FBG'S TOP 100 PINK FLOYD SONGS - #01 - Comfortably Numb from The Wall (1979) (1 Viewer)

[zamboni]

Anyone who followed Krista's British Isles countdown knows what my #1 is.

Three people had that as their #1 selection.

How many had it as their #3?

Said song collected 3 Gold Medals, 3 Silvers, and 2 Bronze with a total of 9 Top 5 picks and 16 Top 10 selections.

Who was breaking away from the pack

 

[Anarchy99]

Music, by nature, is subjective. It's doubtful there's anyone in the world who likes exactly the same things as someone else. Sometimes it all comes down to being in the right place at the right time. I will always have great appreciation for the AMLOR and Division Bell records because they brought Floyd to the masses while I was a teenager, got radio play, and allowed me a chance to go to my two favorite concerts.

In one of Anarchy's writeups, there was a description of Gilmour's "sweet" combining with Rodgers' "sour," and I think that's a perfect way to describe how they meshed so well. I find Rodgers' solo efforts to be shrill and Gilmour's to be ponderous. But together? Man, that's just magic.

I think with all bands, a lot can depend on each individual listener and when they got into that performer. In my case, I fell right in the middle of PF's heyday. Just after Animals and before The Wall, when DSOTM and WYWH were FM staples. You couldn't go an hour without hearing a Floyd tune and stations played blocks of Floyd all the time. To me, everything after The Wall was all downhill. Final Cut was an emotional, overwrought collection of Wall leftovers.

Once Roger left, I think Dave tried too hard to recreate the PF sound. I like Gilmour's solo albums more than AMLOR and TDB because he was just Dave. On those Floyd albums, he tried to be Dave and Roger . . . just without Roger. IMO, that didn't work as well. I do enjoy Dave's solo versions of Floyd tunes, but in the main, I could take or leave the 80s and 90s version of Floyd. Still better than 98% of bands, but not the same as 70s Floyd.

There aren't a ton of performers that I wasn't around for most of their recording history, but I can see the younger generation (or people that got into Floyd in the 80s or 90s) having more appreciation for the last two albums. People that lived that experience and those tours as their early entry into the band would be expected to enjoy those albums. It has been my experience that generally speaking, if you are a big fan of a band, the next album release is usually somewhat disappointing. When you start with a clean sheet, that effect tends to go away.

One artist that I wasn't really into and got into only more recently is Tom Petty. I just didn't really get into his music while he was alive. I saw him live only once, back in my teens in 1980. Didn't love him, didn't hate him. Just wasn't that into him. Over the last few years, I am finding that his catalog is really good and there are tons of songs of his that I am now into. Starting after the face, I did not have a set bias of just the old songs or certain albums. It made it way different than say PF, who I picked up when there was a ton of airplay. Where I live, Petty doesn't get a ton of airtime, my friends aren't that into him, and it's more of a later in life discovery.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

The song The Blue is godly.

Agree on that. I’d put that up there with among Gilmour’s best guitar work in a career of incredible guitar work.

I ranked my favorite of DG's guitar work among a portfolio of great guitar work as my #1. SPOILER ALERT: I am the only one that picked that as their #1 song. Obviously, we are a long way away from there, but it is truly awe inspiring.

That could be any number of tunes, but will be interesting to see what it is.

Well it's obviously not my #1, which has some pretty damn amazing guitar work as well.

Anyone who followed Krista's British Isles countdown knows what my #1 is.

My #2

And I suspect my #2 is your #1.

 

[Anarchy99]

Music, by nature, is subjective. It's doubtful there's anyone in the world who likes exactly the same things as someone else.

Not everyone will like the same things . . . but people can mostly like the same things. We have 7 people that voted for what ended up being the Top 10 PF songs (you being one of them). As already stated many, many times . . . just because someone didn't vote for a song doesn't mean that person doesn't like it. I ended up voting for only 4 songs in the Top 10 (far and away the fewest of anyone). That doesn't mean I can't stand 6 of them . . . it just means I prefer other songs and / or I am sick of hearing some of the same ones over and over again.

I actually considered submitting multiple lists for this exercise based on Anarchy across the years or points in life. Say age 14, 16, 18, 21, 25, 40, and today. Because all those lists would be REALLY different. I didn't do that, but there were songs I was into back then that I have no use for now and vice versa.

 

[Anarchy99]

The song The Blue is godly.

Agree on that. I’d put that up there with among Gilmour’s best guitar work in a career of incredible guitar work.

I ranked my favorite of DG's guitar work among a portfolio of great guitar work as my #1. SPOILER ALERT: I am the only one that picked that as their #1 song. Obviously, we are a long way away from there, but it is truly awe inspiring.

That could be any number of tunes, but will be interesting to see what it is.

Well it's obviously not my #1, which has some pretty damn amazing guitar work as well.

Anyone who followed Krista's British Isles countdown knows what my #1 is.

My #2

And I suspect my #2 is your #1.

Magic 8 ball declares: "It is decidedly so."

 

[FatMax]

I can see the younger generation (or people that got into Floyd in the 80s or 90s) having more appreciation for the last two albums.

This absolutely holds true in my case. For reference, I was born in 1975. But the time I knew who Pink Floyd was, AMLOR was already out and I didn't have any personal history with the band to reference. So that was Pink Floyd to me.

 

[Ghoti]

Music, by nature, is subjective. It's doubtful there's anyone in the world who likes exactly the same things as someone else.

