Few concept albums come close to the greatness of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Released in 1979, the album was a decidedly new direction for the band, ushering in a new and more experimental era of rock ‘n’ roll.
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Among the many great tracks on the album is the song “Hey You,” a power ballad sung by the main character. During this song, the protagonist, Pink, completes the wall he built against the world. Although it has been his lifelong work, he suddenly panics and tries to break the barrier down again, frightened of being cut off from the rest of the world.
“Hey You” and The Wall were initially greeted with skepticism, with some critics finding the album hard to follow and others considering it a pretentious but avant-garde artistic attempt. In the 1982 film adaptation of The Wall, “Hey You” was shot as a surreal descent into Pink’s madness but ultimately cut from the movie.
Despite the mixed reviews, The Wall was a commercial triumph. Topping charts on both sides of the Atlantic, it came to be known as one of the most innovative concept albums in rock history. Pink Floyd later received two Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duoor Group Vocal.
The Meaning
The Wall tells the story of Pink, a rock star who becomes increasingly unhappy with his life. His father was killed in World War II, after which he began to imagine building a metaphorical wall to isolate himself from the world. This wall continues with every traumatic experience, such as mistreatment at school and, eventually, strain in his marriage.
“Hey You” occurs when Pink learns that his wife is having an affair. Distraught, he lays his final bricks in the emotional and mental wall he has built.
However, he is terrified of his isolation once the wall is built. Desperately, he tries to call out to the people outside, but they can’t hear him. Then he tries to break the barrier down, but it proves too high and strong. Finally, he gives up and gives in to the mental decay of his isolation.
The wall was too high
As you can see
No matter how he tried
He could not break free
And the worms ate into his brain
The final line suggests that Pink is giving in to death, comparing the “mental death” of cutting oneself off from the world to bodily death.
Imagery in “Hey You”
The song lyrics draw on images from various myths and use Biblical imagery to describe Pink’s experience.
Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I’m coming home
This could reference the myth of Sisyphus, who was doomed to roll a boulder up a hill as his eternal punishment. Songwriter and Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters said that Pink’s helplessness and isolation were meant to show that humans can only bear their burdens when they do so together.
Similarly:
Hey you, don’t help them to bury the light
Don’t give in without a fight
This is a nod to the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus urges his disciples not to “hide [their] light under a bushel.”
Real Life Comparisons
A significant part of the inspiration for The Wall was Pink Floyd’s reaction to increasingly bored fans. The band members perceived that fans were no longer interested in the deeper meaning of their songs; thus, they wanted to challenge them to shake off their mental “decay” and experience the music on a deeper level.
This is connected to Pink’s perception of the people in the outside world. He says that they have allowed their minds to become dull, and thus, they cannot hear or connect with him.
Hey you, standing in the aisles
With your itchy feet and fading smiles,
Can you hear me?
“Aisles” could refer to several settings but is probably not literal in Pink’s case; the scene takes place in a hotel. Instead, the line evokes the image of a concert venue, where the band has observed bored fans listening to their music without appreciating it.
Songwriter Roger Waters later drew another parallel to real life. Like the protagonist Pink, Waters discovered that his wife had been unfaithful to him while he was away from home.
“It’s about the breakup of my first marriage, all that misery and pain and being out on the road when the woman declares over the phone that she’s fallen in love with somebody else,” Waters told Mojo magazine in 2009. “It’s a complete disaster, especially if you’re someone like I was. I was flotsam on the turgid seas of women’s power. Hopeless, really, I could do nothing but go fetal and weep. But the song is also partly an attempt to make connections with other people, to say that maybe if we act in consort, some of the bad feelings will go away. In community, there is comfort. The line, ‘Hey you, out there beyond the wall/ Breaking bottles in the hall’ — that is an exhortation to come closer where I live, so we can help each other.”
The Legacy Of “Hey You”
“Hey You” is remembered as one of the most significant concept albums in rock and roll history. Even decades later, its popularity has barely waned. During Waters’ solo tour of The Wall from 2010-2013, he regularly played at sold-out venues.
Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns
