Part II
Money
Ahhh, Money. In my opinion, the weakest song of the album. And really, it is the time when the theme becomes obvious. I would agree that money is certainly the root of a lot of evil out there today. But really, I don't think money in itself is to blame. Money is just a convenient excuse for humans to act like the monsters that they really are. A friend of mine in school is really into conspiracy theories. He thinks that certain families control the world and such. I don't believe that. I have a much more pessimistic view of the world.
The Russian Mafia is probably the hardest crime organization to stop. Why is that? Well, American agents point to the fact that they differ from the Italian Cosa Nostras in many key aspects. The Italians worked in a hierarchy. The Russians are organized in a cell structure. There is no head. If you kill the head, someone will come to take their place. It is like the hydra, you slice off a head and ten more appear. That's what I think about humanity. It is our base greed within us that drives us forward like a virus. The heads of these banks and corporations aren't all scheming together to rule the planet, they are all acting independently of one another, but all driven to the same goal: more. Like a virus. Money is an extension of that virus. I wish there was no money in the world. But that is a stupid wish. I guess the best any of us can do it try not to let it corrupt us into a sort of machine, like what we've seen happen to so many people and artists.
Us and Them
Though this song may be about something else, I got a sort of different interpretation from it. One of the most intersting things in society I've noticed, is the split between older generations and new generations. The older generations always seem so offended at the extent the new generation will go to rebel against them. When they were younger, they thought what they were doing was really rebellious. But everytime, and without failure, they get proven wrong.
And the newer generation always disregards the wisdom that the older generation tries to pass down on it. Each time, they arrogantly assume that they are different, that they are a new breed. But they never, ever are. They're people, just like their parents. We really aren't all that different from each other. We just love to perceive each other as different.
I can’t even tell the difference anymore. The culture has become too sarcastic and ironic. That basically sums up this new generation that I walk amongst. We are the Adderall Generation, or The Internet Generation. Black is blue, and isn’t that so ironic that they are? I hate the insincerity and sarcasm, but at the same time, embrace them like a newborn baby. That’s the paradox of our generation I suppose. We’re walking contradictions, all of us. Even as I type this, I am contradicting myself, and personally, I find it beautiful and ****ing liberating.
Any Colour You Like
Roger Waters describes this interesting little instrumental the best:
Quote:
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In Cambridge where I lived, people would come from London in a van - a truck - open the back and stand on the tailboard of the truck, and the truck's full of stuff that they're trying to sell. And they have a very quick and slick patter, and they're selling things like crockery, china, sets of knives and forks. All kinds of different things, and they sell it very cheap with a patter. They tell you what it is, and they say 'It's ten plates, lady, and it's this, that, and the other, and eight cups and saucers, and for the lot I'm asking NOT ten pounds, NOT five pounds, NOT three pounds . . . fifty bob to you!', and they get rid of this stuff like this. If they had sets of china, and they were all the same colour, they would say, 'You can 'ave 'em, ten bob to you, love. Any colour you like, they're all blue.' And that was just part of that patter. So, metaphorically, 'Any Colour You Like' is interesting, in that sense, because it denotes offering a choice where there is none. And it's also interesting that in the phrase, 'Any colour you like, they're all blue', I don't know why, but in my mind it's always 'they're all blue', which, if you think about it, relates very much to the light and dark, sun and moon, good and evil. You make your choice but it's always blue.
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Brain Damage
I just want to say right off the bat that this is an absolutely beautiful song. It's about insanity, but what some people may not see, and maybe I'm just pulling this out of my ass here, but this song is about old age. When I hear the first verse, I think of an old man sitting on nice green grass in a retirement home, remembering all the games and laughs he had in his life. I went to my grandmother's nursing home and they all take morning walks and stuff. Reminded me of "got to keep the loonies on the path." Also in my grandmother's nursing home, there is a little boy of about 12, who is a volunteer type of person, and he delivers newspapers to them all. Most of the elderly people there look only at the obituaries, to see if anyone they know has died.
They make her take lots of medication. My grandmother is one of those stubborn people who thinks that doctors are out to get her. When I hear the lines" The lunatic is in my head/The lunatic is in my head/You raise the blade, you make the change/You re-arrange me till I'm sane/You lock the door/And throw away the key/And there's someone in my head but its not me.", I think of her. She tells me when you get older, your mind doesn't decay, your body does. It reminds me of the line "And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon."
Eclipse
There was this funny fact I learned. Did you know that the moon revolves and rotates at the same rate around the Earth? We always see the same side. The side gets really dark, and it gets really light, it gets to be any color you like, as long as the colors are black and white. Maybe gray.
Another interesting fact I heard, is that when the heart stops beating, the brain stays active for six minutes. Have you ever fallen asleep, had a really long and complex dream only to wake up and find you were asleep for only five minutes? This could be where the whole "life flashing before your eyes" thing comes from. Imagine what could happen in that six minutes, when all you see is pure information. Maybe you are given a final revelation that everyone receives moments before they die. Who knows what you would see? All that you've ever touched perhaps? All that you've seen? All that you taste, all you feel? All that you love, all that you hate, all you distrust, all you save?All that you give, all that you deal, all that you buy, beg, borrow or steal? All you create? All you destroy?
Well, the only thing I know is this: All that you do, all that you say, all that you eat, everyone you meet, all that you slight, everyone you fight, all that is now, all that is gone, all thats to come, and well, everything under the sun, it's in tune. You see, we're all one. We'll all fade away.
When the universe started off after the Big Bang there were only two elements, Hydrogen and Helium. After the universe stopped being a sort of primordial soup, stars and galaxies started to form. Through a process called nucleosynthesis, elements were created. The inside of stars, which were Hydrogen, got so hot they created new elements. When the star dies, it implodes and sends the newly created element flying out into the heavens.
We are carbon based life forms. Eons ago, inside of some star, carbon was formed and was blasted through the universe. Eventually, life formed from this carbon substance. You could call us humans star dust if you wanted.
Everything that was, that is and will ever be came from that tiny infinitesimal singularity at the beginning of existence. Right now, everything is expanding, but soon the universe will collapse once again, until we are back at the starting point, that small, little singularity. And the process will repeat itself. I sort of believe that everything in nature goes in cycles. Planets orbit in cycles. Seasons come and go in cycles. History repeats itself.
And it all begins as it ends, with the beating of a heart.