Song Review // 2020-10-29

Pink Floyd

The Wall

Comfortably Numb

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I decided to check out this song this week because as crazy as it is, I don't know a tonne of Pink Floyd. This particular song was one I wanted to hear because a friend I worked with years ago lost her husband this week. He was fighting cancer for years. He had pieces taken out of his body, he was weak. He was fighting for a long time. Apparently, he chose to have an assisted death. He chose to listen to this song in his last minutes.

The assisted death thing is obviously a hard decision. I have not been personally affected by It. I have another friend that works in a hospital pharmacy, and she regularly delivers the drugs for assisted death. She says that whenever she is involved with these situations it haunts her. She has a hard time dealing with it, even if it is the patient's decision.

Vocals

There are parts with echoing which makes sense with the distant theme here. The singing voice is good.

Music

A chill song that works. The guitar solos made sense.

Lyrics

I feel like this song is talking about exposure to experiences in life, and how it can cause you to react much differently later in life than when you were younger. Now, there are some things you have closed yourself off to, some limits you are better at making, some lessons you may have learned.

I feel like in the case of my friend's husband, this was a good song choice. He was choosing to drift away as he was comfortably numb. Something I am sure was not an easy decision. He chose to enjoy a song he loved, and to be surrounded by those he loved. He took the ship on the horizon as he began to not be able to hear or see this world anymore. This song was hard to listen to, knowing what my friend went through, and just what people go through daily. 

I am going to put it on my playlist for now but I a not sure if it might be something best visited once in a while, as a opposed to on regular basis.

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb