Line #70 Music/TheFinalCut


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/11_the_final_cut_textured.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Through the fisheyed lens of tear-stained eyes..."'']]
3
4	''The Final Cut'' is the twelfth studio album by Music/PinkFloyd -- er, by Music/RogerWaters, ''[[IAmTheBand performed by]]'' Pink Floyd -- released in 1983 through Creator/HarvestRecords in the UK and Creator/ColumbiaRecords in the US. It is their last album made when Waters was still part of the band, and their only album not to feature Richard Wright at all (Wright appeared on their following album, ''Music/AMomentaryLapseOfReason'', albeit as a '''very''' minor session musician providing the occasional bit of keyboards and backing vocals; he didn't regain official status until ''Music/TheDivisionBell''). In his place, the album's keyboard parts were performed by both Music/StatusQuo member Andy Bown and returning collaborator Music/MichaelKamen, who also contributed orchestral arrangements.
5
6	Originally created with the intent of making a soundtrack album for the film adaptation of ''Music/TheWall'', incorporating several tracks that were left on the cutting room floor during the making of that album, the direction of this record radically shifted with the onset of UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar. Waters, who was vehemently anti-war as a result of his father's death in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, decided to center ''The Final Cut'' around protesting the new armed conflict with Argentina. The direction resulted in CreativeDifferences between Waters and his bandmates-- especially David Gilmour-- and as result, Waters acted as the sole songwriter and lead vocalist on the album (only sharing vocals with Gilmour on "Not Now John").
7
8	Tying in with Pink Floyd's longtime affinity for surround sound, the album was one of the first to utilize the Holophonic system, an experimental engineering technique that used post-processing effects to emulate a binaural recording without the use of a binaural microphone; Waters would later reuse the Holophonic system on his debut solo album, ''The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking'', the following year. The experiments with Holophonics both here and there would presage Waters' flirtation with [=QSound=] on his 1992 solo album ''Music/AmusedToDeath'' (often described by analysts as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''The Final Cut'') and Pink Floyd's 5.1 remixes of their '70s albums in the 21st century.
9
10	Due to the tensions between Waters and Gilmour, this was Pink Floyd's first studio album not to have a supporting tour. To promote the album, a 19-minute video EP of four songs, "The Gunner's Dream", "The Final Cut", "Not Now John" and "The Fletcher Memorial Home", directed by Waters' then-brother-in-law, Willie Christie (also the album cover photographer), was released on home video and aired on Creator/{{MTV}}. Alex [=McAvoy=], who played the Teacher in the film adaption of ''Music/TheWall'' the previous year, appeared as a World War II veteran in the short film.
11
12	As a result of the album's tense production, Pink Floyd went on hiatus. During this time, the trio focused on various solo projects: Waters released and toured for ''The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking'', Gilmour put together his second solo album, ''About Face'', and Mason released the collaborative album ''Profiles'' with Music/TenCc guitarist Rick Fenn. In December of 1985, Waters resigned from Pink Floyd, calling it a "spent force" and pushing to have the band legally dissolved by order of the High Court. In a 2004 interview with ''Uncut'', Waters claimed that his resignation was caused by a lawsuit filed against him by his bandmates and Creator/ColumbiaRecords, the band's U.S. label at the time, which would've forced him to make another Pink Floyd record with greater creative contributions from his bandmates or face financial ruin. Despite Waters' efforts, Gilmour and Mason chose to continue the band without him, leading to messy legal issues anyway in the form of a trademark dispute that would last the next two years, even after the release of the band's first post-Waters album, ''Music/AMomentaryLapseOfReason''.
13
14	''The Final Cut'' is occasionally subtitled '''A Requiem For The Post-War Dream [[IAmTheBand By Roger Waters]]'''. In addition to the video EP, it was supported by just one single: "Not Now John", as well as promotional releases of "Your Possible Pasts" in the US and Canada as well as "The Gunner's Dream" in Brazil. The non-album single "When the Tigers Broke Free", initially released to promote the film adaptation of ''The Wall'' (in which it was included), was later added to the album in 2004 and has been part of the official tracklist ever since. Incidentally, when the song was first released as a single in 1982, it was billed as a track from this album, making its retroactive inclusion an overdue case of tying up loose ends.
