Comfortably Numb: Waters, Gilmour and the Strings Fight
Comfortably Numb is a song built by two men who barely agreed on how it should sound.
David Gilmour wrote the music, Roger Waters wrote the words, and the result closes the first half of The Wall.
It also carries one of the most ranked guitar solos in rock.
This page covers the 1977 tranquilizer shot behind the lyrics, the fight over the strings, the live versions and the covers.", "It sits beside our full list of Pink Floyd songs.
Pink Floyd performing at Earls Court, London, in May 1973.
Image credit: Photo by TimDuncan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
What Comfortably Numb Means: A Doctor and a Sedative
The song is a conversation between a doctor and a patient who feels nothing.
In the story of The Wall, the patient is the rock star Pink.
The doctor needs him on stage.
The doctor asks where it hurts, and the answer is a kind of fog.
The 1977 Show Behind the Lyrics
Waters took the idea from real life.
Before a 1977 show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, he was injected with tranquilizers for stomach cramps.
He later called it the longest two hours of his life.
He could hardly lift his arm during the show.
Why the Words Work for Almost Anyone
The lyric never names a drug or a diagnosis.
That leaves room to hear it as sedation, grief, burnout or plain emotional distance.
If that mood suits you, the Mood Song Matcher can pull more reflective 70s artists.
How Comfortably Numb Was Written and Recorded
Pink Floyd recorded The Wall between April and November 1979.
Harvest released this track as a UK single on June 23, 1980, with Hey You on the B-side.
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Songwriters | David Gilmour and Roger Waters |
| Music | David Gilmour |
| Lyrics | Roger Waters |
| Recorded | April to November 1979 |
| Single released | June 23, 1980 (UK, Harvest) |
| B-side | Hey You |
| Length | 6:21 album, 3:59 single edit |
| Working title | The Doctor |
| Producers | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie, Roger Waters |
| Style | Progressive rock, art rock |
Source: Wikipedia article on the song, checked October 21, 2026.
Gilmour's 1978 Demo
The music began as a wordless demo that Gilmour recorded in 1978 while making his first solo album.
He did not use it on that record.
The producer Bob Ezrin later picked it up for The Wall.
Waters asked for changes to it.
- The verses moved from E minor to B minor at Waters's request.
- Gilmour added extra bars to the chorus, also at Waters's request.
- Ezrin said the finished lyrics gave him goosebumps.
Who Sings What
Waters sings the verses as the doctor, and Gilmour sings the chorus as the patient.
The chorus guitars are two acoustics played by Gilmour and Lee Ritenour in a Nashville-style tuning.
In that tuning the low E string is swapped for a high E two octaves up.
Nick Mason played drums and Richard Wright played Hammond organ.
Roger Waters, Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Richard Wright in a 1971 trade advertisement for Meddle.
Image credit: Capitol Records, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Billboard, October 30, 1971).
The Strings Fight
Michael Kamen wrote the orchestral arrangement, and Ezrin and Kamen recorded the strings in New York.
Gilmour was unhappy with the sound and spent a week re-recording them.
Waters called the new version awful, stilted and stiff.
He said it lost the passion and life of the original.
The two settled on a compromise.
- The orchestral version was used for the main body of the song.
- Gilmour's stripped-down mix was used for the final solo.
Gilmour later said the song represented the last embers of his ability to work with Waters.
The Solos
Gilmour recorded five or six solos for the track.
James Guthrie assembled the best segments into the finished take.
Gilmour played through a Big Muff distortion pedal with delay.
For where this sound came from, read about 70s progressive rock.
Hear the Comfortably Numb Recording
Press play and listen for the switch from the orchestral verses to the bare guitar of the last solo.
For more records from the same era, see how Music of the 70s covers the sound of 1979.
Comfortably Numb Awards, Rankings and Certifications
This site's Billboard Hot 100 data has no entry for the song.
So there is no Hot 100 peak to quote here.
What the song does have is a long list of rankings and sales awards.
Sales Certifications
| Country | Certification | Units |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Platinum | 600,000 (sales since 2004) |
| New Zealand | 4x Platinum | 120,000 |
| Italy | Platinum | 50,000 (sales since 2009) |
| Denmark | Gold | 45,000 |
| Spain | Gold | 30,000 |
Source: Wikipedia article on the song, checked October 21, 2026.
What the Critics and Fans Say
- Billboard called it a miniature masterpiece of arrangement, production and performance.
- Cash Box called Gilmour's guitar eloquent.
- Rolling Stone ranked it number 179 on its 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs.
- Guitar World readers voted the solo the fourth best guitar solo of all time.
- Billboard and Paste both ranked it number four among the greatest Pink Floyd songs in 2017.
