The Thin Ice
| "The Thin Ice" | ||||
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| Song by Pink Floyd from the album The Wall | ||||
| Released | 30 November 1979 (UK), 8 December 1979 (US) | |||
| Recorded | April–November, 1979 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, hard rock | |||
| Length | 2:27 | |||
| Label | Harvest Records (UK) Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US) |
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| Writer | Waters | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters | |||
| The Wall track listing | ||||
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"The Thin Ice" is a song by Pink Floyd.[1] It appeared on The Wall in 1979.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Composition
The song is 2 minutes, 30 seconds in length. The first few seconds are occupied by the sound of a baby crying (carried forward from "In the Flesh?"), lasting around seven seconds. Following this, the song commences the lyrical portion sung by David Gilmour, which is soft and gentle in tone.
After a further 56 seconds, Gilmour's lyrics end, and the lyrical portion sung by Roger Waters begins. During this time, the tone of the song takes on a more cynical note, alluding to the lyrics. This portion lasts for 49 seconds, after which the remainder of the song contains a long, somewhat louder, guitar solo.
[edit] Plot
As with the other songs on The Wall, "The Thin Ice" tells a portion of the story of Pink, the album's protagonist. This song narrates the first couple of years of Pink's life, before he is old enough to realise what has happened to his father. The "Thin Ice" represents the fragile period of innocence in people's lives before they can really understand the world around them.
Furthermore, the third and fourth lines from the third verse: "Dragging behind you the silent reproach / Of a million tear-stained eyes" act as a metaphor for the psychological and/or spiritual effects war can have, not only on the populace that suffered it, but also the generation of children left to suffer as the final bearers of the pain of that war.
[edit] Film version
The film shows thousands of men in the war, either wounded or dead, then cuts to Pink floating in his hotel pool. Feeling anguish over his father's death, the water appears like blood.
[edit] Live Versions
Roger Waters's 2010-2012 tour The Wall Live uses the song to depict a series of real life casualties of war, terrorism, and intolerance. The first to appear is Waters's father Eric Fletcher Waters, followed by pictures sent in by fans in response to an appeal on the tour's website. Each photo is accompanied by brief notes on the victim written by the person who sent in the photo. After appearing for a moment on the large central screen, each photo is then projected onto a single brick of the wall. By the end of the song, every brick of the partially built wall hosts a photo.
[edit] Personnel
- David Gilmour — vocals on first verse, guitars, Prophet-5 synthesizer[3]
- Nick Mason — drums[3]
- Roger Waters — vocals on second verse, bass[3]
- Richard Wright — organ, piano[3]
[edit] References
- Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
- ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
- ^ a b c d Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb — A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006, p.72
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