• About me
  • What is this?

Radical Totality

~ an experimental creative laboratory by Mark Snyder

Radical Totality

Tag Archives: In The Flesh?

Blogging The Wall: “In The Flesh?”

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Mark Snyder in music

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Al Filreis, In The Flesh?, Kelly Writers House, Pink Floyd, The Wall

Roger Waters- The Wall Live, Raleigh, NC 7/9/12

Roger Waters- The Wall Live, Raleigh, NC 7/9/12

So you thought you might like to go to the show

To feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow

Tell me, is something eluding you, Sunshine?

Is this not what you expected to see?

If you want to find out what’s behind these cold eyes

You’ll just have to claw your way through this disguise

 

I had planned to include Youtube clips from the album versions of each song, but they have been pulled from Youtube because of copyright.  Instead, video footage from the Earl’s Court concert from 8/9/80 is available on Youtube, so I’ll include that instead.  In some ways, that’s fortunate as I tend to prefer the live performance, as this piece was conceived as and always intended to be (it appears to me, anyway) a rock opera performed live.

One quick note on the concert footage- it’s hard to tell with the grainy footage, but careful inspection will reveal that in this video it is not the members of Pink Floyd performing this song!  It is the backing band wearing rubber masks made up to look like the band.  The man singing this song is not Roger Waters- if you look closely you can see he is wearing a mask- but it it Waters’ voice.  The real band was raised on a platform onto the stage after the first song.  The use of the “surrogate band” is foreshadowing, as we’ll see later.

The album begins very quietly with a minor-key accordion melody, and Waters’ voice is heard saying “I came in?”  Later we’ll see the significance of this.  The Earl’s Court concert begins with a fake announcement interrupted by the beginning of the song- an effect that is quite startling on the album as well.

The song is in 12/8 time in the key of A minor, and begins with a doubling of lead guitar and bass introducing the first of several key motifs in the piece, which starts in the tonic, jumps up a fifth, then progresses downward in a scalar pattern, repeating and modulating a few times until it arrives at the dominant chord (E), leading into the beginning of the song itself.

Two bars before the lyrics begin, we are introduced to the “Wall” motif, here presented as a doubling of guitar and bass playing E-F#-G-F in dotted half notes. This motif is woven throughout the album, transpised into a number of keys and with variations of rhythm, serving to tie the work together. It’s a subtle introduction to the motif but it is clearly present.

The lyrics are accompanied by a simple I-IV-I-IV-I-iii-IV-V7 rock progression.  The rhyme scheme is AAXXBB.  Each line takes two measures of music, and the rhythm of each line is mostly simple even eighth notes with occasional syncopation.  The melody is simple and repetitive, except for a leap spotlighting the word “feel” and a quick E-F#-G#-A cadence to end the song (the same cadence used after the Wall motif was introduced, and note that the cadence itself is a small variation of the Wall motif).

As I said in the previous post, the idea for The Wall came from the frustration the band felt during the 1977 “In The Flesh” tour- the title of the song being an obvious reference.  Waters had the fantasy of the band playing behind a wall to separate the band from the audience.  I see this song, beginning the show, as a reenactment of those 1977 concerts.  This time Waters startles the audience and grabs their attention.  “Hey!” he seems to be saying.  “Is this not what you expected to see?  You want to hear our usual psychedelic stuff, pharmaceutically enhanced [a space-cadet glow]?  Not this time.  Wake up!  I want to show you who I am.  If you want to find out what’s behind these cold eyes [they certainly do look cold behind the masks], you’ll just have to claw your way through this disguise.”

The piece ends with a repeat of the “In The Flesh” motif, as Waters begins the show, shouting “Lights! Roll the sound effects!  Camera! Action!!”, thus formally beginning the show, and we hear (and see) a plane diving and possibly crashing.  It’s not explicitly stated, but the plane evokes to me World War II, particularly the Battle of Britain and Waters’s father’s combat, important themes to be explored later.

This song functions as a prelude.  Pink, the fictional character whose story this is, has not yet been introduced.  To me this is Waters playing emcee and inviting us into the story.

June 2022
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Apr    

Recent Posts

  • Patent No. 2,124,022
  • New book now available: EPITAPH 
  • Excerpt from Epitaph
  • Snow
  • (no title)

Archives

  • April 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012

Blogs I Follow

  • Observer
  • kushtrimthaqi
  • A PILLAR OF SOCIETY
  • annamosca
  • M.O.A
  • Poetry On A Roll
  • notes by scribblerbean
  • A Topsy Turvy World
  • FracturedGalaxies
  • Wuji Seshat
  • She's in Prison
  • Zora Neale Hurston study group
  • Offtheravenstongue's Blog
  • The 365 Poetry Project
  • Read A Little Poetry
  • Awake & Asleep
  • Poesy plus Polemics
  • "It is as it is"
  • New Beginnings
  • mentalnotes1

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 195 other followers

Art Coursera assignment drawing music NaBloWriMo painting parody photograph poetry Uncategorized

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Observer

News, data and insight about the powerful forces that shape the world.

kushtrimthaqi

Just another human being who's trying to reach new levels of consciousness.

A PILLAR OF SOCIETY

annamosca

Poetic Landscapes Of The Spirit

M.O.A

Poetry On A Roll

"free-verse" poetry from the soul

notes by scribblerbean

life in the margins, caffeinated.

A Topsy Turvy World

Disorder shall prevail thanks to Sister Entropy

FracturedGalaxies

Wuji Seshat

Selected Poems

She's in Prison

Poetry by Leanne Rebecca Ortbals

Zora Neale Hurston study group

Offtheravenstongue's Blog

Just another WordPress.com site

The 365 Poetry Project

Read A Little Poetry

Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life? ― Mary Oliver

Awake & Asleep

Letters from Edinburgh to Manila, and Back

Poesy plus Polemics

Words of Wonder, Worry and Whimsy

"It is as it is"

New Beginnings

By Erika Enriquez

mentalnotes1

POETRY, RANDOM THOUGHTS AND STUFF LIKE THAT....

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Radical Totality
    • Join 195 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Radical Totality
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...