15
16	Preceded by ''Music/TheWall''. Succeeded by ''Music/AMomentaryLapseOfReason''.
17	----
18	!! Tracklist:
19
20	[[AC: Side One]]
21
22	# "The Post War Dream" (3:02)
23	# "Your Possible Pasts" (4:22)
24	# "One of The Few" (1:23)
25	# "When the Tigers Broke Free" (3:16) [[note]]Added in reissues since 2004; this version presents the song as one track, unlike the two-track version heard in the film version of ''The Wall''.[[/note]]
26	# "The Hero's Return" (2:56)
27	# "The Gunner's Dream" (5:07)
28	# "Paranoid Eyes" (3:40)
29
30	[[AC: Side Two]]
31
32	# "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" (1:19)
33	# "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (4:11)
34	# "Southampton Dock" (2:13)
35	# "The Final Cut" (4:46)
36	# "Not Now John" (5:01)
37	# "Two Suns in the Sunset" (5:14)
38
39	----
40	!!Principal Members:
41
42	* David Gilmour - guitar, backing and co-lead vocals
43	* Nick Mason - drums, percussion, tape effects
44	* Music/RogerWaters - lead vocals, bass, guitar, synthesizer, sound effects, tape effects
45
46	----
47	!! ''Oh [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Maggie]]... Maggie what did we trope?'':
48	* AdolfHitlarious: The video EP's scene for "The Fletcher Memorial Home" depicts Hitler as one of the inmates in the titular asylum, being reduced to a clownish oaf repeating old Nazi rituals to himself.
49	* AlbumTitleDrop: The title track contains the line:
50	--> ''I never had the nerve to make the final cut''
51	** Also present at the end of "Southampton Dock," which transitions into the aforementioned title track.
52	--->''But in the bottom of our hearts\
53	We felt the final cut''
54	* AllAreEqualInDeath: From "Two Suns in the Sunset"
55	-->''As the windshield melts my tears evaporate\
56	Leaving only charcoal to defend\
57	Finally I understand the feelings of the few\
58	Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend\
59	We were all equal in the end''
60	* {{Anaphora}}:
61	** The first bridge in "Not Now John":
62	--->'''''Make them''''' ''laugh,'' '''''make them''''' ''cry''\
63	'''''Make them''''' ''dance in the aisles''\
64	'''''Make them''''' ''pay,'' '''''make them''''' ''stay''\
65	'''''Make them''''' ''feel okay''
66	** A more minor one appears in the last chorus of the TitleTrack:
67	--->'''''Thought I oughta''''' bear my naked feelings''\
68	'''''Thought I oughta''''' tear the curtain down''
69	* BilingualBonus: Towards the end of "Not Now John", Waters yells "Excuse me, where's the bar?" in [[GratuitousItalian Italian]] ("scusi, dov'é il bar?"), [[GratuitousGreek Greek]] (the badly-mangled "Se para collo pou eine toe bar?") and [[GratuitousFrench French]] ("s'il vous plait, ou est le bar?") with increasing intensity, culminating in English with "OI, WHERE'S THE FUCKING BAR, JOHN?!". (Before that, one can hear a background voice going "Why don't you say that in Brit, fairy!?!")
70	* BlackComedy: The fade-out on the closing track, "Two Suns in the Sunset", has a faint snippet of a radio news report with a weather forecast of "4000 degrees Celsius", a reference to the temperature of a nuclear fireball.
71	* BlingOfWar: A very, ''very'' subdued version on the original cover (as befits the album's anti-war message).[[note]]A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_poppy remembrance poppy]] is on the upper left hand corner, and below it are ribbons representing four UsefulNotes/WorldWarII medals -- the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguished_Flying_Cross_(United_Kingdom) Distinguished Flying Cross]], the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939–45_Star 1939-45 Star]], the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_Star Africa Star]], and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_Medal_(United_Kingdom) Defence Medal]][[/note]]
72	* {{Bowdlerization}}: The single version of "Not Now John" replaces "Fuck all that" with "Stuff all that", though the home media release of the video EP (also used as the song's music video on the band's official Website/YouTube channel) uses the original uncensored album version.
