"The Thin Ice" is a song by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

, released on ''

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-i ...

'' in 1979.

Composition

The song, which is two minutes and 30 seconds in length, begins with the sound of an infant crying. The main body of the song is a 50s progression, with time signature in 6/8, commonly heard in

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

songs such as " Stand by Me", progressing from C Major to A minor, then F Major to G Major, played softly on piano and synthesiser. The first half of the lyrics are sung by David Gilmour in a gentle tone, beginning with ''"Mama loves her baby"'', and a refrain of ''"Ooh babe, ooh, baby blue"''. A bass guitar creates a dissonant effect mid-song, when it plays an F♯ against an A minor, the

major sixth In music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six note letter names or staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as ''major' ...

of the chord, and the

augmented fourth Augment or augmentation may refer to: Language * Augment (Indo-European), a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages * Augment (Bantu languages), a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns ...

of the key. Then

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

takes over the lead vocal. The piano becomes

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...

, as the lyric takes on a warning tone, with Waters singing ''"If you should go skating/On the thin ice of modern life...."'' As the lyrics end, the

diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a p ...

sense of C Major is abandoned, as the melody heard earlier (E, D, F, E, and A) becomes stripped to a simple

power chord A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on ...

riff, played loud by distorted guitars, with brief soloing. The song ends on a sustained C Major chord, but through crossfading with the next song on the album, " Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1", a D minor chord is interpolated, contributing to uneasiness intimated by the lyrics.

Plot

''The Wall'' is the story of Pink, who grows up to become an alienated and embittered rock star, with a failing marriage and feelings of

megalomania Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes. Megalomania or megalomaniac may also refer to: Psychology * Narcissistic personality disorder * Grandiose delusions * Omnipotence (psychoanalysis), a stage of ...

.Schaffner, Nicholas (1991), Saucerful of Secrets (UK paperback ed.), London: Sidgwick & Jackson, "The Thin Ice" can be seen as the introduction to his story, since the previous song, the album's opening track " In The Flesh?" is chronologically placed later in the album's narrative, and then the story is begun via flashback. "The Thin Ice" introduces Pink as a baby and young child, and while the lyrics assure the listener that ''"Mama loves her baby, and Daddy loves you, too"'', it warns that ''" e sea may look warm... the sky may look blue"'', but ''"Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice/Appears under your feet"''.

Film version

The film shows hundreds of soldiers in the war, either wounded or dead, then cuts to Pink floating in his hotel pool. As shown later in the film (in the segment for " One of My Turns"), Pink has cut his hand, and the amount of blood in the water is exaggerated, until he appears to be floating in a pool of blood. The film version has an extended piano intro that plays before Gilmour's vocal.

Personnel

* David Gilmour – vocals (first verse), guitars, Prophet-5 synthesiser *

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason, (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He is the only member to feature on every Pink Floyd album, and the only constant member since its formation in ...

– drums *

– vocals (second verse), bass guitar * Richard Wright – piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

Personnel per Fitch and Mahon.Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb — A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006, p.72

References

*Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. .

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thin Ice, The Pink Floyd songs 1979 songs Hard rock ballads Songs written by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by Roger Waters