Wednesday 26 August 2009

Learning From Lyrics (Even More Words on Walls)

Ok. So... If anyone knows about walls, it's Pink Floyd.

I've been thinking about his wall-themed-songs (penned by songwriter Roger Waters) over the last week or so but haven't managed to write anything, partly because I haven't had the time to do so and partly because I am feeling a sense of deadness (which is another post altogether).
Please bear with me as I attempt to collate the assortment of jumbled thoughts I have had about Water's lyrics and why I think they are such a powerful metaphor. It's a work in progress ok?! (Ain't we all!).

Anyway, for those who are not familiar with Pink's brilliant 'The Wall' album (and to be honest, I'm not a raving fan, I just happened to like this album when I was teenager dreaming of rebellion) there are three parts which specifically make use of the wall metaphor.
I have a feeling that when examined closely, Pink's wall might well have similar foundations and similar bricks to the ones that many of us 'building types' have used.
I'm going to start with the first.

Another Brick in the Wall. Part 1

Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me?!?
All in all it was just a brick in the wall.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.


The haunting first part of the trilogy refers to Water's father, who left to fight in World War II and never returned.
In this very short verse, we hear the the innocent, and naturally egocentric, questioning of a small child as he struggles to comprehend the loss he has suffered, interpreting it as a rejection.
There is also perhaps, a sense of anger and of bitterness in the question about what the father had left behind, apart from a memory and a photo.
The wall has started in the child. It is not something that the child has planned or wished for. It wasn't a brick that was selected or specially placed, but the impact amounted to the foundations for the wall.

Loss.

I wonder how many of us have walls with huge bricks which would, if touched, speak of loss and grief.

I'm not just talking about death either. I'm talking the loss of anything.
Even if Water's father had returned from that war, it would still have been a loss when he left; a feeling of abandonment would still lodge itself somewhere in the child's frightened mind.
Rejection too. Powerfully destructive and it forces in some of us, a need to protect ourselves from a future of rejections and losses.
We build a wall.

Few children are emotionally equipped to deal with the emotions that swell in and around loss. Even worse if our parents are unable to hold us in the grief and the anger and the chaos.

Like most of us, I've had people die. But the worst losses I have ever suffered haven't been through death. No. The worst loss I have ever felt is my middle sister. And she is still alive, though the word 'alive' seems incongruous if I am writing about her. She exists rather than lives.

My sense of loss and rejection at the start of my teenage years was a founding brick in my wall.

I'm wondering whether anyone else can idenify with this.

******** (and) To anyone reading, do you know hw I can embed a vid from youtube in a blog post WITHOUT having to use the 'share on(name of blog)' option on the youtube site? Is it possible?
Thank for reading *********

4 comments:

  1. This was so well written. We all have these bricks & walls. Rejection is the worst kind.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi

    Yes, we all have bricks with names and situations that make up our walls. You have read some of mine. Only now they aren't bricks at all but rather squares of a tapestry that is my loving design.

    And I do know how to put a you tube video on your blog. I wrote it out for another person so I will look for that email and paste the instructions in a comment to you here. :-)

    Love Gail
    peace.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. here are the instructions for putting a video on



    okay-
    have your post ready
    minimize that screen
    go to you tube
    "search' for your song
    once you have found it play it!!
    over to the RIGHT - there are two long rectangle boxes - the top one is a url and the bottom one is 'an embedded one
    left click in the embedded one - the lettering/symbols will turn blue
    a window will pop up - then right click in the "blue area" and click on copy
    (now the video is saved in your mouse)
    restore your post screen and put your cursor where you want the video to be in your post
    right click and a window will pop up and hit paste
    you will see only letters numbers-symbols
    when you post the video will be there
    phew.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wanda - Thank you for reading and leaving such a kind comment.

    Gail - Wow. I was blown away by the brick turning to squares of your tapestry. Such a beautiful image.

    And THANK YOU for the instructions! I had a go early on and it works! Thanks to you Ican include some of my favourite things in my blog. Indebted!
    X

    ReplyDelete