[Main Menu]
[Albums] [Guitar] [Articles] [Pictures] [Audio] [Back Home]


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Originally compiled by David Schuetz
Currently maintained by Matt Denault
([email protected])


[+] 01. "Problems with the _Final Cut_ CD."
[-] 02. "What do the colored stripes on the TFC cover represent?"
[+] 03. "There's a lyric on _The Final Cut_ which isn't sung!"
[-] 04. "What's all this about poppies?"
[+] 05. "What are Holophonics and QSound?" [-] 06. "What was 'The Hero's Return part II'?"
[-] 07. "When and why did Waters leave Pink Floyd?"
[-] 08. "I heard an extra verse to 'Running Shoes' in concert!"
[-] 09. "Who or what is/was Fassbinder?"
[+] 10. "Why is Yoko Ono mentioned in 'Pros and Cons'?"
[-] 11. "Differences between the US & UK _Pros and Cons_ Lyrics Sheets"
[+] 12. "What does the morse code on _Radio KAOS_ say?"
[-] 13. "What is the 'Lost Verse' to 'The Tide is Turning'?"
[-] 14. "What is said at the very beginning/end of _Radio KAOS_?"
[-] 15. "Who is having that pilot/tower conversation in 'Learning to Fly'?"
[+] 16. "Wasn't there talk of a KAOS 2?"
[*] 17. "Weren't there a lot of problems at the _Wall in Berlin_ concert?"
[-] 18. "Who were Alf Razzell and Bill Hubbard?"
[+] 19. "What's the backwards message in 'Perfect Sense' say?"
[-] 20. "What do the Arabic words in 'Late Home Tonight' mean?"
[+] 21. "Why does Waters hate Andrew Lloyd Webber?"
[-] 22. "What does the title 'Amused to Death' refer to?"


- Same as last version
+ Changed since last version
* New since last version

This Document Copyright 1994, 1995 by the Echoes Mailing List
For questions on distribution, contact: [email protected]


[+] 01. "Problems with the _Final Cut_ CD."

There have been several reported problems with the CD of TFC, all of
which deal with where the title track begins. The three versions we've
been able to isolate have the following "features":

+ "The Final Cut" begins 3/4 the way through "Southampton Dock."
+ "The Final Cut" starts before he finishes with "...cut" at
the end of "Southampton Dock." (CBS, EMI remaster)

+ "The Final Cut" begins during the words "through the fish
eyed lens.." (Harvest)



[-] 02. "What do the colored stripes on the TFC cover represent?"

For finally tracking down the solution to this vexing problem, we are
forever in the debt of Scott Plumer.

They're all WWII service medals:

+ The one on the bottom right, yellow-green background with black and red
stripes, is a Defence Medal, for 3 years service.

+ The middle one with a gold background and black, red and blue stripes is
an Africa Star, for service in the North African campaign.

+ The leftmost one, blue with a red stripe, is a 1939/45 Star, for at least
6 months service between 1939 and 1945.

+ The one with purple and white diagonal stripes is the Distinguished Flying
Cross, "for acts of courage, valour or devotion to duty while flying."
For officers.



[+] 03. "There's a lyric on _The Final Cut_ which isn't sung!"

There are actually two cases of this -- one which seems unintentional, and
the other purposeful. The unintentional printed-but-not-sung lyric occurs
on "Your Possible Pasts," where there is the following stanza:

By the cold and religious we were taken in hand
Shown how to feel good and told to feel bad.
> Tongue tied and terrified we learned how to pray
> Now our feelings run deep and cold as the clay.
And strung out behind us the banners and flags
Of our possible pasts lie in tatters and rags.

The two lines with ">" on them were included in the printed lyrics but not
sung on the album. There's also a line near the beginning of the song, "The
Final Cut":

If you negotiate the minefield in the drive
And beat the dogs and cheat the cold electronic eyes
And if you make it past the shotgun in the hall
Dial the combination
Open the priesthole
> And if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind the wall

What often gets mentioned is that an explosion, as from a gunshot, covers
up everything after "...I'll tell you..." in the last line. Which makes
sense; you (the listener) never "make it past the shotgun in the hall."
But if the full line hadn't been included in the written lyrics, you wouldknow what you're missing...



[-] 04. "What's all this about poppies?"

