The Ten Things I Learned About Life from Pink Floyd
Existential Dread, Time Slipping Away, and the Art of Waking the Hell Up
Alright, so I’ve spent a lot of time with Pink Floyd. Probably too much time, if I’m honest. You listen to enough Floyd, and you start thinking in slow, existential guitar solos and long, droning synth notes. It gets into your bloodstream. It rewires you. And if you’re not careful, one day, you wake up and realize Roger Waters has been narrating your inner monologue for decades.
So, here are ten things I’ve learned about life from Pink Floyd lyrics.
“Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.” – Time
This one hit me like a gut punch when I first heard it. It’s not just the English way, man. It’s the human way. So many of us just endure—we trudge through the days, pretending everything’s fine, while this slow-burning panic about wasted time eats away at us. Life doesn’t come with a flashing sign that says, “Hey! Here’s your big moment!” You have to make the moment happen. Otherwise, you’re just watching the clock tick toward oblivion.
“Did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?” – Wish You Were Here
This one wrecked me. It’s the perfect question for anyone who’s ever sold out, given up, or played it safe. How many of us trade the chaos and uncertainty of something real for the comfortable, predictable little cages we build for ourselves? It’s about the job you hate but won’t leave. The relationship that’s dead but too familiar to abandon. The dreams you buried because risk is scary. And for what? Security? Stability? A lead role in a tiny, suffocating box?
“You are only coming through in waves.” – Comfortably Numb
Oh man, this is the anthem for the emotionally detached. Ever feel like you’re there but not really there? Like life is happening, and you’re technically participating, but it all feels distant? That’s what this line is about. The numbness. The going-through-the-motions. The moments when you should be fully engaged, but instead, you’re just floating, watching it all from a fogged-up window.
“There’s someone in my head, but it’s not me.” – Brain Damage
Yeah, welcome to the human mind. Who even is driving this thing? That voice in your head—the one second-guessing you, talking you out of things, making you relive every awkward conversation you’ve ever had—that’s not you. That’s the programming, the trauma, the anxiety. We all have it. The trick is realizing that just because it’s there, doesn’t mean it’s you.
“Run, rabbit, run. Dig that hole, forget the sun.” – Breathe
This is what they don’t tell you about the grind. The system wants you busy. It wants you distracted. It wants you so exhausted that you don’t have time to stop and think, “Wait, is this actually what I want?” Run fast, work hard, make money, die. That’s the formula, right? But what happens if you stop running? What happens if you take a breath and actually look at the life you’re building?
“If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding!” – Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)
Ah, the old-school authority tactic—conditioning, coercion, and guilt-tripping, all wrapped up in one little nursery-rhyme-style threat. It starts with parents and teachers, but it never really ends, does it? There’s always someone wagging a finger, telling you what you have to do before you can enjoy yourself. The truth? You don’t have to earn every ounce of joy. You can just have the damn pudding.
“The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older.” – Time
Nothing makes you feel the slow creep of mortality quite like this one. Time doesn’t care about you. It moves at the same pace whether you’re making the most of your life or wasting it. And then one day, you wake up, and everything’s changed. But not time. Time is just… time. And it will keep moving, whether you do something with it or not.
“All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be.” – Breathe
This is one of those lines that seems simple, but if you sit with it, it gets heavy fast. Life isn’t happening elsewhere. It’s not some abstract concept. It’s right here, in the things you do, the people you interact with, the choices you make. You’re not missing out on some secret, better version of existence happening in another dimension. This is it. And if you don’t engage with it, you’re missing the only thing that’s real.
“And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?” – Wish You Were Here
Ever notice how life grinds the magic out of you? You start out with idols, dreams, and aspirations, and somehow, along the way, you swap them out for regret and routine. You compromise. You let go of what inspired you because being practical seemed like the right move. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe you just let the world talk you into thinking small.
“Together we stand, divided we fall.” – Hey You
This one’s almost too on the nose, but it needs to be said. The world is constantly trying to separate us—by politics, by money, by fear, by whatever petty nonsense it can use to keep us at odds. Because divided people are easy to manipulate. Easy to control. But connection? Community? That’s where the real power is. And if we ever figure that out, things might actually change.
So yeah, Pink Floyd isn’t just music. It’s philosophy. It’s existential dread. It’s a reminder that time is slipping away, that we numb ourselves too much, that we let life control us instead of the other way around. But it’s also a call to wake the hell up. To live—really live—before it’s too late.
And maybe, just maybe, to put on a pair of headphones, close your eyes, and get lost in a six-minute David Gilmour solo every once in a while. Because if that’s not what life’s about, then I don’t know what is.