Empty Spaces

This article is about the Pink Floyd song. For the Spandau Ballet song, see Empty Spaces (Spandau Ballet song).
"Empty Spaces"
Song by Pink Floyd
from the album The Wall
PublishedPink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd
Released30 November 1979 (UK)
8 December 1979 (US)
Recorded1978–1979
GenreProgressive rock
Length2:10
LabelHarvest (UK)
Columbia (US)
Songwriter(s)Roger Waters
Producer(s)Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters

"Empty Spaces" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It appears on the 1979 album The Wall. It contains a backmasked message.

Composition

The song is in the key of E minor, and is two minutes, eight seconds in length. It features a long introductory section, with solo guitar and a repetitive drumbeat, and an airport announcement, as a reference to Pink heading for a concert tour. The song reaches a climax of tension, at which point Roger Waters plays a descending blues scale over the minor dominant, B minor, cueing the start of the vocals. Roger Waters sings a short verse, ending on the phrase "How shall I complete the wall?" This track shares a backing track with "What Shall We Do Now?", sped up from D to E, with new guitar and vocals. The last beat introduces the next song, "Young Lust".

Plot

The Wall tells the story of Pink, an alienated and embittered rock star.[1] At this point in the narrative, Pink is now grown up and married, but he and his wife are having relationship problems because of his physical distance and nearly complete emotional "wall". Pink asks himself how he should complete its construction.

Movie and live versions

On the film adaptation the song is dropped in favour of "What Shall We Do Now?".[1] The original album version of the song has never been performed live. On both Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81 and Roger Waters The Wall, "Empty Spaces" is once again dropped in favour of "What Shall We Do Now?", however these versions are split into two tracks: the slower first half is incorrectly listed as "Empty Spaces", while the faster second half is listed as "What Shall We Do Now?".

Hidden message

Directly before the lyrical section, there is a hidden message isolated on the left channel of the song. When heard normally, it appears to be nonsense. If played backwards, the following can be heard:

–Hello looker...
–Congratulations, You have just discovered the secret message.
–Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the Funny Farm, Chalfont...
–Roger, Carolyne's on the phone!
–Okay.[2][3]

Roger Waters congratulates the listener for finding this message, and jokes[citation needed] that they can send their answer to "Old Pink" (being either a reference to Syd Barrett, or a foreshadowing of Pink's eventual insanity[citation needed]), who lives in a funny farm (a term to describe a psychiatric hospital) somewhere in Chalfont. Before he can reveal the exact location, however, he gets interrupted by producer James Guthrie in the background who says Carolyne (Waters' then wife) is on the phone.[4]

Personnel

with:

Further reading

  • Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8.

References

  1. ^ a b Andy Mabbett (2010), Pink Floyd: The Music and the Mystery, Omnibus Press, OCLC 762731304, OL 16228023W, Wikidata Q25766745
  2. ^ "Jeff Milner's Backmasking site". Jeff Milner. Archived from the original on 27 March 2005. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  3. ^ Nemcoff, Mark Yoshimoto (4 April 2013). "Empty Spaces: Backwards Messages, Stairway to Heaven and a Failure to Communicate". WordSushi. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  4. ^ BBC - Culture, The Hidden Messages in Songs
  5. ^ Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006, p.82.