| "The Trial" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Song by Pink Floyd | |||||
| Album | The Wall | ||||
| Released | 30 November 1979 (US), 8 December 1979 (UK) | ||||
| Recorded | April-November, 1979 | ||||
| Genre | Art rock/Progressive rock | ||||
| Length | 5:13 | ||||
| Label | Harvest Records (UK) Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US) |
||||
| Writer | Waters/Ezrin | ||||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters | ||||
| The Wall track listing | |||||
|
|||||
"The Trial" is a track from the critically-acclaimed rock opera/concept album The Wall, by Pink Floyd. The song, written by Roger Waters and Bob Ezrin, marks the climax of the album and the film.
Contents |
Plot
The song centres on the main character, Pink, who having lived a life filled with emotional and (later) substance abuses has reached a critical psychological break. "The Trial" is the fulcrum on which Pink's mental state balances. Through the course of the song, he is confronted by the primary influences of his life (who have been introduced over the course of the album): the rigidly strict and abusive schoolmaster, Pink's emotionally distant, adulterous wife, and his smothering, overprotective mother. Pink's subconscious struggle for sanity is overseen by a new character, "The Judge" ("Worm, your Honour") (the characters are all worms who have eaten into Pink's brain, first noted in "Hey You"). A Prosecutor conducts the early portions, which consist of the antagonists explaining their actions, intercut with Pink's refrain, "Crazy; / Toys in the attic I am crazy". The culmination of the trial is the Judge's sentence for Pink "to be exposed before [his] peers" whereupon he orders Pink to "tear down The Wall!" At one point in the song Pink sings " There must have been a door in The Wall, when I came in" representing that he is confused by his revelations, and trying to find a way out of The Wall and away from his mental tormentors, the animated "antagonists," through a door in his Wall that does not exist. This and the following song "Outside the Wall" are the only two songs on the album which the story is seen from an outsider's perspective, most notably through the four antagonists of The Trial, even though it is all in Pink's mind. The film creates an interesting effect by showing the three characters making it past The Wall in one of the famous animated sequences, symbolically invading Pink's mind, and telling The Worm their part of the story:
- The School Master is brought down like a puppet on strings by his wife, referencing the earlier song "The Happiest Days of Our Lives".
- The Wife comes out from underneath The Wall, represented as a scorpion, which is done during "Don't Leave Me Now".
- The Mother comes from above in an abstract, morphing image of an airplane (referencing the plane which killed Pink's father, and also the plane which Pink was playing with in Another Brick in the Wall (Part I)), which then encircles Pink.
Hearing what mother, school master, and wife have to say about Pink's state makes many of the reasons for building his Wall seem absurd. This is really represented in the wife's speech: "...You should have talked to me more often than you did, but no, you had to go your own way..." This further emphasises the fact that Pink is the true guilty one, leading to the Judge's response to the trial "...the way you made them suffer, your exquisite wife and mother..." and his sentencing "...since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fears, I sentence you to be exposed before your peers..." It is not clear as to what the tearing down of Pink's Wall entails, but there is a clue in the song The Final Cut from the album of the same name. The lyrics, "...Dial the combination, open the priesthole. And if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind The Wall." The portion where Waters sings "behind The Wall" is overdubbed by a shotgun shooting, suggesting that Pink eventually tore down his wall by bringing his life to an end via gunshot. (This also served to sever the album's link with The Wall.)
Film version
The segment in the film version is a full-length animated sequence of vivid color and unusual visuals. Political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe directed the design for the segment. The film segment relies not only on visuals, but also on the themes, music, and lyrics of the original song. The three principle antagonists have pronounced cartoon forms and are known individually by their role. "The Schoolmaster" (remembered from "The Happiest Days of Our Lives") is portrayed as a marionette and is controlled by his overbearing wife. "The Mother" is portrayed as overprotective, and "The Wife" is portrayed as a scorpion-like creature. The Judge is a fourth featured caricature used in the segment and is portrayed as a giant anus wearing a judge's wig; this strange choice was derived from a line in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist: "The law is an ass". The Prosecutor is a caricature of the stereotypical 18th century attorney. The animated sequence was used in the 1980/81 concert versions of The Wall with Roger Waters singing the song in front of The Wall as The Trial's animation played behind him on the wall.
Composition
The track is noted for its distinctive voice work by Roger Waters, as well as its grandiose musical style, which is more akin to a Broadway musical than a rock song, as it is fully orchestrated, without any semblance to a rock song, until David Gilmour's guitar starts up at the verdict, to the main melody of Another Brick in the Wall (although the orchestra can be heard in the background, and the singing style remains the same). The song is notably interesting for being written in the style of the theatrical songs by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Many Pink Floyd fans debate the significance of The Trial. One theory is that Pink puts himself on trial for the abuse he's inflicted on others, which was a result of his lapse from sanity. Another theory is that the trial was not self-inflicted, but was mainly a metaphor for the fear and emotional abuse that had been inflicted upon him in his life. The song mentions that he was being put on trial for showing "feelings of an almost human nature," probably indicating that the trial was set up as a sort of self-protecting rationale, but in which he realizes everything was really his fault. It has since been confirmed by Roger Waters that Pink puts himself on trial. The song ends with the sound of a wall being demolished amidst chants of "Tear down the wall!", marking the destruction of Pink's metaphorical wall.
Trivia
- "The Trial" was the first Pink Floyd composition since the title track on "Atom Heart Mother" which was credited as being co-written by someone outside the band.
- Following the line, "...the way you made them suffer, your exquisite wife and mother, fills me with the urge to defecate," a voice, similar to the schoolmaster's, can be heard shouting, "GO on judge, shit on him!" or more likely "NO judge, the jury!"
Personnel
- Roger Waters - vocals[1]
- Nick Mason - bass drum and cymbals[2]
- David Gilmour - guitars[3], bass guitar[4]
- Bob Ezrin - piano[5]
- Vicki & Clare - backing vocals[6]
- New York Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen[7]
In the Berlin 1990 performance, The Trial contained these cast members and their roles:
- Tim Curry -- The Prosecutor
- Thomas Dolby -- The Schoolmaster
- Ute Lemper -- Pink's Wife
- Marianne Faithfull -- Pink's Mother
- Albert Finney -- The Judge
- Roger Waters (pre-recorded vocals) -- Pink
References
- Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8
