Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (1 Viewer)

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

Can someone explain what this song is about? I really can not figure it out. I want to say it is about heroin but that sounds too obvious to be true, there has to be a deeper meaning that I am not catching.

 

[Justin Lane]

During Floyd concerts it was (is) a popular song to light one up for and get stoned to the bone. There is a definite drug connotation to the song.

J

 

[Ron Etaylor]

I never understood the meaning, but I love the song. If that guitar solo doesn't kick ass, I haven't heard one that does.

 

[Jordan_E]

In the context of THE WALL, I think the song states that 'Pink' has reached a point where everything bombarding him has left him "Comfortably Numb." And by the time the Floyd played the song at the concert I saw, I was indeed "Comfortably Numb!"

 

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

I never really liked comfortably numb to tell you the truth. Not until I heard the live performance from pulse. Blew my mind. Spectacular.

 

[Yee-Ming]

my absolute favourite Floyd song (#2 is Shine On You Crazy Diamond). mainly because of the guitar solo, which some consider to be Gilmour's best-ever work.

AFAIK, it is simply about drugs. the movie shows Pink sitting in his hotel room, completely stoned and probably ODing, when his manager comes in to presumably haul him off to the concert he's supposed to perform. he's OD'ed, and the paramedics rush in and try to revive him and all.

"there is no pain, you are receding..." rather says it, doesn't it?

which "version" of that solo would you consider the best? my vote goes to the version on Pulse.

 

[Robert_Dufresne]

The song is best heard when you are stoned

 

[Christopher P]

I tend to like this song off of "Pulse" or the "Delicate Sound of Thunder" more too, a little bit more mellow and haunting duing the 2 verses, to increase the contrast between the beginning and the guitar jam during the 2nd half.

In the context of "The Wall" Pink has been confronted with all the demons of his past, all the bricks have been laid, and it ushers in his transition to demagogic leader. He sits in his hotel room and (maybe?) becomes at peace with his fame. In the next song, he asks "I didn't mean to let them tke away my soul....is it too late?"

Being "Comfortably Numb" may mean accepting the fate he has been given, and how the bricks of his past have been laid, and they can't be undone, just like dreams of youth often fade with the onset of middle age. "The child is grown, the dream is gone." Or maybe it's just about getting toasted....I don't know. Never figured out the point of him finding the rat in the movie, but I know that the film isn't necessarily gospel.

Chris

 

[JordanS]

Justin Lane,

No, I'm sorry; you are mistaken. It is a song about the relationship between doctor and patient. The "drug" correlation isn't the type of drug you are thinking like marijuana, cocaine, or heroin. It is something else.

I think the best version is on ITAOT or PULSE.

 

[Mike Click]

Did you know that Delicate Sound of Thunder tape is selling used $30 or new at $189. I have the tape from being naughty, the same Roger Waters in Concert in Berlin. CD I have the gold plated 2 disc set The Wall pre-record with full cover art box. DVD Roger Waters: In the Flesh. Yes I still like to get comfortably numb or stoned 'eating' Alice B. 'Toke'las recipee and other ingredients.

 

[Mike Broadman]

No, I'm sorry; you are mistaken. It is a song about the relationship between doctor and patient. The "drug" correlation isn't the type of drug you are thinking like marijuana, cocaine, or heroin. It is something else.

Are you sure? How do you know this for certain?

I always took it to be both- that the doctors and managers are just as damaging as the dealers and other obviously negative influences.

NP: Porcupine Tree, Metanoia

 

[Justin Lane]

Justin Lane,

No, I'm sorry; you are mistaken. It is a song about the relationship between doctor and patient. The "drug" correlation isn't the type of drug you are thinking like marijuana, cocaine, or heroin. It is something else.

LOL

Sorry, that's not my impression nor most of the other comments posted so far in this thread. Have you ever attended a Floyd, Waters, or Gilmour concert? I can assure you that there is more pot being lit up during this song then any other. It cracks me up whenever there is a Floyd thread there are always those who try to defend them as not being a drug band or having anything to do with drugs (like there is something wrong with that fact). I wonder if those who defend Floyd in this sense are only familiar with their work from an album prospective (and not live).

J

 

[Mark C.]

Gee, I've seen the Floyd live five times (including three of The Wall shows) and was straight for each one. I wanted to remember every minute.

