THE GUNNER'S DREAM (THE FINAL CUT) : LYRICS,PERSPECTIVES AND REVIEW

The Gunner's Dream Album Cover 

"The Gunner's Dream" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1983 album The Final Cut. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.The song tells the story and thoughts of a gunner as he falls to his death dreaming of a world without war. It is one of the four songs on the video version of the album The Final Cut Video EP. - (Credit - Wikipedia ) 

Roger Waters with Eric Clapton : The Gunner's Dream

The Lyrics of The Gunner's Dream - 

Floating down through the clouds
Memories come rushing up to meet me now.
In the space between the heavens
and in the corner of some foreign field
I had a dream.
I had a dream.
Good-bye Max.
Good-bye Ma.
After the service when you're walking slowly to the car
And the silver in her hair shines in the cold November air
You hear the tolling bell
And touch the silk in your lapel
And as the tear drops rise to meet the comfort of the band
You take her frail hand
And hold on to the dream.
"Oi!"
A place to stay
"A real one ..."
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud
About your doubts and fears
And what's more no-one ever disappears
You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don't blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore.
And no one kills the children anymore.

Night after night
Going round and round my brain
His dream is driving me insane.
In the corner of some foreign field
The gunner sleeps tonight.
What's done is done.
We cannot just write off his final scene.
Take heed of a dream.
Take heed.

Personnel (Credit : Wikipedia)

Roger Waters — Vocals, Bass, and Tape effects

David Gilmour — Guitar

Nick Mason — Drums

with:

The National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted and arranged by Michael Kamen

Raphael Ravenscroft — Tenor Sax

Michael Kamen — Piano and Electric piano

Perspectives On The Song

If I had to crown two albums from Pink Floyd - I would crown Wish You Were Here and The Final Cut.I just wonder how Waters was able to put an entire incident inside a song. (I can't actually call it storyline).The song is just out of the world.I am still in awe.When I review a song,I ensure I myself feel the entire song properly.I put the curtains in my room off and listened to the song for quite a number of times.I just got goosebumps all over when I was listening to the last lines of the first part of the song.And in this Indian summer of June,when there is scorching heat everywhere,I felt cold for a good 2-3 minutes.I seriously can't express how real everything seemed.If I had to put relative images in this post,days would pass......Can you count the number of wars that raged and rages now - at this very moment?And who knows how many million gunners had this same,common dream?The song is a must-have for hard rock fans (For the qualitative value of the song) and for those who have opposed meaningless,idiotic genocides. 

Review

The song begins with a similar sound of rushing winds,somewhat similar to what was used in Us and Them (The Wall), initially bringing with it a serious air into the song.This is quite typical of Pink Floyd,with the main guitar very softly ringing in within a crowd,within winds rushing in etc.As you listen to the song,it will seem evident that the initial lines are psychedelic.After the first part,you would begin to realise that the first part was actually a description of a dream,the falling gunner's dream.The lyrics are very emotional and the song has a compelling initiative to make you fall in love with it.The line "You take her frail hand" is sung very softly,almost like a whisper just after which is a pause and then rises "And hold on to the dream" on a relatively high note with drum beats from the second-third word from which occurs the entrance of the hard rock,following which the song gets quieter again followed by high notes in the beginning on the second part,thus contrasting the song well and making it an attraction to the ears.In this line in the second part of the song,"His dream is driving me insane"; the word insane has a decelerating symphony (Similar to what was used in Careful With That Axe,Eugene.) - nice touch.The last lines"Take heed of a dream" and "Take heed" are also very softly told - giving the final emotional touch.The song gets the scores - 

INSTRUMENTALS - 5/5
MELODY - 5/5
LYRICS - 5/5
THE VOICE BEHIND - 5/5

As a song - {(20/20) * 100 %} = 100%

Watch the video on dailymotion over here.

Data Credit : Mentioned at the particular places where it has been derived from.
Images : The Images used in this post are not owned by me.
Lyrics : Read the Music section of What is a Perspective? page of this blog.
Review and Perspectives : Originally done by The Perspectives Blog 

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