Another Brick in the Wall

Infobox Song
Name = Another Brick in the Wall
(Parts I, II, III)


Artist = Pink Floyd
Album = The Wall
Released = 30 November 1979 (US)
8 December 1979 (UK)
track_no = 3/5/12 of disc 1
Recorded = April-November, 1979
Genre = Art rock, progressive rock
Writer = Roger Waters
Label = Harvest Records (UK)
Columbia Records (US)
Capitol Records (US)
Producer = Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters
prev = "The Thin Ice"
(2 of disc 1)
----
"The Happiest Days of Our Lives"
(4 of disc 1)
----
"Don't Leave Me Now"
(11 of disc 1)
next = "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"
(4 of disc 1)
----
"Mother"
(6 of disc 1)
----
"Goodbye Cruel World"
(13 of disc 1)Infobox Single
Name = Another Brick in the Wall, Part II


Artist = Pink Floyd
from Album = The Wall
B-side = "One of My Turns"
Released = 1979
Format = 7"
Recorded = April-November, 1979
Genre = Art rock/Progressive rock/Funk rock
Length = 4:00
Label = Harvest Records (UK)
Columbia Records (US)
Capitol Records (US)
Writer = Roger Waters
Producer = Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters
Last single = "Have a Cigar"
(1975)
This single = "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II"
(1979)
Next single = "Comfortably Numb"
(1979)
Misc ="Another Brick in the Wall" is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd's 1979 concept album, "The Wall", subtitled Part I, Part II, and Part III, respectively, all of which were written by Pink Floyd's bassist and then lead songwriter, Roger Waters.

Part II is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in particular [ [http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=17292 The State News: 'Wall' a perfect mix of rock, film] ] , which has led to the song being banned in several countries. [ [http://www.dprp.net/proghistory/index.php?i=1979_012 Counting out time Pink Floyd the wall - song was banned in South Africa in 1980] ] . It is best known for the line "We don't need no education", which is one of the band's most well-known songs and also their biggest hit. It was released as a single and provided the band's only number-one hit in the UK, the US, West Germany and many other countries. In the UK, it was their first single since 1968's "Point Me at the Sky". 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 #375 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11028260/the_rs_500_greatest_songs_of_all_time/3 Rolling Stone: The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time] ]

In 1980, the song was adopted as a protest anthem by black students during the "Elsie's River" uprising in South Africa, protesting against the racial propaganda and bias in the official curriculum. On May 2, it was banned by the government. [ [http://www.dprp.net/proghistory/index.php?i=1979_012 Counting out time Pink Floyd the wall - song was banned in South Africa in 1980] ]

Concept

Each of the three parts have a similar, if not the same, tune and lyrical structure (not lyrics, apart from the "all in all" part), and each one is louder and more enraged than the one before, rising from the sadness of Part I to the protesting Part II to the angry, selfish, pessimistic and cynical Part III.Fact|date=August 2008

Part I

Composition

Part I of the song is very quiet in dynamics and features a long, subdued guitar solo. The vocals are softer and more gentle 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.

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, 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

Listen
filename=Pink_Floyd_-_Another_Brick_In_The_Wall_(Part_II).ogg
title=Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)"
description=18 seconds (of 3:59)
format=Ogg

Composition

In the album version of "The Wall", "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" transitions in from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", with a trademark scream from Roger Waters (Waters screams like this most notably on the track "Careful with That Axe, Eugene"). The two songs are sometimes played one after the other on the radio, particularly on rock stations, because of how the songs merge together and because the single version has a guitar intro not used on the album. The song has strong drums, a well-known bass line and distinctive guitar parts in the background with a smooth yet edgy guitar solo. After the line, 'Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!' there is a short melody which is quite easy to remember. 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?!", all of it dissolving into the dull drone of a phone ringing and ending with a deep sigh.

chool choir

For "Part II", Pink Floyd needed a school choir, and producer Bob Ezrin asked sound engineer Nick Griffiths to find one. Griffiths approached music teacher Alun Renshaw of Islington Green School, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7021797.stm BBC News: Just another brick in the wall?] , 2 Oct 2007] 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 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 claimed their payments. Contrary to press reports, this did not involve suing Pink Floyd. Music industry professionals estimated that each student would be owed around £500. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1376418,00.html TimesOnline: Payout after Pink Floyd leaves them kids alone] ]

Plot

After being insulted by the teacher, Pink dreams that the kids in Pink's 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 Nazi sequence with its marching hammers) and create 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.

