Pink Floyd Lyrics, Themes & Meanings: Sorrow

Sorrow 8:46
(written by David Gilmour)

Lyrics:
The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise, merge into the leaden sky
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers
Awakes to a morning with no reason for waking

He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough

His blood has frozen and curdled with fright
His knees have trembled and given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered

One world, one soul
Time pass, river roll

It's not enough, it's not enough
His step has faltered

He talks to the river of lost love and dedication
Silent replies swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be

There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
There's dust in my eyes that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder than words
Of promises broken

Sorrow, the finale and longest song on the album, was originally inspired by a poem Dave read, from which it actually draws its first line.

Dave Gilmour: "I've not actually managed to find the poem that the first line comes from. I probably should have put a credit on there to the person who inspired that line but I just can't find the poem." [TAP 51]

Dave went on to write the words (on his own, mind you) in a more or less complete form before any of the music was written.

Dave Gilmour: "Sorrow was a poem I'd written as a lyric before I wrote music to it, which is rare for me. The river's a very, very common theme; rivers are a very symbolic, attractive way of expressing all sorts of things." [Shine On 100] "It's the first thing I think I've written with the words first. Most of Sorrow got put down the day after I wrote it: the vocal of the verses, the background guitars, the drum parts and the lead guitar. The solo was done first take. I never got around to doing it again." [TAP 51] "The solo at the end of Sorrow [was] done on the boat [studio], my guitar going through a little Gallien- Krueger amp." [Shine On 100]

Bob Ezrin explained how the sound was achieved for the guitar part at the beginning (which was, incidentally, later used for a NASA presentation): "We hired a 24-track truck and a huge PA and brought them inside LA Sports Arena... We piped Dave's guitar tracks out into the arena and re-recorded them in 3D. So the tracks that originally came from a teeny little Gallien-Krueger and teeny little Fender... sound like the Guitar From Hell." [TAP 60]

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