Pink Floyd – ‘Comfortably Numb’

Writers: Roger Waters and David Gilmour
Producers: Bob Ezrin, James Guthrie, David Gilmour, and Roger Waters
Recorded: April-November 1979 in France, New York, and Los Angeles
Released: November 1979
Players:
Roger Waters — vocals, bass
David Gilmour — vocals, guitar
Rick Wright — keyboards
Nick Mason — drums
Album: The Wall (Columbia, 1979)
Also On:
Delicate Sound Of Thunder (Columbia, 1988)
The Wall Live In Berlin (Mercury, 1990)
Shine On (Columbia, 1992)
Pulse (Columbia, 1995)
Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-1981 (Columbia, 2000)
Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd (Capitol, 2001)
“Comfortably Numb” is one of only three songs on Pink Floyd‘s The Wall for which David Gilmour received a writing credit. The others were “Run Like Hell” and “Young Lust.” The rest of the album was credited to Roger Waters, with one other song co-credited to co-producer Bob Ezrin.
The song features two distinct voices, both Waters and Gilmour. Gilmour explained, “You can divide ‘Comfortably Numb’ into dark and light — the bits that I sing, ‘when I was a child…’ are the light, the ‘hello, is there anybody in there’ that Roger sings are the dark.”
According to Bob Ezrin, “Comfortably Numb” began as a demo tape that Gilmour brought in. Calling it “lovely,” Ezrin said he battled with Waters to get the song on the album: “I fought for this song and insisted that Roger work on it. My recollection is that he did so grudgingly, but he did it… The marriage of that lyric and Dave’s melodies and emotionally spectacular solo — every time I hear that song, I get goose bumps.”
In an interview with Mojo magazine, Waters insisted that “Comfortably Numb” wasn’t strictly a Gilmour song, saying: “What happened is Dave gave me a chord sequence, so if you wanted to fight about it… I could say that I wrote the melody and all the lyrics, obviously. I think in the choruses he actually hammered a bit of the melody, but in the verses he certainly didn’t.”
Gilmour said he came to the Los Angeles portion of The Wall sessions with two versions of “Comfortably Numb” and that he, Waters, and Ezrin clashed over how the song should be arranged: “On the dark stuff, I wanted to have a bit more of the grungy guitar element, while Roger and Bob wanted it just drums and bass and orchestra. We argued vociferously about that and I lost on that occasion, and I still feel I was right. Onstage I would always add a grungier guitar.”
Gilmour said “Comfortably Numb” represented “the last embers of Roger’s and my ability to work collaboratively together.”
The Wall was recorded in several studios, including Super Bear in France (where Gilmour and keyboardist Rick Wright had done solo albums), CBS in New York, the Producers Workshop in Los Angeles, and the group’s own studio in London.
The London sessions were not declared for tax reasons, because Pink Floyd was in dire financial straits following the collapse of their accounting firm, which had placed much of the band’s money in poor investments.
Tensions were high within the band at this point, with Gilmour, Wright, and drummer Nick Mason fighting Waters’ control of the group. Waters even insisted that Wright leave the band or he would scrap the project, meaning the group wouldn’t be able to recoup its financial losses. Wright reluctantly agreed.
Wright and Mason were also mistakenly left off the album’s credits in its first printing. The error was corrected on subsequent editions.
In addition to the Floyd members, many uncredited studio musicians also contributed to The Wall.
The album has sold more than 23 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Pink Floyd staged a massive performance for The Wall, including the construction of a cardboard brick wall at the front of the stage during the show, which was knocked down at the show’s climax. Because of its size and complexity, The Wall concert was only performed about 30 times, in a total of four cities: in New York, Los Angeles, and London in 1980, and in Dortmund, Germany and London in 1981.
During the live performance of “Comfortable Numb,” Waters sang in front of the wall wearing a doctor’s lab coat, and Gilmour played his guitar solo from on top of the wall.