"Perfect Sense, Part I" and "Perfect Sense, Part II" are the third and fourth tracks from the concept album ''
Amused to Death
''Amused to Death'' is the third studio album by English musician Roger Waters, released 7 September 1992 on Columbia. Produced by Waters and Patrick Leonard, it is mixed in QSound to enhance its spatial feel. The album features Jeff Beck o ...
'' by ex-
Pink Floyd member
Roger Waters. The songs are sung partially by Roger Waters but mainly by
PP Arnold
Patricia Ann Cole (born October 3, 1946), known professionally as P. P. Arnold, is an American soul singer. Arnold began her career as an Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1965. The following year she relocated to London to pursue a solo ...
on both the original album and live shows.
Overview
Part I of the song begins with a loud and unintelligible rant cutting out the noise of the previous track, "
What God Wants, Part I". Following this is a backwards spoken message:
The message climaxes with Waters yelling in the aggressive Scottish voice he used to depict the character of the teacher in ''
The Wall
''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/ CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imp ...
''. This is not the first example of Roger Waters using reversed messages in his musical work. In an interview with ''Rockline'' on 8 February 1993 Roger Waters stated that he had wanted to use samples of
HAL 9000
HAL 9000 is a fictional artificial intelligence character and the main antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's ''Space Odyssey'' series. First appearing in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', HAL ( Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) ...
from ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' on the album.
Stanley Kubrick, the director, turned him down on the basis that it would open the door to too many other people using the sound sample. Since this incident Waters has used the audio of HAL describing his mind being taken away during the introduction of "Perfect Sense, Part I" in live performances, such as the
In the Flesh In the Flesh may refer to:
Books
* ''In the Flesh'' (2009 graphic novel), a collection of stories by Koren Shadmi
Film and TV
* ''In the Flesh'' (1998 film), an American gay-themed murder mystery film
* ''In the Flesh'' (2003 film), an Indian ...
tour in 2002, after Kubrick had died.
The opening lines of the song begin with a reference from the film ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' in which "The monkey sat on a pile of stones and stared at the broken bone in his hand". This monkey – the human being – is referred to continuously throughout the album.
In Part II, famed sportscaster
Marv Albert
Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...
commentates a war as if it were a basketball game.
Both parts of the song were performed as part of Waters' ''
In the Flesh In the Flesh may refer to:
Books
* ''In the Flesh'' (2009 graphic novel), a collection of stories by Koren Shadmi
Film and TV
* ''In the Flesh'' (1998 film), an American gay-themed murder mystery film
* ''In the Flesh'' (2003 film), an Indian ...
'' tour. In 2000, a recording of this was released as the fifth track of the second disk of the live album, ''
In the Flesh – Live
''In the Flesh – Live'' is a two-disc live album that captures performances from Roger Waters' three-year In the Flesh tour.
Overview
"My view is that I've been involved in two absolutely classic albums – ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' an ...
''. Both parts were released as one track, titled "Perfect Sense, Pt. 1 & 2", with a length of 7:26.
In the 2015 re-released and remastered edition of the album, the samples of
HAL 9000
HAL 9000 is a fictional artificial intelligence character and the main antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's ''Space Odyssey'' series. First appearing in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', HAL ( Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) ...
were finally included, and the backwards message omitted.
Personnel
Amused to Death Version
*
Roger Waters - co-lead vocals, synthesizers (only part II)
*
P.P. Arnold
PP, pp or Pp may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Pianissimo'', a music term meaning ''very quiet'', from musical dynamics
* Production code for the 1967–1968 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Enemy of the World''
* Police Procedural - a subgen ...
– co lead vocals
*
Marv Albert
Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...
– commentary (only part II)
*
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Ray Leonard (born March 14, 1956) is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums '' True Blue'' (1986), ''Who's ...
- keyboards, speech (only part II)
*John Dupree – arrangements
*
B.J. Cole
Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist, who has long been active as a session and solo musician. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles, ranging from mainstream pop and rock t ...
– pedal steel guitar
*
Steve Lukather – guitar
Rick DiFonso– guitar
*
Bruce Gaitsch
Bruce R. Gaitsch (; born February 7, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is best known for working with notable bands and musicians such Chicago, Peter Cetera, Madonna, and Agnetha Fältskog as a session musician and songwri ...
– acoustic guitar
*
Jimmy Johnson – bass
*
Brian Macleod –
snare
SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells,
and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle f ...
,
hi-hat
*
Graham Broad
Graham Broad (born 10 March 1957) is an English drummer who has been playing professionally since the age of fifteen, after attending the Royal College of Music in 1970. He is a former pupil of drumming educator Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Ph ...
