Send Our Colored Cousins Home Again
Song In A Sentence:
Pink wars within himself every bit his insane, dictator rants culminate in shouts of ethnic cleansing, effectively turning him into the very sort of strength that killed his father.
I n its position after "In the Mankind" and "Run Like Hell," the theatrical beginning for "Waiting for the Worms" offers more than a slight placidity from the racial slurs and threats of Pink's latest incarnation. If anything, it shows that despite the authorisation of the Hitler-esque figure that's causeless control over Pink's listen, there is still a slightly reasonable, somewhat cognizant self trapped below. There is a blink of the former Pinkish beneath the furious eyes of his fascist shell, perhaps the very self that his militant persona was threatening in the previous song.
Stepping away from the delusion of autocratic supremacy, Pink, at kickoff in the multiple voices of his splintered personality, recounts his electric current land behind his self-created defenses. He bids "goodbye [to the] cruel earth" once over again, though this time his adieu is spoken more out of the sorrowful realization over what he's done rather than the egotistical need for self-isolation that concluded the anthology's first one-half. He has discovered that his "perfect isolation" is far from ideal – not the tranquility confinement from the insanity of the world that he had imagined, but in reality a vicious war betwixt the opposing forces of his mind. Like so many troops throughout history whose lives are merely chess pieces in the hands of military dictators, he is a solitary soldier trapped behind his "bunker," non so much lamenting his situation as he is accepting of it. He waits for the imminent death and decay (the dictatorial voice that continually interrupts his musings) that he knows must surely come up rather than hoping for a style out. Withal despite the fact that Pink is doubtful of his fate and that his dictator persona resumes full control over his mind only a few verses into the song, the very connected existence of this underlying accurate self hints at the potential for alter and eventual rebellion over the worms of decay.
But for the time being the fascist self resumes control over Pinkish's mind and the rest of the song. Just as "In the Mankind" socially paralleled the commencement stages of Hitler's dominion with the labeling of "outsiders," and "Run Similar Hell" represented the next step, recalling Kristallnacht and the removal of Jews into the ghettos, "Waiting for the Worms" symbolically depicts the terminal stages in the buildup to the Holocaust, a catamenia in which over 6 millions Jews and minorities were slaughtered by the ruling Nazi party. In the course of 3 songs, Pinkish's autocratic personality has moved from ethnic branding, to segregation, and finally to minority obliteration, shouting through a megaphone at his audience for nothing brusk of ethnic cleansing as the baritone voices of his followers punctuate his every decree with the foreboding "waiting." Fascist Pink has progressed beyond the ethnic slurs and threats of the previous songs; he now promises the wide-spread destruction of those who stand up in his way, a promise that cements his transformation into the very despotic, oppressive force that killed his father and stained his life from birth.
The Hitler / World War II parallels are as abundant equally they are blatant, from "the final solution," referencing Nazi Germany'due south systematic genocide of European Jews, to "turn[ing] on the showers and fir[ing] the ovens," alluding to the gas chambers and big ovens that respectively killed and incinerated the bodies of their victims. Other dictators and oppressive regimes are referenced throughout the song, likewise, such every bit the Blackshirts (too known every bit camicie nere or squadristi), a collective proper noun for fascist paramilitary groups comprised of nationalist intellectuals and former soldiers which Benito Mussolini used between the two World Wars to intimdate and often murder his opponents. Pink'southward command to "put on a black shirt," coupled with the subsequently ruminations near seeing "Britainnia rule once again" also call to mind the British Union of Fascists, a political party started in Great Britain in 1932 by former Labour party minister Sir Oswald Mosley. After visiting with Mussolini in 1931, Mosley adopted the Italian leader's fascist credo and borrowed heavily from the Blackshirts for his own BUF (British Union of Fascists). A number of BUF principles centered around isolating Britain from the residue of the world in terms of merchandise, commerce and culture, a very wall-like theme that is all merely apparent in Pink's own nationalistic rants in "Waiting for the Worms."
