Songfacts®: You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.
Roger Waters wrote the lyrics. While many people thought the song was about drugs, Waters claims it is not. The lyrics are about what he felt like as a child when he was sick with a fever. As an adult, he got that feeling again sometimes, entering a state of delirium, where he felt detached from reality. He told Mojo magazine (December 2009) that the lines, "When I was a child I had a fever/My hands felt just like two balloons" were autobiographical. He explained: "I remember having the flu or something, an infection with a temperature of 105 and being delirious. It wasn't like the hands looked like balloons, but they looked way too big, frightening. A lot of people think those lines are about masturbation. God knows why."
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." 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.
Exploring further, Mojo asked Waters about the line, "That'll keep you going through the show," referring to getting medicated before going on-stage. He explained: "That comes from a specific show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia (June 29, 1977). I had stomach cramps so bad that I thought I wasn't able to go on. A doctor backstage gave me a shot of something that I swear to God would have killed a f---ing elephant. I did the whole show hardly able to raise my hand above my knee. He said it was a muscular relaxant. But it rendered me almost insensible. It was so bad that at the end of the show, the audience was baying for more. I couldn't do it. They did the encore about me." (thanks, Cody - San Diego, CA)
Dave Gilmour wrote the music while he was working on a solo album in 1978. He brought it to The Wall sessions and Waters wrote lyrics for it.
Gilmour believes this song can be divided into two sections: dark and light. The light are the parts that begin "When I was a child...," which Gilmour sings. The dark are the "Hello, is there anybody in there" parts, which are sung by Waters.
Waters and Gilmour had an argument over which version of this to use on the album. They ended up editing two takes together as a compromise. Dave Gilmour said in Guitar World February 1993: "Well, there were two recordings of that, which me and Roger argued about. I'd written it when I was doing my first solo album [David Gilmour, 1978]. We changed the key of the song's opening the E to B, I think. The verse stayed exactly the same. Then we had to add a little bit, because Roger wanted to do the line, 'I have become comfortably numb.' Other than that, it was very, very simple to write. But the arguments on it were about how it should be mixed and which track we should use. We'd done one track with Nick Mason an drums that I thought was too rough and sloppy. We had another go at it and I thought that the second take was better. Roger disagreed. It was more an ego thing than anything else. We really went head to head with each other over such a minor thing. I probably couldn't tell the difference if you put both versions on a record today. But, anyway, it wound up with us taking a fill out of one version and putting it into another version."
This was the last song Waters and Gilmour wrote together. In 1986 Waters left the band and felt there should be no Pink Floyd without him.
When they played this on The Wall tour, a 35 foot wall was erected between the band and the audience as part of the show. As the wall went up, Gilmour was raised above it on a hydraulic lift to perform the guitar solo. It was his favorite part of the show.
In the movie The Wall, this plays in a scene where the main character, a rock star named "Pink," loses his mind and enters a catatonic state before a show. It was similar to what Syd Barrett, an original member of the band, went through in 1968 when he became mentally ill and was kicked out of the band.
This song is the final step in Pink's (Roger Water's) transformation into the Neo-Nazi, fascist character you see in the movie
The Wall. Medics and the band manager come in and give Pink a shot to pull him out of his catatonic stupor, the manager pays protesting Meds some cash to shut up and let him take Pink to the concert in the state he's in (obviously a threat to his health, but the Meds, who probably don't make enough money, accept). In the movie Pink begins to melt on the way there, and underneath he finds that he is the cruel, fascist model of a Nazi party representative by the time he arrives at the concert. Supporting this, afterwards are the songs "The Show Must Go On" (Pink realizing as he gets to the show that there isn't really any turning back, and he's forced to go on-stage), "In the Flesh II" (the redone version of the first song on the album, now with Nazi-Pink singing, threatening random minorities), and "
Run Like Hell" (after the crowd, loving nazi-Pink, has been whipped into a frenzy, now hunting minorities in the street, much like late 1930 Germany). While it does seem that this is a song about the "joy of heroin," it has little, if any connection to heroin even if it's condition resembles that of somebody who's totally wasted. (thanks, Alex - Town, CT)
A dance version by the Scissor Sisters was a #10 UK hit in 2004. It was released as the B-side of their first single, "Electrobix," but drew much more attention. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
David Gilmour played this on his 2006 solo tour, where he was joined by Pink Floyd keyboard player Rick Wright. (thanks, Dogma - Alexandria, LA)
Van Morrison played this with Roger Waters at a 1990 concert Waters organized in Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. This version was used in the movie The Departed and also appeared in an episode of The Simpsons.