[With help from Steve South:]
During the First World War, the fields of Flanders were dug over. Not by
farmers, but by trench digging, shell and mortar fire, etc. Now it is a
curious thing, but the seeds of the red poppies found in Europe can lay in
the ground for years without germinating, and then grow after the ground
has been disturbed. Consequently, sometime after the battles, the sites of
devastation were transformed into a blaze of colour.

The poppy has become a symbol of that time. Every November, when Americans
celebrate Veterans Day, the British have Rememberance Day. Poppy wreaths
are laid at the memorial to the Unknown Soldier, etc. A national charity
collects money for vetarans by selling artificial poppies -- wearing a
poppy shows that you remember and that you gave. The same thing happens
in the US, for Memorial Day.

It does also have something to do with morphine. Poppies are also a symbol
of relief from life's pain, and have been since long before WWI.

[...and more, from Helen Bransfield:]

IN FLANDERS FIELDS by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
WE SHALL NOT SLEEP, THOUGH POPPIES GROW
IN FLANDERS FIELDS.



[+] 05. "What are Holophonics and QSound?"

Pink Floyd's _The Final Cut_ made use of a special encoding process that
allows the simulation of "three-dimensional" sound, called "holophonics."
This was also adopted by Roger Waters for his _Pro's and Cons_ album; while
on _Amused to Death_, he used a somewhat similar mixing process called
QSound, also used on _Pulse_. Both systems are explained below...


[-] 05.1 "Holophonics"

[From a posting by David Schuetz:]
> By the way, has anybody really noticed the "huge improvement" in sound
> staging produced by Mr Zuccarelli and his labs? If so, explain what's
> so special.

I noticed it. It really does give a certain amout of imaging, around you
rather than just between the speakers. When Waters did his Pros & Cons show
on the radio in 1985, he did an introduction where he walked to a timpani,
struck it with his fingernail, and then said "If I ask you to point where
that timpani came from, [here I pointed over my right shoulder] and if you
don't point over your right shoulder, then we're in trouble." It was
impressive.

As for just what it *is*, they were *very* secretive. They had "ringo the
holophonic microphone." The process was based on holography, but of an audio
form (you can do holography with *any* wave-based phenomena). The theory was
that there were high frequencies generated by the ear (and some people have
been shown to "generate" some frequencies from time to time), and that sounds
interfere with these frequencies, and the interference pattern is what we
interpret. So, what holophonics is is a conversion of sounds directly to
that interference pattern.

Now, the fact that this sounds like a crock is immaterial, because it does
work. So, just what is it? Most (including myself) believe it's just a form
of binaural recording. That "ringo" is probably just a dummy head with
microphones where the ears are. And when you listen with headphones, your
ears are right where those microphones were, and you hear it as if you were
actually there. Binaural is *fantastic* fun, and I wish more people would
work with it. It's a shame, though, that Floyd/Waters got duped into
believing that Zuccareli's process was anything special....


[+] 05.2 "QSound"

Roger's _Amused to Death_, the Floyd's _Pulse_, and a number of albums from
other artists use the QSound mixing system. It essentially allows sound to
be positioned anywhere within a half-sphere around the listener. Roger
himself explains how it works in the following interview (from Rockline,
Feb. 8, 1993):

It divides any signal into a left and right component...(so it works
with any stereo system), and it introduces minute delays at different
frequency levels into left and right components to make your brain
think that the sound is coming, not from in front of you -- from the
two speakers -- but from in any one of a number of other positions
around you. But you have to be sitting right between the two
speakers, I mean exactly -- to within like an inch or an inch and a
half [on] either side of the central perpendicular axis. And it is
an amazing effect...



[-] 06. "What was 'The Hero's Return part II'?"

The single for "Not Now John" (obscured) came with the album version of "The
Hero's Return" and what was basically an additional verse to the song, called
"The Hero's Return part II." The lyrics go something like:

Jesus Christ, I might as well be dead
If I can't see how dangerous it must feel to be
Training human cogs for the machine
Without some shell-shocked lunatic like me
Bombarding their still soft shores
With sticks and stones that were lying around
In the pile of unspeakable feelings I'd found
When I turned back the stone
Turned over the stone
Of my own disappointment back home



[-] 07. "When and why did Waters leave Pink Floyd?"

