Pink Floyd, Waiting For The Worms - A Classical Musician’s In-Depth Analysis

[@LeeKennison]

Excellent In-Depth. As with your other more recent Wall In-Depths, you were able to deal with these difficult and troubling hateful ideas, and the walls we build around ourselves that allow these ideas to fester; doing so in a thoughtful non-judgemental way that you are so good at. And as you point out, these are not just things that can only happen to others, but they can happen to us too, if we are not aware of this tendency we have to project our problems on others. We need to take time to reflect in a more inward self-reflective way to avoid being pulled in these harmful directions in building our own walls, and not just look for outward scapegoats to pile our discontentment on. Good job Vlad in working in the sound clips from the song.

[@mikaeldk5700]

Great video

[@peterliljeholmen5703]

In my book (of poems) this The Wall series of reactions and in depth’s is epic and the best reactions ever made on YT. It is so refreshing to hear your brilliant mind dissecting the intricate work by another great mind (Waters) and the musical execution of Gilmour and the other genius of Pink Floyd. Looking so much forward to your completion of The Wall and your initiation of a new Pink Floyd album. Let’s hope we’ll see it soon! ❤

[@joegillam1497]

I was born near Cable Street and there are still street murals commemorating the local community coming together to win the battle of Cable Street. There is a great sense of pride in East London in its stand against Fascism. Pride that lives on today. Great work Amy.

[@nickosP-o3e]

👍👍👍👍👍👍...very intersting(excelent) analisys, you provide new enidence in the meaning of lyricks(Mosley's party), i didnt know this part of history in early(30's) Britain.

[@Marnie-hates-winter]

This is a brilliant analysis, but I'm shocked because I had such a different interpretation of this song when I've listened to it. So, I "discovered" this album when I was 17 in the 80s. I watched the move 32 times that year, and listened to almost nothing else except the album while driving in the car. What I always thought this latter part of the album was about was that Pink saw how his audience reacted at his concerts, how he could tell that he had great power over them, and it greatly disturbed him. In his isolation, his mind had turned so far inwards that fantasizing/daydreaming became a big part of this life. Seeing how his fans seemed to act like a mob, he started to fantasize about how their mob mindset could be used - how far that mindless crowd would go. He didn't feel deserving of any of this adoration or idolization, yet he knew he could rile them up to do any number of things. This reminded him of Hitler, who had taken his Dad from him, and this just made him hate himself more. The adoration did not lift him up, but pushed him further and further into the depths of despair, into his mental illness. I had very little knowledge of history when I first heard this. I also was quite immature for my age (still am). I am not an abstract thinker and I never have been great at interpreting lyrics. And since I memorized every word of every song on this album, I had long since stopped actually really hearing them. I never revisited the lyrics mentally as I got older and more knowledgeable. My original interpretation stuck. This entire series has been phenomenal beyond words. Most of it was additional information, but this new outlook on the lyrics actually has not just enhanced but changed my views on the album as a whole. Fantastic series, and as I said in another comment, they need to start giving awards for KZbin videos/series like the Oscars and if they did, this SHOULD absolutely win. I've never seen any better content on KZbin other than this series.

[@popsmcgee9775]

Good Lord, Amy! Thank you for that exquisite analysis, and continuing to surprise me with observations that have never occurred to me despite enjoying, listening to, and "studying" this album for decades.

[@TomGrifa]

Amy, so happy we’re back to the wall. I’ve been listening to this album for 45 years but you have brought new life with your wonderful analysis. Thanks so much from a dedicated subscriber 😊

[@Marnie-hates-winter]

If they had Oscar Awards for KZbin content, this series would definitely win, hands down.

[@jeffreydarnell366]

Finishing this album would be fantastic ❤

[@manlioyllades]

Waiting for the next analysis to come 😁

[@israelmacario3853]

Another great analysis. I've read other people's analysis of the album but yours is the best.