Though written from a WWII slant, "Waiting for the Worms" is withal broad enough to accost the recurring decay of the human being condition throughout history every bit a result of personal and social isolation. While borrowing lyrical imagery from specific regimes, it is not a vocal specifically about Hitler and Nazi Germany, nor is it solely about Mussolini or Mosely or any ane dictator. Rather, information technology is about all of these and more. It is a conglomeration of corrupted leaders and fascist ideas, a song that ceases to exist about one person, leader or idea and becomes the universal strength of oppression that has plagued the egotistical minds of men since the outset of human history. It is the deceptive impetus of farthermost nationalism past which one believes his nation is supreme over others ("would you like to run into Britannia rule over again?") or that a group can and should be segregated and annihilated because their ethnicity or behavior differ from the ruling majority ("would you like to see our colored cousins domicile once more?"). It is the hammer-like drive of creation by which nations ascension and men are made famous merely as much as it is the worm-like forcefulness of decay past which those same countries and men autumn and are made infamous.
Ultimately, it'due south this very forcefulness of oppression equally well equally the endurance of his true persona that snaps Pink back to reality. Roger Waters says in his 1979 interview that as the drugs in Pink's system wear off, "he keeps flipping backwards and frontward from his real, or his original persona if you like, which is a reasonably kind of humane person, into this waiting-for-the-worms-to-come up persona, which…is ready to trounce everyone or anything that gets in the way." Similar the decay of his own morality, the vocal devolves into a cacophany of shouted slurs and threats, with crowd chants of "hammer" growing in volume and ferocity. The feelings of oppression, isolation, hatred, and every other negative feeling associated with the wall culminate in a swirling, cluttered blend, augmented by the heavily distorted reappearance of the guitar riff used and contorted into diverse forms throughout the anthology. From both "In the Mankind" versions, the "Another Brick in the Wall" triptych, the guitar solo in "the Thin Ice" and the bridge of "Hey You," the musical theme that symbolizes all the negative facets of Pink'south wall – the oppression, repression, self-isolation and disuse that has stripped away his individuality and turned him into the very sort of monster he once abhorred. Here, the riff is made about unbearable past the roiling chant of the crowd and Pink'due south own shouted threats, grown and then distorted that they become senseless noise. However just as the frenzy reaches its climax, information technology is abruptly eclipsed by old Pink's final cry for liberty as he screams "Stop!" a singular command of activity from the depths of his self-fabricated prison house. One-time Pink has had enough and is finally fix for change.
Though much of the song is cut from the movie, the sequence for "Waiting for the Worms" does a brilliant job at visually depicting the foreboding, oppressive tone of the album'south rail. The song begins with Pink's theatrical goodbye to the "barbarous world," set up over images of the fascist followers carrying the crossed hammer banners and constructing a stage in the middle of a street. The residuum of former Pinkish's musings are excised and the song gain every bit his dictator cocky takes the platform with a black megaphone through which he announces his edicts. No longer content to proselytize to his own captive audition, Pink takes to the streets in a seemingly impromptu rally meant to bring his message of fright and isolation to every doorstep in Briatin. For many, the sequence owes much to Oswald Mosley'southward Oct 1936 planned march of his BUF blackshirts through London's East End, which had a large Jewish population at the time. The march was eventually abandoned later a heavy police presence and an estimated 300,000 anti-fascist protestors turned out to block the BUF's route in what has come to be known equally the Battle of Cable Street. Pink, on the other hand, finds little resistence as residents of the street are quick to lock themselves behind their doors and windows. The rest of the abridged song cycles through diverse rioting shots, the animation sequence from "What Shall Nosotros Do Now?" in which a fascist fellow member bashes in the caput of some other man, and the famous blithe sequence of the army of hammers marching synchronously with the crowd'south "hammer" chant. Cached beneath the anarchy, however, are a few shots that, like the appearance of old Pink'south rational voice at the starting time and ending of the song, bear witness that the protagonist's true self is nonetheless extant and capable of redemption. Every bit Pink sings of his entrapment at the start of the song, at that place is a cursory shot of a group of concert fans trampling a Pink doll underfoot, followed by an paradigm of that very aforementioned doll huddled against a grate. The symbolism of the scene is ominous, depicting how those who are often in the public center are frequently thrashed by those they entertain. In this case, in trying to alive up to the godlike standards placed upon him by his followers, Pink has lost his individuality – his soul – and has become nil more than than a faceless doll. Withal at the same time, the very inclusion of this image is a welcome sight for the viewer, who has been captivated by the unrelenting images of Fascist Pink'southward rule over the past two songs. If nothing else, these shots are a reminder that in that location is some other, more rational Pink beneath the surface of this Nazi-like incarnation, one who continues to announced throughout the song's otherwise frightful visuals in brief glimpses, silently screaming for release. Similar the album, this rational self finally finds his voice at the climax of the vocal, screaming "Stop" above the roaring crowd, the marching hammers, and the detest-filled cries of his soonhoped-for dethroned dictator self.
