Above: The cover of The Division Bell. (Pink
Floyd's
latest original album.)
|
The rock band Pink Floyd has always had a certain "mystique" about it. After the synchronicity between their 1973 hit album The Dark Side of the Moon and the classic movie The Wizard of Oz was discovered a couple of years back, this mystique has increased greatly. But well before this unexplainable phenomenon was their 1994 release of The Division Bell. While this album certainly has not become one of their most popular, its emotional message is quite intriguing and mysterious. Intriguing and mysterious enough to be studied and analyzed. (I very much recommend you buying a copy of it and listening to it to get the full effect of its message.)
|
|
|
Analysis of the album should begin with the cover. Look at it closely for about 15 seconds or so (it is to the left). Do you see anything unique about it? (Hint: look at the general shape of the figures.) To see what I discovered, click it.
|
|
|
Interesting!!!!
The first thing you may think is, "What?? Pink Floyd going religious? No way!" Well, why not? Their label as a "drug band" is in the past, if not unfounded in the first place. Just because their original star and leader, Sid Barrett, had a serious drug problem
|
"A Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey"
|
shouldn't anchor the band down with this perception for the rest of its existence. (He hasn't even been in the band since 1968.) Besides, the remaining Floyd members' mostly minimal drug-use (compared with other bands of their generation) has been way over-hyped. For more information on this fact and the history of Pink Floyd up to 1991, I recommend you reading a book called "A Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey." Click this sentence to take a peek at a review of this very informative book.
|
Dr. Billy Graham
|
One more thing: EVEN IF Pink Floyd had been, and is still now, mired in drug-use (which, again, they are not) and worse, along with all of their fans. This should not "disqualify" them from having a serious religious message. After all, the central message of Christianity is grace through forgiveness. Please read a message from the good reverend Dr. Billy Graham. This is not to say that the Church of the Rolling Stone condones drug-use or any type of "immorality" (it certainly does not). What I am simply trying to say is that one could live an "immoral life" and still be a Christian (albeit an "immature Christian"). Living a "moral life" is a result of being a Christian and not a condition for it.
|
|
|
"O.K.?" You may now say. "So Pink Floyd has a picture of a heart with a cross inside of it on the cover of their latest album? What's the big deal?" Well, the "big deal" is the interesting way in which the content of the album relates to the cover.
Perhaps the best place to start analyzing the album's content is with track #6.
There's a trailing heartbeat at the end of that song. This, with the
revelation about the cover, conveys the fact that the content of the
song is intended to be some sort of Christian message. (Or in this specific case, as it turns out, a message from Jesus Himself.) Follow this link to view the lyrics to track #6.
|
Online Bible link
|
You can analyze this song for yourself and in your own way, but I think particular interest should be paid to the first part of the last stanza where the return of Jesus is mentioned: "I'm holding out for the day when all the clouds have blown away." This vagueness of the exact time of Jesus' return corresponds with the bible in Matthew 24:27-39. (You can look this up right now on an online Bible.) Specifically notice verse 36 of Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus Himself says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son [Jesus], but only the Father [God]."
|
Online Bible link
|
Another mention of Christ's return comes in track 10 ("Lost for words"): "To martyr yourself to caution is not going to help at all because there'll be no safety in numbers when the Right One walks out of the door." This again corresponds with the bible where Jesus compares the surprise of His return to a thief coming in the night and upon which there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:42-51).
|
Online Bible link
|
Perhaps the song with the most emotional "end-time" references is track 5: "A Great Day For Freedom". Read the lyrics to this song and look at Matthew 24:4-13 and I Thessalonians 5:1-4.
|
Online Bible link
|
Track 2, or "What Do You Want From Me" also has some obvious references to Jesus and Christianity. Note this
succession of words at end the song (my comments and parallel biblical scriptures are inside the green parenthesis):
I'm not the one you need (another reference to Jesus): What do you want from me? You can have anything you want.
You can drift, you can dream (likely a reference to prophetic dreaming which has many biblical examples), even walk on water (Matthew 14:25-33, John 6:19-21): Anything you want. You can own everything you see: sell your soul for complete control, is that really what you need (Matthew 16:24-28, Mark 10:21-27)? You can loose yourself this night: see inside there is nothing to hide, turn and face the light. What do you want from me?
|
Online Bible link
|
Track 3 also has a biblical reference to it look at the lyrics and see Matthew 6:22-23.
|
Pope John Paul II
|
After reading the lyrics to track 9, "Keep Talking" you will notice that this song condones the evolutionary theory of creation. "Aha," you may think. "This is all BS! Belief in evolution is in direct contradiction with the bible and is a sign of atheism! Right?" Well, not necessarily. It's time to visit the pope's belief on the matter. Again the final say is your own.
|
|
|
The meaning of the title of the CD is revealed in its last song. (track #11: High Hopes.) The beginning
of the song features several church bells chiming until one bell is remaining,
the "division bell." Read the lyrics and analyze for yourself. I will throw
in one more observation: notice that the song also concludes with the ringing of this church bell. To me this is meant to either reinforce the fact that
the "division bell" is indeed a church bell and therefore is religious in nature or to signify that the "ringing of the division bell" (see the lyrics) had begun with the release of the CD since it is the last message of the last song.
|
The old Floyd: David Gilmour and Roger
Waters
|
I encourage you to analyze this album for yourself. I recommend that you buy
the album, listen to it in its entirety (looking at the lyrics cannot replace
listening to the music), and form your own opinion from there. I have merely
guided you along with my personal analysis of it. Whatever your take on it is,
I think that it is safe to say that The Division Bell is meant to be more than just another rock album.
|
 |
Your comments and questions are GREATLY APPRECIATED: rollingstone@post.com
Number of hits: 
Last update: 11/10/00
|
