Roger Waters's first solo album and a hell of a record. With Clapton on guitar and Roger's lyrical ability at its climax, this album really stands up to most of Pink Floyd's work. But its merits are not the ones I want to talk about here. As you may know this is a concept album, with quite a twisted story behind it. I've listened to it carefully many many times and I've got a few theories about the plot. I just want someone to clarify it for good (hoping that there are more Floyd/Roger fans around). So here's some bits from my so-called theory :
Ok, I'll start with the last song which contains the following lyric :
"I opened one eye
And I put out my hand just to touch your soft hair" =>
1.He openes his eyes. 2.He has a woman near him.
Fact number #1 suggests that he was either dreaming (while sleeping) or just thinking (imaginating) about a perfect life. He opens his eyes, and there he is, (#2) near his wife/girlfriend, obviously.
Which makes us go back a little bit to the previous tracks which seem to be part of a story :
5:06 AM (Every Stranger's Eyes) - thoughts of a heartbroken man, I guess.
5:01 AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Part 10) - a fun hitch hike.
4:58 AM (Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin) - a ride with some truck driver.
4:56 AM (For the First Time Today, Part 1) - again, thoughts of a heartbroken man.
4:50 AM (Go Fishing) - moving to country with the woman he loves, then having kids, then her cheating on him.
4:47 AM (The Remains of Our Love) - him suggesting her to go to country.
4:41 AM (Sexual Revolution) - them making love.
4:39 AM (For the First Time Today, Part 2) - him wanting her to stay with him and then her accepting it.
Ok so we have a story about a couple making love, then moving to country, then breaking up and then him going on a trip to "find himself". So this could be either a dream or his imagination while lying in bed near his actual girlfriend.
But what is actually hapening in the first 3 songs? Here a few things that confuse me :
-appearantly the first two songs seem to fit the actual plot about which I talked above.
-then the 3rd song comes in which, as the lyrics say :
"I opened my eyes and to my surprise
There were Arabs with knives at the front of the bed."
-so he opens his eyes. Was he dreaming before, and the actual reality is him (them) being kidnapped by arabs (??) with knives (??). I don't think so, since he says in the same song "Sleep, sleep, I know that I'm only dreaming". So he wakes up, and finds himself in another dream. Not considering the dream within another dream theory (for obvious reasons), this leaves me with only one remaining explanation :
The actual dream is him being kidnapped by arabs. The rest of it, the whole story which I described above, is just his imagination. He is lying in bed, fantasisng about a perfect life, when he suddently falls asleep and dreams about the arabs. He then wakes up from it and continues his fantasy, until the last track, in which he comes back to real life.
That's the best that I could come up with. I know, I know, I should just listen to the damn music. But this thing's been building up inside of me for, I don't know long... and I can't go on with my life without knowing the actual answer.
Well, not really, but it's giving me a hard time and I know that I won't quit until I figure it out.
So, if anyone is familiar with the damn album, you are free to give your opinions and to illuminate me with the answer.
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