The following is taken mainly from Schaffner's "Saucerful of Secrets" book,
with additional pieces and support from other books, interviews, and
articles.
-=-

1983
During and after the recording of _The Final Cut_, it was pretty clear that
there was no way that Dave and Roger were going to record together again.
The artistic and personal differences between the two had just grown too
strong. Whether this meant that Pink Floyd was dead or not is an open
question -- suffice to say that Floyd was certainly not going to continue
with the same membership. But there was never an offical statement
disbanding the group or stating its future intentions; both Dave and Roger
left the door open for future projects.

1984
So following TFC's release, Roger went off and did his "might have been
Floyd" album, _The Pros n'Cons of HitchHiking_, while Dave worked on his
own solo album, _About Face_. Both were released in '84, and both went to
about #30 on the Billboard charts. At the time, Dave said "there are three
of us in what is laughingly called the Pink Floyd, and none of us have any
plans at the moment to work together on any project." [The three being Rog,
Dave, and Nick.]

Both Gilmour and Waters embarked on world tours, neither of which were
terribly financially successful. Dave stated "I've made this record and
done this tour to see if it was possible for me to continue without Pink
Floyd."

1985
Roger continued touring in 1985, while Dave devoted his energies to working
on projects for and with other musicians.

In mid-85, Waters decided to terminate his personal management deal with
Steve O'Rourke, who was pressuring him to make another Floyd album. Since
Steve was Pink Floyd's manager, and since Floyd had not been officially
disbanded, Roger was still contractually obligated to him. In order to
terminate this deal, he needed the assent of Dave and Nick, the other
parties to the deal. In return, he offered them the rights to the Pink
Floyd name (later saying he did so without making the ethical considerations
he should have). At any rate, Dave and Nick would not ratify O'Rourke's
termination.

Roger then decided the way to get around this was to simply leave the group
officially, as he had unofficially, thinking it was dead -- or at least,
that it certainly would be without him. So, in December 1985, Roger wrote
to the record companies and announced his departure from Pink Floyd.

Also, in autumn of 1985, Mason said that he'd like to tour again as Pink
Floyd, stating that he and Dave were "interested in revitalizing [Pink
Floyd]...We definitely haven't agreed it's all over."

1986
So then Roger did the (fairly rare) _When the Wind Blows_ soundtrack, and
started work on _Radio KAOS_. Gilmour meanwhile started work on a project
he said publicly might either be a Floyd album or a solo album.

In mid-1986, Steve O'Rourke sued Waters for holding back commissions. If
nothing else, this certainly did nothing to brighten Waters' feelings toward
the remaining Floyd members (with whom Steve was still associated).

Gilmour, working with Mason, Wright, Bob Ezrin, and a variety of others
had decided by this time that what they were working on was indeed to be a
new Floyd album. Learning of this work-in-progress, Roger went to the High
Court on Halloween (October 31st) 1986 to have the group partnership, and
thus the group, formally disbanded. Several days later, on November 11,
1986, Pink Floyd (that being Gilmour and Mason, "with Rick Wright and
producer Bob Ezrin") publicly announced they were working on a new album.

Upon finding out that the group partnership was in fact unofficial (and thus
that disbanding it would be meaningless), Roger asked the Court for a ruling
that would make the unanimous consent of all members (including Roger)
necessary for any decision regarding Pink Floyd Music, including use of the
name, concert props (like Mr. Screen), etc.

The court never actually ruled on the issue, and meanwhile _Momentary Lapse
of Reason_ was released. Roger raised a lot of public hell, but privately
his lawyers told him he didn't really have a case, and so he settled for a
compromise: Dave and Pink Floyd agreed to give Roger sole jurisdiction over
the _Wall_ theatrical concept, and of course to pay royalties for those songs
they played that Roger had been credited on. And while Floyd retained the
use of the circular screen and other (non-_Wall_) concert elements, they were
forced to give Roger credit for the "original pig concept" used in "One of
These Days..." [see Q31.I]

And I think that's about it... I ignored several issues (Ezrin and Wright's
involvement, "the record company meeting," etc.) that I don't think are
legally relevent -- info on them can be found in the articles and interviews
at ftp.halcyon.com. The degree to which they're morally relevent, and the
question of whether reviving Pink Floyd was "good," are matters I leave to
your judgement...


[-] 08. "I heard an extra verse to 'Running Shoes' in concert!"

Well, it's not on the album, and since RoIO's aren't always all that great,
it's hard to be sure exactly what the lyrics were. But here's a pretty
close approximation:

Ooh Babe, where ya been?
You bring back the feeling
The flavor of damp teenage skin
And hot afternoons by the river
Spent crushing the clover
I said "Lie down, roll over
I wanna go back there again"
Oh baby, sweet Fassbinder lady
Ooh, where ya been?

