A song which was meant to be featured in the film adaptation of The Wall was dropped in favour of another Pink Floyd classic.
Songwriter and bassist Roger Waters has confirmed that there was originally an additional song on side two of the album, although it was dropped due to insufficient space. Not only was it too long a song, but it was, according to Waters, basically the same as another song featured on The Wall. It did not make it into the film and was cut from the final album piece, fading into obscurity, though it has been played a handful of times both by Pink Floyd and Waters. The decision to cut the track in question was made late into developing the album, so late in fact that the song is printed in the liner notes on the first run.
Though Empty Spaces featured on the album, it was cut from the film and live shows, replaced instead by What Shall We Do Now?. Speaking to KMET Radio before the album’s release, Waters confirmed a reshuffle of some songs had to be made as it was too long to print on one side of the record.
He said: “We realised as we were mastering the thing that side two was just too long and we had to get rid of something. And Empty Spaces and another cut that used to be on there called What Shall We Do Now? are the same tune.
“So Empty Spaces was a reiteration, musically, of that tune towards that end of the side, and so we just axed What Shall We Do Now?, but we’ve left the lyrics on the back because they help tell the story.” Empty Spaces not only informs the story told on The Wall but features a hidden message from Waters, who refers to “Old Pink” and the “funny farm” in a recording heard if you play the album backwards.
He can be heard saying: “Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont…” Waters is cut off by producer James Guthrie, who says Carolyne, Waters’ at-the-time wife, is on the phone.
Pink Floyd member Nick Mason has since spoken about the hidden message featured on the album. He said: “At the time, people were always looking for messages in albums. So we thought, ‘Oh, well. We better do one.’
“And although The Wall isn’t exactly known for being a laugh-a-minute, this is one moment that offers a bit of comic relief. When played in reverse, the backwards-masked bit says, ‘Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message.'”
It is believed that there are several albums’ worth of material in the archives that have yet to be released. Cult Following previously reported that the band had an abundance of unreleased materials, confirmed by David Gilmour.
He said: “The idea of The Wall was so big and there was such a lot of stuff that Roger wanted to get across lyrically that there was no other way to do it, really. As it was, we had to struggle to get it on a double album.
“The only problem we had was reducing it down from a triple-album to a double-album – the length of songs and all that. Toward the end, we were actually cutting chunks out of songs to fit the time. It’s a long double-album.”
Engineer Guthrie confirmed there had been “three albums’ worth of material” written by Waters. He said: “The first order of the day was to determine how best to tell his story in a more manageable, double-album format.”
