Perfect Sense Part 1 is the third track from the concept album Amused to Death

Amused to Death

Amused to Death is a concept album, and the third studio album by former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. It was released in 1992.The album title was attached to material that Waters began working on during the Radio KAOS tour...

 by former Pink Floyd

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...

 member 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...

. The song is sung partially by Roger Waters but mainly by PP Arnold on both the original album and live shows.

Overview

The song begins with a loud and unintelligible rant cutting out the noise of the previous track, What God Wants

What God Wants

"What God Wants" is a series of songs written and released by former Pink Floyd bassist, Roger Waters on his third solo album, Amused to Death. "What God Wants" is separated into three parts, much like his earlier work with "Another Brick in the Wall". Also like the Pink Floyd song, the bass line...

. Following this inaudible opening is words uttered by Roger Waters, played backwards. This hidden message tells that Roger has decided to record a backwards message. "Julia, however, in the light and visions of the issues of Stanley, we changed our minds. We have decided to include a backward message. Stanley, for you, and for all the other book burners..." This is not the first example of Roger Waters using reversed messages in his musical work.

In an interview with Rockline on 8 February 1993 Roger Waters stated that he had wanted to use samples of HAL 9000

HAL 9000

HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...

 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...

on the album. Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...

, the director, turned him down on the basis that it would open the door to too many other people using the sound sample.http://www.pinkfloydonline.com/int34.htm Since this incident Waters has used the audio of HAL describing his mind being taken away during the introduction of Perfect Sense Part 1 in live performances, such as the In The Flesh

In the Flesh (tour)

In The Flesh was a series of worldwide concert tours by Roger Waters that spanned three individual tours over the course of three years . Returning from a 12-year long hiatus from the road, In The Flesh was a showcase of his best known work from his days with Pink Floyd to his most recently...

 tour in 2002.

The opening lines of the song begin with a reference from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...

in which "The monkey sat on a pile of stone and stared at the broken bone in his hand". This monkey is referred to continuously throughout the album.