#32-T - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) from The Wall (1979)
Appeared On: 6 ballots (out of 33 . . . 18.2%)
Total Points: 61 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 7.4%)
Top Rankers: @Ridgeback @turnjose7 @Just Win Baby @Dwayne Hoover @Rand al Thor
Highest Ranking: 13
Fan Created Extended Version,
Another Extended Version,
Original Demo,
Another Demo,
Another Demo,
Film Version,
London - 1980,
Quebec - 1987,
Berlin - 1990,
RW The Wall
Live Performances:
PF: 31
RW: 303
Covers:
Steve Morse,
Tournesol,
Ulver,
Buddha Lounge Ensemble,
Mama Bluegrass Band,
Ghastly Sound,
Yoga Pop Ups
ABITW1 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 & III, although there is a short, sharp rise in dynamic and tone for a brief period towards the end of the lyrical portion. Dynamically, it’s the quietest of the three, which build in intensity as the album progresses. No drums are used at all in this song. In terms of the progressing the narrative, this song details the first brick in Pink's wall: the loss of his father during WWII. More specifically, since Pink was an infant when his father died, it deals with Pink's dawning awareness of the painful gap in his young life left by the absence of a loving 'daddy.' In this respect, Pink's life parallels that of Roger Waters exactly. However, Roger has specified that the song is not just about children whose parents were killed in war, "but about being left, more generally." The resulting sense of loss causes the initial erection of emotional defenses against further hurt, i.e. the first brick in the wall. Roger:"On the simplest level, whenever something bad happens, Pink isolates himself a bit more — i.e., symbolically he adds another brick to his wall to protect himself."
The choppy recounting of Pink's life continues as we move forward to Pink's early childhood (he appears about eight years old). The first scene is him with his mother at the memorial to those who lost their lives at Anzio (including, of course, his father — and Roger Waters's). In a piece of the story unique to the film, Pink attempts to compensate for the loss of his father by 'adopting' a man on the playground, albeit unsuccessfully.
At least 15 seconds were cut from the very beginning of the track. That additional intro would have made for an even better segue from The Thin Ice. It was most likely cut from the album to shave a few seconds from the running time of Side 1. Originally, the first 10 seconds or so were just one single note — an ominous, sustained synth note that drones for several seconds before a single-note on guitar starts. The extended introduction could be heard on some live performances of the track.
As released, “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1” fades in sounding like we’ve already missed part of the song — which we have. The track fades in at about the sixth beat of a 32-beat guitar phrase, making the segue from “The Thin Ice” a little rough. The original intro allows for a much smoother transition between the two songs. “The Thin Ice” seamlessly blends into the single note and holds for several seconds, adding to the drama and anticipation of the track. As the two musical phrases are in complimentary musical keys, the transition is much more satisfying musically.
You can hear a little bit of how this would sound in the film Roger Waters The Wall and to a lesser extent in the original Pink Floyd live version. The transition between the two songs is a little longer. The ending of The Thin Ice has a long fade out and behind the audience applause you can hear the single note drone before the guitar of ABITW1 starts.
Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 15
UCR Ranking (out of 167 songs): 63
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 26
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 6
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 26
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): NR
Vulture Ranking (15 out of 165 songs): One of the more effective tracks on The Wall, a spooky and evocative foreshadowing of the full “Another Brick in the Wall,” which would of course become the album’s centerpiece and a fluke hit single. (A massive hit single.)
UCR Ranking (63 out of 167 songs): Waters weaves autobiographical details into Pink’s story and begins the “Another Brick …” motif with this track. The lyrics move the backstory along, but the star here is Gilmour’s guitar – or, really, guitars. His reverberating, multi-tracked and muted parts create a schizophrenic environment as the sounds pile on top of one another and a different guitar keeps trotting along.
Louder Ranking (26 out of 50 songs): Three tracks into The Wall, listeners got a first taste of the haunted melody that would be taken overground with the UK-chart-topping Part 2 – and a glimpse into Pink’s psyche as the album’s anti-hero is scarred by his soldier father’s death (“Daddy’s gone across the ocean, leaving just a memory”). That experience was Waters’ own, of course, but the track is arguably Gilmour’s, the guitarist’s clickety-clack delayed riffing casting the darkest of spells.
WMGK Ranking (6 out of 40 songs): Considered as part of ABITW2.
Coming up, our second to last entry from the 60's.