Also, during several shows after "Sexual Revolution" they did an additional
bit, mainly the line "let's go to the country" repeated several times.



[-] 09. "Who or what is/was Fassbinder?"

Fixed on the front of her Fassbinder face
Was the kind of a smile
That only a rather dull child could have drawn
While attempting a graveyard in the moonlight

Fassbinder is a German playwright and filmmaker. He's been called "artsy,"
"grim," and "simplified." The line could refer to the kind of leading lady
that he'd use in a movie, or perhaps it means "grim" or "mournful."



[+] 10. "Why is Yoko Ono mentioned in 'Pros and Cons'?"

Said Roger Waters:
Some of the ideas have come from my own dreams and also there are bits
and pieces of other people's dreams. In fact, the third verse of the
album's title track talks about standing on the wing of an aeroplane,
looking down at the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and Yoko Ono
being there, and telling me to jump; that everybody's got to die some
time and the manly thing to do is to end it all now.
That dream belongs to Andy Newmark, the drummer. He came in one day and
over lunch in the pub he told me about this dream and I thought, "That's
a good dream, I'll try and fit that in somewhere." So I did.



[-] 11. "Differences between the US & UK _Pros and Cons_ Lyrics Sheets"

There are some differences between the respective lyrics sheets. For one
thing, the British version has the characters who say each bit listed, but
the CBS version does not. This is from a posting by Dave Cowl:

Type of Difference British EMI US/Japan CBS
=====================...=====================...========================
Extra . Surgeon:"Drill" . drill
. Man:"Oh God!" . Wake up..
. .
Extra . Wife:"What border? . Uh, what border
. Go back to sleep" .
. .
Extra bit after Arabs . Arab:"Don't cut the .
with knives . woman Mohammed, .
. I want the woman" .
. .
Extra line . You've got to admit .
. it was wrong what .
. you did. .
. .
Difference . oder drinken Mehr Ha . oder drinken bier, ha
. .
Extra from Clerk . Room Clerk:"Goodnight .
Keys bit . Sir" .
. .
Extra in Stay with . Woman:"No...I'm .
Me! bit . sleeping" .
. .
Lost bit . 4 lines of Sexual .
. Revolution Missing .
. .
Extra . . (Thunder)
. .
Difference . And trailed our.. . And we trailed our..
. .
Extra . ...gets two presents" .
. (Man pauses to light .
. a joint) .
. .
Difference . Jump says Yoko . Jump says Yoko Ono
. "Oh No!... .
. .
Extra . Trucker:"Hey...Turn .
. the fucking Juke Box .
. Down" .
. .
Difference . In the company of has . In the company of
. beens In bent backs . has beens and bent
. In sleeping . backs and sleeping
. .
. Under tube trains in . Under tube trains and
. commuter accidents . commuter accidents
. .
Difference . On loading ramps . On unloading ramps
. .
Difference . Then the moment of . And the moment of
. clarity. . clarity
. .

I thought this would be of interest. The most amusing part is that in the
music book, the listed lyrics are the British ones, but the words against
the music are the CBS lyrics. Weird, huh!

[+] 12. "What does the morse code on _Radio KAOS_ say?"

The cover is pretty easy to decipher -- it says:

ROGER WATERS RADIO KAOS WHO NEEDS INFORMATION THE POWERS THAT BE HOME
THE TIDE IS TURNING RADIO WAVES

The morse code at the beginning and end of the album is harder to decipher.
It's worth it, though, because it contains a deleted verse from "The Tide is
Turning." There's also other bits of code scattered throughout the album.
Here's what people have been able to figure out, from Douglas Whisler, A.G.
Spencer and David Truckenmiller:
- "turning Syl"
(beginning of album)

- "macho bullshit and mediocrity oh tide"
(end of album)

- "it is they that must fight and die ... Herbert Hoover"
(end of "Who Needs Information")

- "dock ... oh time(?) is turning ... the party's over but you are not"
(during the "I don't like fish" speech)

See the next question for a partial explanation...


[-] 13. "What is the 'Lost Verse' to 'The Tide is Turning'?"

