Pink Floyd

A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)

Literary analysis by Steven Van Impe

Signs Of Life

The title of this instrumental is very meaningful: after 3 years of silence, finally a new album, while most fans thought Pink Floyd had ended.

The sounds of water we hear in the beginning, are recorded at the new floating studio that David Gilmour had built on a boat on the Thames. The last concert of the tour would be in Venice, on a floating stage. The Thames is a symbol of everlasting life, it is also know as the eternal river. Perhaps it is also symbolically for Roger Waters. The word 'water' appears a few times thoughout the album.

The vocoder voice (supported by computer sounds) appears to be reading a poem. I can hear the words ...In the churchyard ... riverbanks .... Perhaps it refers to Cirrus Minor (More) from 1969.

Learning To Fly

Reference to Learning to Crawl by the pretenders: their first album with new members, who had to replace two of them who had commited suicide. Referred to by Procol Harum (Learn to Fly, 1991) and Alan Parsons (On Air, 1996)

Flying is a metaphor for exploring new dimensions (more pop-oriented music) and also of freedom (from Rogers ego). It also holds a certain risk and incertainty. We know the idea came from a producer who tried to reach David, who was learning to fly. This means, that David will have to use the aviation term 'Roger' frequently!

Unusual for Pink Floyd, there's a stanza in this song. Some other songs on AMLOR also have stanza's but they're slightly different each time.

Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
A flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast, how
Can I escape this irresistible grasp?

The ribbon of black could be the horizon, or the take-off strip. No turning back is the point where there isn't enough fuel left to return to the original airport. It is also know as 'point of no return', but for the rhyme, Dave chose this variation. Learning To Fly is a song with a fixed rhyme structure. An alliteration on Flight of Fancy. This style form is frequently used in the AMLOR album. Fatal attraction: the pilot knows it is fatal, even lethal, but he can't escape. He is addicted to flying, even though it will kill him.

Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted Just an earth-bound misfit, I

Another alliteration: Tongue-Tied and Twisted. The ending letter I shows that the pilot is speechless, really tongue-tied. Tongue-tied also appears in an enigmatic stanza of Your Possible Pasts (from the Final Cut album), but it isn't sung by Roger. Perhaps Gilmour wrote these lines, and Roger refused to sing them, or Gilmour uses these lines to show Roger he uses the heritage of Pink Floyd?

do you remember me? how we used to be? do you think we should be closer? by the cold and religious we were taken in hand shown how to feel good and told to feel bad tongue tied and terrified we learned how to pray now our feelings run deep and cold as the clay and strung out behind us the banners and flags of our possible pasts lie in tatters and rags

Note: this is the only eight-lined stanza in Your Possible Pasts, so the two lines containing tongue tied aren't really needed for the song.

Ice is forming on the tips of my wings
Unheeded warnings, I thought I thought of everything
No navigator to guide my way home
Unladened, empty and turned to stone
A soul in tension that's learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try

A modern Icarus: Alan Parsons, in the quiz on the On Air CD-Rom, asks the question 'What is wrong with the myth of Icarus?' The correct answer is: the wax can't melt because Icarus gets too near to the sun: the higher you fly, the colder it gets. Dave uses the correct version: ice ! Another style form: repetition, yet correct in the context. It also gives a very un-reassuring impression: I wouldn't want to fly a plane when the captain announces 'I think I have thought of everything, so enjoy your flight!'. I am unfamiliar with aviation, but I think the navigator could be two things: a co-pilot, or someone at the airport who helps you find your way. Our pilot is completely alone. Turned to stone, or frozen? Either way, probably the engine stopped.

Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I

I see two explanations for the third part: a) the pilot gets deeper in trouble, but continues his flight. We don't know how it ends. b) the pilot has crashed, is dead, and experiences the ultimate flying experience as his soul rises to heaven.

Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,
My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air,
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly
Out of the corner of my watering eye
A dream unthreatened by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night
There's no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, A state of bliss

A. Above the planet: High up in the air, On a wing: a hangglider and a prayer: alone with God. A vapour trail: damage on the plane, losing fuel or pressure. Watering eye: Again the Water word! Corner of my ... eye: he doesn't see it clear. Compare to the lyrics from Comfortably Numb (The Wall):

When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse, Out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look but it was gone. I cannot put my finger on it now. The child is grown, the dream is gone.

Blow this soul through the roof of the night: The final solution for a pilot - eject! Suspended animation: even in danger, a fantastic experience, adrenaline kick. B. Above the planet: In heaven. On a ... prayer: from relatives and friends, praying for his soul. A vapour trail: his spirit or soul, grubby: eaten by the worms, buried. (how can a soul, that's immaterial, be eaten by worms?) Blow this soul right through the roof of the night: The word Soul says enough. If the Roof of the night is the sky, then above that (or through it) lies Heaven. State of bliss: eternal bliss? Death would be the ultimate kick.

The last two sentences of the 2nd part also point towards the latter interpretation: especially 'soul' and 'grounded'. There's also the special 'wind' or perhaps even 'ghost'-voice effect on this part.

The Dogs Of War

Reference to the Animals album.

Dogs of war and men of hate
With no cause, we don't discriminate
Discovery is to be disowned
Our currency is flesh and bone
Hell opened up and put on sale
Gather round and haggle
For hard cash, we will lie and deceive
Even our masters don't know the web we weave

Preparation of war: to be disowned, put on sale, weaving the web

One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world

An excellent occasion to mention the repetitive use of 'One ...': One Slip, One World, One Soul, One Sound, ...

Invisible transfers, long distance calls,
Hollow laughter in marble halls
Steps have been taken, a silent uproar
Has unleashed the dogs of war
You can't stop what has begun
Signed, sealed, they deliver oblivion
We all have a dark side, to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast

Beginning of war: Steps have been taken, has unleashed, begun.

The dark side has a double meaning for Pink Floyd: the regular one (like in the dark side of the Force) and the special one (like in The Dark Side Of The Moon). It means evil, as well as success!

One world, it's a battleground
One world, and they will smash it down
One world ... One world

A stanza, but a slightly different one: we becomes they, first it was our fault, but once the forces of evil have been released, there's no stopping them, as show the next part:

The dogs of war don't negotiate
The dogs of war won't capitulate,
They will take and you will give,
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door,
But wherever you go, you know they've been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain.

The dogs remain, whatever you do. They are omnipresent, unescapeable, invincible and infinite. There's no stopping them. The war can be prepared, it can start and it can rage, but it cannot end.

One world, it's a battleground
One world, are we going to smash it down?
One world ... One world

Very unusual for Pink Floyd : an appeal to the world. See also On The Turning Away.

One Slip

(© D.J Gilmour 1987) This song is an evident reference to David's divorce from his first wife, Ginger. He recently remarried to Polly Samson, who co-wrote the lyrics of The Division Bell. David sees his first marriage as being wrong since the beginning, pictured in One Slip. Yet Another Movie will tell the story of the divorce, the end of his marriage, and might also have been called 'One Slip, Part 2'. 'Yet Another' shows that it is a sequence of something.

Starts with the sounds of alarms, a bit like 'Time'. It depicts the sound of love at first sight.

A restless eye across a weary room
A glazed look and I was on the road to ruin
The music played and played as we whirled without end
No hint, no word her honour to defend

Played and played: Another repetition. Falling in love is irresistible even when you know it might cause your death, just like Learning To Fly.

I will, I will she sighed to my request
And then she tossed her mane while my resolve was put to the test
Then drowned in desire, our souls on fire
I lead the way to the funeral pyre
And without a thought of the consequence
I gave in to my decadence

I will, I will: Another repetition. Request could be a proposal. Funeral pyre: or is it lead the way to the altar? Of course, it could be even more than a wedding. Especially the last two lines suggest it's not the wedding, but the wedding night. Probably even without any wedding at all. (decadence)

One slip, and down the hole we fall
It seems to take no time at all
A momentary lapse of reason
That binds a life for life
A small regret, you won't forget,
There'll be no sleep in here tonight

Binds a life for life: it's really raining repetitions here. There'll be no sleep in here tonight: This could of course refer to the wedding night, or to the later stage: not being able to sleep because of the problems.

