Home · Songs · Pink Floyd · Goodbye Blue Sky
From album
The Wall
Pink Floyd · 1979
Details
TonalidadD
Compás4/4
Tempo108 BPM
Duración2:47
CompositorRoger Waters
ÁlbumThe Wall
Año1979
ISRCGBN9Y1100101
Credits
Music Roger Waters
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The story behind
Upon listening to Goodbye Blue Sky, one encounters a piece that evokes powerful, almost cinematic imagery. The song begins with a delicate sound, the singing of a lark, which is soon interrupted by the noise of approaching aircraft. A child's voice, that of Harry Waters, breaks the calm with an innocent phrase: "Look, Mom, there's a plane in the sky!". From there, the lyrics transport us to the memories of the Blitz, the bombings over the United Kingdom. They question why they had to run for shelter, while the promise of a new world unfolded under a blue sky. The flames have already been extinguished, but the mark of that pain endures. In the visual version accompanying the song, this memory is represented with striking images: a white dove is torn apart by a Nazi eagle, which then devastates the land, giving way to war factories and fleeing people. It is a narrative that, despite its brevity, leaves a deep impression.
This piece, part of the double album The Wall by Pink Floyd, was recorded between April and November 1979. The music is the work of Roger Waters, who also shared production duties with Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, and James Guthrie. The song's duration is just under three minutes, and it was originally released under the Harvest label in the UK and Columbia in the United States. Over time, Goodbye Blue Sky has been reinterpreted by other artists, such as Joni Mitchell at a concert in Berlin in 1990, and more recently by Ann Wilson on her 2007 album Hope & Glory. In one of his live performances, Roger Waters used it to illustrate a "cultural bombing," dropping symbols of money and corporate logos instead of projectiles, an image that generated debate.
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