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More than words: Waters gets comfortably numb on tranquillizers
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Pink Floyd (c: photobucket)
Have you ever loved a song to the point of ridiculousness but no matter how hard you try, you just can’t understand the lyrics? What was the artist thinking when writing your favorite tune? More Than Words, a weekly column, will help to delve a little deeper…
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd (The Wall, 1979)
Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, “Comfortably Numb” was featured both as a single, and as part of the 1979 double album release of The Wall.
Thanks to the 1982 premiere of the movie Pink Floyd The Wall, a metaphorical film using songs from The Wall to tell the story of Pink, a rockstar with a troubled past, many believe that “Comfortably Numb” is about heroin use. A scene in the film shows Pink being given a shot by his manager and paramedics to rouse him from a catatonic state. The drugs cause Pink to hallucinate.
However, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Roger Waters' was injected with tranquillizers for an illness, (rumored to be Hepatitis B), by a doctor prior to playing a Pink Floyd show in Philadelphia in 1977. "That was the longest two hours of my life," Waters said. "Trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arms." It is understood that the lyrics are based on the conversation between Waters and the doctor.
This is particularly clear when looking at the lyrics in the first verse;
Hello,
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Come on now.
I hear you're feeling down.
I can ease your pain,
And get you on your feet again.
Relax.
I'll need some information first.
Just the basic facts.
Can you show me where it hurts?
Arguably, it can be said that these lyrics could be between Waters and a paramedic trying to revive him after a drug overdose. However Waters suggests that the situation in Philadelphia was so horrific, it triggered inspiration for the song. The experience reminded him of having fever as a child, when his hands “felt just like two balloons”, and (in Philadelphia) he “got that feeling once again”. The state of being ‘comfortably numb’ comes from the drugs used to help him through the illness.
“In a radio interview around 1980 with Jim Ladd from KLOS in Los Angeles, Waters said part of the song is about the time he got hepatitis but didn't know it. Pink Floyd had to do a show that night in Philadelphia, and the doctor Roger saw gave him a sedative to help the pain, thinking it was a stomach disorder. At the show, Roger's hands were numb "like two toy balloons” – just as they had been when suffering with fever as a child. He was unable to focus, but also realized the fans didn't care because they were so busy screaming, hence "comfortably" numb. He said most of The Wall is about alienation between the audience and band.” Songfacts.
Water’s conversation with the doctor continues;
Okay,
Just a little pin prick.
There'll be no more aaaaaaaah!
But you may feel a little sick.
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good.
That'll keep you going through the show.
Come on it's time to go.
In 2004, the song was ranked #314 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Wikipedia.
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