[@cooktheogre]

It's repeating in America now

[@Metal73Mike]

The juxtaposition of Gilmour's and Water's voice is the stuff of legends... Arguably the best rock opera ever written ! Thank you for sharing 🙂

[@louisemiller3784]

I’m a new subscriber and I must say I find your analysis very engaging, insightful and a marvellous breadth of knowledge. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to you.

[@audiophileman7047]

Very good, Amy, I'm so glad that you've recognized the sources of Roger's ideas in this king of rock concept albums. It isn't just a story. It's a history and abnormal psychology study. There's much to admire when Roger points out the dangers of fascism and fascist thinking in our own lives, but Ironically Roger fails to recognize the totalitarianism that arises from socialism and communism. Not only does he fail to recognize it, he embraces it. Not only does tyranny never leave, it has many faces.

[@brucer2152]

Bravo! Master class analysis.

[@richpeltier9519]

Before I had a taste for rock, I was big fan of a lot of the pop music I was exposed to in school choir, Barry Manilow, John Denver, Captain and Tenielle, stuff like that. When I learned later that Toni Tenielle was part of creating the harmonies for this song I was overjoyed. What I'd heard was that Rog wanted a Beach Boys type harmony, to counter point the other part of the song (as you noted in your reaction). The boys weren't available, so they got the best that were. It really does create an amazing contrast to the ugly part.

[@joegillam1497]

Apparently Toni had no idea what she was working on when she did the harmonies. 😊 Bruce Johnston from the Beach Boys is on this as well as well as on the Show Must Go On. Wonderful harmonies from David, Roger, Richard, Bruce and Toni.

[@sambirch6784]

What we in the English-speaking world have forgotten is that we are not immune from the temptations of fascist ideology. Roger Waters was telling us this 45 years ago, through 'The Wall', that fascism doesn't die, it waits under the surface for an opportunity to start picking off the vulnerable, in this case Pink. The four note motif we hear throughout the album when subjects turn dark is reminiscent of the two note motif in 'Jaws' which begins when the shark is unseen in the vicinity of the vulnerable. In 'Waiting For The Worms' the monster breaking the surface is not a shark but fascistic ideologies that stalk and pick off the vulnerable in the same way. Sometimes the vulnerable is not just an individual but a whole section of society.

[@captainsatellite2112]

Saw Pink Floyd perform The Wall in its entirety at the LA Sports Arena in Feb 1980. Friends and I drove from UC Berkeley to LA for the show. Crew built a wall out of cardboard bricks during the show, with the last brick put into place right at the end of Goodbye Cruel World. Floyd played all the side three songs behind the wall except for Gilmour, who played the Comfortably Numb solos at the top of the wall. They then played side four in front of the wall as the fascist alter egos, performing Show, Run Like Hell, Waiting for the Worms and the Trial before the wall tumbled down and the original incarnation ended the show with Outside the Wall. The Gerald Scarfe video art (later used in the movie) was projected on the wall during the show. Amazing concert.

[@paolomantovani9596]

Sei bravissima, complimenti.

[@altair8598]

You have put an awful lot of time and effort into this, especially with having to refer back to the relationship between a riff on this and an earlier appearance or two on tracks you covered many months ago. And you are so observant. Thanks. The only time you got it wrong was in your interpretation of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'...

[@quantenmoi]

Some notable external musical connections I would point out: 1. The cadence and melody of the line "Would you like to see (Britania rule again)" is very similar to "I'd like to be (under the sea)" from "Octopus's Garden" by the Beatles. Octopus's Garden is a very innocent song that was popular with children. 2. The vocal harmonies here are very reminiscent of The Beach Boys who also have a quite innocent aura about them. 3. The main motif (E F# G F#) that appears in this song and throughout the album is reminiscent of "Song of the Volga Boatmen." Volga Boatmen was often employed in Soviet military propaganda. The bass vocal chant "Waiting" in this song further emphasises the connection to Volga Boatmen through yet another song reference. "Waiting" harkens to the "O-Ee-Oh Ee-Yo-Oh" song that the Witch's castle guards sang in The Wizard of Oz. And that song itself and the way the guards were dressed was a parody of Volga Boatmen. So connections abound!