Not everyone will like the same things . . . but people can mostly like the same things. We have 7 people that voted for what ended up being the Top 10 PF songs (you being one of them). As already stated many, many times . . . just because someone didn't vote for a song doesn't mean that person doesn't like it. I ended up voting for only 4 songs in the Top 10 (far and away the fewest of anyone). That doesn't mean I can't stand 6 of them . . . it just means I prefer other songs and / or I am sick of hearing some of the same ones over and over again.

I actually considered submitting multiple lists for this exercise based on Anarchy across the years or points in life. Say age 14, 16, 18, 21, 25, 40, and today. Because all those lists would be REALLY different. I didn't do that, but there were songs I was into back then that I have no use for now and vice versa.

Agree completely on everything here - well said. And yes, what you listen to in your formative years often defines you but it's still very cool when you can discover something that strikes you later too. Your description of "discovering" Tom Petty matches mine with Fleetwood Mac. As a child of the 70s/80s, I certainly grew up with FM in the background soundtrack of my life, but never bought an album or really thought about them much. I went through a phase a couple years ago where I just devoured them.

 

[Ghoti]

I can see the younger generation (or people that got into Floyd in the 80s or 90s) having more appreciation for the last two albums.

This absolutely holds true in my case. For reference, I was born in 1975. But the time I knew who Pink Floyd was, AMLOR was already out and I didn't have any personal history with the band to reference. So that was Pink Floyd to me.

I'm a couple years older than you, and was huge into Floyd pre-AMLOR, but was still so psyched when that album come out because I never thought I would see the day when my favorite band was on MTV, top-40 radio, etc. That was a hell of a big deal for me at that point of time. Not to mention the fact that I had given up any hope of seeing them tour live. If this was an album ranking list, I would have AMLOR and Division Bell ranked very, very highly.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I do think the “chalk” factor here is at least partially due to Pink Floyd having fewer songs to choose from than most classic rock bands.
Especially for those that eliminate the Barrett led Floyd and the post-Waters selections.

Going one step further there’s a lot of hate for The Final Cut.

And finally albums like Meddle and Animals have incredibly long songs on them which of course means less songs.

 

[FatMax]

I do think the “chalk” factor here is at least partially due to Pink Floyd having fewer songs to choose from than most classic rock bands.
Especially for those that eliminate the Barrett led Floyd and the post-Waters selections.

Going one step further there’s a lot of hate for The Final Cut.

And finally albums like Meddle and Animals have incredibly long songs on them which of course means less songs.

Wish You Were Here has five songs, and two of them are Shine

 

[PIK95]

I do think the “chalk” factor here is at least partially due to Pink Floyd having fewer songs to choose from than most classic rock bands.
Especially for those that eliminate the Barrett led Floyd and the post-Waters selections.

Going one step further there’s a lot of hate for The Final Cut.

And finally albums like Meddle and Animals have incredibly long songs on them which of course means less songs.

Wish You Were Here has five songs, and two of them are Shine

Every song from that record made my top 25.

 

[Tau837]

Setlists from my three Floyd-related shows:

Pink Floyd (DG version), JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA 9/19/87

Set I:
Echoes
Signs of Life
Learning to Fly
Yet Another Movie/Round and Around
A New Machine Part 1/Terminal Frost/A New Machine Part 2
Sorrow
The Dogs of War
On the Turning Away

Set II:
One of These Days
Time/Breathe Reprise
On the Run
Wish You Were Here
Welcome to the Machine
Us and Them
Money
Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
Comfortably Numb

Encore:
Run Like Hell
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V

Pink Floyd (DG version), Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA 5/16/88

Set I:
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V
Signs of Life
Learning to Fly
Yet Another Movie/Round and Around
A New Machine Part 1/Terminal Frost/A New Machine Part 2
Sorrow
The Dogs of War
On the Turning Away

Set II:
One of These Days
Time/Breathe Reprise
On the Run
The Great Gig in the Sky
Wish You Were Here
Welcome to the Machine
Us and Them
Money
Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
Comfortably Numb

Encore:
One Slip
Run Like Hell

David Gilmour, Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY 4/4/06

Set I:
Castellorizon
This Heaven
Smile
Red Sky at Night
Take a Breath
Then I Close My Eyes
On an Island*
The Blue*
A Pocketful of Stones
Where We Start

Set II:
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I-V*
Wearing the Inside Out**
Dominoes***
Breathe/Time/Breathe Reprise
High Hopes
Echoes

Encore:
Wish You Were Here*
Find the Cost of Freedom*+
Comfortably Numb

* - with David Crosby and Graham Nash on backing vocals
** - Rick Wright was in DG's backing band
*** - Syd Barrett song
+ - CSNY song

I saw two concerts on the AMLOR tour:

October 26, 1987 at Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC:

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
2. Signs of Life
3. Learning to Fly
4. Yet Another Movie
5. Round and Around
6. A New Machine, Part 1
7. Terminal Frost
8. A New Machine, Part 2
9. Sorrow
10. The Dogs of War
11. On the Turning Away
12. One of These Days
13. Time
14. On the Run
15. Wish You Were Here
16. Welcome to the Machine
17. Us and Them
18. Money
19. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
20. Comfortably Numb

Encore:

1. One Slip
2. Run Like Hell

May 4, 1988 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC:

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
2. Signs of Life
3. Learning to Fly
4. Yet Another Movie
5. Round and Around
6. A New Machine, Part 1
7. Terminal Frost
8. A New Machine, Part 2
9. Sorrow
10. The Dogs of War
11. On the Turning Away
12. One of These Days
13. Time
14. On the Run
15. Wish You Were Here
16. Welcome to the Machine
17. Us and Them
18. Money
19. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
20. Comfortably Numb

Encore:

1. One Slip
2. Run Like Hell

Zero deviation in the two set lists. They were awesome concerts, especially the second one, since I was in the 5th row on the field. But I wish they had played some other songs.