Was it love, or was it the idea of being in love?
Or was it the hand of fate, that seemed to fit just like a glove?
The moment slipped by and soon the seeds were sown
The year grew late and neither one wanted to remain alone

Idea of being in love: So very uncertain. Is he in love with love? The object of love doesn't matter, the emotion is important. It's obvious that such a relationship is bound to fail.The hand of fate will be back in Yet Another Movie. Soon the Seeds wer Sown: An alliteration, and a very clear image. You want a picture with it? See the P.U.L.S.E. cover! The year grew late: they were both becoming old, and wanted the social profits of being a couple.

On The Turning Away

Something we're not used of Pink Floyd: a social challenge, more than just Roger's sarcastic critics to society. Almost a Christmas song! Also a very good and strict rhyme pattern. It is a quite confused song, about two armies of good and evil, where most soldiers of evil are actually normal people who are too apathic to care. The good ones must act to win. It isn't quite clear who's good and who's evil, and on which side David Gilmour or his fans are.

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words that they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"

Turning away to a new (and better?) world is a theme we shall see again in Sorrow. We won't understand is almost profetic, predicting the future. On the other hand, the they would be the profets, not the we. Don't accept: Passivity is also guilt: don't just stand there, do something!

The German 'Wir haben es nicht gewusst' comes to mind.

It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud

The forces of evil are gathering, mostly because of apathy. A few rotten apples... 'We' are the good ones, but we're all alone. We live in the dream of the proud, the dreamworld created by those who don't want to admit they're wrong.

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

Wings of the night: Learning To Fly? Night is darkness, but in this case, not evil: it hides the good ones from the forces of evil. A silent resistance is gathering, equal to the masses of apathic people who are turned to the dark side.

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

Turning away: most people just don't look at the misery they see in the streets. They even don't look at their own feelings. They're neglecting their inner selves. It's not enough just to stand and stare: Deeds, not words (or looks). Dream: see Sorrow

Yet Another Movie

As stated above, 'One Slip, Part 2'.

One sound, one single sound
One kiss, one single kiss
A face outside the window pane
However did it come to this?

Adultry or jalousy? The face outside is David (I definitely should buy 'About Face'), and he sees his wife being kissed by another man. One single kiss, but still... The fact that he's spying on her, means he has an (imaginative?) reason to be jalous.

A man who ran: a child who cried
A girl who heard, a voice that lied
The sun that burned a fiery red
The vision of an empty bed

A man who ran: The 'lover' of his wife shows his guilt by running away. A child who cried: The child cries because its parents are fighting. Does David have any children? A voice that lied: Which one is the lie? the 'I do' from the marriage, or 'I don't have another lover'? Vision of an empty bed: In one single line, they are separated. Or perhaps one of them is sleeping on the couch? See also the cover, where Storm Thorgersson changed it to a vision of empty beds.

The use of force, he was so tough
She'll soon submit, she's had enough
The march of fate, the broken will
Someone is lying very still

Use of force: He tries to get a confession out of her by force. She'll soon submit: See also Take It Back (The Division Bell). The march of Fate: See the 'hand of fate which seemed just to fit as a glove'. Everything is determined by fate: fate brought them together and fate took them apart. Also note that faith is missing in this wedding.

He has laughed and he has cried
He has fought and he has died
He's just the same as all the rest
He's not the worst, he's not the best

Laughed and cried: Through happines and sadness He has died: till death do us part. Just the same: It could happen to everybody. It's not really his fault.

And still this ceaseless murmuring
The babbling that I brook
The seas of faces, eyes upraised
The empty screen, the vacant look

Ceaseless murmuring: The gossip he started, and can't stop. Like the Dogs Of War: everybody knows about it, wherever he goes. Did she sell his story to Rolling Stone? (referring here off course to The Final Cut.)Seas of faces: Shall we set out across this sea of faces: Empty Spaces (The Wall In Berlin). Is Roger using David's words as a revenge?

