• Writer: Roger Waters
• Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, and Roger Waters
  Recorded: 1979 at Super Bear Studios, Miravel, France, and elsewhere
• Released: December 5, 1979
• Players:
  David Gilmour–guitar, vocals
  Nick Mason–drums
  Richard Wright–keyboards
  Roger Waters–vocals, bass
  James Guthrie – drill
• Album: The Wall (Columbia, 1979)
• Also On:
  The Wall Live In Berlin (Mercury, 1990; Waters solo)
  Shine On (Columbia, 1992)
  Pulse (Columbia, 1995)
  Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall: Live 1980-81 (Sony, 2000)
• “Hey You” is a track from Pink Floyd’s blockbuster 1979 album The Wall, with an interesting history.
• Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour both sing on “Hey You.” The two musicians were increasingly at odds with each other during the recording of the album.
• The song was moved around in the running order on the album. Originally it was the end of “side three,” after “Comfortably Numb” — but then it was moved to the beginning of the side. The printed lyrics on the original record sleeve have it at the end, though, confusing many fans.
• “Hey You” was the opening of the “second act” of the band’s live performance of The Wall, and featured the band playing the song behind a huge wall of white bricks that had been constructed onstage during the “first act.” The audience could not see the band at all during the song, just spotlights which roamed over the concert hall.
• “Hey You” is not included in the 1982 film version of The Wall. It was cut due to fears that the film was running too long. A rough cut of what the song would have looked like is included in some DVD releases of the film.
• The Wall went to Number One on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. the week of January 19th, 1980, and held its top spot for 15 weeks.
• When Roger Waters staged the all-star concert The Wall Live In Berlin in 1990, singer Paul Carrack (of Squeeze and Mike + the Mechanics) sang “Hey You.”
• The Wall has been certified 23-times-platinum, for sales of over 23 million copies. Interestingly, its last sales certification was in 1999 — any sales since then are not included in the figure.

FAST FORWARD:

• Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, and keyboardist Rick Wright reunited for a Pink Floyd tour in 1987, without Waters, who sued them over use of the name. The eventual settlement reportedly included giving Waters all rights to everything involving The Wall, which was primarily his creation.
• Pink Floyd last toured the world in 1994, in support of the album The Division Bell.
• Pink Floyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The band reunited with Roger Waters in July 2005 to perform at the Live 8 show in London, and some of the members have said they’d do it again for the right cause, but nothing’s been booked yet. Since then, Gilmour has released an album and toured, and Waters has mounted a lengthy world tour which has included the 1973 Pink Floyd album Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety. Drummer Nick Mason has performed at some of Waters’ shows.