You can envy the rock star lifestyle all you want, but don’t think for a second that those who are actually living it are immune from the problems that beset us all. In fact, those problems can be magnified by the isolation stardom breeds.
Few songs shine a light on this conundrum any better than “Nobody Home,” a somber ballad Pink Floyd delivered on their 1979 epic double-album The Wall. It’s a song where a guy lists everything he has, but he simply can’t bear the thought of what he’s lost.
Turbulent Waters
As Pink Floyd’s success grew by leaps and bounds, Roger Waters, the band’s bassist, lyricist, and architect of the concepts behind their albums, grew more and more disillusioned. He was so fed up by the lack of connection between himself and his audience that he imagined what it would like to play for an audience while behind a wall.
Building on that idea, Waters began to think about all the societal factors that cause us to separate from other human beings, the so-called “bricks” in the wall. One of those was the struggle to maintain a loving romantic relationship, especially when the priorities of one of the people in that relationship are thrown out of whack by the quest for musical success.
Within the story of The Wall, the protagonist, known as Pink, has amassed wealth and fame beyond his wildest dreams. Waters based the laundry list of material goods Pink mentions in the song on items that either he or other rock stars (some in his own band) had amassed.
Like the character in the song, Waters had gone through his own marital strife, divorcing his first wife in 1975. Indeed, there were many elements to the Pink character that were borrowed from Waters’ own biography. “Nobody Home,” which boasts a piano-and-strings arrangement that bears a passing resemblance to Randy Newman-style balladry, certainly feels like an intensely personal lament.
A Deep Dive into the Lyrics of “Nobody Home”
Waters has admitted in interviews he was the one with the inevitable pinhole burns / All down the front of my favorite satin shirt. It’s also likely that the line, I’ve got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains, was a dig at Rick Wright. The Pink Floyd keyboard player had fallen out of favor with the group, especially Waters, who felt Wright wasn’t contributing to the proceedings. (Wright was fired from the band during the sessions for The Wall; producer Bob Ezrin plays the piano part on “Nobody Home.”)
As was the case throughout much of The Wall, Waters also used Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original lead singer/lead guitarist until he was ousted from the band due to his erratic behavior, as the model for some of the qualities Pink displays in “Nobody Home.” Barrett was the one who, during his period of drug disarray, often had elastic bands keeping my shoes on. And Barrett also displayed the wild, staring eyes mentioned in the song.
“Nobody Home” then goes beyond these specifics to get to the emotional damage done to this character. For writing his poems, he’s treated by hangers-on like a glorified house pet: When I’m a good dog, they sometimes throw me a bone in. Even as he’s touring and seeing the world, he feels caged: And I’ve got a strong urge to fly / But I’ve got nowhere to fly to.
But there is no shoulder on which he can lean: Ooh, babe, when I pick up the phone / There’ll be nobody home. The Wall is filled with bombast and sweeping concepts. “Nobody Home” boils it all down to one human’s sad plight, and as such, it makes for one of the most moving songs, not just on the album but also in Pink Floyd’s wonderful catalog.
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