Gilmour's second guitar solo on "Comfortably Numb" regularly appears in Best Guitar Solo of All Time polls. In an August 2006 poll by viewers of TV music channel Planet Rock it was voted the greatest guitar solo of all time. For the solo, the Pink Floyd guitarist used a heavy pick on his Fender Strat with maple neck through a Big Muff and delay via a Hiwatt amp and a Yamaha RA-200 rotating speaker cabinet. Gilmour told Guitar World that the solo didn't take long to develop: "I just went out into the studio and banged out 5 or 6 solos. From there I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and mark out bar lines, saying which bits are good. In other words, I make a chart, putting ticks and crosses on different bars as I count through: two ticks if it's really good, one tick if it's good and cross if it's no go. Then I just follow the chart, whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase and trying to make a really nice solo all the way through. That's the way we did it on 'Comfortably Numb.' It wasn't that difficult. But sometimes you find yourself jumping from one note to another in an impossible way. Then you have to go to another place and find a transition that sounds more natural."
Comments (314):
Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Richard Marx
Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.
Pam Tillis
The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.
Get the Ringtone
Get Song @ Amazon
Get the Sheet Music
View Lyrics
The following can describe my state in the midst of my usage which usually involved two seperate types of drugs and sometimes a third. I was for all intents and purposes a social zombie who is now seeking help through psychiatry. I didn't have any inkling of what an addict was - much less suspect I was even close to being one.
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.
Well I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again.
Relax.
I'll need some information first.
Just the basic facts.
Can you show me where it hurts?
The following part describes my state further by mentioning "you are only coming through in waves" which is to say that I was very introverted, selfish and off in my head somewhere most of the time. The "fever" is another way of describing my addictive tendencies that began to emerge (in retrospect) when I was just starting elementary school. I was awkward at many things social hence, my hands felt like two balloons. That awkwardness comes back to me every once in a blue moon and for the life of me I can never expect when it will actually strike.
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.
Here, almost universally, is the part where folks think the song is about drug usage for the purpose of being high. I find the opposite to be the metaphor. The pinprick is the sudden flash of sanity one experiences prior to deciding to make a go of getting and staying clean. Feeling sick is another way of saying one goes through withdrawal symptoms. "That'll keep you going through the show" is the part where I inject the relationship with my Higher Power as an extension of the flash of sanity.
O.K.
Just a little pinprick.
There'll be no more aaaaaaaaah!
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.
I've left out the repeated lines to focus on the closing lyrics which basically describes the missed opportunity of growing up a normal kid. But now that I'm grown, and having survived three decades of drug and alcohol abuse, my relationship with my Higher Power has been such that my restoration to sanity has made that all just what it is - in my past. New life has emerged and money cannot possibly buy this. No drug can supplant it.
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.
I have become comfortably numb.
Syd Barrett is not a vegetable. Yes, he experimented with drugs, but that was in his earlier years. Before he died in 2006, he was comfortably living in his childhood hometown of Cambridgeshire. By then, he was writing literature, painting, gardening and enjoying his isolated life. I'm almost positive his "endless drug experiments" were over by about 1980-ish.
I'm Syd's biggest and youngest fan. I'm offended that people would say stuff about him like that.
Actually that can be said for all Floyd songs. I think everybody here, whether they debate about drugs and Floyd or not, can agree that the band is the closest thing on this planet to what we can call "Pure Unadulterated Genius!"
Just the way it is structured , its like Gilmour is showing us that he could continue to do it forever and ever, and it would only get better and better and better...
anyway - the live version on "Is there Anybody out there" tops all versions of this song in my opinion; the only one with a better guitar solo was probably the Live 8 performance.
"I think it's good if a song has more than one meaning. Maybe that kind of song can reach far more people."
The truth is......exactly what Roger has said the song is about. No more, no less. While lyrical interpretation can be a great thing, in this case it just leads to more unintentional comedy than anything else.
Oh, of course Jay from Atlanta, he must have never ever been sick as a child! How could we be so silly and thoughtless? No on ever gets sick when they're children!
Personally I think it's about what he says it's about. That tends to be the right answer. If God bent over and told you the meaning of life and the world, would you believe him or would you not believe him because you thought it was about drugs? Lol sorry.
happy birthday david gilmour- he's sixty three today.
to be? Perfection!!!!
And two of the coolest guitar solo's of all time in one song.