Music video

Prior to the film, the first video for the track, directed by Gerald Scarfe, 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)" could not appear in the video because they didn't hold Equity Cards [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7021797.stm BBC News] ] .

Alternate versions

*The single version had a short guitar intro.
*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 lead by touring guitarist Tim Renwick. These are backed by Guy Pratt's slap bass lines.
*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 was issued to radio stations (Mercury CSK 2126) which included "When the Tigers Broke Free" and a new version of "Another Brick in the Wall part 2" re-recorded by Roger Waters and the "Bleeding Heart Band"
*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 synthesizer solo.
*An edit without the segue from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and with an early fade-out was included in the 1981 compilation "A Collection of Great Dance Songs".
*The song was included with "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" in the compilation "", and segues into the first note of an edited version of "Echoes".

Part III

Composition

The song is loud in dynamics and features the once subtle bass line now unleashed at a loud volume to express Pink's rage. It is also the shortest "part" of Another Brick In The Wall.

Plot

Pink decides to finish this wall as a result of his rage after his wife's betrayal. He concludes he no longer needs anything at all, dismissing the people in his life as just "bricks in the wall".

Film version

In the film, the song is accompanied by a montage of events that contributed to the construction of the wall.

Cover versions

Infobox Single
Name = Another Brick in the Wall, Pts. 1-3


Artist = Korn
from Album = Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
Released = 2004
Recorded = 2004
Genre = Alternative metal
Length = 7:08
Label = Epic Records
Producer = Jonathan Davis, Korn, and Frank Filipetti
Reviews =
Last single = "Word Up!"
(2004)
This single = "Another Brick in the Wall, Pts. 1-3"
(2004)
Next single = "Twisted Transistor"
(2005)

*In 1983, Portuguese American singer Jorge Ferreira released the album "Viva Fall River" where is included a Portuguese version named "Não Quero Ir À Escola".
*In 1995, Jaz Coleman released an album "", including symphonic arrangements of Pink Floyd songs including "Another Brick in the Wall."
*In 1998, for the film "The Faculty", "Part II" was covered by the Class of '99, which featured Layne Staley (Alice in Chains, singer), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, later Audioslave, guitar), Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction, drums), Martyn LeNoble (Porno for Pyros, The Cult, Jane's Addiction, bass) and Matt Serletic. A cover of "Part I" also appeared on the soundtrack album.
*In 2003, Big Lee released a hip hop version of the song on the compilation album "A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd".
*In 2004, Korn released their version of the song on the compilation album Greatest Hits Volume 1, consisting of all three parts of "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Goodbye Cruel World".
*In 2005, rock group Parason made a cover version of "Part II" named "Ваша школа" ("Vaša škoła": it means "Your school" in Belarusian)
*In 2005, Keller Williams released a bluegrass version of the song on the album Grass.
* Lounge/comedy group Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered "Part II" on their 2006 album ""
*Stahlhammer covers the song on their "Killer Instinkt" album.
*Zug Izland covered the song as an exclusive download on their official website.

Personnel

*Roger Waters: bass guitarFitch & Mahon, p.73, 76 and 88] , lead and harmony vocals, guitar on "Part III"Fitch & Mahon, p.88]
*David Gilmour: guitars, lead vocals on "Part II"Fitch & Mahon, p.76] (in unison with Waters), harmony vocals on "Part I"Fitch & Mahon, p.73]
*Nick Mason: drums on "Part II" and "Part III"
*Richard Wright: Hammond organ "Part II" [Fitch & Mahon, p.73 and 76] , Prophet-5 synthesizer
*Islington Green School students (organised by Alun Renshaw ): vocals on "Part II" [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/Music/Kick-against-the-bricks/2004/12/29/1103996597949.html smh.com: Kick against the bricks] ]

Selected single sales

References

* Fitch, Vernon. "The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition)", 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8
* Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, "Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981", 2006

ee also

*Proper Education
* Discipline and Punish

External links

* [http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/the-wall-lyrics.html External lyrics website]
* [http://www.igschool.com/archive.htm Islington Green School's article on their contribution]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4047533.stm BBC story on royalties suit]
* [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1696 Songfacts.com – "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II"]
* BBC – [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7021797.stm "ONE Life"] – Islington Green singers reunion. Aired 3 October 2007.