The secret message Pink Floyd hid inside ‘The Wall’
Pink Floyd’s The Wall stands as a singular piece of musical artistry. The rock opera is a deeply layered work, open to countless interpretations and meanings. A strong connection can be drawn between Roger Waters, the album’s principal writer, and its protagonist, Pink — a parallel that Waters himself has acknowledged. However, one track, in particular, has sparked significant debate among fans. Many believe it alludes to their former bandmate, Syd Barrett, who had a profound influence on the band before his departure. This interpretation adds an additional emotional depth to the album’s narrative, making it even more poignant for devoted Floyd listeners.
The Wall is famously a record that follows the story of a burnt-out rock star who has turned his back on civilisation and becomes a recluse, symbolised by a wall. The songs create a storyline of events in the life of the protagonist, Pink. Played by Bob Geldof in the motion picture, Pink’s story is a tragic one, dealing with his father’s death and ultimately having to face a world he no longer believes.
Naturally, Waters has routinely reconciled the character’s inspiration as being drawn from his own life. The album, seen as one of the songwriter’s finest works with the band, is a deeply personal piece and has been routinely recreated by Waters during his years as a solo artist, suggesting it may be considered some of his most intrinsic work. But it is difficult to assume that the character of Pink is based solely on him with many fans hypothesising that Waters also used the tragic figure of bandmate Barrett as a central pillar of inspiration.
Like Waters, Barrett had suffered the loss of his father prematurely, and this is a more obvious connection to Pink. However, unlike Waters, Barrett was also chewed up and spat out by fame, seemingly falling into a cycle of drug use and mental health issues as he tried to escape the world Pink Floyd’s success had now bestowed upon him.
The likelihood is that Pink’s character takes elements from an array of different people and exaggerates them, like all good storytelling. It is difficult not to see parallels between parts of the characteristics of the jaded Pink figure and that of Barrett, a musician who, following a series of episodes, had been out of the public eye for a decade by 1979, when The Wall was released.
With such a mammoth piece of work as The Wall, there will always be an array of theories connected to it. Looking into the world of pop fandom now and the endless array of apparent Easter Eggs to be found upon the release of every new Taylor Swift is a testament to that. However, one track especially seemed to confirm the fan theory that Pink was based on Barrett: ‘Empty Spaces’.
Inserting a hidden message, Roger Waters can be heard speaking when the track is played backwards: “Congratulations. You’ve just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont,” he says. Then a voice in the background states: “Roger! Carolyne is on the phone!”, which led many to believe ‘Old Pink’ is the band’s former lead singer Syd Barrett, who had gone off the radar since he suffered a breakdown in 1968.
This theory was later refuted by drummer Nick Mason who spoke to Sonic Reality in 2014 about the topic. “At the time, people were always looking for messages in albums,” Mason explained. “So we thought: ‘Oh, well. We better do one’”.
Asked whether there was any sort of deeper meaning behind it, Mason laughed it off, adding, “It’s complete nonsense.”
Only Roger Waters really knows whether it was based on Barrett or not. When he penned the track, he certainly knew that that part of ‘Empty Spaces’ would undoubtedly get fans speculating about the former frontman. However, as a songwriter who has never been afraid of his own creative clout, one would expect Waters’ most likely answer as to whether he was the sole inspiration for Pink to be “yes”.
