"Ship, smoke" or "Shipsmoke...?
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Topic: "Ship, smoke" or "Shipsmoke...?
Posted By: Harry Hood
Subject: "Ship, smoke" or "Shipsmoke...?
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 03:42
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Time to settle the ultimate debate On the studio recording of Comfortably Numb, the lyric in the chorus is sung like this: "There is no pain, you are receding A distant ship, smoke on the horizon". However, when they brought it out live for The Wall tour, David Gilmour sings it like this: "There is no pain, you are receding A distant shipsmoke... on the horizon" Gilmour has continued to sing it this way on all subsequent Pink Floyd tours. However, when Waters brings it out for his solo tour, his vocalist sings the lyric as "a distant ship, smoke on the horizon", same to the way it's sung by Gilmour in the studio version. So, in your opnion, which is the correct way to sing it? Personally, I have to go with the former. It simply makes sense in the context of the lyrics. The narrator is saying that he knows there is a distant ship, because smoke is on the horizon. The way Gilmour sings it butchers this meaning, by implying that he knows it is smoke from a ship ("shipsmoke"), so the "on the horizon" part now implys that he already saw the ship and it's leaving. In Water's interpretation the ship is coming towards him. Waters version holds more meaning in the context of the story because it implies that help is on the way, what Dave does is turns the chorus into something much more pessimistic. So let's settle this once and for all. We're gonna find out where you fans really stand on this issue. ------------- 
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Replies:
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 03:56
^ dude, put down the pipe   well since it's only coming to you in waves I really can not put my finger on it now I think its sh*tsmoke or ships moke whatever that means v what he said ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 03:56
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I always heard "a distant ship's smoke on the horizon" |
Posted By: Harry Hood
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 04:04
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No, there is no "'s" on the end of ship. Offically the lyric is indeed "ship, smoke". It also reads this way in the subtitles on Water's "In The Flesh" DVD.
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Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 04:09
 well in my forever 16-year old memory it's ship's smoke |
Posted By: Harry Hood
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 04:57
If that where the case, the song would no longer make sense lyrically "There is no pain you are receding A distant ship's smoke/shipsmoke on the horizon" Our narrator begins to drift off, and sees a ship's smoke on the horizon. He knows it's a ship, because he saw it, but now he only sees the smoke. This implies the ship is moving away from him. "A distant ship, smoke on the horizon" As our narrator begins to drift away, he sees smoke on the horizon. He is presuming (and hoping) that it is smoke from a ship, that is heading in his direction and may rescue him. "You are only coming through in waves, Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying" If "ship's smoke" is true, then who is trying to come through to him? If that lyric were correct, then it would mean that he's still by himself. So he's coming through to himself? He's seeing his own lips move? It makes no sense whatsoever. It suddenly becomes a song about nothing. And that is unforgivable in a song where the lyrics are of the utmost importance to the song's story and the story of the overarching plot on the album. -------------
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Atavachron wrote:Posted By: Kotro
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 05:14
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He could even sing "a distant cheesecake on the horizon", I still wouldn't care. ------------- Bigger on the inside. |
Posted By: Rune2000
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 07:02
Great forum topic, although I'm not sure about the whole poll-idea. Personally I always tend to prefer the original versions and I think that your point makes sense so I completely agree with you.  Still I'll restrain from voting.  |
Posted By: Raff
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 08:21
So did I, but if you say it's not like that, then we got it wrong  , or so it seems. |
Posted By: powerclam
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 10:04
I really don't see the problem. "You are receding" implies that after the "little pinprick" the recipient's meds are kicking in and the world around him is is becoming like a distant ship, detectable only by the presence of the "smoke on the horizon." To my understanding, "distant shipsmoke on the horizon," "distant ship, smoke on the horizon," "distant ship's smoke on the horizon" makes no difference to the meaning of the song... the guy was freaking out, got shot up with tranqs, and is now becoming "comfortably numb" as the drugs course through his system. The ship doesn't represent rescue or abandonment, it symbolizes the patients awareness/situational involvement as the shot kicks in and he transitions from manic to too-calm and the world around him recedes.
Ever been given a shot of demerol while hospitalized? That's pretty much what it's like. Seems to make perfect sense in the context of the story. All the above IMHO, of course. |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 10:18
I always thought that it was "no pain you are receiving".  I really, really need a visor that translates lyrics for me so I can actually get the full meaning of so, so many songs. err, that and apparently, I need to start smoking ships? ------------- 
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Posted By: A Person
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 10:49
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I think that Gilmour is just taking artistic liberty with the song, or maybe he sings it wrong. IDK. |
Posted By: rpe9p
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 13:18
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Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 19:27
The line does make sense as a distant ship's smoke on the horizon. It's receding, like pain does when one numbs oneself comfortably.  ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: March 01 2010 at 05:26
| There is no pain? We are receding?? A distant gizmo on the horizon??? |
Posted By: WilliamRynearson
Date Posted: March 05 2010 at 08:42
Ship's moke, obviously. 
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