Back in 1994 I saw Pink Floyd here in Madison down on campus at Camp Randall Stadium. I went with my girlfriend at the time and, unfortunately, we didn't have particularly good seats. Afterwards, having sat through a show where I could barely see anyone on stage with none of them ever looking over at us in the cheapest of seats off to the side, I think I understood Roger Waters' concept of the wall a bit better. Still, there were some nice moments such as my surprise at "Astronomy Domine" opening the show (back when you could easily avoid setlist spoilers), "Take It Back", a favorite of mine from the then new album, The Division Bell, and "One of These Days", an oldie from 1971 which just plain rocks. Plus, a line from "Run Like Hell" got changed to "They're gonna send you back to Madison/In a cardboard box".**
I had high hopes that I'd get a chance to hear "Poles Apart", another new song from The Division Bell. It was played occasionally in the spring and summer so some recordings of it performed live exist but it was more or less abandoned come the autumn as the tour was coming to a close and the recording of a series of shows for the live album, Pulse, was done. During a lengthy stretch of October concerts in London, a full performance was broadcast live by BBC radio but "Poles Apart" was omitted from the setlist.
"Poles Apart" was one of the songs that I immediately took to upon first hearing The Division Bell. (I think the other was "Take It Back".) It opens with a gorgeous rolling acoustic guitar and is soon joined by some bass and keys. Before long the guitar settles into a gentle melody that reminds me of "Narnia" by Steve Hackett before the singing begins. I have always assumed the song was about Syd Barrett ("Why did we tell you then/You were always the golden boy") or Roger Waters ("Hey you/Did you ever realize what you'd become?") or perhaps both. There is a sense of regret in the song and I felt that the lyrics were those of a middle aged man looking back.
Before the last verse we are treated to a wonderful diversion. Out of nowhere comes this circus interlude, sounding something like a sullen "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" Its tone is set by bouncy organ-like keyboards that evoke lion tamers and acrobats and is completely out of place yet some somber strings mark this diversion as being improbably appropriate. Something redemptive follows with the lines "I thought of you/And the years and all the sadness fell away".
The song ends with an emotive Gilmour solo in the tradition of the one in "Comfortably Numb" and is a masterpiece in its own right. For the first year I lived with it, the solo gave the finale a wistful feel. But after the girlfriend with whom I saw Floyd sent me packing the following year, the song took on a more sentimental tone. Those final couple minutes seemed to go from a middle aged man feeling nostalgic to a post-apocalyptic scene where the last flower in existence is being plucked from the ground, a fragile beauty never to be seen again.
**Funnily enough, in another Shazam moment, until I listened a few minutes ago, I would have sworn that one of the "Hey you, out there in the..." bits from "Hey You" was changed to "out there in the rain" because it started pouring towards the end of the show. I have listened to 2 different recordings of the show and it just ain't there.
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