Pure and simple, this is what the song's about: dissallusionment gone to the extreme.
Even in the movie, the boy gets infected with something nasty from a dying rat that he touches, again reinforcing what Roger Waters himself (you know, the guy who WROTE it) has said it is actually about.
Now, this is to many people, Floyd's finest work ever.
I personally prefer "Us and Them," but the lyrics to CN are some of their finest, and Dave Gilmour's solo is undoubtedly his best ever, and probably one of the best from ANYONE.
Why is it so hard to understand? This is simply the story of chemical medical intervention into a man's brief confrontation with his own natural mortality. "There is no pain, you are receding" He sub-consciously recalls from his youth a similar brush close to death's embrace, and feels a reminisent mortal detachment and confusion.
"I can't explain, you would not understand, this is not how I am"
Numb is the nirvana that comes with full relinquishment. In that context, the coldly artificial intrusion of medicine seems perverse and sinister.
"OK, just a little pin prick" "...I do believe it's working, good." The dream, that harbinger and softener of death, is postponed once again and now numb is the experiance of going through the motions of a life extended.
could do to a fragile character.
Currently, Syd is dwelling in his childhood domicile(Cambridgeshire, England). He is rarely seen and prefers arts of hand, composing literature as well as gardening far away from foul-mouthed lowlifes with no decency, which is what a some of you have mindlessly displayed.
iv seen interviews when roger says its about being sick
one of the best songs and guitar solos ever
God Darn Right.
When younger, I had a severe reaction to some kind of vaccine and was with a high fever, etc. I know I DID see "it" out of the corner of my eye; others have had the same experience. But when you try to look at it directly, it is gone.
At the end, you've lost your childhood dreams, you can't find "it" any more, people don't understand that "this is not how I am" and you've reached the point that you are so un-feeling that the pain is gone and you are left with a sort of don't give a damn despair.
A VERY sad song, actually.
Hahahaha. You should learn about serious events like WW1 and 2, by studying history books, not watching television documentaries. PS Adolf Hitler didn't listen to country and western, either.
Is that coincidence? Or was that done on purpose?
Of course, I don't think this is what they based on to write the song, since I just heard it from one person. It was my dad though, lol.
anyway there's a nice video clip of the song played in that concert ,with a funny frame of gilmour after he finished to scream
not only is Gilmour the best gitarist ever, he has such a beautiful voice, and Water's lyrics just can never be beaten, it's such a shame the two don't get along, they were brilliant together and i wish they'd just leave the past behind them and play together again, pink floyd could change the world if they wanted to, in a way, they already have
anyone feeling me on this? brnelson@rustoleum.com
You're misinterpreting things and seeing what isn't there. "Just a little pin prick" [and a little A major chord played high up on an electric piano or something similar]
There'll be no more [Aaahh]. The aaaah is the terrible way he feels, and the pinprick is whatever the medics injected him with to relieve the pain, bring him down, whatever.
Great song, with two of the best guitar solos in all of rock.
I like what Michael from Oxford wrote about the misplacement of that scream. It's something real interesting to realize, i think it was meant both to express "pain" in general and a scream as a response to that "little pinprick". Kind of talks about, well, proportions, perspective.. there's a lot of stuff in this song.
oh, and I also like what John form VA wrote.
- Fact : David Gilmour - Born March 6, 1944
- Fact : The Wall came out in Nov 30, 1979
- Fact : David Gilmour was 35 when he wrote this solo.
- Fact : "The Dark Side Of The Moon was toured before the album was made. That determined things - they worked onstage before they ever got to record. And I suppose that's the big difference on this thing. It [The Wall] was purely made in the studio" - David Gilmour
- Fact : When commenting on writing a guitar solo Gilmour once said "I tend to go for a solo by just putting on a guitar without even thinking about the key or anything. I just hammer through it until it feels right. I try to get disoriented, if you like. That helps me find an approach which I refine and work on.
"
While it is objectionable whos styles or songs are 'better' than others, this work represents one of the most acclaimed rock songs ever written in terms of emotions conveyed and technique. It is hard to say something is 'better' than something else when opinions can vary, but what *can* be said is none can claim to do it better than Gilmour does here.
when i was child, preschool, i got a fever, so high i had febral convulsions, i.e., halucinations. my description of them to my brothers in that state revealed them to be beautiful/pleasant. like waters, i cannot put my fingers on them now.
anyone who has ever had the dubious pleasure of taking thorazine knows that your hands feel like two ballons. in fact it's very difficult to get them in your pockets. an amphetamine shot would be an effective temporary antidote to that feeling (but see your doctor). but the song transcends any narrow drug message. it concerns loss of the beauty we get a fleeting glimpse of as children and how as artists we struggle to get it back--maybe with drugs, maaybe not. interestingly, the famous abstract expressionist painter de Kooning referred to himelf as the "slipping glimpser."
john kents store va.
same point: his aim was to capture that glimpse that we see but cannot put our finger on!
john of kents store va.