–
drums
*
Luis Conte
Luis Conte (born 16 November 1954) is a Cuban percussionist best-known for his performances in the bands of artists including James Taylor, Madonna, Pat Metheny Group, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Shakira. He began ...
– percussion
In the Flesh tour version
*
Roger Waters – co-lead vocals
*
P. P. Arnold – co-lead vocals
*
Doyle Bramhall II
Doyle Bramhall II (born December 24, 1968) is an American guitarist, producer and songwriter best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. He is the son of the songwriter and drummer Doyle Bramhall.
Early life
Bramhall was born i ...
– electric guitar, backing vocals (1999-2000 dates)
* Chester Kamen - electric guitar, backing vocals (2002 dates)
*
Snowy White
Terence Charles "Snowy" White (born 3 March 1948, Barnstaple, Devon) is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy (permanent member from 1980 to 1982) and with Pink Floyd (as a backing guitarist; he was first invited to tour ...
– electric guitar
*
Andy Fairweather Low
Andrew Fairweather Low (born 2 August 1948) is a Welsh guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop band Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's R ...
– bass guitar
*
Jon Carin
Jon Carin (born October 21, 1964) is a musician, singer, songwriter and producer who has been a longtime collaborator with the bands Pink Floyd and The Who, and the solo careers of David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Pete Townshend, Eddie Vedder, ...
– piano, backing vocals (1999-2000 dates)
* Harry Waters - Piano (2002 dates)
* Andy Wallace – keyboards
*
Katie Kissoon
Mac and Katie Kissoon are a pop soul duo, consisting of brother and sister Mac Kissoon (born Gerald Farthing, November 11, 1943, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) and Katie Kissoon (born Katherine Farthing, March 11, 1951, Port of Spain).
E ...
– backing vocals
*
Susannah Melvoin
Susannah Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American vocalist and songwriter. Melvoin is best known for her association with Prince in the mid-1980s. Melvoin comes from a musical family and is the twin sister of musician Wendy Melvoin, sister ...
– backing vocals (1999-2000 dates)
* Linda Lewis – backing vocals (first leg 2002 dates)
* Carol Kenyon – backing vocals (second leg 2002 dates)
*
Graham Broad
Graham Broad (born 10 March 1957) is an English drummer who has been playing professionally since the age of fifteen, after attending the Royal College of Music in 1970. He is a former pupil of drumming educator Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Ph ...
– drums, percussion
The Dark Side of the Moon Live Version
*
Roger Waters – co-lead vocals,
*
P.P. Arnold
PP, pp or Pp may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Pianissimo'', a music term meaning ''very quiet'', from musical dynamics
* Production code for the 1967–1968 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Enemy of the World''
* Police Procedural - a subgen ...
– co-lead vocals
*
Dave Kilminster
David Kilminster (born 25 January 1962) is a British guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer and music teacher, who has toured as a sideman to several prestigious musicians, including progressive rock artists Steven Wilson and Roger Waters.
...
– electric guitar, backing vocals
*
Snowy White
Terence Charles "Snowy" White (born 3 March 1948, Barnstaple, Devon) is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy (permanent member from 1980 to 1982) and with Pink Floyd (as a backing guitarist; he was first invited to tour ...
– electric guitar
*
Andy Fairweather-Low
Andrew Fairweather Low (born 2 August 1948) is a Welsh guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop band Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman' ...
– bass guitar (2006-07 dates)
*
Chester Kamen
Chester Kamen (born in Hackney, London) is an English session guitarist, whose work has included performing with Paul McCartney, Bryan Ferry, Bob Geldof, Madonna, Duran Duran, Robbie Williams, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Seal, Massive Attack, Ki ...
– bass guitar (2008 dates)
*
Jon Carin
Jon Carin (born October 21, 1964) is a musician, singer, songwriter and producer who has been a longtime collaborator with the bands Pink Floyd and The Who, and the solo careers of David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Pete Townshend, Eddie Vedder, ...
– piano, backing vocals
*
Harry Waters – keyboards
*
Carol Kenyon
Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...
– backing vocals
*
Katie Kissoon
Mac and Katie Kissoon are a pop soul duo, consisting of brother and sister Mac Kissoon (born Gerald Farthing, November 11, 1943, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) and Katie Kissoon (born Katherine Farthing, March 11, 1951, Port of Spain).
E ...
– backing vocals (2006-07 dates)
*
Sylvia Mason-James - backing vocals (2008 dates)
*
Graham Broad
Graham Broad (born 10 March 1957) is an English drummer who has been playing professionally since the age of fifteen, after attending the Royal College of Music in 1970. He is a former pupil of drumming educator Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Ph ...
– drums, percussion
References
{{Authority control
Roger Waters songs
1992 songs
Songs written by Roger Waters