There was supposed to be another verse to this song, but it was removed
because Waters was worried about lawsuits. He did, however, sing part of
it (the last two lines) during some live concerts. The lyrics are:

Now the past is over but you are not alone
Together we'll fight Sylvester Stallone
We will not be dragged down in his South China Sea
of macho bullshit and mediocrity

This is also who Waters refers to later in the song when he sings "The
tide is turning, Sylvester."


[-] 14. "What is said at the very beginning/end of _Radio KAOS_?"

This is taken from Q&A in TAP (#53):

According to "Psycho Pink" Eric Wayne Morrison (Colorado
Springs), it's "...back to the beginning" and "That's...".



[-] 15. "Who is having that pilot/tower conversation in 'Learning to Fly'?"

That's Nick Mason, who recently received a pilot's license. I believe
that David Gilmour is his co-pilot. The conversation is an actual
conversation between Nick and the tower, during one of his first solo
flights.



[+] 16. "Wasn't there talk of a KAOS 2?"

Roger liked the KAOS concept so much that, during a break in the KAOS tour,
he began writing material for a new album about Billy and Jim, to be called
"Amused to Death." At one subsequent KAOS show, Roger said he would play
some new material from KAOS 2; the only "new" material played was "Fish
Report with a Beat" and "Going to Live in LA." So I guess Roger had pegged
the latter song, at least, for use on the new project (it had originally
been written for the KAOS album).

The album was rumored to be ready for release in early 1989, and included a
Gerald Scarfe cover that depicted three familliar musicians drowning in a
giant martini glass. But the album was reportedly rejected by the record
company, and later on by Waters himself.

What happened next is a matter of speculation. In a Rockline interview
at the time of ATD's release, Waters said he had been putting the songs
together for the past four or five years (interupted, presumably, by his
work on the "Ca Ira" project). Another article notes that most of the
album was written and conceived before the Gulf War. So one might assume
that at least some of the KAOS 2 material was worked into the new,
"TV-concept" _Amused to Death_. But we don't know for sure...



[*] 17. "Weren't there a lot of problems at the _Wall in Berlin_ concert?"

Problems were probably inevitable at such a large-scale, one-shot performance.
The concert started smoothly enough, with the introductory acts (The Hooters,
in case you were wondering why they're credited, along with James Galway and
The Band, plus a German group) and the Scorpions' performance of "In the
Flesh." But the microphones died completely during "The Thin Ice" -- Roger
just waved at the crowd and did a little tap dance to keep them entertained.
They got the mics working again mid-way through "Another Brick, pt.1," but
only at low power; the crowd periodically screamed "louder, louder!" Full
power was finally restored for "Empty Spaces," and continued without a hitch
for the rest of the show.

The other well-known blooper was on Sinead O'Connor's rendition of "Mother."
As I understand it (second hand), as The Band began to sing the chorus, she
lost her place in the song and began to sing the next verse! These mistakes
were "cleaned up" on the album and video releases by splicing in footage
from the previous day's dress rehearsal, and from am emergency re-do of the
entire concert the company did, right after the official performance.



[-] 18. "Who were Alf Razzell and Bill Hubbard?"

The voice in ATD of somebody trying to rescue a comrade are those of Alf
Razzell, a WWI veteran. Here's a (small) bit of background to his story
(appparently from the same TV special from which Waters took the sound
bites):

Alf Razzell had the job of collecting the dead soldier's pocket-books,
whatever they are, (some kind of ID thing I expect) and usually the
corpse had to be rolled over to get it out of the top pocket. You
would then see why the man had died. There were guys with empty brain
cavities, faces blown off, limbs blown off and half the time he was
walking through intestines of dead men.

The Germans picked up Alf and took him to the trenches where he found
Bill. The Germans would not help at all. Bill had a large hole in his
back exposing his intestines and it was dirty with oil, chalk and all
kind of shit from the trenches. The Germans wanted Alf to take him back
and to be quick about it but due to the injuries Bill couldn't stand it
and with the Germans getting impatient and abusive, he decided that he
would have to leave him behind. Bummer.
Its not all that gory. Alf looks in pretty good condition for a 90 odd
year old. He reckons war is completely unnecessary. At the end of any
war, everyone sits around a table and comes to some agreement. Why don't
they do that before the war instead?



[-] 19. "What's the backwards message in 'Perfect Sense' say?"

