

Appeared On: 31 ballots (out of 33 . . . 93.9%)
Total Points: 685 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 83.0%)
Top Rankers: Just about everyone
Highest Rankings: 1 x 13, 2 x 3, 3 x 4, 4 x 1, 5 x 2

Will add demos and live performances later.

Live Performances: PF: 32, DG's PF 210, RW: 705, DG: 169

Covers: Will add later

Description: THIRTEEN people had this one as their #1 song. I am heading out for the holiday weekend and didn't want to go dark for several days with letting people talk about their top selections. I will add the other components when I get back.
 
zamboni said:
Anarchy99 said:
Looking at the balloting, I don't really see any way that SOYCD1-5 had a path to outscoring CN. So many people had it in their Top 5 to begin with. I guess a couple of people that ranked the song in the teens may have ranked it higher if it was considered one song . . . but it needed a lot more points to catch up. Anyone out there that would have scored SOYCD way higher if it was considered one song instead of two?
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I had I-V at #4 and VI-IX at #6. I may have bumped the combo to #3 over Time, but still behind Echoes and Dogs.
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SOYCD needed to catch up 44 points to get to a tie for #1. I just don't see anyway that would be possible. At best, it may have earned a couple points here or there.
 
Anarchy99 said:
zamboni said:
Anarchy99 said:
Looking at the balloting, I don't really see any way that SOYCD1-5 had a path to outscoring CN. So many people had it in their Top 5 to begin with. I guess a couple of people that ranked the song in the teens may have ranked it higher if it was considered one song . . . but it needed a lot more points to catch up. Anyone out there that would have scored SOYCD way higher if it was considered one song instead of two?
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I had I-V at #4 and VI-IX at #6. I may have bumped the combo to #3 over Time, but still behind Echoes and Dogs.
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SOYCD needed to catch up 44 points to get to a tie for #1. I just don't see anyway that would be possible. At best, it may have earned a couple points here or there.
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If I was redoing my list, I would shuffle songs around but CN would remain ranked higher than SOYCD. Both are just outstanding songs of course.
 
worrierking said:
Thoughts on recent tunes. WYWH is fantastic, and it's one of the few songs anywhere that is too short. They only sing the chorus once, and that is not enough for one this good. It is the rare song that makes me wish for more every time I hear it.
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When my acoustic duo does WYWH we repeat the chorus. People love the song and love to sing along.
 
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