Lyrics for A Great Day For Freedom as interpreted by Demau Senae

A Great Day For Freedom Lyrics
On the day the wall came down
They threw the locks onto the ground
And with glasses high we raised a cry for freedom had arrived

And on the day the wall came down
The ship of fools had finally run aground
Promises lit up the night like paper doves in flight

I dreamed you had left my side
No warmth not even pride remained
And even though you needed me
It was clear that I could not do a thing for you

Now life devalues day by day
As friends and neighbours turn away
And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone

Now frontiers shift like desert sands
As nations wash their bloodied hands
Of loyalty, of history in shades of grey

I woke to the sound of drums
The music played, the morning sun streamed in
I turned and I looked at you
And all but the bitter residue slipped away... slipped away

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napnip
04-13-2002

Rated 0 
This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The last two lines bring back a bad memory from my life. "I turned and I looked at you, And all but the bitter residue slipped away...." The closing instrumental piece is really powerful.


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pinkubus_floyd
06-04-2002

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This whole album is so much more than what people think. Instead of just 4 or 5 songs about the band, I think that's what every song on this album is about. This song inparticularly is, i think, about after The Wall album, and the success that came with it. "The Ship of Fools That Runs aground" is the band and everyone associated with them that never matched the success of the wall.

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FeelTheFlood32
07-18-2002

Rated 0 
This is talking about the freedom the band had after Roger Waters left. When they say the wall came down, they mean when he took off because Roger Waters wrote all of The Wall and made a lot of the music. The rest is saying how they're free to do what they want because by the time they released The Final Cut, Waters was doing everything. The album jacket even says "An album by Roger Waters and performed by Pink Floyd." This whole album talks about Waters leaving.

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ThePython
03-23-2003

Rated 0 
I think this album is, more particularly, about the entire history of the band. The title "The Division Bell" is like saying "Hey, we're done."
This song isn't just about the freedom, though. It's also about how when Roger Waters left, first he felt insecure, there was a certain feeling of "What do we do now?"

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undercurrent
10-07-2004

Rated 0 
It's part of the Publius enigma. I wouldn't say it's about the band.

"On the day the wall came down
We threw the locks onto the ground"

For comparison:
"Big bang making the walls come down
For the children of the light"
Ana Johnsson, Life

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TenYears_Gone
10-23-2004

Rated 0 
Umm... I think you guys are looking a little too deep. Not every song on this album is about the band. It fits with the theme of isolation and seperation ("division", gasp). I'm pretty sure that it has more to do with the Berlin Wall falling, and how everyone celebrated the event. However, the line "And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone" shows how there are permanent damages that we can't just apologize away.

I think there's probably more to this song than just this. The Berlin Wall is the main focus, but there are probably other inspirations that went into this song.

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Ereinion
11-05-2004

Rated 0 
when i first heard this song i also thought it was abt the berlin wall coming down. but as the song progresses, it takes on a very bitter tone which i could never figure out. but it totally makes sense if the song is abt waters and how much freedom that the band had after waters left. either, wonderful song and gilmour is undoubtedly one of the greatest song-writers ever!!

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K-Wise
11-18-2004

Rated 0 
^ I'll agree with that. I really love this song. I just got the album finally. I'm trying to collect them all. This could quite possibly be the best post Waters song Floyd has done. I really love On The Turning Away though. It's hard to pick.

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floydfanatic18
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
This is Bollocks! THESE LYRICS ARE SO BADLY WRITTEN! (How do we modify them?) BTW, according to Storm Thorgerson, The Final Cut was meant to be thier last album, in honor of Water's father, and then they'd kick the bucket as a band. The whole CD WAS about their problems, about loved ones, the band's troubles, exes, and poor Sid. I think the song is them trying to ask for real forgiveness, that they don't want to just say it's okay, they want to KNOW it's okay, and that there will be no hard feelings in the end. That's wot it says to me.

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camdavis38
12-09-2004

Rated 0 
Hello Gang, This song is actually about the end of the age. Pink Floyd and their music is based on a higher reality of life. At the end of this age, there will be a seperation of two types of individuals. Those who are righteous and those who are wicked. The bible calls this the seperation of the wheat and the tares and also the seperation of the lambs and the goats. This is acutally a very deep song about individuals yearning for a final day of freedom wherein they will be liberated from the material world and reach an ultimate and final freedom. The new frontiers spoken of are actually a reality in world to come. The wall spoken of is a metaphor for the sloughing away of the material world and the dawning and emergence of the spiritual world. I know it sounds deep, but think about it.

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BleedingHeartArtist
12-09-2004

Rated 0 
The Division Bell is roughly a concept album about levels of comunication, so this is a tad more obvious if you go in knowing that. Eh...But I'll let you all figure it out yourselves.

