Pink Floyd fans share their delight at ‘secret message’ found on album track

Fans of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd are still uncovering new details in the band’s best songs.

Listeners believe they have found a “secret message” on the group’s The Wall release, and to this day, songwriter Roger Waters has yet to comment on the hidden meaning. This may not come as a surprise to those well-versed in Waters’ recent interviews, but drummer Nick Mason has explained the meaning of these background noises, and their inclusion is no accident. Mason called the hidden part “complete nonsense,” but did confirm it is part of The Wall, and that fans weren’t hearing things when they stumbled upon the recording.

In fact, those fans looking for a hidden message on the album were the target of this additional material, according to Mason. He said: “At the time, people were always looking for messages in albums. So we thought: ‘Oh, well. We better do one’.”

The hidden message, featured on The Wall track Empty Spaces, is as follows. “Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont. Roger! Carolyne is on the phone!” The message can be heard if you play the record backwards. This, Mason joked, is a “complete nonsense” hidden detail of the band’s 1979 hit.

While Mason may believe it is a load of rubbish, fans believe the Old Pink farm could be a reflection on Wish You Were Here track Have a Cigar. In the song, a nameless producer asks, “Which one is Pink?”. While only Waters knows the real identity of Pink, he has never shared who it is.

Some fans believe the identity of Pink is former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, though this has not been proven. Hidden messages or not, Waters once said he knew The Wall would be a hit with listeners when recording the album.

He told Word Magazine in May 2008: “Funnily enough, The Wall has sold a lot more than The Dark Side of the Moon in America now. I think it goes Thriller, The Eagles, The Wall, then The Dark Side of the Moon. But it always sounded like a very popular record. 

“I remember when we finished it off, thinking it would be a huge hit. I honestly don’t know why. I just did. It had a lot of class, but it was also deeply appealing. And of course, Money was seriously embraced by the AM radio; the cash register thing struck a chord. 

“And radio was a big factor then. Which is why they were always bribing them with cocaine and cash! But I like to think there’s a political dimension of honesty about the whole record that gives it a flavour of truth. That’s also a contributing factor to its longevity. People understand immediately when they hear it that there’s nothing contrived about it.”