Bring the Boys Back Home
Encyclopedia
"Bring the Boys Back Home" is a song from the Pink Floyd
album, The Wall
. The song was released as a B-side on the single, "When the Tigers Broke Free
".
in which the protagonist, Pink, is a young boy at a train station. The station is filled with soldiers returning from war, their loved ones rushing happily to greet them. But though he wanders around in vain, there is no one for Pink to embrace, as his father did not make it home alive. The happy crowd sings an exultant tune, "Bring the Boys Back Home", but the song ends abruptly on a minor chord as Pink suddenly realises he is alone. The crowd of reunited families then vanish. As the last notes die away, we flash forward to his embittered and alienated adulthood. Memories of events that drove Pink to mental isolation begin to recur in a loop: The teacher from "Another Brick in the Wall
", the operator from "Young Lust
", and the groupie
from "One of My Turns
", Pink's manager yelling, "Time to go!" (to play a concert) and insane laughter are also mixed into the closing seconds, concluding with the ominous voice from "Is There Anybody Out There?
", reverb
erating slowly into silence, segue
ing into "Comfortably Numb
".
According to songwriter Roger Waters
, "Bring the Boys Back Home" is the central, unifying song on The Wall:
" fades. The song proves to be polyrhythm
ic as this beat continues unchanged while the orchestra, choir, and lead vocals begin in 12/8. Waters sings the lyrics in his upper register (in a style that might be described as "melodic shouting"), supported by a choir. Waters and choir exhort, "Bring the boys back home / Don't leave the children on their own". On the final reiteration, the song, primarily in G major
, climaxes on the relative minor
of E minor
. The choir abruptly drops away, leaving Waters' voice alone, agonised and struggling to sustain the high note (the first B above middle C
). A lone snare drum also remains, continuing its insistent march
beat.
In the film, the song is sung by a large choir, without Waters' lead vocal. It is also expanded, with an extended vamp on the subdominant
before repetition of the full four-line lyric.
's orchestral arrangements, rather than hire and rehearse a live orchestra. Recordings of the original sound effects (televisions, helicopters, various atmospheric effects) were also used. With the use of click track
s, the musicians were able to play in sync
with the recordings (with the additional result that they reproduced nearly every song at its original tempo
).
As "Bring the Boys Back Home" is performed by an orchestra, with a large number of drummers, and none of the typical rock and roll instruments, Roger Waters would simply sing along to a remix of the studio recording. This is demonstrated on Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81, paying special attention to the ending, when the "live" Roger drops out, and the recorded lead vocal remains, sustaining the last note with the unique wavering heard on the studio album.
Ten years later, when Roger Waters—by then a solo artist—decided to stage a massive re-production of The Wall at the site of the recently dismantled Berlin Wall
, he had the personnel and the finances for a full-scale arrangement. Using the extended arrangement from the film, Waters sang (in his most strident, histrionic style) and marched around the stage dressed in full military regalia
, while backed by the Rundfunk Orchestra and Choir
, band of the Combined Soviet Forces in Germany
and the Red Army Chorus.
When Waters resurrected the concept of The Wall for his 2010-2012 tour, The Wall Live, the song was again central to the show's political message. Throughout the song, the projections on the fully built wall slowly gave a 1953 quote from President Eisenhower:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
album, The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
. The song was released as a B-side on the single, "When the Tigers Broke Free
When the Tigers Broke Free
"When the Tigers Broke Free" is a Pink Floyd song by Roger Waters, describing the death of his father, Eric Fletcher Waters, during the Second World War's Operation Shingle...
".
Overview
"Bring the Boys Back Home" is about not letting war, or careers, overshadow family relationships or leave children neglected. This is symbolised by the scene in the film, a flashbackFlashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
in which the protagonist, Pink, is a young boy at a train station. The station is filled with soldiers returning from war, their loved ones rushing happily to greet them. But though he wanders around in vain, there is no one for Pink to embrace, as his father did not make it home alive. The happy crowd sings an exultant tune, "Bring the Boys Back Home", but the song ends abruptly on a minor chord as Pink suddenly realises he is alone. The crowd of reunited families then vanish. As the last notes die away, we flash forward to his embittered and alienated adulthood. Memories of events that drove Pink to mental isolation begin to recur in a loop: The teacher from "Another Brick in the Wall
Another Brick in the Wall
"Another Brick in the Wall" is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera, The Wall, subtitled Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3...
", the operator from "Young Lust
Young Lust (song)
"Young Lust" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appeared on The Wall album in 1979.-Composition:"Young Lust" is approximately 3 minutes, 25 seconds in length...
