Hey You

"Hey You" is a song by Pink Floyd. It was released on The Wall album in 1979. It starts the second disc of the double album. This song was edited out of the film for fear on the part of the filmmakers that the film was running too long; however, a rough version is available as an extra on the 25th anniversary edition DVD.

Composition

The song is one of the most notable songs featuring hi-string tuning, a variation of Nashville tuning (where the low E string is replaced with a second high E string, thus raising it two octaves).^{[citation needed]} It starts off with a solo acoustic guitar playing in the classical style, the melody resembling the middle section of A Pillow of Winds, with the fretless bass slightly similar to the opening of "Pigs" joining in shortly after. Next to join in is the electric piano, David Gilmour's vocals, and overdubbed acoustic guitar and drums at the start of the second verse. In the middle is a guitar solo which is played over the main riff of the song "Another Brick in the Wall". After the solo, Roger Waters takes over on lead vocals for the bridge and for the rest of the song. The bridge soon ends on overdubbed synthesizer and a reprise of the opening acoustic guitar passage, which is soon joined by the fretless bass. At this point there is a piece of indecipherable whispering from the left channel. After this, the drums and vocals join in. At about 3:23 into the song, a common Floydian technique of recycling sounds occurs when a sonar-like ping similar to the ping in "Echoes" is introduced, adding to the atmosphere of isolation and emptiness. The song itself is inspired by the very concept The Wall was made for: the feeling of despair and isolation from one's peers. "Hey You" has a very desperate tone which steadily grows as the song progresses, and there has been much debate as to what the lyrics symbolise, though it is generally agreed that the song is about isolation from one's peers, whether it be Pink, the listener, or both.^[1]

The song was originally intended to be between "Comfortably Numb" and "The Show Must Go On". This line-up was used on the demo tapes, but changed for the final release. However, it does appear between the two songs in the liner notes of the album.

Plot

Like the other songs on the album, "Hey You" is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Pink. Pink realises the mistake he made completely shunning society, and attempts to regain contact with the outside world. However, he cannot see or hear beyond the wall. Pink's call becomes more and more desperate as he begins to realise there is no escape.

The song constitutes the bridge from Pink isolating himself from reality to joining the fascist movement "The Worms"^{[citation needed]}, expressed by the line "...and the worms ate into his brain".

In the broader sense, the album is about an artist's isolation from his audience, no doubt inspired by an incident while on tour when Roger Waters got angry at a fan when he climbed the netting that separated the band from the audience, and Waters went so far as to spit on him. Waters then regretted this and also the fact that there is netting between him and the crowds of fans, and with this concept, The Wall was made. Under this perspective, "Hey You" takes on a different view, highlighting the alienation of the audience (who are standing in the aisles, all alone, getting cold and no longer smiling), and the artist wondering if he can even reach them any longer (whether they can hear him, touch him, feel him).

Film version

"Hey You" was shot for the film Pink Floyd The Wall, but was ultimately not included. A work print appears on the special edition DVD, in black and white.

The scene begins with Pink trying to claw out of his freshly completed wall. The scene then switches to Pink's concert-goers, all of them with a blank and vacant look on their face. These are the people "Standing in the aisles with itchy feet and fading smiles" that Pink is trying to reach out to. Next is a shot of empty infirmary beds followed by a sight of two empty chairs in a white room. A motionless Pink fades into the chair on the left, with his nude wife fading into the right chair a short while after. After turning her head to look at her unresponsive husband, she fades out of the scene, which shifts to a tidal wave of rioting scenes, with people tipping over cars and throwing Molotov cocktails at a local riot control squad. After the montage, a hand is shown clawing at a window (the colour version of this is actually shown at the end of "The Trial", showing evidence that it was actually meant to be in there) followed by a large group of maggots (the "worms" eating into Pink's brain). After a shot of a man in an infirmary bed and a superimposed woman screaming over the image, the scene takes back to the riot, where a long line of riot control persons hold back against a mob of rioters, who have barricaded themselves behind a pile of desks and mattresses. The scene ends with Pink against his wall, having given up on finding a way out.

Personnel

• Roger Waters - vocals (bridge and last verse),^[2]
• Nick Mason - drums^[2]
• David Gilmour - 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars,^[2] electric guitar, pedal steel,^[3] vocals (first and second verse),^[2] Charvel Fretless Bass^[2]
• Richard Wright - Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer^[2]
• James Guthrie - drill^[2]

Delicate Sound of Thunder/P•U•L•S•E tours

• David Gilmour - guitar, lap-steel guitar, vocals
• Nick Mason - drums
• Richard Wright - piano, keyboards
• Tim Renwick - acoustic guitar
• Jon Carin - keyboards, vocals
• Guy Pratt - fretless bass guitar
• Gary Wallis - percussion

Cover Versions

• This song has been covered by the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.
• It was also featured in the 2005 Noah Baumbach film The Squid and the Whale, in which the teenage son tries to pass off "Hey You" as his own composition for a talent show.
• French singer Amandine Bourgeois performed it in 2006 on "The Wall" rock opera by Gilles Ramade, and then on the French Pop Idol ("Nouvelle Star") on June 11, 2008, and was thereafter declared the winner of the contest.

Notes

Bibliography

• Fitch, Vernon (2005). The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition ed.). Apogee Books. ISBN 1-894959-24-8. 
• Fitch, Vernon; Mahon, Richard. Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981. PFA Publishing. ISBN 978-0977736607.