 

[Ghoti]

Zero deviation in the two set lists. They were awesome concerts, especially the second one, since I was in the 5th row on the field. But I wish they had played some other songs.

Saw them on the AMLOR tour for their second go-around in the US on May 20, 1988 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, WI. Setlist was exactly the same, except they apparently added "Great Gig in the Sky" to the set on 2 March 1988 right before "Wish you Were Here" (so you may have had one difference in your concerts). Was the first concert I had ever been to. Great memories.

 

[Yo Mama]

Division Bell tour, April 16, 1994 - Rose Bowl

Set 1

• Astronomy Domine
• Learning to Fly
• What Do You Want From Me
• Poles Apart
• Sorrow
• On the Turning Away
• Keep Talking
• Take It Back
• One of These Days

Set 2

• Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
• Breathe
• Time
• Breathe (Reprise)
• High Hopes
• Wish You Were Here
• Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
• The Great Gig in the Sky
• Us and Them
• Money
• Comfortably Numb

Encore

• Hey You
• Run Like Hell

 

[Anarchy99]

But I wish they had played some other songs.

That was pretty much the setlist they played each night. A few shows they played Echoes or The Great Gig In The Sky.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

 

[zamboni]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

Not just Les, but Sean Lennon (yes, that one) on guitar and Roger's son Harry on keyboards.

Animals set from a recent show

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

Not just Les, but Sean Lennon (yes, that one) on guitar and Roger's son Harry on keyboards.

Animals set from a recent show

problem is nobody I know likes him, 14 year old started playing bass and at least knows who he is , might make him go

 

[zamboni]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

Not just Les, but Sean Lennon (yes, that one) on guitar and Roger's son Harry on keyboards.

Animals set from a recent show

problem is nobody I know likes him, 14 year old started playing bass and at least knows who he is , might make him go

You could tell people you know it's really Chase Claypool, although that might work against you more.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

Not just Les, but Sean Lennon (yes, that one) on guitar and Roger's son Harry on keyboards.

Animals set from a recent show

The Claypool Lennon Delerium albums are awesome. I described it to a friend as “the Beatles on acid” and then said “well you know what I mean”

 

[Anarchy99]

@BrutalPenguin steps to up to the plate . . .

SWIPE RIGHT / PENGUINS MATE FOR LIFE
Friend of @PIK95 (16 similar songs, 8 of the same Top 10)
@Ridgeback (16 + 8)
@lardonastick (16 + 7)
@New Binky the Doormat (15 + 7)
@Dan Lambskin (15 + 6)
@FatMax (15 + 5)
@Rand al Thor (15 + 5)

SWIPE LEFT / GO BACK TO THE SOUTH POLE
@jabarony (6 + 1)
@zamboni (10 + 6)
8 tied with 11 songs

CHALK RANKINGS (Average songs per list)
lardonastick - 16.81, Yo Mama - 16.16
Friend of PIK95 - 15.48, Yambag - 15.10
PIK95 - 14.90, Ghost Rider - 14.77, Galileo - 14.71, BroncoFreak_2K3 - 14.58, Dwayne Hoover - 14.29, FatMax - 14.16
Ghoti - 13.85, ericttspikes - 13.19
Dr. Octopus - 12.91, BrutalPenguin - 12.69, zamboni - 12.38, Pip's Invitation - 12.23
Mookie Gizzy - 11.94

 

[Tau837]

But I wish they had played some other songs.

That was pretty much the setlist they played each night. A few shows they played Echoes or The Great Gig In The Sky.

I would have loved to hear Echoes. Or anything from Animals.

 

[Anarchy99]

But I wish they had played some other songs.

That was pretty much the setlist they played each night. A few shows they played Echoes or The Great Gig In The Sky.

I would have loved to hear Echoes. Or anything from Animals.

Dave as post-Roger PF or DG solo has never played a song from Animals.

 

[Anarchy99]

YardBarker's Definitive Pink Floyd Playlist . . . (Listed Top to Bottom)

Comfortably Numb
Wish You Were Here
Brain Damage / Eclipse
When The Tigers Break Free
Time
SOYCD (1-9)
Mother
Us & Them
Astronomy Domine
Pigs (3DO)
Money
Echoes
One Of These Days
Nobody Home
ABITW3
ABITW2
Have A Cigar
Interstellar Overdrive
Learning To Fly
Young Lust
A Saucerful Of Secrets
Hey You
On The Turning Away
The Great Gig In The Sky
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

 

[ericttspikes]

@Dwayne Hoover @ericttspikes @BrutalPenguin @Mookie Gizzy @Rand al Thor @Anarchy99

I believe the 6 of us were the ones that did not vote for any song after Waters left the band. If you had to pick your favorite post-Roger song, what would it be? How far away would you guess that song would be from your Top 25 PF songs?

As much as I dig Gilmour as a guitarist, I didn’t buy any post Waters Floyd albums and really didn’t follow them except their MTV hits. Hard to explain, but Waters=Floyd for me. Just had a connection to his writing and voice. Nothing against the Gilmour led Floyd, but I just didn’t get pulled in. I guess a favorite would be one of the hits like AMLOR or Learning to Fly, not sure I could name any others.

