Sunday, May 27, 2012

Un-"Comfortably Numb": the case against a "classic"

Were I a crueller man, I would have posted this as a comment directly on the Georgia Straight website, where Steve Newton and Martin Dunphy (and who-knows-who-all-else) have been writing about their experiences of seeing Roger Waters perform The Wall in Vancouver tonight (or last night, or however you wish to think of it). A whole post was devoted, in fact, to "Comfortably Numb." I really don't want to seem a party pooper, or otherwise subtract from Martin and Newt's enjoyment of the concert - because I've abused this song before and thus hurt people who remain attached to it, which proved far less satisfying than I'd hoped - but having had my spleen stirred, it must be vented somewhere: because I cannot believe anyone (certainly not someone who was alive and listening to music when The Wall was first released) would actually want to listen to "Comfortably Numb" by choice, given the massive number of times one must INVOLUNTARILY listen to it in public. Certainly for one such as I - who was already starting to skip that side of the album out of weariness for the song when I was 13 or so, back when I still had The Wall in my collection - the experience of having it come on the radio in a car, or hearing it while shopping, or eating, or sitting in a dentist's office (which is sort of a fitting environment for it, actually) has long since ceased to be welcome. Its ubiquity has transformed it from a song that once was about something (however minor) to a sort of cultural wallpaper that serves to validate the identity of a generation, to affirm their tastes and ratify their horizons and help block out any new musical experiences; my own frustration on hearing it is such that I cannot but be suspicious of anyone who is not as sick of it as I: What are they getting out of it, REALLY? What craving for security and validation keeps them returning to THIS song, when there are so many other ones out there? ...Because let's face it, folks, there is only one more tediously overplayed rock classic in existence, and THAT one involves bustles in hedgerows. (At least people don't badly busk "Comfortably Numb" on Granville Street over and over and over and over and over. How much sicker still would I be of it, then?). If there were one Pink Floyd song that needed to be locked in a bunker for at least thirty years, to give the world a chance to listen to something else (or at least give the song back some of its long-lost freshness), this is the one, this is the one. Given a choice between having to listen to "Comfortably  Numb" and pretty much any other music in the world, from Barry Manilow to Pakistani disco to fuckin' Def Leppard, I'd -- well, I might have to think for a bit about it if the other choice was Def Leppard, but you see where I'm going. Pakistani disco, on the other hand... I mean, I don't have any clue what that might sound like, but I'd take an hour of it over "Comfortably Numb" in a second, you know? Christ, wouldn't YOU?

None of this is really the song's FAULT, of course - because how many songs out there are good enough to bear up to being overplayed and overpraised to the extent THIS one is? If I had to listen to , I dunno, the Clash's "London Calling" or X's "Los Angeles" as often as I've had to listen to "Comfortably Numb," I'd probably feel the same way about them, too. In fact, sad as it makes me, I very nearly do.

End rant.

Oh, a little note for Ray Davies, who I'll be seeing when he plays Vancouver in July: I kinda feel this way about "Lola," "You Really Got Me," and "All the Day and All of the Night," too, and would MUCH rather hear anything off Working Man's Cafe (or if we must have classics, Muswell Hillbillies or The Village Green Preservation Society, say) than any one of those tunes, 'kay? So don't feel, like, obliged or anything...

13 comments:

Todd said...

I completely agree on how you feel about Comfortable Numb, and would extend that feeling two the other two "radio-friendly" songs -- Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 and Run Like Hell. In my opinion, Pink Floyd is a band that has always been defined by its deep cuts and not by what the radio happens to spin.

jackthejambon said...

These days bands simply expect their audience to be full of idiotic losers, who just wanna hear the same old songs again and again in order to feel that the money spent for their ticket was worth it and let's face it - they are't so wrong about that. Just take a look at some of the best bands coming from Vancouver, when they're performing in front of their most devoted fans at home. Not a single one has balls not to play their greatest hits. Music has become pure busines and the bands think they have to play it safe not to lose fans... pretty sad

Allan MacInnis said...

What, no Bison BC on that list? I'm scandalized. But yeah, I agree. One of my best-ever concert experiences was seeing Lou Reed in Tokyo on the Ecstasy tour. He played ONLY songs he was interested in playing - 90% off the new album, and the rest obviously hand-picked based on his own interests (like something from Songs for Drella - "Smalltown" or "Work," I forget which, but it wasn't anything anyone expected on the set). He and Mike Rathke just jammed out this stuff out live for a full hour, with no regard for the "hits", and it was TERRIFIC... then at the end for an encore he did this grimacing, let's-get-this-over-with run-through of "Take a Walk on the Wild Side," "Perfect Day," and "Sweet Jane," as if he couldn't WAIT to be off the stage. He so obviously didn't WANT to be performing those songs (Ever! Again!) that it was actually rather funny to watch. But you're right, given the business, SOME people in the audience would have felt cheated, no doubt, if he hadn't done that - even having ignored their wishes through the whole show, come the encore, he finally had to break down...