While I'm here, I'd just like to share with you that when I was 16 and sitting in Mum and Dads backyard, I had my first spiritual experience. I was being coccooned by over protective parents and had no real idea about such things. comfortably Numb came onto the radio, and even in such a dead, suburbian scenario, I knew that there was something very very special about that song. When that music was composed, God was there with him!
Christine, Victoria, Australia
just nod if you can hear me!
A shot is given to Pink to calm his nerves and so on.
By the way, is the movie good? I was going to rent it but a friend of mine described it as "F***ed up" and said it ruined the album for him so i decided against it.
This song could be about what ever the listener wants it be.
This song is not about drugs, insanity, or sickness (although it can feel like it). It is about a state of conciousness where you feel alienated, isolated, lonley, and lost (even if you are surrounded by people who love you). This song explores the deepest realms of human nature, and can even be compared to certain traits of paranoid or avoidant personality disorders. IN the movie, Pink needs drugs in order to perform. Although this state can be achieved with drugs, it can also be achieved simply through a self-destructive ego building a "wall" around yourself, causing you to not care nor feel anything, not emotions, not from your closest family or friends. It is desolate and similar to a deep depression but there is not much sadness, hence "comfortably". When Rogers says it isn't about drugs, he is right. I know the feeling.
And, for you length-junkies, it's only 33 secs shorter (that's less than 6%).
Sometimes I feel like in this song. When you have a fever, and you're in a weird state of feeling detached from the world around you. And yet, it feels strangely good...hence comfortably numb.
The instrumentals can be noticed after he says "Hello.. Hello... hello.." The instrumentals are like a "duuuue" sound that fades away. This to me symbolizes the nodding in and out of alertness while on opiates.
The giveaway to me that this song can represent the feeling of opiates is the lyrics: "Ok, Just a little pin prick" (the pin prick is the syringe containing heroin or some narcotic) "There'll be no more AHHHHHHHHHH!" (The ahhhhh is supposed to indicate pain, heroin and opiates are relievers of pain.) "That'll keep you going for the show, come on its time to go." (Didn't he have to take something to get him up on stage once because he was going through severe pains?)
You may not think this is what the song is about and even Waters says its not about that but to me that is what it means.
That's just my opinion.
It is about an illness he suffered as a child.- he has repeatedly said this is what it was about, why on earth do you think you know better?
Oh yeah, they come with lyrics too so you can read for yourself.
-I'll remember that the next time I give a crap! (Kidding)
"The band states this is not about drugs."
- Let people believe what they want. Don't be a SUBJECT NAZI! (Just kidding...)
I love this song- great band- good times.
and that's what they wrote most songs about, but that's just me
I originally thought it was LSD, but when I tried DXM, I read this trip report and totally realized this guys trip report coincided with "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, Oh, and yes, I was actually ON DXM the moment I figured it out... which was quite cool...
http://leda.lycaeum.org/?ID=5831
More Proof in Lyrics:
"There is no pain, you are receding"
- Pain is less "pain"full, you feel it.. but it isnt really bad.
"A distant ship wil come the horizon"
- Depth perception is skewed.
"You are only coming through in waves"
- Flanging of sound occurs when people talk.
"When I was a child.. I had a fever, my hands felt just like.. 2 baloons. Now ive got that feeeling once again.. I cant explain.. You would not understand..."
- My hands felt "light" and distant, I felt like I was when I was a child, feeling new things in life.
"I have become comfortably numb"
- You feel numb, I felt it particularly in the face, although its not bad.. nor good... but.. "comfortably numb"
"Okay, Its just a little pin prick, there will be no more.. OUCH!...
- Pain is less noticeable, there is no more "OUCH" although you do feel it.
"but you may feel a little sick..."
- Nausia occurs if you take it with the wrong food usually at the start of the trip.
"Can you stand up... I do beleive its working good..."
- I noticed the high ONLY after I stod up. Standing up was much more fun then sitting at my computer.
