SPEAK TO ME (Mason)
I’ve been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been over the edge for yonks, been working
with bands so long, I think crikey...
I’ve always been mad; I know I’ve been mad, like the most of us are. Very hard to explain why you’re mad, even if you’re not mad...
The album begins with the introduction ‘Speak to Me.’ The first sound we hear is a repetitive beating, a heartbeat representing the beginning of life. Next we start to hear various sounds that appear later in the album. First the ticking clocks of ‘Time,’ followed by the quotes listed above, cash registers from ‘Money,’ laughter from ‘Brain Damage’, a plane from ‘On the Run,’ and a woman screaming (Clare Torry’s screaming from ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’) all leading up to its climax that turns to the first chord in ‘Breathe.’
I think it is safe to assume that the first speaker in the song is one of the bands roadies or something similar. Both speakers seem to be responding to the same cue card, seemingly with a question such as “Are you mad?” (Madness of course means insane, not angry in this context, which is more commonly used in Britain where the band is from.)
This track is very much a collage of the entire album, foreshadowing what is to come. My interpretation is that the very beginning of the ‘Speak to Me’ coincides with conception, while the end of the track is birth. The heartbeat sound comes in gradually as would an infant’s as it grows larger. Another piece of evidence supporting this theory is the sound clip of a woman screaming at the climax of the song, like a mother giving birth. This would make the song essentially an encapsulation of an infant being in utero. In this context, perhaps the sound clips heard in the song imply that even before we are born, we are exposed to the “pressures of modern life” as our mother is under those same “pressures.” Similarly, the sound clips could also imply predestination, in that even before we are born we are destined to experience all of these pressures. While I do not believe Waters is suggesting actual fate in which every detail of life is pre-planned, he may be suggesting that certain aspects of life are unavoidable, perhaps implying fate in another sense.
The title ‘Speak to Me’ is certainly ambiguous. Presumably the unborn child wants to be spoken to, perhaps wanting advice on this adventure called life it has suddenly found itself on, with all of these inherent pressures. This makes sense with the following song ‘Breathe’ being just that. On the album’s original release, the two songs were listed as one ‘Speak to Me/Breathe.’ This could show almost a summary of conversation with the child asking for advice, and then the adult responding.
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