Another Brick in the Wall

"Another Brick in the Wall" is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera, The Wall, subtitled Part I (work title Reminiscing), Part II (work title Education), and Part III (work title Drugs), respectively, all of which were written by Pink Floyd's bassist, Roger Waters. It has become one of the most famous Pink Floyd songs.

Part II is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in particular,^[1] which led to the song being banned in South Africa during the apartheid regime.^[2] It was also released as a single and provided the band's only number one hit in the United Kingdom, the United States, West Germany and many other countries. In addition, in the US, along with the tracks, "Run Like Hell", and "Don't Leave Me Now", "Another Brick in the Wall" reached number fifty-seven on the disco chart ^[3]. In the UK, it was their first single since 1968s "Point Me at the Sky", the song was also the final number one single of the 1970s. For Part II, Pink Floyd received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group and lost to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind". In addition, Part II was number 375 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.^[4] The single sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

The single, as well as the album The Wall, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after the song was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequities in education.^[5]

Concept

Each of the three parts have a similar, if not the same, tune and lyrical structure (though not lyrics, aside from the "all in all" refrain), and each is louder and more enraged than the one before, rising from the sadness of Part I to the protesting Part II to the furious Part III. This tune is repeated in almost every song on the album, albeit in a different form each time.

Part I

Composition

Part I of the song is very quiet dynamically and features a long, subdued guitar solo. The vocals are softer and gentler in tone than in Parts II and III, although there is a short, sharp rise in dynamics and tone for a brief period towards the end of the lyrical portion. Sniffing, shouting, wailing, calling, and children can be faintly heard in the background, along the lines of "You! Stand still, laddie!"

Plot

The Thin Ice discussed during the previous song breaks when Pink becomes older and learns of the death of his father. Pink is devastated by this reality and begins to build The Wall.

Film version

Pink's mother is seen praying in a church after the death of her husband overseas. Pink, however, is, at this point, oblivious of his death, and can be seen playing with a toy airplane. The song continues with Pink playing in a public park after his mother leaves him to go shopping. He sees a man who he takes a liking to in the absence of his own father. The man gives Pink a lift onto a ride, and it's clear Pink feels as if this man is his real father. Pink follows the man's son around, copying him, but doesn't understand why the other boy's father isn't paying attention to him. He grabs the man's hand but is shooed away, only to grab the man's hand again. The man pushes Pink away again, and dejectedly he sits on a swing.

Part II

"Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)"
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album The Wall
B-side	"One of My Turns"
Released	November 1979 (UK) January 1980 (US)
Format	7"
Recorded	April-November, 1979
Genre	Progressive rock, disco
Length	3:11
Label	Harvest (UK) Columbia (US)
Writer(s)	Roger Waters
Producer	Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"Have a Cigar" (1975) "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" (1979) "Comfortably Numb" (1979)

Composition

In the album version of The Wall, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" segues from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", with a trademark Roger Waters scream. The song has strong drums, a well-known bass line and distinctive guitar parts in the background with a smooth, yet edgy guitar solo. The song also features a group of school children for lead vocals in the second verse: as the song ends, the sounds of a school yard are heard, along with the teacher who continues to lord it over the children's lives by shouting such things as "Wrong! Do it again!" which somehow sounds mocking, and "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?!", and "You! Yes! You behind the bikesheds! Stand still, laddie!", all of it dissolving into the dull drone of a phone ringing and ending with a deep sigh.

School choir

For "Part II", Pink Floyd needed a school choir, and producer Bob Ezrin requested that sound engineer Nick Griffiths find one. Griffiths approached music teacher Alun Renshaw of Islington Green School,^[6] around the corner from their Britannia Row Studios. Though the school received a lump sum payment of £1000, there was no contractual arrangement for royalties from record sales. Under a 1996 UK copyright law, they became eligible for royalties from broadcasts, and after royalties agent Peter Rowan traced choir members through the website Friends Reunited and other means, they lodged a claim for royalties with the Performing Artists' Media Rights Association in 2004.^[7]

Plot

After being insulted by the teacher, Pink dreams that the kids in his school begin to protest against their abusive teachers.

Film version

Following "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" Pink starts to daydream during his class. He imagines several students marching in unison to the beat of the song, following a path until they fall blindly into an oversized meat-grinder to re-emerge as putty-faced clones void of individual distinction. Starting with Gilmour's guitar solo, the children destroy the school building using hammers (foreshadowing the subsequent neo-fascist Nazi-like animated sequence with its marching hammers) and crowbars, creating a bonfire, dragging their teacher out of the burning school kicking and screaming. The song ends with Pink rubbing his hand, which the teacher slapped with a ruler in the previous song.

During the song, the teacher's "meat and pudding" lines are folded into the first few lines of the school choir's lines, and are performed by the teacher in the film, played by Alex McAvoy.

Music video

Prior to the film, the first video for the track, directed by Alan Parker, depicted students running in a playground and the teacher puppet from The Wall concerts was used. The video also mixed in some animated scenes later used in "The Trial" and "Waiting for the Worms". The children who sang on "Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. II)" were not allowed to appear in the video as they didn't hold Equity Cards.^[8]

Once the film was completed, the actual scenes of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" were combined into a new video, which now represents the music video for "Another Brick in the Wall".

Alternate versions

• The single version had a short guitar intro but fades out earlier, ending after approximately 3 minutes 11 seconds.
• The 1981 compilation A Collection of Great Dance Songs includes a hybrid (3:54) version which, like the single version, omits the segue from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" but retains the longer playground ending of the studio version.
• The versions from live albums and videos Delicate Sound of Thunder and P*U*L*S*E (recorded after Waters' departure from the band) feature the main guitar solo by David Gilmour, followed by an additional tapped guitar riff by touring guitarist Tim Renwick. These are backed by Guy Pratt's slap bass lines. On Delicate Sound of Thunder, the Children's Choir part is played from tape, while on P*U*L*S*E, it is performed by the backing singers.
• The version from Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81 (from the 1980–81 concerts at Earls Court, London) also features an extended solo by Snowy White and an organ solo by Richard Wright.
• In 1990, prior to The Wall Live in Berlin a rare, limited edition promo CD titled "The Wall Berlin '90" was issued to radio stations (Columbia CSK 2126) which included When the Tigers Broke Free and a new version of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" credited as a "New Recording by The Bleeding Heart Band / June 1990".
• The version from The Wall Live in Berlin has Cyndi Lauper singing lead vocals, and features Rick DiFonzo playing the original solo, Snowy White playing a second guitar solo, Peter Wood playing an organ solo, and Thomas Dolby playing a synthesiser solo.
• The song was included with "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" in the compilation Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, and segues into the first note of an edited version of "Echoes".
• Another version of this video featured children with faceless masks arriving on a train, and several scenes feature a "conveyor belt" of school desks which the students sit at after marching through a steel tunnel; and even another machine featuring a hammer built against the side, pounding up and down to make it run, again referring to the "marching hammers".