But now when I listen to this song I think it is about an addiction to OBE's (Out of Body Expereinces). He talks of having a fever when he was young and his hands felt like to balloons. I relate this to a near death experience, were he is leaving his body. I find these notions in alot of Pink Floyds songs.example "Learn to Fly" and many others.
YOU BLOODY BRAINDEAD F*CKING TOOL! you said that its not about drugs and then you make a comment like that! Guess what most injections contain "Mr musical expert" D-R-U-G-S you fool!
Second of all your explaination is wrong i dont care if you think you work for velvet revolver who by the way shoudve fought harder to keep Axel rose.. they were actually good as guns and roses, which is more then i can say for them as V.R... The song is about drugs.. thats not a bad thing.. most of the world's best song were written while on drugs. its no secret that almost all great bands did drugs (Floyd, Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, AC/DC). Dont lie to yourself, he is comparing the fever to being high, but it is about drugs and there is no arguement about it. Waters may have said it isnt, but NO good song writers, or poets for that matter, will tell you the real meaning of their work. FLOYD IS GREAT, THEY DID DRUGS, THEY WROTE A SONG ABOUT IT, IT'S AN AWESOME SONG.. END OF F*CKING STORY
If you'd like to know about any lines I didnt include i'd be happy to enlighten you
Anyhow, I am pretty sure that "katy, Eden Prairie, MN" nailed it. I used to think that the song was about heroin, but The Wall lead me to believe that it was a stimulant, not a downer (such as heroin), was used in order to get "Pink" energized enough to play. (Hence the "pin prick" and "feel a little sick" lyrics, stimilants can make on nauseous too, not just heroin does that)
These are just my opinions (re: Live 8 and the song.) If I've ticked you off, remember, just take it with a grain of salt.
For all of you arguing about the meaning of this song; I think you're probably all right. Naming Pink Floyd a 'Drug Band' is insulting as they are musical geniuses - regardless of whether they took drugs. They are artists who create a masterpeice such as this song, it is a three dimensional piece of work in which we all see from a different angle, if you see drugs then there is proabably an element of that in there, if you see alienation you can probably see into the core of this song...It's personal and the music reaches a spiritual level. One thing I do know from experience, is that their music becomes a divine piece of existence when you take acid (or even just grass) and listen to them - better yet watch the whole movie, it'll blow you away - because they started off in the acid rock phase, they found the path and began it, so whatever you see is your interpretation of this piece of art. I guess they are viewed as a drug band because it so enhances the experience of their music. Try it...you will find everything makes sense and becomes clear..and not just their music.
The fact that the film DOES show Bob Geldof (not Roger Waters, whoever typed that) off his face and getting jabbed does not mean that the song is about drugs! Get a grip! Is 'The Wall' about bricklayers?
The song is part of the 'rock opera' that is The Wall - and not to be viewed in isolation. That doesn't mean you can't get blasted to it, or give it whatever meaning you wish it to have as you listen.
Oh (and Helen, you are spot on), Syd (Shine on You crazy Diamond) is not brain dead, in an asylum, or otherwise metally unstable (that isn't to say that he wasn't a touch cuckoo c1968) - he is alive and well and living in a suburb of Cambridge, about 8 miles from my house.
I can't explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am" or what abot this? "You are only coming through in waves.Your lips move but I can't hear what you're sayin" when we feel we are not listened
The majority of the song is in a major key, and this doesn't appeal to me that much, but I must agree that the last solo is incredible. The PULSE version everyone refers to is truly amazing - Gilmour is on fire. Best ever? I wouldn't say so...
Zach- I dont have MTV, so I missed it and I feel like I missed something truly great. I can only imagine.
http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/audio/cnumb/Floyd_Comfortably_Numb_under_construction.mp3
Waters sings clearly in the earlier version that he is a physician. Check the site out.
I believe the first verse is a dealer of sorts talking to the writer of the song.
The dealer tells him he basically has any drug.
"And I can ease your pain, get you on your feet again."
He asks him what's he looking for.
"I need some information first. Just the basic facts. Can you show me where it hurts?"
I think he probaly shot up some heroin which makes you feel no pain and gives you a sinking into your seat type of feeling.
"There is no pain you are receding."
It probaly hit him pretty hard and he zoned out.
"You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move, but I can't hear what your saying." ~referring to the dealer
Now in the song he's just telling us all that when he was a child he was sick.
He was probaly given a morphine drip which has almost the exact same effects as heroin, just not the rush of shooting it up.
"Now I've got that feeling once again..."
Heroin basically makes you feel VERY comfortable.