 

[FatMax]

@BrutalPenguin steps to up to the plate . . .

SWIPE RIGHT / PENGUINS MATE FOR LIFE
Friend of @PIK95 (16 similar songs, 8 of the same Top 10)
@Ridgeback (16 + 8)
@lardonastick (16 + 7)
@New Binky the Doormat (15 + 7)
@Dan Lambskin (15 + 6)
@FatMax (15 + 5)
@Rand al Thor (15 + 5)

SWIPE LEFT / GO BACK TO THE SOUTH POLE
@jabarony (6 + 1)
@zamboni (10 + 6)
8 tied with 11 songs

CHALK RANKINGS (Average songs per list)
lardonastick - 16.81, Yo Mama - 16.16
Friend of PIK95 - 15.48, Yambag - 15.10
PIK95 - 14.90, Ghost Rider - 14.77, Galileo - 14.71, BroncoFreak_2K3 - 14.58, Dwayne Hoover - 14.29, FatMax - 14.16
Ghoti - 13.85, ericttspikes - 13.19
Dr. Octopus - 12.91, BrutalPenguin - 12.69, zamboni - 12.38, Pip's Invitation - 12.23
Mookie Gizzy - 11.94

First time I've been matched, I think. Could it be love?

But then again, @lardonastick is once again matched up. This guy gets around.

 

[FatMax]

YardBarker's Definitive Pink Floyd Playlist . . . (Listed Top to Bottom)

Comfortably Numb
Wish You Were Here
Brain Damage / Eclipse
When The Tigers Break Free
Time
SOYCD (1-9)
Mother
Us & Them
Astronomy Domine
Pigs (3DO)
Money
Echoes
One Of These Days
Nobody Home
ABITW3
ABITW2
Have A Cigar
Interstellar Overdrive
Learning To Fly
Young Lust
A Saucerful Of Secrets
Hey You
On The Turning Away
The Great Gig In The Sky
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

16/25 on my list

 

[Anarchy99]

16/25 on my list

Collectively, we are at 20/26 based on the songs on the their list.

 

[Dwayne Hoover]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

Hell yes! Would be easy decision for me.
I missed when Primus did Farewell to Kings which I also heard was awesome.
If Les is playing local, Im usually there

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Les Claypool playing the full Animals album on his current tour, debating going Friday night

Hell yes! Would be easy decision for me.
I missed when Primus did Farewell to Kings which I also heard was awesome.
If Les is playing local, Im usually there

Yeah I missed that one as well, I don’t really even like Rush but wanted to see it

Honestly I will probably miss this one too though, basically my entire Saturday is tied up with kids sporting events as well as half of Sunday, so Friday really my only opportunity to get a bunch of stuff around the house done

 

[BassNBrew]

#55-T - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (1979)

Appeared On: 2 ballots (out of 33 . . . 12.1%)
Total Points: 26 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 3.2%)
Top Rankers: @Rand al Thor @Grace Under Pressure
Highest Ranking: 10

Demo, Another Demo, Another Demo (May be the same as one of the others), Film Version

Live Performances:

PF: 31 (London - 1981
RW: 749 (1990, 2000, 2015, 2018)

Covers: Rafter, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Vinnie Coliauta, William Irvine

I pushed for this one to be merged with ABITW2, but it didn't end up going that way. I made ABITW1, THDOOL, and ABITW2 one track on all my devices, and THDOOL is basically a standalone fragment that doesn't make a lot of sense on its own. C'est la vie. ABITW2 is one of the most played rock songs, and it's been estimated that 40% of the time radio stations have played THDOOL in conjunction with ABITW2 . . . making Happiest Days a heavy air play song (even though it will never be played on its own).

When the complete album was played for a group of executives at Columbia’s headquarters in California, several were reportedly not impressed by what they heard. In the movie based on the album, the sound at the beginning of the song is depicted as coming from a train entering a large tunnel, rather than a helicopter heard on the album.

The song is about how the now school-age Pink sees the contempt certain teachers have for their students and the rumors “around the town” (realistically, more like between the other schoolchildren — you remember grade school) about those teachers’ dark and suppressed home life. Pink seems to take glee in the thought that the teacher is probably as miserable at home as he makes his students at school. In the DVD commentary for the movie version of The Wall, Roger Waters admits to having teachers like the one we see punishing Pink.

The Happiest Days Of Our Lives was not on Roger Waters’ original Wall demo tape and was added to the storyboard later. Roger said the idea for the album came concurrently with the idea for The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking, "I wrote both pieces at roughly the same time. I made demo tapes of them both — and presented both demo tapes to the rest of the Floyd, and said, ‘Look, I’m going to do one of these as a solo project and we’ll do one as a band album, and you can choose."

Roger: "The idea for The Wall came from 10 years of touring, rock shows, particularly the last few years in '75 and in '77. We played to very large audiences, some of whom were our old audience who'd come to see us play, but most of whom were only there for the beer, in big stadiums, and, consequently it became rather an alienating experience doing the shows. I became very conscious of a wall between us and our audience and so this record started out as being an expression of those feelings. The story was been developed considerably since then, this was two years ago, I started to write it, and now it's partly about a live show situation — in fact the album starts off in a live show, and then it flashes back and traces a story of a character, if you like of Pink himself, whoever he may be. But initially it just stemmed from shows being horrible."