A man in black on a snow white horse,
A pointless life has run its course,
The red rimmed eyes, the tears still run
As he fades into the setting sun

A man in black on a snow white horse: Death has come to get him. Pointless life: Does he commit suicide? Life flashes before his eyes, and he sees it has been pointless. Tears still run: Whose tears? His own? His wife's? Those from The ones who really know you (like in The Wall)? Why? Because of his death, or because his life was pointless?

Round And Round

Murmuring of a man and a woman talking... can anybody understand this dialogue?

A New Machine - Part I

Vocoder effects create the image of a robot (like Marvin from The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, a very popular book by Douglas Adams, Floyd-fan and friend of Dave. Marvin was a robot with 'brains the size of a planet', but trapped inside a small, inappropriate and failing body). A person without emotions becomes a robot.

I have always been here
I have always looked out from behind the eyes
It feels like more than a lifetime
Feels like more than a lifetime

The first part is about the past.

Sometimes I get tired of the waiting
Sometimes I get tired of being in here
Is this the way it has always been?
Could it ever have been different?

The second part is about the present, with questions about the past: he doesn't remember.

Do you ever get tired of the waiting?
Do you ever get tired of being in there?
Don't worry, nobody lives forever,
Nobody lives forever

Do you...: Questions in the present about the future. Perhaps retorical questions, perhaps by somebody else, the person saying the next two lines: Don't Worry. Reassuring words. From who? Perhaps from Queen? (Who wants to live forever, when love must die) The love for his wife died, so he must die too.

Terminal Frost

Goes back to the 'Coldness inside' from On The Turning Away. An often used theme in Science Fiction (Star Wars, Azimov, ...): carbon freezing people for one-way time travel.

A New Machine - Part II

I will always be in here
I will always look out from behind these eyes
It's only a lifetime
It's only a lifetime
It's only a lifetime

He is resigned to his fate: the future. Also note that Dave copyrighted Part Two in '86 and Part One in '87. Talk about time travelling!

Sorrow

This is a quite difficult one, I've had many arguments with my friend about the interpretation. The fact that it was a poem before it was a song doesn't make it any easier.

The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky:
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers,
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking

The sweet smell of death is a common phrase in poetry. Plumes of smoke: Factories polluting the air? (Like on the 'Animals' cover) Or perhaps burning houses, from war? No reason for waking: his dreams will never become reality.

He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough

Lost paradise: Reference to 'Paradise Lost'. Youth or dream: a very long time ago, so long he doesn't even know it is truth or fantasy. World that's departed: Two possibilities: a) the real world is departed, lost, bad, ... b) the lost paradise is departed, gone, will never return. It's not enough, it's not enough: I repeat, repetition. Materialism of this world. Reference to Queen: 'I want it all'

His blood has frozen curdled with fright
His knees have trembled given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered

At the moment of truth:
just then the phone rang. i never had the nerve to make the final cut.
(The Final Cut)

Or how fear leads to failure of intentions and even of body functions.

One world, one soul
Time pass, the river rolls

One world: One world: but he describes two worlds: the real one, and the lost paradise! The river is of course the Thames, see also Signs of Life and the next stanza.

And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication
And silent replies that swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be

More difficulties: is it the River of lost love... or does he talk of lost love to the river? Is it of lost love and of dedication, or of lost love and lost dedication? Oily sea: Pollution, see first part. grim intimation: however bad the present world is, the future is worse.

There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder that words,
Of promises broken

Dust in my eyes: reference to Kansas, Dust in the Wind. Rhyme on blInds mY sIght. Promises broken: Also the sentence is broken: the scheme of previous stanzas would suggest another half line.

The lyrics and logo on these page are © 1987 by Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd.
Some lyrics are © Pink Floyd and/or Roger Waters.
The literary comments and explanations added are © 1996 by Steven Van Impe