Hey You (Pink Floyd song)

Song infobox
Name = Hey You


Artist = Pink Floyd
Album = The Wall
Released = 30 November 1979 (US), 8 December 1979 (UK)
track_no = 1 of disc 2
Recorded = April-November, 1979
Genre = Art rock, progressive rock, hard rock
Length = 4:41
Writer = Waters
Label = Harvest Records (UK)
Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US)
Producer = Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters
prev = "Goodbye Cruel World"
prev_no = 13 of disc 1
next = "Is There Anybody Out There?"
next_no = 2 of disc 2
Misc =Extra tracklisting
Album =
Type = Compilation album
prev_track = "Echoes"
prev_no = 5
this_track = "Hey You"
track_no = 6
next_track = "Marooned"
next_no = 7 "Hey You" is a song by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on "The Wall" album in 1979. It starts the second disc of the double album. This song was edited out of the film for fear on the part of the filmmakers that the film was running too long; however, a rough version is available as an extra on the 25th anniversary edition DVD. Though not in the movie, it is a common "Floyd" song played on radio stations.

Composition

The song is one of the most notable songs featuring hi-string tuning, a variation of Nashville tuning (where the low E string is replaced with a second high E string, thus raising two octaves).Fact|date=July 2008 It starts off with a solo acoustic guitar playing in the classical style with the bass slightly similar to the opening of "Pigs" joining in shortly after. Next to join in is the synthesizer, the vocals, and finally the drums. In the middle is a guitar solo which plays the main melody of the song "Another Brick in the Wall".Fact|date=July 2008 After this is a section which includes only synth, bass, and drums. The next section starts out with synth and acoustic guitar, which is soon joined by the bass. At this point there is a piece of indecipherable whispering from the left channel. After this, the drums and vocals join in. At about 3:23 into the song, a common Floydian technique of recycling sounds occurs when a sonar-like ping similar to the ping in "Echoes" is introduced, adding to the atmosphere of isolation and emptiness. The song itself is inspired by the very concept "The Wall" was made for; the feeling of despair and isolation from one's peers. "Hey You" has a very desperate tone which steadily grows as the song progresses, and there has been much debate as to what the lyrics symbolize, though it is generally agreed that the song is about isolation from ones' peers, whether it be Pink or the listener, or both. [ [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5535 Hey You by Pink Floyd Songfacts ] ]

The song was originally intended to be between "Comfortably Numb" and "The Show Must Go On". This line-up was used on the demo tapes, but changed for the final release. But it does appear between the two songs in the liner notes of the album.

Plot

Like the other songs on the album, "Hey You" is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Pink. Pink realizes the mistake he has made completely shunning himself from society, and is attempting to regain contact with the outside world. However, his wall blocks any calls he makes. Pink's call becomes more and more desperate as he begins to realize there is no escape.

The song constitutes the bridge from Pink isolating himself from reality to joining the fascist movement "The Worms", expressed by the line "...and the worms ate into his brain".

Film version

"Hey You" was shot for the film "Pink Floyd The Wall", but was ultimately not included. A work print appears on the special edition DVD.

The scene begins with Pink trying to claw out of his freshly completed wall. The scene then switches to Pink's concert-goers, all of them with a blank and vacant look on their face. These are the people "Standing in the aisles with itchy feet and fading smiles" that Pink is trying to reach out to. Next is a shot of empty infirmary beds followed by a sight of two empty chairs in a white room. A motionless Pink fades into the chair on the left, with his nude wife fading into the right chair a short while after. After turning her head to look at her unresponsive husband, she fades out of the scene, which shifts to a tidal wave of rioting scenes, with people tipping over cars and throwing Molotov cocktails at a local riot control squad. After the montage, a hand is shown clawing at a window followed by a large group of maggots (the "worms" eating into Pink's brain). After a shot of a man in an infirmary bed and a superimposed woman screaming over the image, the scene takes back to the riot, where a long line of riot control persons hold back against a mob of rioters, who have barricaded themselves behind a pile of desks and mattresses. The scene ends with Pink against his wall, having given up on finding a way out.

Personnel

*Roger Waters - vocals (bridge and last verse),Harvnb|Fitch|Mahon|2006|p=92]
*Nick Mason - drums
*David Gilmour - 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars, electric guitar, pedal steel,Harvnb|Fitch|Mahon|2006|p=89] vocals (first and second verse), Charvel Fretless Bass
*Richard Wright - Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer
*James Guthrie - drill

Cover Versions

* A cover of "Hey You" by S.A.M. appears on 2003 Pink Floyd tribute album "A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd"
* This song has been covered by the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.
* It was also featured in the 2005 Noah Baumbach film "The Squid and the Whale", in which the teenage son tries to pass off "Hey You" as his own composition for a talent show.
* This song was covered on the Echoes of Pink tribute album in 2002 by Jessica Goldman.
* French singer Amandine Bourgeois performed it in 2006 on "The Wall" rock opera by Gilles Ramade, and then on the french Pop Idol ("Nouvelle Star") on June 11, 2008, and was thereafter declared the winner of the contest.

Notes

Bibliography

*cite book|title= The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia |last= Fitch |first= Vernon |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 2005 |edition= 3rd edition |publisher= Apogee Books |location= |isbn= 1-894959-24-8
*cite book|title= Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981 |last= Fitch |first= Vernon |authorlink= |coauthors= Mahon, Richard |origdate= 2006-07-28 |publisher= PFA Publishing |location= |isbn= 978-0977736607 |ref=CITEREFFitchMahon2006