Due to the space limitations of albums, several songs were shortened and others had to be cut from the album altogether including:

What Shall I Do Now
Sexual Revolution
The Last Few Bricks (Already on the countdown)
Death Disco
Is There Anybody Out There? (Reprise) and (Another Reprise)
Overture For Comfortably Numb
It’s Never Too Late
The Final Cut (Already listed)
Teacher/ One Of The Few

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 11
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 73
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 6
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 41
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR

Vulture Ranking (11 out of 165 songs): An absolutely awesome intro to ABITW2 and by far Waters’s greatest fragment. This is also the point at which Waters gave up and took ownership of his throttled squeak of a cartoony voice. Life isn’t fair; Waters probably deserved a voice to put across his best songs; instead he had this narrow, theatrical thing, which could at least find a place articulating the thoughts of some of the morally throttled characters in The Wall. The ending Sweeney Todd–like whistle works fabulously. ABITW2, incidentally, is one of the most-played rock songs on American radio over the past nearly 40 years; this intro is played with it about half the time, making it played on the radio more than all but a few classics from bands like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

UCR Ranking (73 out of 167 songs): Whether this reflects Pink’s or Roger’s opinions on mothers or wives, it’s troubling that there’s always a woman to blame for the mental issues explored behind The Wall. Even the bullying teachers’ behavior gets chalked up to their “fat and psychopathic wives” on this track, which is really an extended intro for “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).” But what an intro, with the sounds of ominous helicopter and vicious cackling, Waters’ poison poetry and Mason’s thunderous transition of a drum solo.

Coming up, it's high time we say goodbye to the More soundtrack.

Guess I should have ranked this, but it's part of ABITW for me.

 

[Anarchy99]

But it's part of ABITW for me.

Preaching to the choir.

 

[BassNBrew]

Been AWOL and just catching up. I have read every post and listened to all the sounds (other than that 20 minute thing). I'll get it the covers once we hit songs that I'm more familair with.

 

[Anarchy99]

Been AWOL and just catching up. I have read every post and listened to all the sounds (other than that 20 minute thing). I'll get it the covers once we hit songs that I'm more familair with.

I have been listening to a collection of Dream Theater PF covers tonight that I haven't touched in forever. Good stuff.

 

[Rand al Thor]

#51 - Sorrow from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987)

I always found this a bit long (which I don't say very often for a PF tune) and boring, especially the beginning. I guess at the end of the day, while I appreciate the musicianship of Momentary and Division Bell, I find them to be a bit sterile.

My thoughts exactly. Maybe instead of sterile, I'd have chosen the word monotonous, but yeah, to me, those albums are basically elevator music with some decent guitar solos thrown in every now and then. Having said that, I do enjoy some of the songs from MLOR just because of the "senior year high school nostalgia" factor.

 

[Rand al Thor]

@Dwayne Hoover @ericttspikes @BrutalPenguin @Mookie Gizzy @Rand al Thor @Anarchy99

I believe the 6 of us were the ones that did not vote for any song after Waters left the band. If you had to pick your favorite post-Roger song, what would it be? How far away would you guess that song would be from your Top 25 PF songs?

I think I'd go with "One Slip" as my post RW song choice. I don't know where I'd put it, somewhere around 35 probably? I also liked Take it Back, I think mostly because it's almost like a complete move in a new direction for the band. It's weird that those two picks are both upbeat songs in a major key because that is definitely not a combination present in any of my top 25 picks.

I'm also one of the ones that didn't put any songs from the Syd era. I didn't grow up with that music like I did with the stuff from the 70s, and by the time I heard it somewhere around the age of 15 or 16, I just thought it was too much like Strawberry Alarm Clock or The Crazy World of Arthur Miller. It was too far out for me, Daddy-O, you dig?

 

[PIK95]

@Dwayne Hoover @ericttspikes @BrutalPenguin @Mookie Gizzy @Rand al Thor @Anarchy99

I believe the 6 of us were the ones that did not vote for any song after Waters left the band. If you had to pick your favorite post-Roger song, what would it be? How far away would you guess that song would be from your Top 25 PF songs?

I'm also one of the ones that didn't put any songs from the Syd era. I didn't grow up with that music like I did with the stuff from the 70s, and by the time I heard it somewhere around the age of 15 or 16, I just thought it was too much like Strawberry Alarm Clock or The Crazy World of Arthur Miller. It was too far out for me, Daddy-O, you dig?

To far out? That's rich coming from a guy with three wives.

 

[Anarchy99]

@Dwayne Hoover @ericttspikes @BrutalPenguin @Mookie Gizzy @Rand al Thor @Anarchy99

I believe the 6 of us were the ones that did not vote for any song after Waters left the band. If you had to pick your favorite post-Roger song, what would it be? How far away would you guess that song would be from your Top 25 PF songs?

I'm also one of the ones that didn't put any songs from the Syd era. I didn't grow up with that music like I did with the stuff from the 70s, and by the time I heard it somewhere around the age of 15 or 16, I just thought it was too much like Strawberry Alarm Clock or The Crazy World of Arthur Miller. It was too far out for me, Daddy-O, you dig?

To far out? That's rich coming from a guy with three wives.

I’ve had two wives . . . and that’s 3 too many.

 

[FatMax]

Which album do people think we will see a song from first? DSOTM, WYWH, or Animals?

