The Thin Ice

Song infobox
Name = The Thin Ice


Artist = Pink Floyd
Album = The Wall
Released = 30 November 1979 (US), 8 December 1979 (UK)
track_no = 2 of disc 1
Recorded = April-November, 1979
Genre = Art rock/Progressive rock
Length = 2:31
Writer = Waters
Label = Harvest Records (UK)
Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US)
Producer = Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters
prev = "In the Flesh?"
prev_no = 1 of disc 1
next = "Another Brick in the Wall, Part I"
next_no = 3 of disc 1"The Thin Ice" is a song by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on "The Wall" album in 1979.

Composition

The song is approximately 2 minutes, 31 seconds in length. The first few seconds are occupied by the sound of a baby crying (carried forward from "In the Flesh?"), lasting around 6 seconds. Following this, the song commences the lyrical portion sung by David Gilmour, which is soft and gentle in tone.

After a further 56 seconds, Gilmour's lyrics end, and the lyrical portion sung by Roger Waters begins. During this time, the tone of the song takes on a more "cynical" note, alluding to the lyrics. This portion lasts for 49 seconds, after which the remainder of the song contains a long, somewhat louder, guitar solo.

Plot

As with the other songs on "The Wall", "The Thin Ice" tells a portion of the story of "Pink", the album's protagonist. This song narrates the first couple of years of Pink's life, before he is old enough to realize what has happened to his father. The "Thin Ice" represents the fragile period of innocence in people's lives before they can really understand the world around them.

Furthermore, the third and fourth lines from the third verse:

"Dragging behind you the silent reproach,Of a million tear-stained eyes"

act as a very poignant metaphor for the psychological and/or spiritual effects war can have not only on the populace that suffered it, but also the generation of children left to suffer as the final bearers of the pain of that war.

Film Version

It shows thousands of men in the war, either wounded or dead, then goes to Pink in his motel pool suffering over his father's loss in a blood filled pool.

Personnel

*David Gilmour - vocals on first verse [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72] , guitars [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72] , Prophet-5 synthesizer [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72]
*Nick Mason - drums [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72]
*Roger Waters - vocals on second verse [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72] , bass [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72]
*Richard Wright - organ [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72] , piano [Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.72]

References

*Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8

Notes