"I offset heard The Wall while I was in the U.South. Navy in 1979. My friends and I discussed it endlessly, and we came up with some of the same ideas you've expressed here. Simply only in the past few years have I perhaps caught on to something else. This kickoff came when I saw a retrospective of the Sex Pistols and the whole punk movement of the mid to belatedly 1970'south. I recall Johnny Rotten saying how much he and his cohorts hated Pink Floyd. They said that Floyd represented everything they hated about modern music, stadium rock, etc. They wore anti-Floyd t-shirts. The punk movement in Britain was large and violent. In that location were riots betwixt punks and blacks in Brixton (recalled by the voiceover making slight mention of 'Brixton boondocks hall' in the text). I think that Waters saw the punks as neo-fascists, espousing some of the aforementioned ignorant hatreds that Pink'due south father died fighting against in WWII. The references in 'The Evidence Must Go On' and 'Waiting for the Worms' are conspicuously related to fascism, and I recall that the group saw information technology raising its ugly head again in the sometimes incoherent only threatening letters of many punks. So Pink'due south persona about the end of the album is a slam against this movement and the evil that lies inside it." - Paul A. McNaney
"I was just looking at your analysis for 'Waiting for the Worms' and when I was reading about the many Nazi-esque references, another jumped out at me. At the end of the song, when Gilmour sings, 'Would you like to run into Britannia rule once again, my friend?', he sings information technology in a stunningly beautiful voice establish nowhere else on the anthology. Then comes Waters with his more sinister, less bearded phonation singing, 'All you have to exercise is follow the worms.' This is followed by some other repitition of dazzler and sinister suggestions, which is how the Nazis attracted followers. By baiting them with sugariness words (restore the Motherland to a respected position, stop poverty, etc.), and once they were hooked, unleashing the full force of their evil and hatred upon them (kill the Jews, gays, gypsies, etc.), they managed to attract most of Germany to their cause." - Michael Graham
"The whole vocal seems to be presented with similar musical instrumentals from past songs in the album. The vocal opens with a like musical approach as to that of 'The Show Must Become On,' and recalls 'Goodbye Fell World' in its lyrics. Possibly to represent Pinkish's realisation that now that his neo-nazi party has been assembled and has already killed/harmed some of the 'queers and the coons and the reds and the jews,' he tin can't plough back and that the show (refering to his facist political party) must continue their programme. The lyrics to this also seem to refer to this fact. The whole sequence with Pink and his nazi party singing may also be refering back to 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2' with the school choir singing. Symbolising the similarity between the school children rioting and burning their teachers, like to how Pink and his clan are rioting and planning to burn down those of other minorities. Equally thin as the connection may be, information technology still sheds a valid comparison. A little farther into the song, there is a guitar solo heard. The guitar solo is actually very similar to that used mid-fashion in 'Hey You,' which also seems to borrow some parts of the 1 put forward in 'The Thin Ice' and parts of that in 'Comfortably Numb,' likewise as (in places) condign a similar, more aggressive, version of the riff from 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1.' Concerning the (possible) references to these past songs could be to represent Pinkish looking back at his nigh recent actions in the moving-picture show. The song ends with Pink yelling 'STOP!' at the top of his voice, perchance showing his want to accept these flashbacks stop. He's looking back at his contempo madness (symbolised with the guitar solo), and he'due south not liking information technology ane bit. The hammers marching, accompanied by said guitar solo and images of Pink yelling are a very powerful image, in my opinion." - Liam Elcoat
Source: https://www.thewallanalysis.com/waiting-for-the-worms/