Bring The Boys Back Home

È una marcia scandita dal rullo dei tamburi che annuncia il rientro dei "ragazzi" dalla guerra. La canzone ritenuta da Waters il perno centrale di tutto il disco, ripartendo dal tema del mancato ritorno a casa dei soldati, vuole sottolineare l'importanza dei rapporti umani essenziali: gli amici la famiglia, la coppia, i figli. Nulla, non il lavoro, non le corse folli e snervanti dell'esistenza quotidiana, devono anteporsi agli affetti primari.
(Sigfrido Menghini, da Onda Rock)

And progress he does continuing with the war-themed "Bring The Boys Back Home," a hymn-like chant that Roger Waters calls "the central song on the whole album" (1979 interview). Similar to the narrative alteration with the summary in the middle of "Hey You," the song offers a shift in perspectives to what appears to be the collective voices of England, of the world, of all men. Though the lyrics and music specifically recall the war era of the late 1940's with the chorus asking for an end to war's devastation, "Bring the Boys Back Home" is applicable to every generation in that its underlying message is the very foundation of social life. For Waters, the song is the lynch pin in that "it's partly about not letting people go off and be killed in wars, but it's also partly about not allowing rock and roll, or making cars or selling soap or getting involved in biological research or anything that anybody might do, not letting that become such an important and 'jolly boys' game' that it becomes more important than friends, wives, children, other people." In essence the song's ultimate message of human connection is the very thing that Pink has missed, failed at, or rejected throughout his life. And it's the only thing that can bring down his wall.

(...continues on THE WALL - A COMPLETE ANALYSIS)