"I have become comfortably numb."
Second verse he's just referring back to the dealer talking to him, and him shooting up.
"Okay. Just a little pinprick."
"They'll be no more AAAHHH."
This is the dealer telling him that when he gets on stage the yelling of the crowd won't even seem loud.
When on heroin nothing can really bother you.
The dealer asks him if he's okay and tell's him he'll be cool.
He then says it will last the whole show and that he has to leave.
The second time the chorus comes in I believe when he says:
"You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move. But I can't hear what your saying."
He is now referring to the people at the show. Us.
He then goes back to telling us that when he was a kid, he caught a little glimpse of heroin, (morphine drip).
"I have become comfortably numb." He likes the feeling he is getting.
JL: Are there a number of rock and roll doctors that way, in real life? He's kind of a maniacle cat. I mean, he's really kind of evil, this doctor, in a way.
RW: Yeah. I had one guy once who thought I'd got food poisioning for an upset stomach. And he thought I had stomach cramps...he wasn't listening to me at all either. In fact, I discovered later on that I had hepatitis. He gave me this tranquilizer, it was in Philadelphia, and boy that was the longest two hours of my life. Trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm. If he'd just left me alone, the pain I could have handled. It was no sweat. I could hardly lift my arms or move any of my limbs. God knows what he gave me, but it was some very heavy muscle relaxant.
Stef8819" Rock Hill SC
without drugs now but am still feel good about it!! so what if its a drug song? tell so ? should artistic talent have limitation they didnt kill any body !! or start a war!!!!!
is this acceptable??
Watch the movie a few types of drugs can be seen..
1,the nice piece of smoke,pin hole burns.
2.pills laying around..
3 Young lust at the start Pink wipes his nose after snorting coke....
He needs the adrelenin boost cos he's a blown out rock star,just like Syd was..
n it is right up there wit stairway and november rain in solos
1) Stairway To Heaven
2) Eruption - Van Halen
3) Free Bird - Lynyrd Synyerd
4) COMFORTABLEY NUMB -PINK FLOYD
5) All Along the Watchtower - Hendrix
6) November Rain - GnR
Its goes on n on...
I believe it is about his childhood. Definitely looking back on something that tore a hole in his life. Something that he missed or regreted. He has become depressed thinking about it, probably before a show, and the band cannot get him to do the show because he is so emotional. His friends try talk to him about it to find out what is wrong. But he can only see their lips moving and cannot understand what they say, because of this depression he is having. So they decide to give him some drugs, possibly heroin or something to make him feel much better and make everything like a "distant horizon." Then he goes to the show with no worries and no pain.
There are probably hundreds of lines in pink floyd lyrics, where you can find some drug referances, if you want to find them. This is mostly because most of pink floyd lyrics are quite abstract and because all that Pink Floyd = Drugs hype.
And yes, Pink Floyd and drugs are a great combination...use with caution ;)
Sometimes songwriters do not want to tell the public what the song was really about. It keeps kind of a mystery about it. Thats what the guy who wrote "American Pie" did.
I know what heroin feels like, and yes, on the surface the song may be about drugs. But you have to dig deeper. That's the whole frickin' premise of The Wall. I suppose you think that Goodbye Blue Sky is about drugs? Waiting for the Worms? Run Like Hell? The whole album?
1. Insanity could be considered comfortably numb. In the movie, "pink" has gone through so much crap, that without the constant drugs, it could be argued that this is only way he could live out his days. Seriously, does anyone think a 12-step program would help his mind?
2. Not sure the name of the drug, but there is a drug administered in Hospital ER's for overdosed patients to cover/mask the pain of withdrawal. Since most addicts use during "downtime" it would make sensse that Pink would have to be sober enough for a show, and to hell with the rest of the time. Numb = no withdrawal pain? Seems plausible
My interpretation is that although it says "pin prick" and "keep you goin for the show" that this is just imagery for a larger picture.
For a real honest interpretation cutting out the sarcasm. I would like to focus on the lines
"I turned to look, but it was gone,
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown, the dream is gone,
I have become comfortably numb."
He grew up and doesnt have the same ideals and dreams as he did as a child. He is comfortably numb with the horrors of the world. He does drugs to relieve the pain of whatever troubles him emotionally.
For example, if one were to go to war and become numb to all the killing going on and just routinely go out there and fight... that's what he is talking about.
for example "just a little pin prick" "but yoy may feel a little sick"
Anyway, this is without a doubt one of the greatest songs of all time.