"The Fletcher Memorial Home" is a song by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd.[1] The song appears on their 1983 album, The Final Cut.[2] It is the eighth track on the album and is arranged between "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" and "Southampton Dock". The song is also featured on the Pink Floyd compilations Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd[3] and A Foot in the Door – The Best of Pink Floyd.[4]
| "The Fletcher Memorial Home" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Pink Floyd | |
| from the album The Final Cut | |
| Published | Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd |
| Released | 21 March 1983 (UK) 2 April 1983 (US) |
| Recorded | July–December 1982 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:12 |
| Label | Harvest Records (UK) Columbia Records (US) |
| Songwriter(s) | Roger Waters |
| Producer(s) |
|
History
editThe song is about Waters' frustration with the leadership of the world since World War II,[5] mentioning many world leaders by name (Ronald Reagan, Alexander Haig, Menachem Begin, Margaret Thatcher, Ian Paisley, Leonid Brezhnev, Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon), suggesting that these "colonial wasters of life and limb" be segregated into a specially-founded retirement home. It labels all the world leaders as "overgrown infants" and "incurable tyrants" and suggests they are incapable of understanding anything other than violence or their own faces on a television screen.[6]
In its concluding lines, the narrator of the song gathers all of the "tyrants" inside the Fletcher Memorial Home and imagines applying "the Final Solution" to them.[6]
Fletcher in the name of the song is in honour and remembrance of Roger Waters' father, Eric Fletcher Waters, who was killed during the Second World War at Anzio.[5]
The Fletcher Memorial Home scenes in The Final Cut film were filmed at Forty Hall in Enfield.
Reception
editIn a review for The Final Cut, Patrick Schabe of PopMatters described "The Fletcher Memorial Home" as "majestic, but clunky".[7]
Personnel
edit- Roger Waters – vocals, bass guitar
- David Gilmour – guitar
- Nick Mason – drums
with:
- The National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted and arranged by Michael Kamen
- Michael Kamen – piano
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus. ISBN 071194301X. OCLC 32740297.
- ^ Strong, Martin Charles (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). New York: Canongate U.S. p. 1177. ISBN 1841956155. OCLC 56977197.
- ^ "Echoes: The Album Credits". Pink Floyd. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ^ "A Foot in the Door: The Best of Pink Floyd". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ^ a b "The Fletcher Memorial Home by Pink Floyd". Songfacts. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ^ a b The Fletcher Memorial Home (short film). 1983.
- ^ Schabe, Patrick (3 August 2004). "Pink Floyd: The Final Cut". PopMatters. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
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