The Hero's Return

"The Hero's Return"
"The Hero's Return (Parts 1 and 2)" on vinyl
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Final Cut
Published	Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd
Released	21 March 1983 (UK) 2 April 1983 (US)
Recorded	July–December 1982
Genre	Art rock
Length	2:56 4:02 ("Not Now John" single)
Label	Harvest Records (UK) Columbia Records (US)
Songwriter(s)	Roger Waters
Producer(s)	Roger Waters James Guthrie Michael Kamen

"The Hero's Return" is a song by Pink Floyd from their 1983 album, The Final Cut.

Like many tracks included on The Final Cut, "The Hero's Return" had – under its original title "Teacher, Teacher" – been previously rejected from The Wall. Guitarist David Gilmour was opposed to this recycling of songs, believing that if they "weren't good enough for The Wall, why are they good enough now?"

Like many other tracks on The Final Cut, "The Hero's Return" featured anti-war lyrics. The lyrics of "The Hero's Return" are almost entirely rewritten from its "Teacher, Teacher" demo version.

Retitled as "The Hero's Return (Parts 1 and 2)" with an extra verse absent from The Final Cut version, the song was released as the B-side of "Not Now John", also from The Final Cut, in 1983. Despite not being released as an A-side to a single, "The Hero's Return" charted at #31 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in America.

Credits

• Roger Waters – lead vocals, bass, synthesiser, tape effects, acoustic guitar
• David Gilmour – lead and rhythm guitar
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion

with:

• Andy Bown – Yamaha electric piano

Sources

• "AllMusic 'The Final Cut' Awards". AllMusic.
• Blake, Mark (2008). Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81752-6.
• 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.