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Dear Pink Floyd,
I do not know what else to say but ‘Thank you’. Although those two words sum up how I feel towards you, I would like to say so much more. I would like to tell you exactly what your music means to me - what is in my heart. It is rather hard to put it into words how I really feel. How can I convey an emotion as powerful as the one I feel towards your music?
These words do not apply just to the five band members, but to Storm and the other visual artists, the backup singers and support musicians, the engineers and technicians, management and all of the other people who make up ‘Pink Floyd’
Something that has always amazed me is how someone could sit and stare at a painting, sculpture, photograph or other piece of ‘ art’ for more than thirty seconds and still get something from it. Or read a great novel of the ages time and time again and still feel the passion of your first experience with it (okay, I can do that one to a lesser extent). I guess that there must be something special in there that means a lot to the individual
I have never been one that could simply sit in front of the television and have it take over and completely entertain me, I have always needed something more to engaging. Something to make me think, not just become a lobotomized robot while the show or movie was on. Its no surprise that what I do enjoy are novels, television shows, movies, and music that really make me think or feel emotions deeply.
Not something that takes over and puts my mind on hold while it entertains me.
But something that takes over and brings my mind alive while it entertains me.
To me, this is one of the unique aspects of Pink Floyd.
Sure, the artwork, concepts, hidden messages, ambient sounds, the more popular ‘kick ass’ rocking and sing along songs, mirror/cycling of the album beginning and ends, re-occurring words and themes, and other interesting experiments, all make your music very unique. I do appreciate these things and think they are fantastic.
But as I sit back and reflect on it, what I like the most is the music and the obscurity of the lyrics. Although sometimes it may seem hard or downright impossible to understand what image or story is being conveyed in a particular song or lyric, this is also some of its magic. It makes me think and use my mind. Your lyrics are open to multiple interpretations (to quote some fellow).
What exactly is your song Echoes really about? And exactly why is it such a classic among your fans? I have listened to it as much as any other fan has, and I admit I still have more questions than answers concerning it. The image I see when I listen to it I am sure has nothing in the world to do with what was in your minds as it evolved into its current form. Or is it about Nothing really? Just the medium used to turn our minds eye inwards and transport us into our own mental ‘floating man’.
Depending on my personal emotions at the time, many of your lyrics seem to fit with my outlook - as if you wrote these to document this feeling I was having. I may be sad and hear one phrase of a song, and happy or angry the next time I listen, and I feel it applies to me under each case. An audible mood ring. I know of no other music or medium that can do this to me. I can apply many of the lyrics to my everyday life and they touch me even more deeply because of this.
The feeling extends beyond the lyrics and into the music. Listening to Marooned - all of the sorrow, loneliness, pain and even joy comes through with that song. I know it is so very hard to explain a feeling inside you. Not necessarily to open up and show someone what you are feeling, but to make them truly understand how you feel. David has managed to do this perfectly through his guitar on this song. It well deserves the award it has won.
The ‘communication’ occurring in Cluster One has always brought up the mental image of the stars and dawn meeting and conversing for the short moment in time that both are visible. I am sure that the artwork for this piece has helped to supply this imagery. But think of this - I experience a mini movie each time I hear this (of a theme, which you must admit, is not too common). Others may hear this song and get a completely different emotion. Maybe it does not really match what you were thinking of when you composed it. The end result is what it means to me and how it makes me feel. And to the next person. And to you. Music that touches the center of ones soul and is special to each in an individual and personal way.
The artwork of Storm/ Hipgnosis goes hand and hand with your work. I am not entirely certain which one compliments which. Storm, I think is a genius - what comes out as an end result from his work certainly is. He conveys through his artwork what the band does through their music and lyrics. Something that may or may not strike you as unique upon first meeting, but after you have spent some time with it, you learn to appreciate the art or music as it grows on you. It becomes more ‘personal’ and more in-depth the more chance you give it.
This world is indeed a better place for your music. I can honestly say that I am a better person for it. I can now appreciate and understand how someone can go into an art gallery and become mesmerized as they observe one of the works there - seeing through the eyes of the artist, feeling their emotions, experiencing what they have felt. The feeling never grows old if it touches your heart. They see in that work the same thing I see in yours.
Syd , Roger, Nick, Rick, and David... thank you again. Thank you very much indeed.
Bernie
Fingel`
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