“Comfortably Numb” is easily one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs. And I know my opinion isn’t a lonely one. The song is considered Pink Floyd’s greatest by many, and I even ranked it number 1 on my ‘Best Pink Floyd Songs’ list. But what makes the song so incredibly good? In this article, I’m diving into why “Comfortably Numb” is such an amazing song.
1. The Song’s Story and Meaning
With a website titled Song Stories Matter, I can’t dismiss the value of “Comfortably Numb’s” background story and meaning. The song was originally written as a wordless solo piece by guitarist David Gilmour, but he – and the band – eventually decided to use the song for Pink Floyd’s album The Wall.
Roger Waters, the band’s conceptual leader, took over the song’s lyrical theme. Waters wrote most of Pink Floyd’s lyrics and was responsible for the concept behind The Wall. The album tells the story of rock star Pink, who isolates himself by building a wall to protect himself from the outside world.
The story behind The Wall was heavily inspired by the personal experiences of Roger Waters, and so is “Comfortably Numb”. The song was inspired by the time Waters experienced heavy stomach cramps before a show and received muscle relaxants from a doctor. “I did the whole show hardly able to raise my hand above my knee,” Waters told Mojo. “He [the doctor] said it was a muscular relaxant. But it rendered me almost insensible.”
On The Wall, “Comfortably Numb” resembles Roger Waters’ experience, and addresses a conversation between Pink and a doctor prior to a show. Pink explains his state of being to the doctor and reveals he has become comfortably numb.
2. The Vocal Contrast Between Waters and Gilmour
An important element of “Comfortably Numb” is the shared lead vocals between Waters and Gilmour, which Gilmour once described as representing light and dark. In the song, Gilmour represents Pink, while Waters takes the role of the doctor. The contrast between Waters’ distinctive harsh voice and Gilmour’s mellow ethereal sound is a vital component of the song and emphasizes the alienation Pink feels from the rest of the world.
In general, “Comfortably Numb” is the perfect blend between Waters and Gilmour. A feat that was hard to achieve given the troubled relationship between the two former bandmates.
3. Comfortably Numb’s Orchestral Arrangement
An often overlooked element of “Comfortably Numb” is its amazing orchestral arrangement, which brings the song to the next level. It is heard throughout most of the song and culminates during the choruses. The arrangement was composed by Michael Kamen.
Waters and Gilmour fell into heavy disagreement over the orchestral backing, with Waters preferring Kamen’s arrangement, and Gilmour desiring a more stripped-down version. Eventually, the two found a compromise and used the orchestral arrangement throughout the song except for Gilmour’s final solo. Speaking of guitar solos…
4. The Two Guitar Solos
“Comfortably Numb” is most well-known for its iconic guitar solos. The first solo is often overshadowed by the second solo, but I find the first solo almost equally as amazing as the second. For the solos, Gilmour used his distinctive tone and iconic ‘feel-over-speed’ style. The solos – especially the second – rank among the most popular of all time.
“I just went out into the studio and banged out five or six solos,” Gilmour said about the solos to Guitar World. “From there I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and mark out bar lines, saying which bits are good. In other words, I make a chart, putting ticks and crosses on different bars as I count through: two ticks if it’s really good, one tick if it’s good and cross if it’s no go.”
“Then I just follow the chart, whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase and trying to make a really nice solo all the way through. That’s the way we did it on ‘Comfortably Numb.’ It wasn’t that difficult.”
5. Conclusion
Overall, “Comfortably Numb” is so good because of its great lyrical theme (the alienation of The Wall’s main character Pink), the stark contrast between Roger Waters’ and David Gilmour’s musical styles (which perfectly blend together somehow), the orchestral backing by composer Michael Kamen, and David Gilmour’s iconic guitar solos.
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