When this was posted, we were at #75. Still haven't got there yet. We are now in the top 50, and still no sighting. That speaks to the quality of these three albums.

 

[Anarchy99]

Which album do people think we will see a song from first? DSOTM, WYWH, or Animals?

When this was posted, we were at #75. Still haven't got there yet. We are now in the top 50, and still no sighting. That speaks to the quality of these three albums.

There is one coming on the horizon.

 

[PIK95]

@Dwayne Hoover @ericttspikes @BrutalPenguin @Mookie Gizzy @Rand al Thor @Anarchy99

I believe the 6 of us were the ones that did not vote for any song after Waters left the band. If you had to pick your favorite post-Roger song, what would it be? How far away would you guess that song would be from your Top 25 PF songs?

I'm also one of the ones that didn't put any songs from the Syd era. I didn't grow up with that music like I did with the stuff from the 70s, and by the time I heard it somewhere around the age of 15 or 16, I just thought it was too much like Strawberry Alarm Clock or The Crazy World of Arthur Miller. It was too far out for me, Daddy-O, you dig?

To far out? That's rich coming from a guy with three wives.

I’ve had two wives . . . and that’s 3 too many.

I'm reading Wheel of Time again and just took a break to check the thread....and I see Rand here.

 

[Dwayne Hoover]

Which album do people think we will see a song from first? DSOTM, WYWH, or Animals?

When this was posted, we were at #75. Still haven't got there yet. We are now in the top 50, and still no sighting. That speaks to the quality of these three albums.

There is one coming on the horizon.

My guess it will be from DSOTM just because I think we will go deep on it and it has the most songs of the 3. Great Gig in the Sky possibly? Maybe On the Run, there are probably a few fans of On the Run here?

 

[Anarchy99]

#47-T - Not Now John from The Final Cut (1983)

Appeared On: 4 ballots (out of 33 . . . 12.1%)
Total Points: 38 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 4.6%)
Top Rankers: @FatMax @Dr. Octopus @ericttspikes @Dwayne Hoover
Highest Ranking: 14

Live Performances:

RW: 38 (Montreal - 1987)

Covers: North Green, The Tribute Co., Brit Floyd, Pink & The Brain

Hollywood waits at the end of the rainbow for The Final Cut album, as we say goodbye to that album as it was originally released. The track is the only one on the album featuring the lead vocals of David Gilmour, found in the verses. This song is about how Hollywood cynically and unforgivably glamorizes war.

The lyrics deal with many of the themes Waters explored in other songs from the album, including war (particularly the Falklands War and British involvement therein) and criticism of UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, as well as general criticisms of the greed and corruption that Waters saw as dangers to society. Gilmour and Waters split vocals duties, similar to Comfortably Numb from The Wall, and they represent different characters or points of view. Gilmour is the self-serving ignorant layperson while Waters is the intellectual, responsible observer of the world's woes. However, Waters sings verses associated with Gilmour's character near the end of the song. When the album was in demo stages the song was actually sung by Roger Waters only.

Roger: "It's a very schizophrenic song, because there's this one character singing the verses who's irritated by all this moaning about how desperate things are, and doesn't want to hear any of it anymore. There's part of me in that. Then there's this other voice which keeps harping back to earlier songs, saying 'make them laugh, make them cry, make them dance in the aisles,' which is from One of the Few. So it's a strange song." During the fadeout of the song, Waters shouts "Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!" and "Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Now!" In The Wall's song Waiting for the Worms, it asks "Would you like to see Britannia rule again?" and repeats "Hammer!" during the outro. Many of the other songs on The Final Cut have connections to The Wall similar to this one.

The song was earmarked for a single release as it seemed to have the most energy of the songs on that album. Unfortunately, part of its energy is repeated shouts of 'F all that!' so Gilmour had to go back into the studio to change the vocals to something that could be played on the radio. The chorus line overdubbed to "stuff all that" by Gilmour and the female backing singers. That later became known as Not Now John (Obscured Version). Of course, it was scarcely worth his while, as the single didn't get much airplay and only hit #30 in the UK. It fared slightly better in the States, hitting #7 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Dave: "We more or less fell for a record company hype. Manager Steve O'Rourke said that American radio stations wanted Not Now John out as a single, and we just went along with it. The fact is, it still says 'F all that!' because it's just a copy of the master with me and some backing singers shouting 'stuff' a bit louder than F'.' I don't like the song at all."

In a review of The Final Cut, Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone described Not Now John as "one of the most ferocious performances Pink Floyd has ever put on record." Rachel Mann of The Quietus described Not Now John as "fun, but musically crass and obvious," further saying "this is Surrey Blues rock as vapid as the views it seeks to satirize."

The song was performed 38 times on Roger's 1987 tour.
Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 34
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 40
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 21
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 54
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 43

Vulture Ranking (34 out of 165 songs): Some actual energy evinced on this standout track from The Final Cut. It’s not really a Pink Floyd song — this was, after all, really a Roger Waters solo album, with all of the pinched sarcasm you’d expect, not to mention the overdone backing vocals — but it’s decent even for a Waters solo track, and having Gilmour finally singing (his only vocal on the entire album) improves the listening experience immensely. The song itself is a coherent blast at what Waters saw in British society at the time, among other things the crushing of workers’ rights using dubious rationales. In the end, I really don’t get what The Final Cut is about, though I am given to understand that the cut in question was an unkind one indeed, though not as unkind as the one Waters was about to get from his longtime bandmates. Gilmour said good-bye to Waters but kept the name and successfully beat back Waters’s legal challenges. The fired Wright was brought back as a for-hire member, and two very bad Waters-free albums resulted, as we have seen. But they each sold more than 10 million units! (And that’s not to mention 12 million in live album sales, and those cost basically nothing to record.) To top it all off, Gilmour led the band into the era of the modern high-end rock tour — and grossed about $400 million in the decade after Waters left, enough money to make even Waters’s songwriting royalties look small.