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RfEuAcDkTyHoIuS
12-30-2004

Rated 0 
Oh My God, I absolutely LOVE this song. I haven't quite thought about the meaning of it though. Of course, looking at what everyone else has said, I guess I could throw in my 2 cents. I think that this song could be translated into many meanings. The person that's listening gets to choose what they think the true meaning is. I've noticed that a lot of songs are like that, and that's what makes them so great. It's like a book with an open ending, it leaves you constantly wondering what the writer intended to happen, what the writer didn't tell you. I absolutely love songs like this.
~Aubree

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res87cue
01-24-2005

Rated 0 
Line Correction:
"The ship of fools had just all aground" --->
"The ship of fools had finally ran aground"

"Nawarinth" ------> "No warmth"

"Cannot be undown" -----> "Cannot be undone"

"in hades of gray" ----> "in shades of gray"

great song!

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knerr19
03-08-2005

Rated 0 
Hello! This song is about the Berlin Wall. Look at the album artwork. November elf-fle, 1989. What happened on that day? Elf obviously 11 in German which is the language spoken in Berlin. The first parts are about West Germany:Freedom has arrived, Promises lit up the night, I dreamed "East Germany" had left my side, even though you needed me it was clear i could not do a thing for you.

2nd half is about East Germany:"All the people killed trying to cross the wall" cannot be undone, "East Germany, West Germany, USA, Britain and Russia" wash their bloodied hands of loyalty of history in shades of grey. I turned and I looked at you and all but "hatred against your country" slipped away[cause we are one].

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Arnold Layne
05-02-2005

Rated 0 
The album is about communication and as knerr19 pointed out the wall is the Berlin Wall. The wall stopped the two halves of Germany from 'communicating' as it were. It couldn't be more obvious, I mean just look at the page the lyrics are on in the CD booklet.

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Eskimo_8
01-08-2006

Rated 0 
The Wall was written almost purely by Waters and is about his total lack of being able to communicate with people around him. His "Wall" was a way of hiding from the world. It is that Wall that comes down in this song and the rest of it is Gilmour's dispair of how Waters just rejected him and the whole band and hid off behind his Wall. The Division Bell is all about this hopelessness of the way Pink Floyd disintergrated around Waters and the way Gilmour, Wright and Mason felt about the contempt Waters held for them. It is a truely sad story.

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Govtwriteslyrics
04-07-2006

Rated 0 
PEOPLE we must understand this song is about the MAN who sold the world the third anti christ that discovers music in the third person is HIS life and the government has written music for HIM HE will discover he cant be killed by walking around a park and making prank sexual phone calls to a city thats why when you are face to face with Him you cant kill Him although music is HIS life you can see the trends in such bands as the eagles the police and especially david bowie thats why there is jesus doesnt want me for a sunbeam before it on nirvanas unplugged thats why its the man who sold the world he sells out all the bands especially pink floyd with THE WALL ten years before the berlin wall ironic no govt we are all bricks in the wall not to mention the flesh and bone by the phone also found in personal jesus by johnny cash you can see it in discographies as well in radiohead nirvana and audioslave as well as the stones let it bleed and the beatles let it be if you are a music buff you can understand and see HAIL TO THE THIEF THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD

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thedanman344
05-16-2006

Rated 0 
^ get off the hallucinogens

this is about the Berlin Wall. Stop trying to think too deep. If you notice, Gilmour doesn't really have that many "deep" meanings, like Waters did. He thinks on a differen level. It was in '94, so the Berlin Wall wasn't too far off. Also, Waters did a concert on the former Berlin Wall after it came down, so it just might be about that.

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snifferdog
08-15-2006

Rated 0 
This is about the fall of the Berlin Wall. A nice sentiment but a rotten song. One of the worst things david gilmour ever wrote

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inpraiseoffolly
08-28-2006

Rated 0 
Gilmour is just not that good at writing lyrics. That was Waters' strength, and it shows considering how bad the two Gilmour led PF albums were.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd give AMLOR a 4 and Division Bell a 3-4.

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DonAkide
11-08-2006

Rated 0 
i disagree, high hopes' lyrics are profound, so are these ones

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DonAkide
11-08-2006

Rated 0 
i disagree, high hopes' lyrics are profound, so are these ones

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*JoSIe*
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
I actually think that TDB is probably Gilmours best work, with floyd and solo included. Its pretty good but I am not a big of it. The Post Waters stuff never caught me like DSotM or Animals, and im a huge floyd fan. A huge Waters fan....

As for AMLOR, definalty their worst album.... i just cant listen to it. I never thought i could say this about any of floyds work but its pretty bad.

Please dont bash me people =)

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*JoSIe*
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
Oh and as for the song, i do believe its about Berlin Wall. Said many times before and here i am to say it again. :)

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phasetransition
07-15-2007

Rated 0 
It probably is about the berlin wall. That was the first thing that came to my mind. Except I always thought the fourth word in the second sentence (hmm, 42 again) was rock, not lock. It makes more sense to me that they're throwing their rocks down.

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