On The Turning Away – Band: Pink Floyd
Lyrics Exerpt; Full Lyrics and Video Below
“No more turning away from the weak and the weary
No more turning away from the coldness inside
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we’re all alone; in the dream of the proud
Is it only a dream that there’ll be no more turning away?”
Pink Floyd – Deeper Meanings in Lyrics and Music
Pink Floyd has a well-established reputation are as an ‘alternative’ or even ‘stoner’ band. The fact that new generations as as enchanted by Pink Floyd music and lyrics as the original listeners – speaks to the timelessness of Pink Floyd. The many Pink Floyd Tribute Bands touring today demonstrate the on-going popularity of Pink Floyd.
Dark Side of the Moon (1973) remained on the Billboard chart for a record 15 years, becoming the fourth best-selling record of all time.
Pink Floyd was one of the first bands to use laser light shows combined with video during concerts. Without question, Pink Floyd perfected the art of using lasers and videos to ‘involve’ the audience in multi-sensory experience. Their use of technology in a live concert was so radically different from any other rock band in their era (or even in 2014) – Pink Floyd has always been difficult to label and describe. Those who settle for describing the band as ‘a bunch of whacked-out stoners’ totally miss the point of their music – and genius.
Band Members Advanced Education
All the Pink Floyd band members had some form of advanced education; David Gilmour studied at Cambridge. To a certain extent, Pink Floyd has a definite intellectual appeal. Definitely not your typical rock band.
Pink Floyd and ‘New Age’ or Ambient Music
Pink Floyd’s musical styling was also a major factor in the evolution of New Age and ambient music genres.
Formal Education: Band Members
David Gilmour – Cambridge College of Arts and Technology; Honorary Doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
Richard Wright – Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture, Hammersmith Art College, Trinity College of Music
Roger Waters – Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture
Nick Mason – Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture, Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Westminster in London
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd ‘Putting His Charity Money Where His Mouth Is’
From Wikipedia:
David Gilmour has been associated with various charity organisations. In May 2003, Gilmour sold his house in Little Venice to the ninth Earl Spencer and donated the proceeds worth £3.6 million to Crisis to help fund a housing project for the homeless. He has been named a vice president of the organisation.[75] Other charities to which Gilmour has lent support include Oxfam, the European Union Mental Health and Illness Association, Greenpeace, Amnesty International,[23] The Lung Foundation, Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy,[23] Teenage Cancer Trust, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).[76]He also donated £25,000 to the Save the Rhino foundation in exchange for Douglas Adams‘s name suggestion for the album that became The Division Bell.[30]
Lyrics: On the Turning Away by Pink Floyd
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won’t understand
“Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others’ suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The Turning Away”
It’s a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it’s shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we’re all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No More Turning Away?