", and the groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
from "One of My Turns
One of My Turns
"One of My Turns" is a song by Pink Floyd. It appears on The Wall album in 1979, and was released as a B-side on the single of "Another Brick in the Wall ".-Composition:...
", Pink's manager yelling, "Time to go!" (to play a concert) and insane laughter are also mixed into the closing seconds, concluding with the ominous voice from "Is There Anybody Out There?
Is There Anybody Out There?
"Is There Anybody Out There?" is a largely instrumental song from the Pink Floyd album, The Wall.-Overview:The first half of the piece has the same concept of "Hey You", being a distress call from Pink. The second half is instrumental. An interesting part of the song is the classical guitar solo,...
", reverb
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
erating slowly into silence, segue
Segue
A segue is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next.-In music:In music, segue is a direction to the performer. It means continue without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows". The term attacca is also used in classical music.For written music it implies a transition...
ing into "Comfortably Numb
Comfortably Numb
"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, which first appears on the 1979 double album, The Wall. It was also released as a single in the same year with "Hey You" as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger...
".
According to songwriter Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
, "Bring the Boys Back Home" is the central, unifying song on The Wall:
Composition
The listener first hears several snare drums articulating a march beat in 4/4 time, as the final note of the previous song, "VeraVera (song)
"Vera" is a song by Pink Floyd which appears on their 1979 album, The Wall. The title is a reference to Vera Lynn, a British singer who came to prominence during World War II with her popular song "We'll Meet Again". The reference is ironic, as Roger Waters would not meet his father, lost in the war...
" fades. The song proves to be polyrhythm
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
ic as this beat continues unchanged while the orchestra, choir, and lead vocals begin in 12/8. Waters sings the lyrics in his upper register (in a style that might be described as "melodic shouting"), supported by a choir. Waters and choir exhort, "Bring the boys back home / Don't leave the children on their own". On the final reiteration, the song, primarily in G major
G major
G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
, climaxes on the relative minor
Relative key
In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures. A major and minor scale sharing the same key signature are said to be in a relative relationship...
of E minor
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...
. The choir abruptly drops away, leaving Waters' voice alone, agonised and struggling to sustain the high note (the first B above middle C
C (musical note)
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
). A lone snare drum also remains, continuing its insistent march
March (music)
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...
beat.
In the film, the song is sung by a large choir, without Waters' lead vocal. It is also expanded, with an extended vamp on the subdominant
Subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...
before repetition of the full four-line lyric.
Performances
The original Pink Floyd concerts of The Wall were so expensive that, ultimately, the band lost money staging them. They were also, at that time, the most elaborate stage productions a rock band had ever mounted. For these reasons, and others, it is understandable that the band chose to use the original recordings of Michael KamenMichael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
's orchestral arrangements, rather than hire and rehearse a live orchestra. Recordings of the original sound effects (televisions, helicopters, various atmospheric effects) were also used. With the use of click track
Click track
A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a moving image. The click track originated in early sound movies, where marks were made on the film itself to indicate exact timings for musicians to accompany the film...
s, the musicians were able to play in sync
Synchronization
Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
with the recordings (with the additional result that they reproduced nearly every song at its original tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
).
As "Bring the Boys Back Home" is performed by an orchestra, with a large number of drummers, and none of the typical rock and roll instruments, Roger Waters would simply sing along to a remix of the studio recording. This is demonstrated on Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81, paying special attention to the ending, when the "live" Roger drops out, and the recorded lead vocal remains, sustaining the last note with the unique wavering heard on the studio album.
Ten years later, when Roger Waters—by then a solo artist—decided to stage a massive re-production of The Wall at the site of the recently dismantled Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, he had the personnel and the finances for a full-scale arrangement. Using the extended arrangement from the film, Waters sang (in his most strident, histrionic style) and marched around the stage dressed in full military regalia
Regalia
Regalia is Latin plurale tantum for the privileges and the insignia characteristic of a Sovereign.The word stems from the Latin substantivation of the adjective regalis, 'regal', itself from Rex, 'king'...
, while backed by the Rundfunk Orchestra and Choir
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (East Berlin)
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at theKonzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie...
, band of the Combined Soviet Forces in Germany
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
The Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , also known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany and the Western Group of Forces were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany....
and the Red Army Chorus.
When Waters resurrected the concept of The Wall for his 2010-2012 tour, The Wall Live, the song was again central to the show's political message. Throughout the song, the projections on the fully built wall slowly gave a 1953 quote from President Eisenhower:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed
Personnel
- Roger WatersRoger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
— vocals - Joe PorcaroJoe PorcaroJoseph Porcaro is an American jazz drummer, percussionist and educator....
— snare drum - 35 New York drummers including Blue Ocean — snare drums
- New York Opera — choir
- New York Orchestra — strings
Further reading
- Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8.