Another Brick in the Wall
This song was written by Pink Floy’d. It was recorded April-November 1979 and was released to the public on December 1979. The song can be found on “The Wall” album. The song is written with three parts: part one is referred to as reminiscing, part two is referred to as education, and part three is referred to as drugs. Part two is the most recognized part of the whole song. “Another Brick in the Wall” hit number fifty-seven on the disco chart. Part one of “Another Brick in the Wall” starts off with a soft and long guitar solo, this solo hits a few louder notes throughout this part. You can hear a teacher yelling at students.
Floy’d comes in with soft vocals; he only gets louder in a few parts. All the vocals are softer than the other two parts. In all three parts the line “all in all it was just a brick in the wall” is repeated. This line is a symbol for people building up a wall to protect themselves from emotional harm. Part one is about Pink’s childhood life. This part is reminiscent about Pinks’s father; this is shown in the lines “daddy’s flown across the ocean and what did you leave for me. ” The first line shows the separation from his father due to the military. His father was killed in Italy, so the separation from him was a great issue for him.
Pink uses the word ocean as a metaphor for the afterlife that lies past a great body of water. He is both physically and mentally separated from his father. Reminiscing ends with another soft guitar solo. Part two, education, is the most famous part of “Another Brick in the Wall”. Floy’d tries to show his childhood struggles with cruel teachers whom he blames for adding more bricks in his wall. Since its release, there have been accounted stories of children and adults adopting this song as an anarchistic hymn. They use it to fight back against their years of educational oppression.
The line “we don’t need no education” does not suggest that we do not need education, but, in fact it is a double negative which means the “don’t” and “no” cancel each other out producing we do need education. Part two has added the drums and a synthesizer to its musical items. The guitar is still used here. In a part of this song Floy’d has children singing the same stanza he sang earlier. This part of the song also ends with a guitar solo with the drums being played in the background. Part three “drugs” is much shorter than the previous two parts but it starts out with a sound of smashing then you hear a guitar and drums starting to play.
At the same time, Floy’d starts singing with the line “I don’t need no arms around me. And I don’t need no drugs to calm me. ” This part symbolizes his pain and how he dealt with it: drugs and loving arms around him. He uses part three as an attack against the world. He uses the line “I have seen the writing on the wall” as a metaphor for him seeing what life can throw at you and you have to stand strong if you want to survive. The song ends with the sound of the synthesizer fading into nothing.