[@chris-pee]

Fun fact: the original plan was to have all members of the Beach Boys harmonize on "Waiting For The Worms" and "The Show Must Go On," but they could only get Bruce Johnston - he's one of the background vocalists on The Show Must Go On, not 100% sure about Waiting For The Worms.

[@quantenmoi]

@@chris-pee Thanks! Didn't know that. Glad the similarity wasn't just my imagination!

[@formulajoe2]

Oh man I can’t wait till she gets around to Dark Side of the Moon!

[@grahamokeefe9406]

It's hard to hear, but mixed in with the "Hammers" chant is a "Pink Floyd" chant. I've made this comment before, but I think it bears repeating: Waters is explicitly calling out his audience as a mass of manipulatable souls that can be easily snared by fascism. He's making a direct statement that rock stars can be those kinds of bad leaders that he's portraying. He was not the first or the only one to make this observation. David Bowie got in a lot of trouble for saying "Europe is ready for another Hitler", and in live performances of "Won't Get Fooled Again", Pete Townshend followed up the line "I know that the hypnotized never lie" with a taunting "DO YA?!" to the audience. This is perhaps not the main point of the song or the album, but it's an interesting feature that I think deserves to be noted. He's not just observing. He's warning us. (Granted this warning is a little ironic coming from Waters, but that's an argument for another day.)

[@yes_head]

By the time she's done with this album Amy could probably write a book about it. If only they taught college courses about Pink Floyd like they do for The Beatles.

[@greggebhart3305]

Great analysis

[@coyote4237]

Well done, thank you.

[@angusrobertson2515]

Fantastic analysis Amy.

[@petersattler22]

While Pink ultimately gets redeemed, we are left to wonder; How can we make sure this doesn't happen again? Perhaps that is the overarching theme of the album? Perhaps, even a warning for us today? (Especially today where the climate is ripe for these kinds of ideas to flourish!!!) So, what can we do to help the Pink who felt alienated by his teachers; the ones who were supposed to be helping him? How can we support him as he recognizes and tries to recover from a dysfunctional home? The course Pink took came with a great cost to those around him. How can we make it better for everyone? These are tough questions with no easy answers. Much soul searching is required. Perhaps it is one of the most important tasks we can try to address because history sadly repeats itself. That cycle is cruel and unrelenting and leaves much damage in its wake. Its lessons are punishing, then forgotten once again. How can we break the cycle?

[@LeeKennison]

That is the key question. One that has perplexed human history for millennia. Not that there are not answers. The answers have probably been there all along. The problem is getting people to agree, and actively try to resist our worse human instincts. Which are tribal like instincts that are probably ingrained in our DNA, or at least in our psyches.

[@cooktheogre]

That's why it is set up to be played on repeat, you can seamlessly transition from the last track to the first and that was done to make a point.

[@vendasch666]

I'd love to hear such an in-depth analysis of babies by pulp

[@stevenbrill9066]

I'm wondering if Gilmour was actually cringing when he had to sing both the brittannia and Coloured Cousins lines He must have felt very uncomfortable 😳😲🤢

[@almorad981]

Not as incomfortable as singing roger's mother part !

[@captainsatellite2112]

Toni Tennille of Captain and Tennille was one of the backup singers on this song and The Show Must Go On.

[@TheGarrymoore]

It was not only the British Union of Fascists; it was also the royal family that saluted in Nazi style (there are videos on the internet), and it was the British football team at the 1936 Olympics that saluted Hitler with the famous gesture.

[@hippydippydude8895]

Would be exciting to see your reaction on The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn album

[@edwhite517]

Brilliantly brutal. Again Shostachovitch 5 in a song. So relevant now. Gronland et ikke hvor sale.

[@stanleymyrick4068]

It was a dark and stormy night. The captain leaned on the railing of his ship and looked down at the small figure of his son beside him. "Tell me a story, my son." And so he began... It was a dark and stormy night. The captain leaned on the railing of his ship and looked down at the small figure of his son beside him. "Tell me a story, my son." And so he began... It was a dark and stormy night. The captain leaned on the railing of his ship and looked down at the small figure of his son beside him. "Tell me a story, my son." And so he began... etc... something like that.