- BBC Radio 4 listeners placed it fifth on a Desert Island Discs poll in 2011.
To hear what else was on the radio then, the Random 70s Song Generator pulls a track at random.
Comfortably Numb Live: From the Wall Tour to Live 8
The live history of this song is almost as long as the record itself.
On the Wall Tour of 1980 and 1981, Waters sang at the foot of the wall dressed as a doctor.
Gilmour sang from a platform on top of it.
Gilmour said the final solo was one of the few moments on that tour where he could improvise freely.
| Date | Event | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 to 1981 | The Wall Tour | Waters below as the doctor, Gilmour above on the wall |
| June 30, 1990 | Knebworth Park | Released on Knebworth: The Album |
| July 21, 1990 | Waters, The Wall Live in Berlin | Van Morrison sang Gilmour's parts |
| October 20, 1994 | Earls Court, Division Bell Tour | Full 10-minute version |
| July 2, 2005 | Live 8, Hyde Park | The last of four songs, near-identical to the studio version |
| May 29, 2006 | Gilmour, Royal Albert Hall | David Bowie sang the verses, his final UK live performance |
Source: Wikipedia article on the song, checked October 21, 2026.
After Waters Left the Band
Once Waters left Pink Floyd, the verses were sung in three-part harmony by Richard Wright, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin.
A December 1988 video from the A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour reached number 11 on MTV's Top 20 Video Countdown.
Gilmour's Solo Shows
Gilmour has handed the verses to guests over the years.
- Robert Wyatt, Kate Bush and Bob Geldof appeared on his 2001 to 2002 shows.
- David Bowie sang them at the Royal Albert Hall on May 29, 2006.
- Benedict Cumberbatch sang them at the Royal Albert Hall on September 28, 2016.
- On the 1984 About Face Tour, the set list called the song Come on Big Bum.
Covers and Remakes of Comfortably Numb
The Scissor Sisters Version in 2004
The best-known cover is a disco-flavored take by Scissor Sisters, released by Polydor on January 19, 2004.
It reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 on the UK Dance chart.
It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording and lost to Toxic.
Gilmour and Mason liked it, and Waters reportedly congratulated the band.
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Singles | No. 10 |
| UK Dance | No. 1 |
| Ireland Dance | No. 2 |
| Australian Club | No. 4 |
| Croatia | No. 8 |
| Sweden | No. 27 |
| Ireland | No. 30 |
| Belgium (Flanders) | No. 39 |
Source: Wikipedia article on the song, checked October 21, 2026.
Waters and Body Count Return to It
Waters released a darker remake called Comfortably Numb 2022 on November 17, 2022.
He lowered the key to A minor and removed the guitar solos, apart from a vocal solo by Shanay Johnson.
In September 2024, Body Count released a version featuring Gilmour on guitar, with additional lyrics by Ice-T.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd?
David Gilmour and Roger Waters wrote Comfortably Numb for the 1979 album The Wall.
Gilmour composed the music from a wordless demo he recorded in 1978, and Waters wrote the lyrics.
Waters sings the verses and Gilmour sings the chorus.
What is Comfortably Numb about?
Comfortably Numb is about being sedated and emotionally detached, a doctor calming a performer so he can go on stage.
Roger Waters took the idea from a 1977 show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, where he was injected with tranquilizers for stomach cramps before performing.
He later said it was the longest two hours of his life.
Who sings which part of Comfortably Numb?
Roger Waters sings the verses of Comfortably Numb in the role of the doctor, and David Gilmour sings the chorus.
Live, the parts have been split many ways, with guests such as Van Morrison, David Bowie and Benedict Cumberbatch taking the verses.
Why did Waters and Gilmour argue over Comfortably Numb?
Waters and Gilmour disagreed over the arrangement of Comfortably Numb, mainly the orchestral strings.
Gilmour spent a week re-recording them, and Waters called the result stilted and stiff.
They compromised by using the orchestral version for most of the song and Gilmour's stripped-down mix for the final solo.
Was Comfortably Numb a Billboard Hot 100 hit?
Comfortably Numb was released as a Pink Floyd single on June 23, 1980, but this site's Billboard Hot 100 data has no entry for it.
Its best-known single chart success came from the 2004 Scissor Sisters cover, which reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
Sources
- Comfortably Numb, Wikipedia, for the songwriting credits, the demo, the recording, the strings dispute, the certifications, rankings, live performances and covers.
- The Wall, Wikipedia, for the album the song appears on.
- Pink Floyd, Wikipedia, for background on the artist.
- The Psychedelic Meaning Behind Comfortably Numb, American Songwriter, for the song's place in the story of The Wall.
- The absence of a Hot 100 entry reflects this site's own Billboard Hot 100 data.
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