The previous song, "The Hero's Return," ends with "the gunner's dying words on the intercom" as he and the narrator were flying "over Dresden at angels one-five." The way I see it, the gunner was forced out of the bomber somehow after it was hit by enemy fire.
The Gunner's Dream picks up from there, following the gunner as he floats or falls to the ground over hostile territory (I'm not sure if he has a working parachute or not - he says he's "floating down through the clouds," implying a parachute, but the next line, "memories come rushing up to meet me now" could be implying that the ground is also rushing up to meet him, which it would do if he were falling without a parachute). In any case, for the next few minutes he is falling through "the space between the heavens and the corner of some foreign field" with nothing to do but reflect on his situation and dream about an ideal society where war would be unnecessary and no one would have to suffer.
He starts by imagining his parents at his funeral, saying goodbye to them, and hoping they'll remember his dream.
He then goes on to describe this society - fairly self-explanatory, but something else happens in the background as the verse begins: some shouting, and an explosion. I think these are Germans on the ground shouting as the bombing continues, which implies two things: the gunner is getting close to the ground, and he's in for a hostile reception when he lands. One thing worth noting: the line, "no one kills the children anymore," could apply to both sides in the war, including the gunner himself. He knows that many innocent children probably died in the bombing of Dresden in which he had just participated, so his repetition of this line is probably expressing remorse as well as desperate hope for the future.
The final verse, beginning with, "Night after night..." switches to another perspective, probably that of the man who narrated the previous song ("his dream is driving me insane" - this fits with what was said in "The Hero's Return"). He finishes relating his memory of the gunner with the last few lines. "In the corner of some foreign field, the gunner sleeps tonight," means that the gunner is lying dead somewhere in a foreign land, either killed on impact because he had no parachute, or killed shortly after landing by German soldiers or an Allied bomb. "What's done is done," meaning it's too late to help the gunner or any of the other casualties of the war, but if we "take heed of the dream," we might be able to prevent such things from happening in the future.
A chilling song, but at the same time beautiful; both depressing, and hopeful against all evidence. My favorite on the album, though several others come close.
I don't quite agree with Star Captian on this one...
I don't quite agree with Star Captian on this one...
The Gunner is his Dad who had died in WW2. Most of this album deals with this. His dad died fighting a war agianst facism. But then in 1980's under Margaret Thatcher, Britian took a turn twards facism. So the question came, "What did my dad die for" which Waters asked in the first song of the album. This song states the "dream" his dad died for. "where you can speak out loud...And no-one kills the children anymore". A free society without war.
The last words of the song really ring out. "take heed of the dream". That is "we" shouldn't forget what millions people died for or earse their work.
Well, you two aren't saying to much different. Star Captain is going into more of the details of the lyrics, while you are connecting it more with the album as a whole. The only real difference between your post and his is that he assumes a different character who was in the war with the gunner, and you assume that the other role is Roger himself. I would tend to agree with you, but in all fairness to sky captain, Water's does tend to write in a fashion that would make it seem as if he was in the war...
Well, you two aren't saying to much different. Star Captain is going into more of the details of the lyrics, while you are connecting it more with the album as a whole. The only real difference between your post and his is that he assumes a different character who was in the war with the gunner, and you assume that the other role is Roger himself. I would tend to agree with you, but in all fairness to sky captain, Water's does tend to write in a fashion that would make it seem as if he was in the war too.
Here's what I think:
The previous song, "The Hero's Return," ends with "the gunner's dying words on the intercom" as he and the narrator were flying "over Dresden at angels one-five." The way I see it, the gunner was forced out of the bomber somehow after it was hit by enemy fire.
The Gunner's Dream picks up from there, following the gunner as he floats or falls to the ground over hostile territory (I'm not sure if he has a working parachute or not - he says he's "floating down through the clouds," implying a parachute, but the next line, "memories come rushing up to meet me now" could be implying that the ground is also rushing up to meet him, which it would do if he were falling without a parachute). In any case, for the next few minutes he is falling through "the space between the heavens and the corner of some foreign field" with nothing to do but reflect on his situation and dream about an ideal society where war would be unnecessary and no one would have to suffer.
He starts by imagining his parents at his funeral, saying goodbye to them, and hoping they'll remember his dream.
He then goes on to describe this society - fairly self-explanatory, but something else happens in the background as the verse begins: some shouting, and an explosion. I think these are Germans on the ground shouting as the bombing continues, which implies two things: the gunner is getting close to the ground, and he's in for a hostile reception when he lands. One thing worth noting: the line, "no one kills the children anymore," could apply to both sides in the war, including the gunner himself. He knows that many innocent children probably died in the bombing of Dresden in which he had just participated, so his repetition of this line is probably expressing remorse as well as desperate hope for the future.
The final verse, beginning with, "Night after night..." switches to another perspective, probably that of the man who narrated the previous song ("his dream is driving me insane" - this fits with what was said in "The Hero's Return"). He finishes relating his memory of the gunner with the last few lines. "In the corner of some foreign field, the gunner sleeps tonight," means that the gunner is lying dead somewhere in a foreign land, either killed on impact because he had no parachute, or killed shortly after landing by German soldiers or an Allied bomb. "What's done is done," meaning it's too late to help the gunner or any of the other casualties of the war, but if we "take heed of the dream," we might be able to prevent such things from happening in the future.
A chilling song, but at the same time beautiful; both depressing, and hopeful against all evidence. My favorite on the album, though several others come close.
I don't quite agree with Star Captian on this one...
I don't quite agree with Star Captian on this one...
The Gunner is his Dad who had died in WW2. Most of this album deals with this. His dad died fighting a war agianst facism. But then in 1980's under Margaret Thatcher, Britian took a turn twards facism. So the question came, "What did my dad die for" which Waters asked in the first song of the album. This song states the "dream" his dad died for. "where you can speak out loud...And no-one kills the children anymore". A free society without war.
The last words of the song really ring out. "take heed of the dream". That is "we" shouldn't forget what millions people died for or earse their work.
Well, you two aren't saying to much different. Star Captain is going into more of the details of the lyrics, while you are connecting it more with the album as a whole. The only real difference between your post and his is that he assumes a different character who was in the war with the gunner, and you assume that the other role is Roger himself. I would tend to agree with you, but in all fairness to sky captain, Water's does tend to write in a fashion that would make it seem as if he was in the war...
Well, you two aren't saying to much different. Star Captain is going into more of the details of the lyrics, while you are connecting it more with the album as a whole. The only real difference between your post and his is that he assumes a different character who was in the war with the gunner, and you assume that the other role is Roger himself. I would tend to agree with you, but in all fairness to sky captain, Water's does tend to write in a fashion that would make it seem as if he was in the war too.