Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1992
Perfect Sense (song)
Buy Perfect Sense (song) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'"Perfect Sense, Part I"' and '"Perfect Sense, Part II"' are the third and fourth tracks from the concept album 'Amused to Death' by ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters. The songs are sung partially by Roger Waters but mainly by PP Arnold on both the original album and live shows.
Overview
Part I of the song begins with a loud and unintelligible rant cutting out the noise of the previous track, "What God Wants, Part I". Following this is a backwards spoken message:
The message climaxes with Waters yelling in the aggressive Scottish voice he used to depict the character of the teacher in 'The Wall'. This is not the first example of Roger Waters using reversed messages in his musical work. In an interview with 'Rockline' on 8 February 1993 Roger Waters stated that he had wanted to use samples of HAL 9000 from '2001: A Space Odyssey' on the album. Stanley Kubrick, the director, turned him down on the basis that it would open the door to too many other people using the sound sample. Since this incident Waters has used the audio of HAL describing his mind being taken away during the introduction of "Perfect Sense, Part I" in live performances, such as the In the Flesh tour in 2002, after Kubrick had died.
The opening lines of the song begin with a reference from the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' in which "The monkey sat on a pile of stones and stared at the broken bone in his hand". This monkey the human being is referred to continuously throughout the album.
In Part II, famed sportscaster Marv Albert commentates a war as if it were a basketball game.
Both parts of the song were performed as part of Waters' 'In the Flesh' tour. In 2000, a recording of this was released as the fifth track of the second disk of the live album, 'In the Flesh Live'. Both parts were released as one track, titled "Perfect Sense, Pt. 1 & 2", with a length of 7:26.
In the 2015 re-released and remastered edition of the album, the samples of HAL 9000 were finally included, and the backwards message omitted.
Personnel
Amused to Death Version
*Roger Waters - co-lead vocals, synthesizers (only part II)* P.P. Arnold co lead vocals
* Marv Albert commentary (only part II)
* Patrick Leonard - keyboards, speech (only part II)
*John Dupree arrangements
* B.J. Cole pedal steel guitar
* Steve Lukather guitar
* [https://www.discogs.com/artist/325675-Rick-DiFonzo Rick DiFonso] guitar
* Bruce Gaitsch acoustic guitar
* Jimmy Johnson bass
* Brian Macleod snare, hi-hat
* Graham Broad drums
* Luis Conte percussion
In the Flesh tour version
* Roger Waters co-lead vocals
* P. P. Arnold co-lead vocals
* Doyle Bramhall II electric guitar, backing vocals (1999-2000 dates)
* Chester Kamen - electric guitar, backing vocals (2002 dates)
* Snowy White electric guitar
* Andy Fairweather Low bass guitar
* Jon Carin piano, backing vocals (1999-2000 dates)
* Harry Waters - Piano (2002 dates)
* Andy Wallace keyboards
* Katie Kissoon backing vocals
* Susannah Melvoin backing vocals (1999-2000 dates)
* Linda Lewis backing vocals (first leg 2002 dates)
* Carol Kenyon backing vocals (second leg 2002 dates)
* Graham Broad drums, percussion
'The Dark Side of the Moon Live' Version
* Roger Waters co-lead vocals,
* P.P. Arnold co-lead vocals
* Dave Kilminster electric guitar, backing vocals
* Snowy White electric guitar
* Andy Fairweather-Low bass guitar (2006-07 dates)
* Chester Kamen bass guitar (2008 dates)
* Jon Carin piano, backing vocals
* Harry Waters keyboards
* Carol Kenyon backing vocals
* Katie Kissoon backing vocals (2006-07 dates)
* Sylvia Mason-James - backing vocals (2008 dates)
* Graham Broad drums, percussion
References
Category:Roger Waters songs
Category:1992 songs
Category:Songs written by Roger Waters
Buy Perfect Sense (song) now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1992