DIVISION BELL
1994

The Division Bell



Click on the song to see the lyrics

Songs:

Cluster one
What do you want from me
Poles apart
Marooned
A great day for freedom
Wearing the inside out
Take it back
Coming back to life
Keep talking
Lost for words
High hopes



Lyrics:

Cluster one
(Wright, Gilmour)

(Instrumental)

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What do you want from me
(Gilmour, Wright, Samson)

As you look around this room tonight
Settle in your seat and dim the lights
Do you want my blood, do you want my tears
 What do you want
What do you want from me
 Should I sing until I can't sing any more
 Play these strings until my fingers are raw
  Uh, you're so hard to please
  What do you want from me

Do you think that I know something you don't know
  What do you want from me
If I don't promise you the answers would you go
  What do you want from me
  Should I stand out in the rain
Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you
  I'm not the one you need
  What do you want from me

  You can have anything you want
You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water
 Anything you want

You can own everything you see
Sell your soul for complete control
Is that really what you need

You can lose yourself this night
See inside there is nothing to hide
Turn and face the light

What do you want from me

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Poles apart
(Gilmour, Samson, Laird-Clowes)

Did you know... it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
 Why did we tell you then
 You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes

Hey you... did you ever realize what you'd become
And did you see that it wasn't only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes

The rain fell slow, down on all the roofs of uncertainty
I thought of you and the years and all the sadness fell away from me
And did you know...

I never thought that you'd lose that light in your eyes

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Marooned
(Wright, Gilmour)

(Instrumental)

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A great day for freedom
(Gilmour, Samson)

On the day the wall came down
They threw the locks onto the ground
And with glasses high we raised and cried for freedom had arrived

And on the day the wall came down
The Ship of Fools had finally run aground
Promises lit up the night like paper doves in flight

I dreamed you had left my side
No warmth, not even pride remained
And even though you needed me
It was clear that I could not do a thing for you

Now life devalues day by day
As friends and neighbors turn away
And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone

Now frontiers shift like desert sands
While nations wash their bloodied hands
 Of loyalty, of history, in shades of gray

 I woke to the sound of drums
The music played, the morning sun streamed in
I turned and I looked at you
 And all but the bitted residue slipped away... slipped away

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Wearing the inside out
(Wright, Moore)

From morning to night I stayed out of sight
Didn't recognize what I'd become
No more than alive I'd barely survive
In a word... overrun

Won't hear a sound
From my mouth
I've spent too long
On the inside out
My skin is cold
To the human touch
This bleeding heart's
Not beating much

He's curled into the corner
But still the screen is flickering
With an endless stream of garbage to
... curse the place
In a sea of random images
The self-destructing animal
Waiting for the waves to break

I murmured a vow of silence and now
I don't even hear when I think aloud
Extinguished by light I turn on the night
Wear its darkness with an empty smile

   I'm creeping back to life
    My nervous system all awry
    I'm wearing the inside out

    Look at him now
    He's paler somehow
    But he's coming round
    He's starting to choke
    It's been so long since he spoke
     Well he can have the words right from my mouth

     And with these words I can see
     Clear through the clouds that covered me
     Just give it time then speak my name
     Now we can hear ourselves again

                 I'm holding out
                 For the day
                 When all the clouds
                 Have blown away
                 I'm with you now
                 Can speak your name
                 Now we can hear
                 Ourselves again

   He's standing on the threshold
   Caught in fiery anger
   And hurled into the furnace he'll
  ... curse the place
He's torn in all directions And still the screen is flickering
Waiting for the flames to break

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Take it back
(Gilmour, Ezrin, Samson, Laird-Clowes)

Her love rains down on me easy as the breeze
I listen to her breathing it sounds like the waves on the sea
I was thinking all about her, burning with rage and desire
We were spinning into darkness; and the earth was on fire

She could take it back, she might take it back some day

So I spy on her, I lie to her, I make promises I cannot keep
Then I hear her laughter rising, rising from the deep
And I make her prove her love for me, I take all that I can take
And I push her to the limit to see if she will break

She might take it back, she could take it back some day

Now I have seen the warnings, screaming from all sides
It's easy to ignore them, G-d knows I've tried
All of this temptation, it all turned my faith to lies
Until I couldn't see the danger or hear the rising tide

She could take it back, she will take it back some day
She can take it back, she will take it back some day
She will take it back, she will take it back some day

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Coming back to life
(Gilmour)

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
And where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
'Cause the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
 Dying to believe in what you heard
 I was staring straight into the shining sun

 Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
Headed straight... into the shining sun

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Keep talking
(Gilmour, Wright, Samson)

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk

There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
And no one can bother me
I think I should speak now
I can't seem to speak now
My words won't come out right
I feel like I'm drowning
I'm feeling weak now
But I can't show my weakness
I sometimes wonder
Where do we go from here

Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking

Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
 Why won't you talk to me
 You never talk to me
 What are you thinking
 Where do we go from here

I feel like I'm drowning
You know I can't breathe
We're going nowhere
We're going nowhere

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking

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Lost for words
(Gilmour, Samson)

I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralyzed
I thought that everything else would just wait
While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night

To martyr yourself to caution
Is not gonna help at all
'Cause there'll be no safety in numbers
When the Right One walks out of the door

Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
 Stuck in a world of isolation
 While the ivy grows over the door

 So I open my door to my enemies
 And I ask could we wipe the slate clean
 But they tell me to please go and fuck myself
 You know you just can't win

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High hopes
(Gilmour, Samson)

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun

Along the Long Road and on down the Causeway
Do they still meet there by the Cut

There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
 To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
 When friends surrounded
 The nights of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
But at a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
 The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever

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All lyrics © 1994 Pink Floyd Music Publishers Inc. (BMI). Used without permission