"High Hopes"
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album The Division Bell
B-side
Released17 October 1994
RecordedJanuary – December 1993
StudioAstoria, London
GenreProgressive rock, New-age
Length
  • 8:31 (album version)
  • 5:16 (single edit)
  • 7:01 (Echoes version)
Label
Composer(s)David Gilmour [1]
Lyricist(s)
Producer(s)
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"Take It Back"
(1994)		 "High Hopes"
(1994)		 "Wish You Were Here (Live)"
(1995)
Music video
"High Hopes" on YouTube

"High Hopes" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, composed by guitarist David Gilmour with lyrics by Gilmour and Polly Samson. It is the closing track on their fourteenth studio album, The Division Bell (1994); it was released as the second single from the album on 17 October 1994. An accompanying music video was made for the song and was directed by Storm Thorgerson.

Douglas Adams, a friend of Gilmour, chose the title for The Division Bell from one verse in this song. Live versions are featured on Pink Floyd's Pulse, as well as Gilmour's In Concert, Remember That Night, Live in Gdańsk and Live at Pompeii releases. On Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, a somewhat shortened version of the song segues into Syd Barrett's "Bike". The segue is accomplished by cutting from the church bell at the end of "High Hopes" to a new bicycle bell sound effect before "Bike" begins. A 7-inch vinyl version of the single was released on a transparent record.

An early version of the song appeared on the 2018 box set The Later Years and was released as one of the preview tracks.[2] Unlike the album version, this features the final solo played on a regular electric guitar instead of a lapsteel.

Composition

The song is mostly in the key of C minor, and features the sound of a church bell chiming a 'C' throughout, except for a short section in the middle where the song briefly modulates into E minor for a guitar solo. The bell was taken from a sound effects record.[3]

The lyrics refer to the band's early days in Cambridge,[4] specifically before they started making music. It references landmarks such as "Long Road" and "The Cut", as well as Cambridge as a location for "magnets and miracles". The video also references ex-bandmate Syd Barrett. Its lyrics speak of the things one may have gained and lost in life, written from Gilmour's autobiographic perspective. Gilmour has said that the song is more about his early days, and leaving his hometown behind, than about the seeds of division supposedly planted in Pink Floyd's early days.[5]

The final couplet from the song ("The endless river/Forever and ever") recalls a line from the band's second single, "See Emily Play", from 1967, ("Float on a river/Forever and ever");[6] it inspired the name of their final studio album, The Endless River, released in 2014.[7] Shortly after the song ends and the chimes fade out is a hidden track comprising a brief phone call between the band's manager Steve O'Rourke and Gilmour's son Charlie. This concludes The Division Bell.

Track listings

CD single[8]
  1. "High Hopes" – 8:34
  2. "Marooned" – 5:29
CD maxi[9]
  1. "High Hopes" (radio edit) – 5:16
  2. "Keep Talking" (radio edit) – 4:55
  3. "One of These Days" (live) – 6:57

Music video

The music video, directed by Storm Thorgerson, features a man looking over the Fens 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, college scarves, bicycles and punts on the river being obvious ones. In particular many scenes are set in St John's College, Cambridge, including the Bridge of Sighs. Also shown is an oversized bust of Syd Barrett. It would later be used in live performances during Pink Floyd's 1994 Division Bell Tour and seen on the PULSE video.

Personnel

The Division Bell

Additional musicians:

Pulse
  • David Gilmour – lead vocals, classical guitar and lap steel guitars
  • Richard Wright – Kurzweil synthesisers, Hammond Organ
  • Nick Mason – drums, gong

with:

Cover versions

Charts

References

  1. ↑ "Pink Floyd - The Division Bell (Cass, Album, Dol)". Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  2. ↑ "Pink Floyd share previously unreleased demo version of "High Hopes": Stream". Consequence. 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  3. ↑ Mettler, Mike (October 22, 2014). "Louder Than Words: Producer Andy Jackson Takes Us Exclusively Inside the Making of the Final Pink Floyd Album, The Endless River". SoundBard. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  4. ↑ Rand, Chris (November 2020). "Pink Floyd: our very own Queen Edith's rock legends". queen-ediths.info. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  5. ↑ Fuller, Graham (July 1994). "The Color of Floyd". Interview Magazine, p. 20-21. Archived from the original on 2011-07-30. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  6. ↑ "Pink Floyd Set To Release New Album This Fall". 1037theloon.com. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  7. ↑ Everitt, Matt (9 October 2014). "Shaun Keaveny, with a Pink Floyd Exclusive, Pink Floyd Talk to 6 Music's Matt Everitt". BBC.
  8. ↑ "High Hopes" (CD single notes). Pink Floyd. EMI. 1994. 881777 2 – via Discogs.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ↑ "High Hopes" / "Keep Talking" (CD single notes). Pink Floyd. EMI. 1994. CDEMS 342 – via Discogs.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ↑ High Hopes, 2019-09-20, retrieved 2022-06-26
  11. ↑ "High Hopes", French Singles Chart Lescharts.com (Retrieved January 22, 2008)
  12. ↑ "High Hopes", UK Singles Chart Official Charts Company (Retrieved January 30, 2009)
  13. ↑ Billboard Allmusic.com (Retrieved January 30, 2009)
  14. ↑ Library and Archives Canada: Top Singles – Volume 60, No. 14, October 24 1994, October 24, 1994, archived from the original on December 8, 2017, retrieved July 12, 2014
  15. ↑ 1994 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com Archived 2011-08-20 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved January 30, 2009)
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