High Hopes

From Pink Floyd

The Division Bell

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High Hopes

Song Name: High Hopes

Artist: Pink Floyd

Album: High Hopes (Single), The Division Bell

Run Time: 8:31

Year: 1994

Track Number: 11

Sung By: David Gilmour

Written By: David Gilmour, Polly Samson

Info:

• Its lyrics speak of the things one may have gained and lost in life and also an autobiographical flair to it for Gilmour. Douglas Adams, famous for writing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, chose the album title from one of the lyrics in this song.
• Pink Floyd manager, Steve O'Rourke, who lobbied to be included on one of the group's albums, appears at the end with Gilmour's step-son, Charlie, who hangs up a telephone on O'Rourke.
• The beginning of "High Hopes" is reminiscent of another of his songs, "Fat Old Sun", from the Pink Floyd album Atom Heart Mother. Bells chime at the beginning of both pieces, for example.
• The bird sounds and fly buzzing can also be traced back to "Grantchester Meadows", a song from the 1969 Pink Floyd album, Ummagumma, written by Roger Waters.
• The video/backdrop film for this track, which featured an oversized bust of Syd Barrett, was featured on an episode of Beavis and Butthead. Beavis said that if you didn't know the name Pink Floyd or anything about the band and just saw this video, you might think this was wimp music. Butthead replied to him that this is wimp music.
• The fact that this is the very last song that Pink Floyd wrote lends itself to the interpretation that the song narrates the story of the band's career, from their beginnings to their grandiose success (with The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall) to their breakup to their carrying on, ending with the very last line of the song "forever and ever."
• The music video to High Hopes was used a screen film on the Division Bell tour, as seen on P*U*L*S*E and is set mostly on Fenland in Cambridgeshire. The video features a man looking over the Fens (presumably in the Stretham village area) at Ely Cathedral, the same building which can be seen between the metal heads on the cover of the album. Also the video has many references to Cambridge, where Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour grew up. The university scarfs, bikes and punts on the river being obvious ones.
• The song was covered by the Finnish band Nightwish for their 2005 compilation album Highest Hopes.
• The song was covered a second time by Nightwish on an official release. It was played live at their final concert of their Once Tour, which was recorded and released on their End of an Era DVD.
• The song was covered by Gregorian for their album Masters of Chant Chapter IV.

Credits  |  Chronology