[@educaracas726]

Awesome sauce!

[@lilaelsi5766]

This new persona is called Hammer. That’s the new name of Pink.

[@goncalomarinheiro7052]

Fantástic

[@CharlesBraddythepoetartist]

You might like early pink Floyd better❤

[@almorad981]

It's interesting to see that the early years fans never like waters era,

[@gbsailing9436]

Message for Amy: The harp sounds so fuzzy. Could it be your mic's? Sounds horrible...like you have way too much reverb on the harp's channel...

[@diverdown631]

No new song today?

[@QuesoWatt]

Like most double albums, The Wall has (just about) a single album's worth of decent music. But Waiting for the Worms is frigging awful.

[@grahamokeefe9406]

It is perhaps not the easiest to listen to, but it serves a crucial role in the story.

[@tellmelullabies5552]

But Amy, they are eating the cats…

[@Mhantrax]

She doesn't even have to talk about "them." This is history. This is psychology. This is social psychology. This is the present.

[@joegillam1497]

A case in point.

[@jem77469]

I respectfully submit that neither Roger Waters, nor Amy, nor *you* have witnessed your community overtaken by immigrants who outnumbered the locals. It's easy to be righteous when your own life has not been disrupted.

[@ludlowworthington697]

I wonder if anyone has ever made a counterpoint song to The Wall about useful walls. A theme in my life has been learning to defend my own boundaries, physically and mentally. It’s a jungle out there in ways. I’ve known a few manipulators who’d try to convince me setting boundaries at all is a sin. (Convenient for them.) I think a society has a similar right, if it’s self protection and not about demonizing people.

[@joegillam1497]

@@ludlowworthington697 I don't think boundaries are the same as the wall. Boundaries are malleable and simply delineate one person from another to encourage negotiation and compromise. A wall is a metaphor for actually blocking someone out, so there is no communication anymore.

[@GaryNoone-jz3mq]

Pink is a female performer. Pink Floid is an all male band. 😊

[@fabienniezgoda5512]

Here, "Pink" is the main character of The Wall... 🙄

[@grahamokeefe9406]

Pink Floyd had their fictional front man "Pink" way before the pop singer was even born.

[@jmurray2018]

Didn’t like that song, had some nice harmonies but on the whole I don’t like Pink Floyd, loved the Who track you played the other day that was cool. When you’re finished with pink Floyd are you gonna do the greatest prog type band Marillion?

[@mewtwobaws5420]

Blasphemy

[@joegillam1497]

Marillion are to Pink Floyd what Justin Bieber is to Mozart.

[@jmurray2018]

@@mewtwobaws5420 not really I think Pink Floyd are just boring I just don’t like them.

[@jmurray2018]

@@joegillam1497 I agree Justin is miles better than Mozart he was overrated just like Pink Floyd 😀

[@robertwest4596]

Wear a new outfit....just once.....please !!!

[@diverdown631]

Nah! That's her trademark look.

[@thundernels]

I don’t know her motivation, but I would imagine that she is trying to keep the focus on music and not personal fashion. A second reason may be that if these videos have to be filmed over several days, the clips will cut together better. Also, if she films several videos in a day, she doesn’t have to worry about changing outfits. 3. It may be her KZbin “get in the zone” uniform. 4. If a dude wore a similar looking suit in a video series, it’s doubtful it would receive comment at all.

[@beardookeashley3946]

Ummm. No. Quite frankly, she addressed that already in a prior video.

[@louisemiller3784]

For goodness sake what difference does it make, we are here to listen to her musical analysis not for a fashion parade. Give it a rest

[@grahamokeefe9406]

She's addressed this before. As a mom of a very young child, she has to record when she can. She keeps the sweater at hand so she can look presentable when she needs to get in a quick one.

[@vruz]

I think it's not Waters who sings the "woo-hooooos" but (if I remenber correctly) Bruce Johnston, of The Beach Boys. Waters actually wanted the full Beach Boys band to take part, but that wasn't to happen.