Last year, the Ultimate Classic Rock website conducted a poll, asking: “Waters or Gilmour: who rocked ‘Comfortably Numb’ the best?” Former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour came out comfortably above his bandmate Roger Waters with nearly 80 per cent of the votes. “Comfortably Numb”, however, belongs to both men, it being one of a surprisingly small number of Pink Floyd songs credited just to Gilmour and Waters. It is a song that has had a long and fruitful life, coming to signify both rancour and reconciliation, as well as yielding some remarkable cover versions.
“Comfortably Numb” was conceived in 1977 when Gilmour was recording material for a solo album. He brought the basis of an unused song to the sessions for Pink Floyd’s album The Wall. He and Waters fleshed out the song, Waters providing lyrics. The narrative conceit for The Wall is that of an alienated rock star named Pink — a thinly disguised version of Waters himself, who had become disillusioned following what he saw as the group’s growing detachment from their audiences.
“Comfortably Numb” is a dialogue between two characters from The Wall, Pink and the Doctor, which Waters has said was inspired by two incidents. The first came when, as a child, he had a fever which induced a sensation of dissociation and distance; the second came prior to a Floyd gig in the 1970s, when a doctor injected Waters, who had stomach cramps, so that he could get through the show. He later told Mojo magazine that he was “rendered almost insensible”. Hence the lyric: “There is no pain, you are receding.”
Inevitably, as was the way with Pink Floyd, there was protracted conflict over the song. Gilmour and Waters were unable to agree on which “take” to use for the album. After endless arguments, two versions were spliced together. Gilmour’s two guitar soloson the song were assembled through a seamless stitching together at the mixing desk of the best of several takes. The contrast between the verses and choruses (they are in different keys) is at the heart of the song’s potency, as are Gilmour’s lyrical solos. It’s all about tension and release.
The song quickly became a live favourite. When Floyd toured The Wall, Gilmour would appear out of the darkness on top of a 35ft wall. In Alan Parker’s film of The Wall, the song plays over a sequence in which Bob Geldof as Pink is sedated amid chaotic scenes (Geldof contributed his own scream to the vocals).
In their post-Floyd lives, Waters and Gilmour have both exploited the fact that the song is essentially a duet. Waters brought in Van Morrison(along with various members of The Band) as a guest vocalist on “Comfortably Numb” at a post-Berlin-Wall-collapse gig in Berlin in 1990 (how Waters must have relished those political resonances); later, he sang it with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. But Gilmour has been the most promiscuous duettist: Robert Wyatt (sweet), Kate Bush (gorgeous), David Bowie (wonderful) and Benedict Cumberbatch (better than you might expect) have been among his stage partners over the years.
Meanwhile, others have tackled the song. Thelma Houston(no relation) was overblown and histrionic on 1999’s British Rock Symphony album. American singer Dar Williamsrecorded a version with Ani DiFranco in 2005, with DiFranco cleverly acting as an echo as well as a harmonic counterpoint to Williams’s lush vocals. But the cleverest version came from Scissor Sistersin 2004, who transformed it into a thumping disco tune with Bee Gees-esque vocals and shades of Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the echoing command, “Relax...” Gilmour, reportedly, liked it.
What’s curious about “Comfortably Numb” is that a song about acquiescence and a lack of feeling has generated moments of high emotion. When the four members of Pink Floyd reconvened for 2005’s Live8 concert in London, the song formed the climax to their reunion,Gilmour’s solo soaring across the ecstatic Hyde Park crowd. Footage of that performance also provided the stunning immersive video-wall climax to this year’s Pink Floyd exhibition at London’s V&A. And in 2011, when Waters played at London’s O2 Arena, the crowd roared in rapturous approval when Gilmour made a surprise guest appearance on top of a 50ft “wall”, singing, grinning and soloing on “Comfortably Numb”.
And that, in the end, probably explains why Gilmour “rocks” “Comfortably Numb” better than Waters. His playing on the recorded version has regularly featured at or near the top of “best guitar solo of all time” polls, and in live performance, time after time, he has spun shimmering threads of silver at the climax of this enduring song.
With thanks to Anthony Wreford for his help with this article.
We are keen to hear from readers of The Life of a Song. Who rocked “Comfortably Numb” the best? Have you ever seen it performed live? Let us know in the comments below.
Music credits: Pink Floyd Records, Universal Music Group International, Decca Music Group Ltd., Razor & Tie, Polydor Ltd.
Picture: Getty