73	* CallBack:
74	** In the title track "The Final Cut", dogs can be heard barking and whimpering after Waters mentions them as one of the many barriers between himself and the listener, a reference to ''Music/{{Animals\|1977}}''.
75	** "The Hero's Return" references the "dark sarcasm" line in "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" from ''Music/TheWall''.
76	* ChamberPop: Most of the album, thanks to Music/MichaelKamen's orchestrations.
77	* ClusterFBomb: "Not Now John".
78	-->''Fuck all that, we've got to get on with these\
79	(Fuck all that! Fuck all that!)\
80	Gotta compete with the wily Japanese''
81	* ConceptAlbum: As with all Pink Floyd albums starting from ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon''. In this case, the central idea is protesting UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar and the jingoistic atmosphere that surrounded it.
82	* ContentWarnings: Australian copies and US promo copies had a sticker denoting that the lyrics could offend some audiences. This was more important for the latter as these copies were intended for play at radio stations, being under the authority of the FCC, as US stations could face fines for broadcasting profanity.
83	* ControlFreak: Roger Waters by this stage of Pink Floyd's career.
84	* DayOfTheJackboot: "The Gunner's Dream":
85	-->''Where you can speak out loud about your doubts and fears''\
86	''And what's more, no one ever disappears''\
87	''You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door''
88	* DeusExNukina: The final song, "Two Suns in the Sunset".
89	* DoubleMeaningTitle: As revealed in the TitleTrack, the phrase "the final cut" refers to not only the last draft of a film before it gets sent out to theaters, but also the slitting of one's wrists and/or throat to commit suicide.
90	* DownerEnding: Again, "Two Suns in the Sunset".
91	* DrivenToSuicide: The Japanese boy in the video EP's scene for "Not Now John" ultimately throws himself off a high ledge in the factory where the scene is set, implicitly on purpose.
92	* EndOfAnAge: The album's subtitle reflected Roger Waters' belief that UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher's rise to power represented the death of the "post-war dream" of a more peaceful world. With Waters' departure after its release, the album also marked the end of the "classic" era of Pink Floyd.
93	* ExactWords: The 1982 single version of "When the Tigers Broke Free" proclaimed it was from the forthcoming album ''The Final Cut''; the song '''did''' get included on the album... in 2004, over 20 years after it first released.
94	* FaceFramedInShadow: Taken to an unusually high degree in the video EP, where Waters' ''mouth'' is the only part of him not hidden in the dark. One eye briefly becomes visible when Waters' head jerks to the side in response to the shotgun blast in the TitleTrack, but that's about it.
95	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The whole album.
96	* FinalSolution: "The Fletcher Memorial Home" has the singer planning one for the "incurable tyrants and kings" and the "colonial wasters of life and limb" by putting them all in one place and then applying "the final solution" on them.
97	* FreudianCouch: Roger Waters is seen on one in the album's video EP.
98	* GratuitousPanning: "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" uses the album's Holophonic production to make the explosion at the end of the song "surround" headphone listeners.
99	* HiddenEyes: Waters spends his scenes in the video EP obscured mostly in shadow save for his mouth, producing this effect and adding into the angsty tone of the music.
100	* HorribleHollywood: As mentioned below on TakeThat, "Not Now John" has a dig on filmmakers, possibly because Waters helped make ''Music/TheWall'' into a TroubledProduction.
101	* IAmTheBand: ''The Final Cut'' is essentially a Roger Waters solo album, with Gilmour and Mason (Wright having been fired in 1979) being relegated to sidemen. It was credited as "By Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd". The back cover with the infamous credit previously provided the page image. The "Performed by Pink Floyd" part would be omitted in the Discovery and Pink Floyd Records CD releases, but would be maintained on all LP copies.
102	* ImagineSpot: Most of the video EP consists of scenes that the old veteran pictures while watching UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar unfold on TV.
103	* InterruptedSuicide: At the end of the title track, the protagonist "held the blade in trembling hands/Prepared to make it but just then the phone rang/I never had the nerve to make [[TitleDrop the final cut]]."
104	* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: The old Western superpowers' paranoia (with a racist undercurrent) over Japan's rapidly expanding economy in the 1980's is a minor recurring motif on the album.
105	** It pops up "The Post War Dream"...
106	--->''If it wasn't for the Nips\
107	Being so good at building ships\
108	The yards would still be open on the Clyde''
109	** ...And in "Not Now John"
110	--->''Fuck all that, we've got to get on with these\
111	Gotta compete with the wily Japanese''
112	* KilledMidSentence: In "The Final Cut", the line that (according to the lyric sheet) goes "And if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind the wall" is in fact cut off by a gunshot after "I'll tell", suggesting that either the narrator or the listener failed to "make it past the shotguns in the hall", something a previous line expresses doubt about the listener's ability to do.
113	* LaserGuidedKarma: The meat of "The Fletcher Memorial Home" revolves around taking all the world's despots and subjecting them to the same injustices that they inflict on their countries: forced incarceration, SinisterSurveillance, and ultimately mass murder.
114	* ListSong: "One of The Few". "The Fletcher Memorial Home" lists various post World War Two politicians who are described as ''incurable tyrants'' fit for retirement.
115	* LongestSongGoesLast: The album closes with the 5:14 "Two Suns in the Sunset".
116	* LyricalDissonance: Several songs, most notably "Two Suns in the Sunset", which is about the destruction of human civilisation in nuclear war, but is a subdued, major-key ballad.
117	* ManChild: "The Fletcher Memorial Home" describes various world politicians as such:
118	-->''Take all your overgrown infants away somewhere''
119	* MinimalisticCoverArt: The album cover is a group of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII medals.
120	* NewSoundAlbum: The album has a more orchestral sound compared to the band's other work.
121	* ProductionThrowback:
122	** The line "Do you remember me? How we used to be?" in the chorus of "Your Possible Pasts" quotes the line "Do you remember me? How we used to be helpless and happy and blind?" in "Incarceration of a Flower Child", a song that Roger Waters wrote shortly after Music/SydBarrett's ousting but never released; the piece would ultimately be given to Music/MarianneFaithfull in 1999.
123	** Right before the above-mentioned BilingualBonus of "Not Now John", Waters chants, "One, Two, Free, Four!", as a reference to the band's earlier single "Free Four" (from ''Music/ObscuredByClouds'').
124	* ProtestSong: Nearly the whole album.
125	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The veteran attempts one in the video EP's scene for "The Fletcher Memorial Home", bursting in with a revolver to shoot the interred incurable tyrants as punishment for their role in the continuation of war. However, as it turns out, the gun is unloaded and the inmates are used to playing along with this sort of thing, playing possum at first before walking back into the building unharmed.
126	* ShellShockedVeteran: The teacher from ''Music/TheWall'' is revealed to be one. This is accentuated in the video EP, where the same actor from the film version of ''The Wall'' appears as an old World War II veteran.
127	* SinisterSurveillance:
128	** The "sinister" part is flipped on its head in "The Fletcher Memorial Home", in which Waters fantasizes about the titular location's "incurable tyrants and kings" being "safe in the permanent gaze of a cold glass eye."
129	** In the TitleTrack, Waters mentions "the cold electronic eyes" as one of many obstacles that the listener must surpass in order to access his vulnerable side.
130	* SpecialGuest:
131	** Prolific composer Music/MichaelKamen and Music/StatusQuo member Andy Bown provide keyboard parts in lieu of the fired Richard Wright.
132	** Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone drummer Andy Newmark was brought in to play on "Two Suns in the Sunset" when Nick Mason was unable to perform the complex rhythm.
133	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Unlike other Pink Floyd albums, where David Gilmour gets at least a few songs where he sings lead vocals, here he only has one: "Not Now John", in which he duets with Roger Waters.
134	* StiffUpperLip: "The Hero's Return", "The Final Cut" and "Paranoid Eyes" all hint at the horrible consequences of emotional repression.
135	* SurrealMusicVideo: Unlike the film adaptation of ''Music/TheWall'', the video EP for this album doesn't have much of a traditional narrative, instead featuring various odd {{Imagine Spot}}s that an aging World War II veteran experiences while pondering UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar.