UCR Ranking (40 out of 167 songs): It’s almost as if, deep into his work on The Final Cut, Waters remembered that satire could be fun (and that music could be exciting). He also seemed to recall that Gilmour was just sitting there on the bench. David makes the most of his game time on the rocking Not Now John, ferociously tearing into lyrics that are a head-spinning mix of Waters’ personal and political demons come to life. For those who tut-tut at the song for being boorish, it’s a shame they can’t bask in the pleasures of this buzz bomb, complete with female backing vocalists screaming.

WMGK Ranking (21 out of 40 songs): Much of The Final Cut felt like a Waters solo album (it was the first and only album where Waters wrote everything by himself). Not Now John was an exception - possibly because it was also the only song on the album that featured David Gillmour’s lead vocals. It’s much catchier than the rest of the album. But the prolific use of the f-bomb prevented it from being a bigger hit.

Billboard Ranking (43 out of 50 songs): Something of a Young Lust retread, to be sure — Gilmour’s guitar solo even starts off identically — but the performance is committed and gritty enough, and it’s so nice to hear a voice besides Waters’ on The Final Cut‘s back end, that Gilmour’s growl Not Now John is lent a disproportionate kind of energy and urgency. Definitely the best use of the F word on a Pink Floyd record.

With The Final Cut mostly done, we move on to a song that asks "What's the news, and where you been."

 

[Dwayne Hoover]

#47-T - Not Now John from The Final Cut (1983)

Appeared On: 4 ballots (out of 33 . . . 12.1%)
Total Points: 38 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 4.6%)
Top Rankers: @FatMax @Dr. Octopus @ericttspikes @Dwayne Hoover
Highest Ranking: 14

Live Performances:

RW: 38 (Montreal - 1987)

Covers: North Green, The Tribute Co., Brit Floyd, Pink & The Brain

Hollywood waits at the end of the rainbow for The Final Cut album, as we say goodbye to that album as it was originally released. The track is the only one on the album featuring the lead vocals of David Gilmour, found in the verses. This song is about how Hollywood cynically and unforgivably glamorizes war.

The lyrics deal with many of the themes Waters explored in other songs from the album, including war (particularly the Falklands War and British involvement therein) and criticism of UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, as well as general criticisms of the greed and corruption that Waters saw as dangers to society. Gilmour and Waters split vocals duties, similar to Comfortably Numb from The Wall, and they represent different characters or points of view. Gilmour is the self-serving ignorant layperson while Waters is the intellectual, responsible observer of the world's woes. However, Waters sings verses associated with Gilmour's character near the end of the song. When the album was in demo stages the song was actually sung by Roger Waters only.

Roger: "It's a very schizophrenic song, because there's this one character singing the verses who's irritated by all this moaning about how desperate things are, and doesn't want to hear any of it anymore. There's part of me in that. Then there's this other voice which keeps harping back to earlier songs, saying 'make them laugh, make them cry, make them dance in the aisles,' which is from One of the Few. So it's a strange song." During the fadeout of the song, Waters shouts "Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!" and "Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Now!" In The Wall's song Waiting for the Worms, it asks "Would you like to see Britannia rule again?" and repeats "Hammer!" during the outro. Many of the other songs on The Final Cut have connections to The Wall similar to this one.

The song was earmarked for a single release as it seemed to have the most energy of the songs on that album. Unfortunately, part of its energy is repeated shouts of 'F all that!' so Gilmour had to go back into the studio to change the vocals to something that could be played on the radio. The chorus line overdubbed to "stuff all that" by Gilmour and the female backing singers. That later became known as Not Now John (Obscured Version). Of course, it was scarcely worth his while, as the single didn't get much airplay and only hit #30 in the UK. It fared slightly better in the States, hitting #7 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Dave: "We more or less fell for a record company hype. Manager Steve O'Rourke said that American radio stations wanted Not Now John out as a single, and we just went along with it. The fact is, it still says 'F all that!' because it's just a copy of the master with me and some backing singers shouting 'stuff' a bit louder than F'.' I don't like the song at all."

In a review of The Final Cut, Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone described Not Now John as "one of the most ferocious performances Pink Floyd has ever put on record." Rachel Mann of The Quietus described Not Now John as "fun, but musically crass and obvious," further saying "this is Surrey Blues rock as vapid as the views it seeks to satirize."

The song was performed 38 times on Roger's 1987 tour.
Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 34
Ultimate Classic Rock Ranking (out of 167 songs): 40
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 21
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 54
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 43

Vulture Ranking (34 out of 165 songs): Some actual energy evinced on this standout track from The Final Cut. It’s not really a Pink Floyd song — this was, after all, really a Roger Waters solo album, with all of the pinched sarcasm you’d expect, not to mention the overdone backing vocals — but it’s decent even for a Waters solo track, and having Gilmour finally singing (his only vocal on the entire album) improves the listening experience immensely. The song itself is a coherent blast at what Waters saw in British society at the time, among other things the crushing of workers’ rights using dubious rationales. In the end, I really don’t get what The Final Cut is about, though I am given to understand that the cut in question was an unkind one indeed, though not as unkind as the one Waters was about to get from his longtime bandmates. Gilmour said good-bye to Waters but kept the name and successfully beat back Waters’s legal challenges. The fired Wright was brought back as a for-hire member, and two very bad Waters-free albums resulted, as we have seen. But they each sold more than 10 million units! (And that’s not to mention 12 million in live album sales, and those cost basically nothing to record.) To top it all off, Gilmour led the band into the era of the modern high-end rock tour — and grossed about $400 million in the decade after Waters left, enough money to make even Waters’s songwriting royalties look small.