I think the song has to do with a mentally unstable person who is too far gone to perform, but who is brought "back'' from his stupor by his manager and entourage, who will do anything to make sure their meal-ticket keeps on producing.

BTW: I'll never forget the sight of Gilmour jamming from atop the wall during the song's ending guitar solo. A tremendously bright light shone behind him, casting his shadow over nearly the entire audience.

 

[andrew markworthy]

IMHO, the drugs and the doctor-patient theory is more plausible.

It's got to be seen in the context of The Wall album (or movie). By this stage, Pink has barracaded himself in his hotel room following a little television-bashing episode. The roadies try to get him to come out (hence the knocks on the door and the 'time to go' calls) before giving up and presumably breaking down the door. They find Pink in a disturbed state and get a doctor to give him an injection of something that will get him through the show (hence all the lyrics about 'they'll be no more Aaaah, but you may feel a little sick' and 'come on it's time to go'). This trips Pink into a series of flashbacks about childhood ('when I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse' etc) presumably of a similar state when he had a fever and was hallucinating (this bit is psychologically accurate: high fever can induce delirium - a.k.a. acute confusional state - in children pretty easily). Pink has now utterly lost contact with reality, and on the final side of the LP, he will engage in a fascist fantasy (the early songs on Side 4 are an attack on the far right political fringe groups in the UK at the time) as a consequence of feeling utterly divorced from humanity (i.e. 'comfortably numb') before coming back to his senses.

I agree that the song has become something of a stoners' anthem, but this is only if you take a superficial view of the song (which let's face it, is the most your average pothead can manage).

 

[Al B. C]

Dave's not here man. So let's fire one up!

What's with the superficial crap.

I'll bet that 90% or better of the people that compose these songs with "deeper meanings" than your average pothead can comprehend, are blasted out of their heads on better weed than I could ever afford.

 

[Christopher P]

Good discussion, but we should remember that just because someone associates something with a song, it doesn't necessarily mean that was the artist's/writer's intentions. Many times people, or even worse, corporations, attach their own meanings to songs. "We Are The Champions" doesn't mean woohoo we just won the Superbowl. "Fortunate Son" isn't about cologne, or whatever the hell ad that song is attached to. Just because people associate getting stoned with "Comfortably Numb" that doesnt mean that's what the song is about. Just the opinion of one who's never gotten baked.

Chris

 

[Louis C]

I think "just a little pin prick" and other such lines make it pretty clear this is about either (a) illicit drug use or (b) Pink's deteriorated mental condition and his need for medical attention.

My 2 cents

 

[JordanS]

Which is definitely the second Louis------the lyrics actually were semi-inspired from a certain event that happened in the "Animals -77" tour where Roger needed medical attention to be able to keep performing--------that is what "Comfortably Numb" is about-------sure it is a great song to get high to though------hell, most of Pink Floyd's catalogue is great for that---

 

[Mike Click]

I had Pink Floyd on from the CD I was listening to, I hit F6 HTF came on. I went to movies then music by then *I* was comfortably 'numb' listening to my number 1 group. The Beach Boys who were at times comfortably numb themselves, Brian just took off like Jim Morrison only Brian was lucky enough to live and have children.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Which is definitely the second Louis------the lyrics actually were semi-inspired from a certain event that happened in the "Animals -77" tour where Roger needed medical attention to be able to keep performing--------that is what "Comfortably Numb" is about-------sure it is a great song to get high to though------hell, most of Pink Floyd's catalogue is great for that---

I've read (or heard? from the DVD commentary?) that too, but I seem to recall it happened much earlier in his career. He was "sick as a dog" (I remember those exact words) and some doctor came in and gave him a shot of something, and then they dragged him out on stage to do the show.

In my opinion the doctor-patient context is correct and there's plenty of evidence to back it up. The movie does count for something, since Roger Waters is credited with writing the screenplay. Also, consider how for this song during the live concert, Roger takes on the role of a doctor, complete with white labcoat, stethoscope, and an ambulance delivering a great big hypodermic needle which he sticks into the wall.

Just listen to the verses of "Comfortably Numb" and imagine them being spoken by a doctor, and it should start to make more sense.

But as someone who has never done drugs and never will, I have to ask why is this the perfect song for lighting up a doobie? At the concert I attended about 8 years ago, Comfortably Numb was the last song of the second set, the big finale before the obligatory encore. (Cue the world's largest disco ball.)