136	* TakeThat:
137	** The album is directed at England in general for its involvement in UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar.
138	** "The Fletcher Memorial Home" lists various heads of state who are "overgrown infants" and "incurable tyrants" who should be sent to a retirement home and have "the Final Solution" implanted on them: UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan[[note]]who silently provided aid to the British military during the Falklands War[[/note]], Alexander Haig[[note]]Reagan's Secretary of State from 1981-1982, whose failure to moderate diplomatic negotiations between the UK and Argentina were credited with helping cause the Falklands War[[/note]], Menachem Begin[[note]]Prime Minister of Israel who oversaw the country's involvement in the Lebanese Civil War, including the internationally condemned Sabra and Shatila massacre[[/note]], UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, Ian Paisley[[note]]a Northern Irish politician and reverend credited with helping kickstart UsefulNotes/TheTroubles by leading anti-Catholic movements[[/note]], UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev[[note]]General Secretary of the USSR from 1964 until his death in 1982, responsible for launching the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan[[/note]], UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy[[note]]Wisconsin senator who led the anti-communist witch hunts in the USA between 1945 and 1954[[/note]], UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, and the entire Argentinian oligarchy[[note]]who Waters blames for helping fund the Falklands War[[/note]].
139	** The video EP's scene for "The Fletcher Memorial Home" depicts UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill (who, despite his role in World War II, was an open imperialist), UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, and UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler as inmates in the titular asylum.
140	** This part of the title track is likely one, given Waters' dislike of the media:
141	--->''And if I open my heart to you\
142	And show you my weak side\
143	What would you do?\
144	Would you sell your story to Magazine/RollingStone?''
145	** In the song "Not Now John", Waters expressed his displeasure with Alan Parker, who directed the movie version of ''Music/TheWall''. In this vein, the album's art included a picture of a soldier holding a film canister with a knife in his back.
146	--->''Not now, John, I've gotta get on with the film show\
147	Hollywood awaits at the end of the rainbow\
148	Who cares what it's about as long as the kids go''
149	** The video EP prominently features the World War II veteran reading and sneering at headlines about the Falklands War in ''The Daily Mail'', jabbing at the sensationalist manner in which British news outlets covered the conflict. A shot of the paper's front page is even prominently displayed during the last line of "The Fletcher Memorial Home" -- "now the FinalSolution can be applied."
150	* TextlessAlbumCover: The original LP release was this once you removed the shrinkwrap. Most reissues of the album include the "pink floyd the final cut" shrinkwrap sticker as part of the front cover, similarly to ''Music/TheWall'' and early CD releases of ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon''.
151	* TitleTrack
152	* {{Trilogy}}: Was partly written at the same time as ''Music/TheWall'' and Waters' [[CrossThrough solo album]] ''The Pros And Cons Of Hitch-Hiking'', and there are several [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]] to both works.
153	* UncommonTime: "Two Suns in the Sunset", in 5/4.
154	* UpdatedRerelease: The 2004 reissue added "When The Tigers Broke Free", from the film version of ''Music/TheWall'', to the album. It had only been released as a single before.
155	* VocalRangeExceeded: Waters, infamously, in "The Post War Dream". It's worth noting that Waters' vocal range has been measured at four and a half octaves.
156	* VocalTagTeam: David Gilmour and Roger Waters duet on "Not Now John", with Gilmour providing most of the verses and Waters providing the choruses, the last verse, and the voice of a heckling audience member.
157	* {{Yellowface}}: The geisha girls in the video EP's scene for "Not Now John" are visibly played by white actresses in heavy makeup. This is contrasted with the Japanese boy -- played by an actual Asian actor -- who wanders the factory in the same scene.
158	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Implicitly occurs in-universe in "Not Now John", where the narrator admits to dismissing the plot and content of a movie if it draws in family audiences. This is in the same verse that takes a jab at Alan Parker, the director of the 1982 film adaptation of ''Music/TheWall'', which is decidedly '''not''' for kids.
159	----

Context Music / TheFinalCut