Pink Floyd The Division Bell released

The Division Bell Pink Floyd

Released: March 28, 1994 Peak: 14 US, 14 UK, 14 CN, 13 AU, 14 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 3.30 US, 0.9 UK, 11.30 world (includes US and UK), 13.99 EAS Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song titled for more details. Cluster One [5:56] What Do You Want from Me [4:22] Poles Apart [7:03] Marooned [5:30] A Great Day for Freedom [4:16] Wearing the Inside Out [6:49] Take It Back [6:12] Coming Back to Life [6:19] Keep Talking [6:11] Lost for Words [5:15] High Hopes [8:31] Total Running Time: 66:23 The Players: David Gilmour (vocals, guitar) Nick Mason (drums, percussion) Richard Wright (keyboards)

Rating: 3.710 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album Pink Floyd’s second album without Roger Waters “is less forced and more of a group effort than A Momentary Lapse of Reason.” AM The band were still legally wrestling over the rights to the Pink Floyd name during the making of that album. Here they were free from such hassle. Keyboardist Rick Wright was restored to full band status here and co-writes five of the 11 songs – his first writing credits on any Pink Floyd songs since 1975’s Wish You Were Here. WK Guitarist and singer David Gilmour co-wrote most of the songs on the album, many with lyrics by his fiancée, novelist Polly Samson. Producer Bob Ezrin wasn’t sold on her initially but later said “her presence had been inspirational for Gilmour” and that she pulled the album together. WK The album generally deals with the theme of communication and the premise that one can solve many problems by talking. WK Nick Mason said, “It’s about people making choices, yeas or nays.” WK The title is a reference to the division bell which is rung in the British parliament to announce a vote. WK “Musically, Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Wright have largely turned the clock back to the pre-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd, with slow tempos, sustained keyboard chords, and guitar solos with a lot of echo.” AM The music didn’t meet with everyone’s favor. Entertainment Weekly’s Tom Sinclair called it a “stomach-turning merger of progressive-rock pomposity and New Age noodling.” WK Rolling Stone’s Tom Graves criticized Gilmour’s guitar solos as “rambling, indistinct asides that are as forgettable as they used to be indelible.” WK On the flip side, Uncut’s Graeme Thomson wrote that the album “might just be the dark horse of the Floyd canon. The opening triptych of songs is a hugely impressive return to something very close to the eternal essence of Pink Floyd, and much of the rest retains a quiet power and a meditative quality that betrays a genuine sense of unity.” WK The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Cluster One Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Richard Wright, David Gilmour Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 35.39 streaming About the Song: A

What Do You Want from Me Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Polly Samson Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994), Pulse (live, 5/29/1995) First Charted: 4/16/1994 Peak: 13 AR, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 68.55 streaming About the Song: “There is a vindictive, accusatory tone to songs such as What Do You Want from Me and Poles Apart.” AM The former was influenced by Chicago blues. WK

Poles Apart Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Polly Samson, Nick Laird-Clowes Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994) Peak: 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 44.77 streaming About the Song: “There is a vindictive, accusatory tone to songs such as What Do You Want from Me and Poles Apart.” AM The latter “contains folksy overtones.” WK

Marooned Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Richard Wright, David Gilmour Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994), Echoes (compilation, 11/6/2001) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 64.97 streaming About the Song: A

A Great Day for Freedom Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Polly Samson Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994), Pulse (live, 5/29/1995) Peak: 17 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 28.66 streaming About the Song: “A Great Day for Freedom” has references to the wall coming down, which could be taken as a reference to the Waters-driven Pink Floyd album The Wall, but it was really more about the fall of Communism and the Berlin Wall. AM It “juxtaposes the general euphoria of the fall of the Berlin Wall with the subsequent wars and ethnic cleansing, particularly in Yugoslavia.” WK

Wearing the Inside Out Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Richard Wright, Anthony Moore Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994) Peak: 11 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 30.97 streaming About the Song: This is one of five songs on The Division Bell credited to keyboardist Richard Wright, his first writing credits on any Pink Floyd songs since 1975’s Wish You Were Here. WK He even took the lead vocals on Wearing the Inside Out. AM

Take It Back Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Polly Samson, Nick Laird-Clowes, Bob Ezrin Released: single (5/16/1994), The Division Bell (3/28/1994) B-side: “Astronomy Domine” (live) First Charted: 4/16/1994 Peak: 73 BB, 4 AR, 23 UK, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 43.63 streaming About the Song: A

Coming Back to Life Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994), Pulse (live, 5/29/1995) Peak: 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 73.55 streaming About the Song: A

Keep Talking Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Polly Samson Released: promo single (3/12/1994), double-A-side single with “High Hopes” (10/10/1994), The Division Bell (3/28/1994), Pulse (live, 5/29/1995), Echoes (compilation, 11/6/2001) First Charted: 4/2/1994 Peak: 16 AR, 26 UK, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 33.11 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: This song was the most obvious reference to the album’s loose theme of working things out through communication. It uses audio samples of Stephen Hawking which were initially recorded for a television ad. Gilmour got permission to use the recordings because he was “so moved by Hawking’s sentiment.” WK Mason thought it seemed “politically incorrect to take ideas from advertising, but it seemed a very relevant piece.” WK

Lost for Words Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Polly Samson Released: The Division Bell (3/28/1994) First Charted: 12/3/1994 Peak: 21 AR, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 54.16 streaming About the Song: There is an assumption that some songs, including “Poles Apart,” Lost for Words and A Great Day for Freedom, AM were jabs at Waters. However, Gilmour denied this, saying, “it’s a little late at this point for us to be conjuring Roger up.” WK

High Hopes Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Polly Samson Released: double-A-side single with “Keep Talking” (10/7/1994), The Division Bell (3/28/1994), Pulse (live, 5/29/1995), Echoes (compilation, 11/6/2001), A Foot in the Door (compilation, 11/7/2011) First Charted: 8/27/1994 Peak: 7 AR, 26 UK, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 103.11 streaming About the Song: A

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by William Ruhlmann WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/22/2008; last updated 8/26/2025.