The Happiest Days of Our Lives

November 30, 1979

The Happiest Days of Our Lives is a song by British rock band Pink Floyd, which was released in 1979 on the album The Wall. Known as the introductory title before the popular Another Brick in the Wall Part II is a rather untypical Pink Floyd piece, which is characterized by typical rock elements.

It was written by Roger Waters.

Content and music

The title of the concept album The Wall The Happiest Days of Our Lives comprises part of the story told in the album of the musician Pink who, embittered by his life experiences, an imaginary wall built around himself to protect against external influences emotional. The piece tells about Pinks negative experiences with the teachers of his school.

Like a majority of the songs in the album it was included in the accompanying The Wall film.

Topic

At school, the The Wall - Pink protagonist was constantly humiliated by the teachers of his school. They took every opportunity to punish and expose the students. However, the sadistic teachers themselves are suppressed at home by their dominant wives, which again throws a different light on the situation in the school.

In the film, the piece with two additional, not directly to the song itself scoring scenes is further supported. The first is preferred and showing pink with two school friends as they lay shell casings of his late father during the Second World War on the tracks in front of a moving train in order to observe what is happening with them. From the train passing by looking through masks faceless acting children and admonishing Call a teacher sounds.

In the second scene we see pink, as he writes in a poem in class the same teacher. When he noticed this, he snatches the paper and Pink makes to the whole class about the writing funny (this is the text is an extract from the Pink Floyd Money piece from the album The Dark Side of the Moon ). While the album itself speaks of teachers, the film focuses on a special teacher and tormentor Pinks. As in the album, he appeared as a single person in the play The Trial on again.

Message

The entire song consists cynical deals with the classical school education. The title ( German The happiest days of our lives ) is an ironic criticism. Especially criticize in the piece (especially in the film) that all students are forced into a scheme so that they can work as exemplary members of society later. Since individuality and creativity in this system no consideration is given, the school ensures that the children slick, are identical units. This is symbolized among other things, by the masks of the students in the train in the film.

Words and Music

The song was written by Roger Waters. He also developed the idea for the entire The Wall album and wrote a lot of the pieces. The content will be according to his statement of experiences during his own school days. He also suffered from his teachers who were trying to stiff to press all students in a fixed scheme. The Happiest Days of Our Lives is fluent in Another Brick in The Wall Part II above. This reconciliation is done by a cry of Waters, which connects the two pieces together. As well as the thematic content of both songs have a strong connection, they are often regarded as a unit.

Musically, The Happiest Days of Our Lives differs greatly from Pink Floyd pieces of earlier albums. In particular, its severity, which is created mainly by the strong Schlagzeugrythmen, it stands out.

Publication and live performances

After his release on The Wall The Happiest Days of Our Lives later appeared on the compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters on the ' solo albums, In the Flesh and The Wall - Live in Berlin.

The entire piece was played by Pink Floyd live only during The Wall Tour 1980/1981, after Roger Waters ' exit from the band was abandoned at performances to performances of the song. Mostly the last part of the Happiest Days of Our Lives ( the choir singing at the end of the title ) was before Another Brick in the Wall Part II but involved, such as during the Division Bell tour in 1994. As a solo artist Roger Waters led the piece also in combination with Another Brick in the Wall Part II on a regular basis.

Remarkably, the stage show during the song on the The Wall Live Tour 2010-2012 is in a huge teacher - puppet moves floating through the hall. A similar doll was in 1990 used during The Wall - performance in Berlin and also the shows of The Wall Tour 1980/1981 showed large models of characters from the album. The design of the dolls is strongly geared to the illustrations of the artist Gerald Scarfe who designed the characters for the The Wall album cover and the film drawing.

Occupation

Genre Rock music Sadistic personality disorder Money (Pink Floyd song) Marionette
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