It's really (REALLY) difficult to decipher, so it's impossible to be 100%
certain about all the words. But having said that, here's something that
at least conveys the basic point, from the ATD Transcript:


Julia, (pause)
however, (pause - 2nd thunder in normal direction)
In the light and visions
of the issues of Stanley, (pause)
we changed our minds. (pause)
We have decided to include
a backward message, (pause - 1st thunder in normal direction)

Stanley, (pause)
for you, (pause)
and for all the other book (short pause)
partners.

[very loud, noisy, screamed sentence]

The story goes like this: Waters had asked Stanley Kubrick if he could use
some lines and "breathing effects" from his "2001: A Space Odyssey" film on
the album. Specifically, Waters wanted to include the part about HAL's
shutdown [from the ATD songbook]:

HAL: Dave, my mind is going...I can feel it...I can feel it...My mind
is going...There is no question about it...I can feel it...I can
feel it...I can feel it...I'm afraid...

Mr. Kubrick refused. So Waters dubbed in his own breathing effects, and
recorded a nasty message for Kubrick's benefit. Heaven only knows if he's
heard it, or more importantly, if he cares.



[-] 20. "What do the Arabic words in 'Late Home Tonight' mean?"

[Translation courtesy of Fady Alajaji:]

Some of the phrases were really hard to grasp because they were
being spoken very quickly in the background of the high tempo
beating drums.

Anyway I tried my best and here is the translation (although not very
accurate) of what I could grasp:

1) At the end of the song, while Roger is singing the following:

"And in Tripoli, another ordinary wife
[....] in the street below"

a woman is shouting in the background in egyptian arabic.
Apparently she is complaining to her husband and blaming him
for her sufferings. Her words run as follows:
".... And then what !!!! why don't you ever help me ?
you all the time leave me alone at home and go join your
fat friends in your endless useless discussions....

I work for you and your family from dawn to dusk, and
you don't give a damn !

I badly need to rest, I just wish the devil's angel will
soon come and take me with him......"

2) Then the beating drums start, and here everything is very chaotic.
There are different voices in the background. I was able to distinguish
a TV (or radio) commentator talking (but I can't get what he's
saying) and at the same time there is a crowd shouting slogans
in arabic. I could not grasp all their words. This what I could get:

"..... is Great;.......is Great; God is great........
Death, Death , Death to the ..... (imperialists ?)..."

I am not sure if the last word is "imperialists". Anyway you get
the meaning. I think it's kind of a demonstration of fundamentalist
muslims. However I'm not really sure.

3) At the end of the beating drums, right before the missile explosion,
the voice of the TV commentator becomes more clear, and he says the
following:

".....his days are rarely spent at home....as for her, she stays
alone, she stays alone at home..... while all the men are
out gathered at the squarre, she's left to loneliness
and (oblivion ?)................BBBBBOOOOOOOOUUUUMMMMMMM"

That's it folks. I want to point out that this translation is not
completely accurate, and it's not completely word by word.
Arabic cannot be translated word by word into English because it
won't make any sense. However, overall I think the translation
is 90% accurate.

By the way I think Roger got these arabic phrases from an Egyptian
movie and mixed them into his song. I am certain the arabic is
Egyptian arabic and not Lybian arabic as it was meant to be ;
since this song is supposed to be about the bombing of the Lybian
capital, Tripoli.



[+] 21. "Why does Waters hate Andrew Lloyd Webber?"

[With much help from Adam Floro:]
In general, he just doesn't like ALW's music, and doesn't mind saying so.
But specifically, there's a section of Webber's _Phantom of the Opera_ that
bears a marked similarity to a part of "Echoes." The opening notes to the
"Overture" of _Phantom_ (Track 2, Disc 1) are C# C B Bb A C#. This matches
rather closely a section of "Echoes," approximately 6:06 to 6:16.

While Waters was less than pleased with this similarity, echoesians have
pointed out that such a chromatic pattern is fairly common; by no means a
Floyd invention. However, the relevent dates make the charge of plaigarism
at least possible, if not really likely -- Webber first used the riff in
question on the film "Gumshoe," released in December 1971. _Meddle_ was
released on 11 November, 1971, with the live debut of "Echoes" having
occurred on April 22.



[-] 22. "What does the title 'Amused to Death' refer to?"

Television. Specifically, a book by Neil Postman, called "Amusing Ourselves
to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business."

It's apparently a very well-received book, and worth reading. Publishing
information, for anyone interested:

(cloth: New York: Viking, 1985; ISBN: 0670804541)
(paper: New York: Penguin, 1986; ISBN: 0140094385)