BRAIN DAMAGE (Waters)
[Waters]
The lunatic is on the grass.
The lunatic is on the grass.
Remembering games, and daisy chains and laughs,
Got to keep the loonies on the path.
The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor,
And every day the paper boy brings more.
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon,
And if there is no room upon the hill,
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too,
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
The lunatic is in my head.
[Laughter]
The lunatic is in my head.
You raise the blade, you make the change,
You rearrange me 'till I'm sane.
You lock the door,
And throw away the key,
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts thunder in your ear,
You shout and no one seems to hear,
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes,
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
I can't think of anything to say except...
[Laughter]
I think it's marvelous!
[Laughter]
The next song on the record is ‘Brain Damage’ which is about madness, the result of all the “pressures” we have been exposed to throughout the whole album. Waters: "That was my song; I wrote that at home.” Waters’ personal connection with this song is possibly the reason he chose to sing it instead of Gilmour.
“The grass [as in 'the lunatic is on the grass'] was always the square in between the River Cam and Kings College chapel. I don't know why, but when I was young that was always the piece of grass, more than any other piece of grass, that I felt I was constrained to 'keep off '. I don't know why, but the song still makes me think of that piece of grass. The lunatic was Syd, really. He was obviously in my mind.” The first verse clearly depicts childhood. The desire to keep “the loonies on the path” represents trying to maintain order, staying sane. An act as simple as staying on the path in childhood foreshadows the greater issue of conforming to society later in life. Waters is also attacking inane authority with rules for the sake of having rules, things as arbitrary as not walking on the grass.
The next verse places the “lunatics” as faces in a newspaper. This seems to imply that the people in the newspaper, famous people, politicians, etc., are all lunatics. One pattern of insanity can be that thinking everyone else around them is insane rather than themselves, which may be what Waters is referring to here. Piling up over time, things get worse as “every day the paper boy brings more.”
Another interpretation is that the people held captive by the newspapers aren’t the people in them, but the people reading them. Many people based their lives on the media and pop culture, caring more about celebrity gossip than about issues that may really concern them. Perhaps Waters is saying that those who behave this way and live vicariously through celebrities are insane as well.
“The dam break[ing] open many years to soon,” “no room upon the hill,” “head explod[ing] with dark forebodings” are all representations of falling into madness. The term “dark forebodings” reminds of the very pessimism that is apparent throughout the album. As I have expressed, I consider these displays of pessimism to show the flaws of this line of thought. This pessimism becomes “dark forebodings” which can pile up to drive a man to madness.
Then comes the line that holds the title of the album, “I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.” What is the dark side of the moon? More importantly, what does Waters use it to represent? as it is important enough to name the entire album after. Let us first explore the literal meaning of the term.
The moon revolves around the Earth at the exact same speed at which it rotates, due to a phenomenon having to do with the uneven weight distribution of the moon itself. Because of this, on Earth, we only can ever see one side of the moon. The other side of the moon is sometimes referred to as the dark side of the moon, as it is never visible to us. There is much folklore and mythology about the mysterious ‘dark side of the moon.’ In actuality the other side of the moon is lit up just as much as the side we see. The phase of the moon depends on its position relative to the Earth and the sun.
The term “lunatic” evolved from the Latin word luna for moon, due to the ancient belief that insanity varied with or was caused by the phase of the moon. No such correlation has been scientifically proven however. This does establish a connection between the moon and madness though, helping us to understand the symbolism of the song.
Waters is essentially stating, if you go mad then “I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.” The dark side of the moon is something that we never see, but is always there, just on the opposite side. Waters seems to be relating this to madness, implying that it is always there, but invisible, waiting to be exposed.
Waters elaborates further: "The line 'I'll see you on the dark side of the moon' is me speaking to the listener, saying, I know you have these bad feelings and impulses, because I do too, and one of the ways I can make contact with you is to share the fact that I feel bad sometimes." The ‘dark side of the moon’ can be considered the dark side of ourselves; the side that we try to hide from those around us. Waters is coming out and saying that we all have that side, but we need to keep it in check, or it will take control of us; driving us to madness.
In the next verse the narrator gives a detached description of a lobotomy being performed on them, in order to regain their sanity, to get the “lunatic” out of their head. By performing the operation they “lock the door and throw away the key” sealing off the lunatic and regaining sanity.
I’ve received some more insight from a Pink Floyd fan, “It’s definitely a reference to an earlier time when the psychology of the mind wasn’t understood as well as it is today, when doctors believed that mental disorders could easily be fixed, and were the result of just some malfunctioning piece of brain matter. While this might be true in some cases, we now know that there are a multitude of causes behind mental disorders, from an imbalance in neurological chemicals to all the ‘pressures’ that Waters has spent an album detailing.
“I think it’s also worth noting that a lobotomy, while seemingly taking away the ‘lunatic’ aspects of a person, also pretty much obliterates that person’s individuality, their personality. It makes them little more than a zombie. Once again, Waters seems to be addressing this overbearing social authority that dictates what is and isn’t normal. ‘You men, go fight this war. You children, stay off the grass. You there, you aren’t like me, therefore I will cut out part of your brain.’”
The second chorus is similar to the first. “Cloud burst[ing] thunder in your ear” and “shout[ing] but no one seems to hear” are again examples of insanity. The line about “the band you’re in playing different tunes” clearly applies to Syd, as Pink Floyd moved on to new material after he left, which was significantly different in style as well.
Another fan points out, "One of the things Syd was known to do during his
descent into madness, which would piss the band off to no end, was play the
wrong song. For example, at one concert in April of 1967, I believe, the band
started playing "Careful with that Axe, Eugene", with all the appropriate
keyboard, bass, and drum parts. Syd, possibly as a result of the acid he was
taking, started the guitar part of "Interstellar Overdrive." He did "play
different tunes" from the rest of the band at several other concerts until he
was kicked out."
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