"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their eleventh studio album, The Wall (1979).
The music was composed by the band's guitarist, David Gilmour; the lyrics were written by the bassist, Roger Waters, who recalled his experience of being injected with tranquilisers before a performance in 1977.
[6] "Comfortably Numb" originated in a wordless demo recorded by David Gilmour while he was working on his debut solo album in 1978.
Waters' lyrics were inspired by his experience of being injected with tranquilizers for stomach cramps before a performance in 1977 during Pink Floyd's In the Flesh Tour.
[16][7] Eventually, the group compromised by using the orchestral elements for the main portion and using Gilmour's stripped-down mix for the final guitar solo.
And Roger's down and he finishes his line, I start mine and the big back spots and everything go on and the audience, they're all looking straight ahead and down, and suddenly there's all this light up there and they all sort of—their heads all lift up and there's this thing up there and the sound's coming out and everything.
In both the A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell tours, these were sung by Richard Wright, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin.
A 10-minute version of "Comfortably Numb" was performed at Earls Court, London on 20 October 1994, as part of The Division Bell Tour.
Pink Floyd, complete with Waters, reunited briefly to perform at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London in July 2005.
[18][19] After leaving Pink Floyd, Waters first performed "Comfortably Numb" at the 1990 concert staging of The Wall – Live in Berlin on 21 July 1990.
[citation needed] Waters performed the song with Eddie Vedder singing Gilmour's vocals at 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief.
[citation needed] During Mexico City and Desert Trip shows, Waters performed with the same band setup as The Wall Live.
[citation needed] During the Us + Them Tour, Gilmour's vocals were performed by Jonathan Wilson with guitar solos by Kilminster and bass by Gus Seyffert.
In About Face, his 1984 tour to promote his album of the same name, the set list referred to the song as "Come on Big Bum".
In 2001 and 2002, the verse vocals were performed on different dates by guest singers Robert Wyatt, Kate Bush, Durga McBroom, and Bob Geldof, who had played Pink in the film version of The Wall.
On 29 May 2006, at the Royal Albert Hall, David Bowie made a guest appearance and sang the verses, in his final live performance in the United Kingdom.
In 2006, Gilmour performed the song in a concert, with the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra providing the orchestral parts that had usually been created with backing tapes or multiple synthesizers.
[26] Record World said that "dreamy vocals float over a sea of thick synthesizer textures and solo guitar waves".
No other song cuts deeper, says so much about the human condition, or hits such moments of beauty and horror"[28] and that Gilmour's second guitar solo "is an utter master at work, leaving space, repeating and building on licks to give a sense of structure, not overplaying, building to a shrieking climax, and then fading out while leaving the listener wanting more".
[29] Alaa Abd El-Fattah said "there was a moment of almost Sufi, exultation, when he heard 'Comfortably Numb'...that amazing, great solo ringing in my ears while the blood came back to my limbs.
[13] In August 2006, it was voted the greatest guitar solo of all time in a poll by listeners of the radio station Planet Rock.
Ice-T said it was an "introspective song" that acknowledged his advancing age: "I'm telling the younger generation, you've got two choices: you can keep the fire burning or you can give up."
Gilmour said he liked the additional lyrics, and that "It astonishes me that a tune I wrote almost 50 years ago is back with this great new approach.