Pink Floyd – Terminal Frost

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[Instrumental]

Send "Terminal Frost" Ringtone to Cell


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Track duration: 06:19


Terminal Frost song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:One of my favourite Pink Floyd tunes. I found it a really evocative track, with a guitar sound as near as Mike Oldfield's as it's near to The Edge's on 'Take it Back'. It has a slight influence from new age music that was getting big at the time, and I think it refers to an imaginary new glaciation in which the listener gets involved and from which he/she somehow survives. It has a really adventurous feeling all the way through and the sax and the voices in the middle part comform a genuinely floydish climax that might as well be compared to works from 'Dark Side of the Moon' such as 'Gig in the Sky'.


    Curious as well to notice many tracks in the album speak about ice or frozen things ('Learning to Fly' - "ice is forming on the tips of my wings", 'One Slip' - "a glazed look", 'On the Turning Away' - "no more turning away from the coldness inside", 'Sorrow' - "His blood has frozen & curdled with fright"). And somebody spoke about 'A New Machine' being about cryogenics... so what's the subject of the album?? Coldness, as a phisical and spiritual concept?? Interesting...
    Flag Orabidooon August 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One of my favourite Pink Floyd tunes. I found it a really evocative track, with a guitar sound as near as Mike Oldfield's as it's near to The Edge's on 'Take it Back'. It has a slight influence from new age music that was getting big at the time, and I think it refers to an imaginary new glaciation in which the listener gets involved and from which he/she somehow survives. It has a really adventurous feeling all the way through and the sax and the voices in the middle part comform a genuinely floydish climax that might as well be compared to works from 'Dark Side of the Moon' such as 'Gig in the Sky'.


    Curious as well to notice many tracks in the album speak about ice or frozen things ('Learning to Fly' - "ice is forming on the tips of my wings", 'One Slip' - "a glazed look", 'On the Turning Away' - "no more turning away from the coldness inside", 'Sorrow' - "His blood has frozen & curdled with fright"). And somebody spoke about 'A New Machine' being about cryogenics... so what's the subject of the album?? Coldness, as a phisical and spiritual concept?? Interesting...
    Flagged Orabidooon August 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:"On a cold New Year’s Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward, sees a shooting star, and remembers her deceased grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone died and is going into Heaven. As she lights her next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother nearby for as long as she can. The child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the dead child in the nook." This song always reminds me of that story. It is just a guess and I could more or less be wrong. Though I have no idea what the "Never Again..." part of it is.
    Flag ultimatefloydianon March 09, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i don't know why but this song i could EASILY picture in the David Bowie movie, the Labyrinth...it just seems like it could fit perfect for that movie?
    Flag bgriff777on July 10, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Wow. i was going to say exactly what you said shasta, if i didn't read the comments first. hehe. I completely agree that this song is a landscape of imagery communicated through tension and release caused by timbre and layering of instruments. Isn't it so relaxing after the tension uplifts? i think so...
    Flag Arialon November 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:it's all in the name: terminal frost. the word terminal means the end of something, and the word frost is associated with cold. now, the coldness that could be referenced to in the song could refer to one's attitude toward the world/life.... so what it now means is the end of the cold / feelings of death. stop looking at the music and its aural aesthetics, instead look at the movement, as in a picture. the song clearly displays something that begins depressing, slow, cold, deathlike, then moves on to the climax which is the sax part, signifying a release from the cold.

    -shas
    Flag shasta010on November 03, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's about one step freeze off wart removers that hadn't been invented at the time.
    Flag inpraiseoffollyon September 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:if you think about it, the songs either side of it could be applied to cryogenics. Terminal Frost
    Flag sambennallickon September 13, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Or was it "Ever again!"?
    Flag Grind838on September 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Does anyone seem to notice that every Pink Floyd instrumental has to have something spoken in the background? The only thing I could make out on this one is: "Never again!"
    Flag Grind838on September 07, 2006   Link

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