With over 30 million units sold, the concept album released by Pink Floyd in 1979 is one of the most successful in rock history. " The Wall " even tops the list of the most successful double albums. A concept album is one in which the individual songs are thematically related and the entire album tells a continuous story.
"The Wall" tells the story of the musician Pink, who, due to traumatic experiences, builds an emotional wall around himself and reduces all social contacts to the bare minimum. The imaginary court before which Pink accuses herself tears down the wall and exposes Pink to the public again.
Roger Waters , who contributed the most to the creation of "The Wall", processes many of his own experiences in the work. However, the music for "Comfortably Numb" is attributed to David Gilmour ; however, the lyrics are entirely by Roger Waters.
The song «Comfortably Numb» is a dialogue between a doctor (sung by Roger Waters) and Pink herself (sung by David Gilmour). The doctor was called in by Pink's management to give the singer stimulants to get her ready for a performance. Pink replies that the doctor's voice comes from far away and reports hallucinations mixed with childhood memories.
The Wall was the last album by Pink Floyd with the line-up of Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright . According to reports, disputes between Waters and Gilmour had already arisen here, which led to Waters leaving the band in 1985. After the completion of «The Wall», Richard 'Rick' Wright had already been pressured to leave by the other band members due to increasing criticism of his musical ability.
The live version of «Comfortably Numb» selected here was recorded on July 2nd, 2005 during the Live8 rock concert in London. After 24 years, Pink Floyd are on stage together again for the first (and last!) time in the line-up listed above.