Introduction

You cannot begin to discuss The Final Cut, the 1983 masterpiece album by Pink Floyd, without first discussing it's spiritual predecessor, 1979's The Wall. The Wall is one of Pink Floyd's most successful and well-known works, and has also become the very definition of the term "concept album." It's main architect and lyrical mastermind, Roger Waters, conceived the album after an infamous incident on the 1977 tour for the Animals album in which Waters completely lost it and not only stopped the concert to berate audience members who were apparently shooting off fireworks in the stadium, but also spat in the face of a fan who was attempting to make his way up to the stage. Waters was distressed at what he was becoming and was not comfortable with what he felt was a disconnection between the band and the audience, especially since the band had started playing to larger audiences in a stadium setting. He visualized this disconnection as a brick wall between the stage and the audience, and used this idea to create what would become Pink Floyd's most ambitious project, which told the story of rock star named "Pink," a combination of former band member Syd Barrett and Waters himself.
The story loosely followed Pink through his childhood up through his adult years and described numerous traumatic experiences he encountered that each led to a metaphorical "brick" in Pink's mental "wall," which he used to distance himself emotionally from everyone in his life. The brick perhaps most related to Waters in real life was the death of Pink's father in World War II - identical to the death of Waters' real father. This is where The Final Cut came in.
The Final Cut was originally envisioned as a soundtrack for the 1982 The Wall film, but nothing from the film was used in the original version of the album, although Pink does sing a snippet of "Your Possible Pasts" in one scene, which I will discuss in that song's post. The reason the album is connected to the death of Pink/Waters' father more than any other part of The Wall (although there were several other connections, particularly in the title track) is because The Final Cut expands on the war themes heard in tracks from The Wall like "Vera," "Bring the Boys Back Home," and, in the movie, "When the Tigers Broke Free" (the latter of which was actually included on a reissue of The Final Cut). As Chris Ott said in Pitchfork's review for The Final Cut, "For years now, it's seemed so obvious, perhaps only to a few, that the stretch running from 'Is There Anybody Out There' to 'Bring the Boys Back Home' works as a transition into The Final Cut." The reason for this is that all of those songs are connected to the effects of war and the death of his father on Pink, and every song on The Final Cut has a similar, and in many cases, more universal theme. As Kurt Loder expressed in Rolling Stone's review of the album, The Wall was really only a prequel to The Final Cut in this sense.
Although the album originally took a lot of heat for it's music, which many critics criticized as being nothing more than a Roger Waters solo album, it has become more accepted for it's brilliant lyrical anti-war themes in recent years. The criticisms also make very little sense, considering David Gilmour played just as much a role musically, including a few guitar solos, as he did on The Wall, which means The Wall must be a Roger Waters solo album as well. Another thing that puzzles me is why this is a bad thing, considering the genius of Waters' solo albums The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and Amused to Death. At any rate, an in-depth look at such an overlooked and underrated classic album is long overdue, and that is exactly what I intend to provide, for free, with this analysis, which is very much inspired by Bret Urick's complete literary analysis of The Wall, which can be found at this link. Other helpful resources include Cliff Jones' book Another Brick In the Wall, which is highly recommended for its vast amount of Pink Floyd related information, not only in relation to this album, but all other Floyd works as well. Please note that this site is a work in progress, so try to forgive me for any mistakes or misinterpretations I make in this analysis. With that in mind, enjoy the site once it's up and running and feel free to comment, as long as you keep your comments tasteful and respectful of others. "Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend. We were all equal in the end."

The Post War Dream

The album begins with the sound of a radio broadcast in an album full of sound effects. Roger Waters' somber voice then laments in a childlike way "Tell me true, tell me why was Jesus crucified? Was it for this that Daddy died?" The young Waters is searching for some reason, some unfathomable, justifiable cause for his father's death in the second World War. Unable to find one, he then points the finger at himself . "Was it you? Was it me? Did I watch too much TV? Is that a hint of accusation in your eyes?" The child Waters is so confused at why his father had to die that he worries that he is somehow responsible, that he has to deal with this misfortune as a sort of bad karma, in this instance for watching too much TV, something he was no doubt told he should not do as a child. The second, somewhat controversial verse shifts in a different direction, now focusing on the state of Britain itself following WWII. "If it wasn't for the nips being so good at building ships, the yards would still be open on the Clyde" refers to the "nips," a British derogatory term for the Japanese, overtaking the British in naval and shipmaking ability, painful for the British, who were once the most powerful naval force in the world. The radio broadcast at the beginning of the track includes an announcement that a lost British ship will be built in Japan, not the U.K., which nicely explains the verse. Waters then continues "And it can't be much fun for them, beneath the rising sun, with all their kids committing suicide." It's important to remember that Waters isn't suggesting here that all Japanese teenagers are suicidal, nor would he likely refer to Japanese people as "nips," but is reinforcing that things aren't any better in Japan than in Britain following the war. In these lyrics, Waters is commenting that the "Post War Dream" the album is a requiem for, and that his father died for, was never achieved, connecting the two verses. As if to confirm this, the guitars break in next in a sudden crescendo as Waters displays the "whining scream" prominent in the song's more explicit cousin, "The Gunner's Dream" as he sings "Should we shout? Should we scream? What happened to the post war dream? Oh Maggie, Maggie what will we do?" "Maggie" refers to Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister at the time who Waters was heavily critical of for the Falklands Conflict, which is mentioned several times on the album. Here, Waters is challenging her to aim for the post war dream instead of needlessly sending more men to their deaths "to make him give it back," as he sings on "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert," with the "it" referring to the Falklands. If all politicians would take Waters' words on this album into consideration before launching a war or "conflict," we would be one step closer to the peaceful world of the post war dream. Maybe.