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Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

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Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#31

Post by taylorius »

matthiasl wrote: post #3
peutetre wrote: post #2

> The number itself was probably made-up: it's too short and the area code doesn't seem valid. 44 is the country code for the UK.

Author here. Yep, 44 is the UK country code. The problem I got stuck on is that the rest of the number, 1831, didn't make sense. I assumed the number was complete, since it had the right start and stop signalling (KP1/KF). It's not long enough to be a London telephone number, and, today, I think London numbers start with 020. The UK numbering plan has changed several times since 1980, but I couldn't find a time betwe…

All UK internal phone numbers start with a zero. However when you dial the UK from abroad, you omit the leading zero, so the UK version of the number in question would be 01831, which sounds a lot like an area code (though apparently is not one in current use)

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#32

Post by [deleted] »

kagakuninja wrote: post #28
hinkley wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The Floyd”? Ironic that Have a Cigar was released four years before The Wall: The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?

The band originally was The Pink Floyd (after changing their name from The Tea Set)

[deleted]

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#33

Post by cf100clunk »

hinkley wrote: post #21
raywu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Initially, I was shocked at how slowly everything moved! I was used to working really quickly when producing and engineering albums. Suddenly it was like the brakes were on and often it was difficult to get the momentum going. Eventually, I adapted to the Floyd pace. One of the great things about working with this band is that you are allowed time to be creative, to pursue an idea even if it takes some time. The Fl…

“The Floyd”? Ironic that Have a Cigar was released four years before The Wall: The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?

Sorry, I don't see the irony. Anyway, having ''The'' as an honourific for band names was commonplace in the UK prior to the '70s, even if the band's name had not been stylized with "The".

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#34

Post by ahmedfromtunis »

codazoda wrote: post #26

Young Lust is the song where this operator is heard. Not being an audiophile, it took me some time to figure out the specific song. My brother had The Wall album, and I enjoyed it, but I never listened to it on my own. I went back and listened to it again for the context. I really enjoy music but I don't listen to it as often I'd like. I think part of the reason is that I have difficulty concentrating when there is a…

I have the same issue. When I turn music on, I can't stop focusing on it and losing track of whatever intellectual task I'm on. The only thing I can listen to while writing/reading is white noise or nature sounds type of thing.

Also, having a show play in the background while I do something else like many people love to do? I can't do it.

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#35

Post by slillibri »

mrandish wrote: post #19
cassiepaper wrote: post #8

From: James Guthrie interview > Another piece that worked better than expected was the telephone operator. Roger was keen to illustrate the personal disconnect of being on the road. We were in L.A. at Producer’s Workshop so I phoned my neighbour, Chris Fitzmorris in London. He had the keys to my flat and I asked him to go there and said that I would call him through an operator. “No matter how many times I call”, I s…

It's cool to hear how that came together as an improvisation. It recalls a simpler time when a major album (or movie, TV show, etc) could just feature your neighbor and a random telephone operator without signing releases and clearing rights. It also gave Chris Fitzmorris (the neighbor) one of the greatest "random cool thing that happened to me" stories ever.

Alternatively, treating the “random telephone operator” as a prop and forcing them to be part of your project without consent is troubling.

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#36

Post by hinkley »

cf100clunk wrote: post #33
hinkley wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The Floyd”? Ironic that Have a Cigar was released four years before The Wall: The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?

Sorry, I don't see the irony. Anyway, having ''The'' as an honourific for band names was commonplace in the UK prior to the '70s, even if the band's name had not been stylized with "The".

It takes exactly the same amount of time to say as “Pink”

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#37

Post by s0sa »

parpfish wrote: post #14

A while back I tracked down the video clip from the show Gomer Pyle that was used for the “But there's somebody else that needs taking care of in Washington” background audio. Seeing that in its original context was jarring

I know what you mean. I recently did the same thing for the little bit from Gunsmoke at the beginning of “Is There Anybody Out There?”, e.g. “Is it unsafe to travel at night?” - incidentally spoken by actress Diana Muldaur, who later played Dr. Pulaski in Star Trek TNG.

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#38

Post by Quekid5 »

hinkley wrote: post #36
cf100clunk wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I don't see the irony. Anyway, having ''The'' as an honourific for band names was commonplace in the UK prior to the '70s, even if the band's name had not been stylized with "The".

It takes exactly the same amount of time to say as “Pink”

?

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#39

Post by aaaooj »

slillibri wrote: post #35
mrandish wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cool to hear how that came together as an improvisation. It recalls a simpler time when a major album (or movie, TV show, etc) could just feature your neighbor and a random telephone operator without signing releases and clearing rights. It also gave Chris Fitzmorris (the neighbor) one of the greatest "random cool thing that happened to me" stories ever.

Alternatively, treating the “random telephone operator” as a prop and forcing them to be part of your project without consent is troubling.

I do not believe that you are genuinely troubled by this.

Re: Decoding the telephony signals in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'

#40

Post by dotancohen »

hinkley wrote: post #23
defaultcompany wrote: post #15

On the cassette tape version of The Wall I had if you flipped the cassette over during this phone call sequence it would end up being right in the middle of another song (can't remember which one) which has this recording playing as part of the background. I feel like it couldn't have been intentional but who knows.

I’m betting subconscious but intentional. I’ve heard a couple artists talk about how they organize an album and there’s a vibe they’re going for but I didn’t get the impression any of them had it down to anything like a science. Dark Side of the Moon and the Wizard of Oz. It’s just two artists putting a story arc together by feel and getting the same shape. A bit birthday paradox, but a bit shared vibe. In the case o…

My then-15 year old daughter surprised me a few years ago. We had just pulled up to the house. Instead of opening the car door, she put on Led Zeppelin I and we sat in the car listening to the entire album together. I honestly think that was the first time in her life that she put on an entire album to listen to.

And she did appreciate what an experience it was - like watching a movie when all you've ever seen were Youtube Shorts, or like reading a novel when all you've ever read were memes.

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