‘Another Brick in the Wall’ is a three-part composition on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera The Wall, written by the bassist, Roger Waters. ‘Part 2’, a protest song against corporal punishment and rigid and abusive schooling, features a children's choir. At the suggestion of the producer, Bob Ezrin, Pink Floyd added elements of disco. ‘Part 2’ was released as a single, Pink Floyd's first in the United Kingdom since ‘Point Me at the Sky’ (1968). It sold over four million copies worldwide and topped singles charts in fourteen countries, including in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was nominated for a Grammy Award and was ranked number 384 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song also won Waters the 1983 British Academy Award for Best Original Song for its appearance in the Wall film.
The three parts of ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ are essentially one verse each, although Part 2 sees its own verse sung twice: once by Floyd members, and the second time by the guest choir along with Waters and Gilmour. During ‘Part 1’, the protagonist, Pink, begins building a metaphorical wall around himself following the death of his father. In ‘Part 2’, traumas involving his overprotective mother and abusive schoolteachers become bricks in the wall. Following a violent breakdown in ‘Part 3’, Pink dismisses everyone he knows as "just bricks in the wall." Bassist Roger Waters wrote ‘Part 2’ as a protest against rigid schooling, particularly boarding schools. ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ appears in the film based on the album. In the ‘Part 2’ sequence, children enter a school and march in unison through a meat grinder, becoming "putty-faced" clones, before rioting and burning down the school.
Producer, Bob Ezrin edited the takes into an extended version. He also had the engineer Nick Griffiths record children singing the verse at Islington Green School, close to Pink Floyd's studio. The school allotted only 40 minutes for the recording. Alun Renshaw, the head of music at the school, was enthusiastic, and said later: "I wanted to make music relevant to the kids – not just sitting around listening to Tchaikovsky. I thought the lyrics were great – 'We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control' ... I just thought it would be a wonderful experience for the kids." The children's choir in the recording featured 23 students, who practised for about a week to prepare. Renshaw hid the lyrics from the headteacher, Margaret Maden, fearing she might stop the recording. Maden said: "I was only told about it after the event, which didn't please me. But on balance it was part of a very rich musical education."
In exchange for performing vocals, the children of Islington School received tickets to a Pink Floyd concert, an album, and a single. Though the school received a payment of £1,000, there was no contractual arrangement for royalties for the children. Following a change to UK copyright law in 1996, they became eligible for royalties from broadcasts. After royalties agent Peter Rowan traced the choir members through the website Friends Reunited and other means, they successfully lodged a claim for royalties with the Performing Artists' Media Rights Association in 2004.
Labels – Harvest (UK), Columbia (US)
Songwriter – Roger Waters
Producers – Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie, Roger Waters
SONG LYRICS
[Part 1][Verse]
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
A snapshot in the family album
Daddy, what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd ya leave behind for me?
All in all, it was just a brick in the wall
All in all, it was all just bricks in the wall
[Outro]
Hey!
*Children playing*
[Part 2]
[Intro]
[Verse 1: Roger Waters & David Gilmour]
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!
[Chorus: Roger Waters & David Gilmour]
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
[Verse 2: Islington Green School Students]
We don't need no education
Wе don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers, lеave them kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!
[Chorus: Islington Green School Students]
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
[Guitar Solo]
[Outro: Roger Waters]
Wrong, do it again! (*Children playing*)
Wrong, do it again!
If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!
(Wrong, do it again!)
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
(Wrong, do it again!)
You! Yes! You behind the bike sheds! Stand still, laddie!
(If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?)
(You! Yes! You behind the bike sheds! Stand still, laddie!)
*Children playing*
*Phone beeping sound*
[Part 3]
[Intro]
*televisions being smashed*
[Verse]
I don't need no arms around me
And I don't need no drugs to calm me
I have seen the writing on the wall
Don't think I need anything at all
No, don't think I'll need anything at all
[Chorus]
All in all, it was all just bricks in the wall
All in all, you were all just bricks in the wall