Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd |
Previous Track |
Comfortably Numb |
This Track |
When The Tigers Broke Free |
Next Track |
One Of These Days |
Song Name: When The Tigers Broke Free
Artist: Pink Floyd
Album: Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd, The Final Cut (2004 Remaster)
Run Time: 3:42
Year: 2001
Track Number:
Sung By: Roger Waters
Written By: Roger Waters
"When the Tigers Broke Free" (also listed as When the Tygers Broke Free) is a Pink Floyd song by Roger Waters, describing the death of his father Eric Fletcher Waters, during World War II's Operation Shingle. The song was written at the same time as The Wall, hence its copyright date of 1979, but not released until the movie version of Pink Floyd's album The Wall and first released as a separate track on a 7" single on 26 July 1982 (running ~2:55), before appearing in The Wall film. The 7" was labelled "Taken from the album, The Final Cut" but was not included on that album until the 2004 CD reissue.
The song made its first CD appearance on the 1996 album: "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Plays the Music of Pink Floyd". In its original form, it would be released on CD for the first time with a duration of 3:42 on Pink Floyd's 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd. After that, the next time the song appeared was on the 2004 re-released, remastered version of The Final Cut, where it rests between "One Of The Few" and "The Hero's Return", this time an edited version of 3:16.
The song sets up the story premise for The Wall movie, set over footage recreating the British contribution to the Anzio campaign's Operation Shingle, where Allied forces landed on the beaches near Anzio, Italy with the goal of eventually liberating Rome from German control. These forces included C Company of the Royal Fusiliers, of which Waters' father Eric was a member. As Waters tells it, the forward commander had asked to withdraw his forces from a German Tiger I tank assault, but the generals refused, and "the Anzio bridgehead was held for the price / Of a few hundred ordinary lives" as the Tigers eventually broke through the British defence, killing all of C Company, including Eric Waters.
In the second verse of the song (which makes up the reprise later in The Wall film), Waters describes how he found a letter of condolence from the British government, described as a note from King George in the form of a gold leaf scroll which "His Majesty signed / In his own rubber stamp." Waters' resentment then explodes in the final line "And that's how the High Command took my Daddy from me".
The underlying theme of the song is one of the primary catalysts for the character Pink's descent into isolation and insanity throughout the story of The Wall, especially in the film version.
A | When The Tigers Broke Free | 3:00 | |
B | When The Tigers Broke Free | 3:00 |
"Demonstration - Not For Sale" printed on the top left corner of the back of the sleeve.
Taken from the movie that the album "The Wall" was made into, yet not included on the album "The Wall" itself.
Issued in a tri-fold cover. the inside fold contains stills from the film.
- Matrix / Runout: ZSS 169082 2AB TML-M
- Matrix / Runout: ZSS 169082 2AC TML-S
Title (Format)LabelCat#CountryYear | ||||||
The Wall (Music From The Film) (7", 45 RPM, Single, 3-Way Fold-Out Sleeve) | Harvest | HAR 5222 | UK | 1982 | ||
The Wall (Music From The Film) (7", 45 RPM, Single, Styrene, Stereo, Gatefold, Pitman pressing) | Columbia | X18 03142 | US | 1982 | ||
The Wall (Music From The Film) (7", Single, 45 RPM) | Harvest, Harvest | 006-64875, 1A 006 64875 | Netherlands | 1982 | ||
The Wall (Music From The Film) (7", 45 RPM, Single, Jukebox Centre) | Harvest | 3C 006-64875 | Italy | 1982 | ||
The Wall (Music From The Film) (7", Single) | Harvest | 2C 008-64875 | France | 1982 |
Side 2 is Bring The Boys Back Home, NOT as listed above in Tracklist B above.
Question here. Was this printing rare at all? I've got a copy I found at my grandma's house and I knw nothing about it.
- Have:240
- Want:95
- Avg Rating:4.42 / 5
- Ratings:12
- Last Sold:Sep 21, 2022
- Lowest:A$7.60
- Median:A$21.28
- Highest:A$44.28