UCR Ranking (40 out of 167 songs): It’s almost as if, deep into his work on The Final Cut, Waters remembered that satire could be fun (and that music could be exciting). He also seemed to recall that Gilmour was just sitting there on the bench. David makes the most of his game time on the rocking Not Now John, ferociously tearing into lyrics that are a head-spinning mix of Waters’ personal and political demons come to life. For those who tut-tut at the song for being boorish, it’s a shame they can’t bask in the pleasures of this buzz bomb, complete with female backing vocalists screaming.

WMGK Ranking (21 out of 40 songs): Much of The Final Cut felt like a Waters solo album (it was the first and only album where Waters wrote everything by himself). Not Now John was an exception - possibly because it was also the only song on the album that featured David Gillmour’s lead vocals. It’s much catchier than the rest of the album. But the prolific use of the f-bomb prevented it from being a bigger hit.

Billboard Ranking (43 out of 50 songs): Something of a Young Lust retread, to be sure — Gilmour’s guitar solo even starts off identically — but the performance is committed and gritty enough, and it’s so nice to hear a voice besides Waters’ on The Final Cut‘s back end, that Gilmour’s growl Not Now John is lent a disproportionate kind of energy and urgency. Definitely the best use of the F word on a Pink Floyd record.

With The Final Cut mostly done, we move on to a song that asks "What's the news, and where you been."

The best song on Final Cut IMO. I'm not surprised where it ended up overall but it is solid. The backing vocals add to it and DG has some solid guitar work. Song has a pulse for sure.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

"What's the news, and where you been."

“How ya doin’ bro…where ya been…where ya goin’?”

 

[Mt. Man]

No songs from The Final Cut from me. But "Not Now John" was the closest to making it.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Not Now John is one of the few songs from The Final Cut that is listenable for me. I didn't rank it, and I am not even sure where it would rank had we done the long form lists.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Which album do people think we will see a song from first? DSOTM, WYWH, or Animals?

When this was posted, we were at #75. Still haven't got there yet. We are now in the top 50, and still no sighting. That speaks to the quality of these three albums.

There is one coming on the horizon.

Animals

 

[Ghoti]

No Final Cut songs on my list either. With a gun to my head, Not Now John probably would be the closest to making it for me. I have no problem with f-bombs, but it all comes across as so un-Floydian, I can't deal with it in this case.

 

[jabarony]

Comments on the highest Vulture ranked songs that we didn't rank . . .

Matilda Mother (24) from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn: One of the great early Floyd songs, and the hits just keep on coming on Piper. There’s something majestic here in the verses. The skeptical will note that the chorus gets whimsical and aimless, and doesn’t do the verses justice, which makes you wish Barrett had either (a) had a collaborator or a strong producer to help him take his songs to the next level or (b) done a Guided-by-Voices thing 30 years earlier, and just put out short songs with his limited number of undeniable riffs in them. Note that Wright has a songwriting credit here, but I bet it was the chorus.

Main Theme (42) from More: This really isn’t terrible, and it could be. There’s almost something reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver opening. Things get a little aimless and some of the riff seems to have been lifted from Set Your Controls for the Heart of the Sun, but it’s a credible piece of music and works terrifically in the film itself.

Let There Be More Light (48) from A Saucerful Of Secrets: An early Waters track from the second album. He was still searching for a songwriting voice — which lord knows he eventually found. But there’s a rockin’ groove here at the beginning, and then things go south quickly. There’s a little homage to Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, but a lot of ******** about “flowing robes” and “mighty ships.” Still, for Floyd at the time, really not a bad song. Has drama and force and isn’t terribly produced.

Grandchester Meadows (53) from Ummagumma: Named after a spot near a river in Cambridge, where Waters grew up. This isn’t a terrible song. It goes on too long, of course, but there’s something sweet and lulling about it. The usual issues of tonal consistency for the band at this point, however, still apply.

Take Up They Stethoscope And Walk (57) from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn: Fairly rocking — a little Kinks-y, and little Who-y, and even some early space-rock-y sounds from Barrett, highly derivative of “Eight Miles High” but fine even so. This is a Waters composition, but it’s another one of those early Pink Floyd tracks that makes you wish you could have seen how Barrett would have kept the band in line had he stayed with them. One more thing. I know I sound a little puckish when it comes to Pink Floyd’s pre-TDSOTM work. But compare this to, say, “I’ve Seen All Good People,” by Yes. Yeah, it’s a suite; yeah, it’s whimsical; and yeah, you want to slap Jon Anderson. But it’s highly musical, undeniably catchy, everyone in the band is operating at full gear … and it sounds great on the radio to this day. Leaving aside a rare spin of “See Emily Play” on an oldies station, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pre–Dark Side Pink Floyd song played on commercial radio.

Matilda Mother was in consideration for my top 25.

I feed dirty agreeing with Vulture.