Pink Floyd – Outside the Wall

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All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and the artists
Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.

"Isn't this where..."

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Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 01:51

"Outside the Wall" as written by Roger Waters

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Outside the Wall song meanings
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36 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:Pink has tore down his wall, and it reveals in this song that many people have a wall, and as one gets rid of theirs, another person builds their own.

    Pink's story ends with "Isn't this where.."
    And another person builds their wall and goes through the same cycle at "...we came in?"
    Flag woodenappleon July 23, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I JUST CANT'T BELIEVE WHY THIS SONG GOT LITTLE COMMENTS !! IT IS SO ROMANTIC AND HUMANITARIAN
    ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WATCH THE MOVIE MANY TIMES AND GET SYMPATHY WITH PINK
    IN THIS SONG WATERS FEELS SORRY ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED LIKE PINK'S.
    HE MIGHT ALSO FEELS LITTLE GUILT ABOUT HIS NEGATIVE SIDE .
    Flag ManofArtson May 17, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:There's a really nice version on the "Immersion" album with a harmonica. Well done. A couple of the lyrics are different though, "some walk side by side; some in Indian file" (never heard that expression before).
    Flag yada3on February 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:1. Is anyone else creeped out by the way this song ends? I should just rearrange the track orders so I can have the whole sentence, because the sentence cutting off like that freaks me out for some odd reason.

    2. I feel sorry for the people "banging (their) head(s)against some mad bugger's wall". That line speaks to me the most in this song. It's about no matter how hard you try, you still can't get through to the one you love... Kinda like Pink's wife in the movie, how he never talked to her.
    Flag EnduringChillon January 29, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think that after he tears down the wall he ends up building it again.
    Flag Wisepersonon May 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:(1) Well meaning persons inadvertently build (protective) walls around children.. minimizing but not eliminating torment and "imaginings"..... mum, teacher, doctor, army/police and first love.... (2) The young adult strives to be independent, the questioning stage, tries different methods, drugs, music, bullying, power.... but it doesn't work and results in (3) the symbolic trial by the worm (soul searching) who finds he is guilty of human feelings, and his subsequent trauma of falling without landing. When the wall built to protect his childhood comes down (he does it), (4) he discovers its the love of those close by, their peace, maturity, kindness and wisdom that stands true through all failed explorations. (5) My licence ... Implied is he starts the journey to build those attributes and will himself build walls around his children... walls are necessary for long dreamy childhoods......
    Flag hazzibopson April 29, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:All alone or in twos, hand in hand and those gathering together in bands, are the artists, who because they really love humanity and the human spirit ("the ones who really love you") work tirelessly to search for and show you the truth via their art ("Walk up and down outside the wall"). This kind of passion in the face of adversity, human cinicism, indifference and ambivalence can drive an artist crazy (some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy banging your head against some mad bugger’s wall).
    Flag ranedogon April 01, 2011   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:I disagree Dojindog - I actually think it makes more sense on the album than in the movie. On the album it represents the moment of exhale following all of the trauma, the moment of realization and awareness that it was HIS problems with reaching out emotionally that CAUSED the hurtful reactions in others due to their efforts to protect themselves. It was HIS narcissism and rejection of those that loved him so much that they even beat their hearts against his wall to the point of exhaustion (I believe these "people" could also be interpreted as internalized ego objects, especially the young boy at the end of the film that looks like the young Pink). The sad part is that either Pink, or those that come after him (us), are destined to use the leftover bricks to start to build another wall, which is why the album clearly creates a conceptual circle with the "isn't this we....re we come in" to end and start the album and the film shows children reassembling the bricks.
    I also think you are missing the significance of the mental illness and psychological decay represented in the concept. This is not just an individual suffering from growing up without a father or an over protective mother, or any of the other "bricks" that end up forming his wall. This is a description of a person sinking into true mental illness and psychosis. This is a person that can not cope with common life stressors due to mental illness. A person regressing into a schizoid state of paranoia and craziness is unable to stop his desent. Normal people reach for help, crazy people isolate. Everything he tries to fight against the loss of ego, sense of self and identity he is experiencing, as a result of cutting himself off from the ONLY way that humans know those things - i.e. reflected in the eyes of others, doesn't work. Every attempt he makes to escape or gain control fails and pulls him further into his own madness.
    Outside the wall - you are completely correct in that the song is about death, but also rebirth. Pink the rag doll, the non-human, is exposed and killed, but the real Pink ("Which one's Pink?") has a chance to emerge and heal in the light.
    Flag trpnstn1on September 04, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:This song doesn't make as much sense if you haven't seen the movie. Beware of SPOILERS: The album and the movie are both named the wall. The first part of Another Brick in the wall along with the movie basicly sets the theme. Pink's father goes off to war and dies and this places the first brick in the wall of Pink's life. The general idea being that we all build these walls to keep out the cold world. Which seems like a great idea as Pink goes through his life relatively normal-like except for that whole, becoming a rock star bit. That's when Pink first starts to experience the other side of the wall. The wall keeps out the cold world, but what we often forget is that, there are people who love us in that cold world, warmth as well is kept out by the wall. What goes up must come down. Anyways I think the important part of this song is a kind of solemn thank you to all those people who help us break down the walls that keep us from happiness. Also serving as a warning to people that we should appreciate those people as well because it isnt't easy "beating your heart against some poor buggers wall" especially when you think about how they must be trying to tear down walls of their own.
    Flag Dojindogon January 30, 2010   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    My Interpretation:When I hear the whole album without any visuals, I imagine this song to somehow be the death of Pink. I believe it's the children's choir in the background echoing the lyrics that does it for me. The identical instrumentals as with the beginning of In The Flesh? also gives me the interpretation that Pink may have died the same way he was born: vulnerable, no walls (as they were 'demolished' in The Trial) and alone. In the lyrics, he's reflecting on the feelings of those that tried so hard to break his walls, but failed and gave up on him ('some stagger and fall'). He doesn't seem to feel any particularly strong emotion about the fact that he had to demolish his own 'wall' and nobody else helped him. It was just a simple thought; a last testimony before his death. And alas, the bricks to the wall loop like the CD is meant to; straight to the beginning of another person's life.

    My username is named after this song because of how much you can interpret out of a 1-2 minute song. It's quite wonderful, and quite possibly one of my favorites for that reason.
    Flag OutsideTheWallon November 15, 2009   Link

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