Concept
Much of the album deals with themes of communication, the idea that talking can solve more of life's problems. Songs such as "Poles Apart", "Lost for Words" and particularly the reference to "The day the wall came down" in "A Great Day for Freedom" are occasionally interpreted as references to the long-standing estrangement between former band-member Roger Waters and Pink Floyd, though Gilmour has denied that the album is an allegory for the split. In 1994 he said: "People can invent and relate to a song in their personal ways, but it's a little late at this point for us to be conjuring Roger up." The general theme of communication is reflected in the choice of name for the album; The Division Bell was inspired by the division bell rung in the British parliament to indicate that a vote is to take place. Drummer Nick Mason expanded on this in 1994, when he said "it does have some meaning. It's about people making choices, yeas or nays."
It feels politically incorrect to take ideas from advertising, but it seemed a very relevant piece.
“ ” Nick Mason (1994), referring to Stephen Hawking's voice on "Keep Talking"Produced only a few years after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the song "A Great Day for Freedom" juxtaposes the general euphoria of, for instance, the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the subsequent wars and ethnic cleansing, particularly in Yugoslavia. Audio samples of Professor Stephen Hawking provide the spoken word portions of "Keep Talking". Gilmour had first heard the professor's words on a British television advertisement, and was so moved by Hawking's sentiment that he contacted the company which made the advertisement to get permission to use the recordings on the album. Emphasising the general theme of poor communication, at the end of the album Gilmour's stepson Charlie can be heard hanging up the telephone receiver on Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke, who had pleaded to be allowed to appear on a Pink Floyd album. In the Studio radio host Redbeard suggested that the album offered "the very real possibility of transcending it all, through shivering moments of grace".
Read more about this topic: The Division Bell
Famous quotes containing the word concept:
“Teaching Black Studies, I find that students are quick to label a black person who has grown up in a predominantly white setting and attended similar schools as “not black enough.” ...Our concept of black experience has been too narrow and constricting.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“By speaking, by thinking, we undertake to clarify things, and that forces us to exacerbate them, dislocate them, schematize them. Every concept is in itself an exaggeration.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“The nearer a conception comes towards finality, the nearer does the dynamic relation, out of which this concept has arisen, draw to a close. To know is to lose.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)