And Todd, yeah, it's true - even on The Wall there are songs I still have some tolerance for, but it sure isn't one of those three. It ain't all the radio's fault, though, because the fans are weirdly complicit in the overemphasis on this tune; I mean, even Newt is describing "Comfortably Numb" as "the best song from The Wall" - it's like part of some rock consensus-reality, at this point...

Anonymous said...

I kinda hate to be the one standing here urinating on the compliant choir who are lining up to suck your presumably safety-pinned dick, but you might as well rail at the rain and wind as at people's need to hear their creative heroes playing their most accessible material just for them, live.

The artists like it about as much as you do but they accept it as the price of world-wide fame and fortune. Sinatra thought having to do My Way was "torturous" but he complied.

Honestly, it's Sunday morning and my energy for this counter rant is running out. You need to accept a few things about life, and getting popular art 'beaten-to-death' is only one of them. Get a helmet. Perhaps a German helmet. It will go with your ridgity.

Allan MacInnis said...

(Heh heh heh)

Allan MacInnis said...

...tho' it must be said, what can possibly be more "rigid" than listening to the same dozen fucking songs over and over and over again? It's like people for whom cinema begins and ends at Apocalypse Now - there's a whole wealth of cultural experiences that they're missing out on because of some neurotic need to have their identity affirmed over and over. I mean, everyone uses popular culture like that to SOME extent - as a buttress for and expression of identity - but it seems like the classic rock types are a particularly needy example, since once you take the Zep and the Floyd and the Who and the Stones and the AC/DC and CCR and the Beatles and Sabbath and Van Halen out of their collection, what are you left with? A few fuckin' Rush albums! No offense to Steve Newton, here (since I may have unintentionally just wiped out half his record collection), these are some of the same sorts o' folks that used to beat punks up, back in the day - that used to *physically assault* people (including, sometimes, yours truly) who listened to music that was different from theirs. Now THAT's rigidity, dude. THAT's rigidity.

...Unless you meant that as some sort of riff on your previous dick joke. No sweat, if so, but rest assured that my dick is neither safety-pinned nor rigid at the moment.

Allan MacInnis said...

Shit, I ended up kinda dissing Steve Newton there, didn't I? Totally respect the guy, don't get me wrong. The Straight obviously needs a classic rock perspective, and he does an excellent/ sincere job of providing that voice; especially want to acknowledge his doing extra transcription work to post his interviews with departed blues/ rock legends. Besides, none of the kids who threw rocks at me outside my highschool in 1985 for listening to the Exploited on my tinny little cassette player were named Steve Newton, so I can hardly use HIM as a vehicle for my satisfaction... Those were different times...

Todd said...

I just wanted to offer my own response to this comment: "I kinda hate to be the one standing here urinating on the compliant choir who are lining up to suck your presumably safety-pinned dick, but you might as well rail at the rain and wind as at people's need to hear their creative heroes playing their most accessible material just for them, live."

I am in no way railing against what anyone might want to listen to. Anyone and everyone can -- and most definitely should -- listen to whatever it is that floats their boat or rubs their llama. I'm just saying that, for myself, I'm a little tired of hearing those songs (though I also understand that they're pretty necessary as components of a performance of The Wall in its entirety, so, you know, you kinda gotta have 'em).

Unknown said...

I'm no psychologist but it seems the real resonating appeal of "Comfortably Numb" is, swell guitar solos aside, the "Iiiiiiiiii, have become comfortably numb" chorus. It's a gripping happy/sad music moment.

Anyhow, as a woman of a certain age, I've heard enough Floyd to last a lifetime.

-- Jude B

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I've always been confused by the extent to which latter-day Floyd is so fetishized, seeing as very little of their work post-Atom Heart Mother holds up any longer... For a band that kicked out their best songwriter before their second album, folks sure care about their burned-out remnants a great deal. I'm also confused that anybody thinks that Waters has anything relevant to say in terms of politics. The best song from The Wall is no song from The Wall.

Allan MacInnis said...

Actually, Floyd have quite a few good moments post-Syd: "The Nile Song," "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," the opening instrumental for the Zabriskie Point soundtrack... it doesn't really start to go downhill til the overwhelming success of Dark Side (also way up there on the "store in a bunker so no one has to hear it for 30 years" list).

As for Roger Waters as a political songwriter, I actually think he DID write one really good political song, about the Gulf War: "The Bravery of Being Out of Range." When I saw him in Tokyo it was probably the least yawn-inducing number in the set, because it actually had some relevance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRfBEVrAmjQ

Anonymous said...

Yes absolutely they put out some fantastic records after Syd left -- this is why I said post- Atom Heart Mother rather than post-Barrett. I have mixed feelings about Meddle - it's a decent record but not quite on the level of the earlier work. Dark Side & onward is what I really dislike..