Of all people, my little sister Lisa introduced me to Pink Floyd. I've largely left the band behind now, for a time, Pink Floyd occupied an important position in my life. The Wall came out during my senior year in high school, Comfortably Numb became my surfer druggie anthem.
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 had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb
Why?
I honestly do not know how I survived the 70's. I credit my girlfriend/wife - she thinks I'm whacked and takes no credit. I cannot remember. An accidental brain injury caused about six months of my life to become fuzzy. My transition from carefree surfer dude to hard working wage earner will never quite make sense to me. It just happened.
Three of my friends died within a year of my graduation. Landy rode his motorcycle into a brick wall at 90 miles per hour the night of our graduation. I had been on the back of his bike only an hour before his death. Jimmy rode his motorcycle into the back of a camper at about 120 mph. He died in the street a few feet from my front door. Lester simply took a hot shot of heroin and died. I spoke to him a few hours before his death. He offered me taste - I declined. Drugs, heroin in particular, were blamed for each death.
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
And I have become
Comfortably numb.
I gradually broke away from the drug culture which permeated the late 70's. The church was no sanctuary, everybody got high. I took to hanging with a few friends at night and playing a lot disc golf. We would drink a few beers. Listen to Pink Floyd on a boom box, and throw our discs around a big dark park. Comfortably Numb played as the background music for many of these adventures. By the time I met my wife... well, that's the next song.
I still play disc golf. I love the sport. Every time I play, Comfortably Numb pops into my head. I identify the song with my movement away from a drug culture which would have consumed me like it did so many of my friends. I plan on playing Wednesday (if my back can take it), I'll take my iPod along for old times sake.
It is interesting how music can define events. For me disc golf is Pink Floyd, Surfing is Boston. Basketball is Earth Wind & Fire - (it was a favorite of the only person on my team with a good boom box, so it tended to play much of the time) and cruising - a thing we did in LA in our cars - was Led Zeppelin. Music defines blogging too - I like to blog with Wilco in the background. E-mail is Rage Against the Machine, programming is Jazz, research is the Blues...
Our love
Our love
Our love is all we have
Our love
Our love is all of God's money
Everyone is a burning sun
-Wilco, Jesus, etc.
6 comments:
Mojoey: it's "There is no pain". You probably started copying & pasting one character to the right. :) It's one of my favorite Floyd songs, by the way.
BTW, you'd probably love the "The Wall" movie, starring Bob Geldof. It's basically a musical for the album, but the scenes and imagery are incredibly intense.
Pedro - duh! thanks for the catch. I must of been a cut/past error.
I went to the opening night of The Wall - along with catching the Wall as a concert when they came to LA. Both were outstanding.
The best bit of the film in my view, and a superb song.
Brutally bleak.
It's a favourite Pink Floyd song of mine too.
And it is interesting how a particular song is associated with a specific time in our lives. Hear the song, and you can experience the feelings you had at that time.
odd, my dad used to play this album all the time along with earth wind & fire...
Not so odd - I think I am closer to your dad's age than I am to yours.
And EW&F rocks.
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