Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb Meaning

Song Released: 1980

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Comfortably Numb Lyrics

Hello.
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?

Come on, now.
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again.

Relax.
I need some information first.
Just the...

1.  

   anonymous

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   May 13th 2006, 10:34 report

   
   

   I smoked this weed that must have been laced with something and I got a lot of it. I'm pissed about it but, I just let it because I heard from my favorite band this song and it was rediculous and it was pure coincidence that it was on when I was in my (different) high. the pin prick, nothing to do with the needle used heroin. From beggining of the track to the end of it, its all about roger waters being high on something, from the voices in the beggining to the feeling sick, it is about whatever I had and it was rediculous, I can't explain it, like in the song. It fit my experices right on. I smoked a grav bong and so I got a good amount of it and I know weed, this wasnt it. I'm not doing it again but the experience I had, it was something else. just because of the song

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2.  

   EmosSuck777

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   Apr 27th 2006, 17:54 report

   
   

   Well, I haven't read all the responses, but most of them are completely off.
   
   Yes, you must watch The Wall. It was about something that happened to Waters during an Animals tour. He had bad stomach pain and was given a tranquilizer that was way too strong for him. Since it was a traumatic experience for him, he included it in The Wall which is about how being a rock star sucks and Pink is a combo of himself and Syd Barrett.

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3.  

   Ssheska77

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   Apr 21st 2006, 13:52 report

   
   

   Okay, I used to hang out with some really hardcore Pink Floyd fans in high school. The real interpretation of this song is about the Founding member of Pink Floyd 'Sid Barrett' He did like way too many hits of acid in his day and is now on a lifelong trip. He lives in his mother's basement somewhere in England. The members of Floyd even recorded him after his tragedy and let him make an album. So crazy, he sings 'I see the flys, the hoppy bird', so when it says 'Hello, Hello is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me'. They are speaking of poor old Sid. The some of 'The Wall' was based on Sids follys also....

   
   
   
   

4.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 18th 2006, 20:35 report

   
   

   I agree with the winter guy, I know this song is about Morphine, the lyrics describe the nausea, and it just all makes sense. Him becoming numb from morphine, not heroine

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5.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 11th 2006, 14:18 report

   
   

   Last interpretation, I think, says it all. Makes a lot of sense. Takes the mysteriousness and fun out of the song though. Thanks a lot dude!

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6.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 13th 2006, 19:19 report

   
   

   Couple of Facts:
   
   Roger Waters suffered/suffers from diabetes since childhood.
   
   Common Symptoms of Diabetes:
   
   Numbness
   Fatigue
   Nausea or Vomiting
   
   Many times children with type 1 diabetes find out they have it after getting sick.
   
   
   
   
   
   The beginning of the song is someone, a doctor perhaps talking to Roger Waters and goes on to gather the proper information about his current condition.
   
   A common side affect of having diabetes is numbness and if you go without insulin you go into a very lucid state.
   
   Then he reflects upon growing up and being first hit with the condition and how he is going through that same thing again and that he usually is okay with the condition. The comfortably numb line I think is about the constant pricking of the finger in order to check glucose levels and he doesn't even feel it anymore.
   
   Now the distant ship line that he refers to twice I think is the close call with death. At the end of the song he goes on to say that when he had the fever and almost died he got very close to seeing the end and then he woke up and thought it all was a dream.

   
   
   
   

7.  

   sharon_hate

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   Jan 22nd 2006, 23:05 report

   
   

   The song is in fact about heroin. Not that it isn't obvious already, but I'll quote wikipedia who confirms it.
   
   "The lyrics refer to The Wall's protagonist Pink, finally burned out and passed out in his hotel room, being drugged to enable him to perform. The verses, sung by Waters, are the words of the doctor treating Pink, while the chorus, sung by Gilmour, is Pink's hazy vision and thoughts."

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8.  

   Tommy

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   Jan 17th 2006, 08:53 report

   
   

   The song is actually about an actual event that happened to Roger Waters. He was drained but still had to perform and a doctor gave him a really stong hit of adreniline (sorry if its spelt wrong) to "keep you going for the show."

   
   
   
   

9.  

   Wintermut3

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   Jan 4th 2006, 00:29 report

   
   

   Heroin? maybe not... I'd bet Morphine.
   
   The song even DESCRIBES the physical side-effects of Morphine ("Just a little pinprick/ but you may feel a little sick" may refer to the fact morphine and other opiates usually make you feel nauseous).
   
   In my opinion it's about a doctor that gives a performer painkillers (probably an opiate) to keep him on stage and performing. The descriptions of Morphine's effects are very accurate, I was given the stuff after shattering my foot in a sports accident and I remember CONCIOUSLY thinking how much it reminded me of dear old Floyd.

   
   
   
   

10.  

    Lamarcus

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    Dec 24th 2005, 00:11 report

    
    

    This song (and the scene in the movie) is about what happens after Pink the rockstar goes on a crazy trip about World War II. At the end of the previous song (Bring the Boys Back Home) and the beginning of the Echoes version of this song, you hear Pink's manager banging on his hotel door going "Time to go!"
    
    Pink has passed out, and the manager calls the doctor. He's talking to the doctor, and the doctor gives him some kind of quick-fix drug (possibly heroine?) that sends him shortly on another trip about his childhood.

    
    
    
    

11.  

    Lefty

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    Dec 17th 2005, 20:04 report

    
    

    I think this song is about growing older, and losing the ambitions and dreams of our youth. The lyrics pretty much point to this, and if you need further help on the meaning, just watch the movie.

    
    
    
    

12.  

    anonymous

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    Dec 9th 2005, 11:35 report

    
    

    Watch the Pink Floyd movie, The Wall. That's all I have to say and it should clear up any confusion you people have.

    
    
    
    

13.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 27th 2005, 17:52 report

    
    

    This song is about Pink the rockstar having to go out and perform for a crowd of people which he has built his wall around and see them in the flesh. So he stays at his hotel and sits still in his chair and becomes "comfortably numb."

    
    
    
    

14.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 24th 2005, 18:47 report

    
    

    All you fuckheads who think it about herion should eat shit. The song is about becoming numb to your surroundings and just trying to get through with life.

    
    
    
    

15.  

    amber31187

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    Nov 22nd 2005, 11:13 report

    
    

    I know that the song is about a character that is a rock star (one of the band memebers), he is too tired to go onstage but if he doesn't go then they will lose money, so the song is actually a conversation between him and a doctor. The docter is giving him the herion.

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16.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 10th 2005, 11:01 report

    
    

    I think the song Comfortably Numb is all about herion. You can tell he talks about easing your pain and his hands feeling like to balloons. Then he says "OK, just a little pin prick, there'll be no more (scream), But you may feel a little sick. Can you stand up? I do believe it's working good." It's so obvious.

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