Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall

Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, Music Video, Lyrics and Review

“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.
It’s one of the band’s most well known songs and also their biggest hit, peaking at #1 on the American singles charts and also the UK charts. In addition, the second part was #375 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) Lyrics

We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall

We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave us kids alone
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall

[chorus at end by pupils from the Fourth Form Music Class Islington Green School, London]

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall Song Info and Review

Album The Wall
Released 30 November 1979 (US), 8 December 1979 (UK)
Recorded April-November, 1979
Genre Art rock/Progressive rock
Label Harvest Records (UK), Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US)
Writer Roger Waters
Producer Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters

“Part II”, best known for the line “We don’t need no education”, 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”. It is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in particular, which has led to the song being banned in several countries.

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, around the corner from their Britannia Row Studios. The choir were not allowed to hear the rest of the song after singing the chorus, and were let down, as they wanted to hear Gilmour’s solo[citation needed]. The chorus was overdubbed 12 times to give the impression that the choir was larger. 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.

“Part II” gave Pink Floyd a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group and lost to Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind”.

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.

source wikipedia.org

This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 11:43 pm.