Keep Talking

Lyrics:

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk

There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
And no one can bother me
I think I should speak now (Why won't you talk to me)
I can't seem to speak now (You never talk to me)
My words won't come out right (What are you thinking)
I feel like I'm drowning (What are you feeling)
I'm feeling weak now (Why won't you talk to me)
But I can't show my weakness (You never talk to me)
I sometimes wonder (What are you thinking)
Where do we go from here (What are you feeling)

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking

(Why won't you talk to me) I feel like I'm drowning
(You never talk to me) You know I can't breathe now
(What are you thinking) We're going nowhere
(What are you feeling) We're going nowhere
(Why won't you talk to me)
(You never talk to me)
(What are you thinking)
(Where do we go from here)

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking

 

"Keep Talking" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1994 album, The Division Bell.

Recording

Written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Polly Samson, it is sung by Gilmour and also features samples of Stephen Hawking's electronic voice, taken from a BT television advertisement. This same commercial was sampled again in "Talkin' Hawkin'" from Pink Floyd's final studio album, The Endless River. Gilmour chose to use the speech after nearly crying to the commercial, which he described as "the most powerful piece of television advertising that I've ever seen in my life." The song also makes use of the talk box guitar effect.

Release

The song was the first to be sent to radio stations from the album in the United States in March 1994. It was the group's third #1 hit on the Album Rock Tracks chart (a chart published by Billboard magazine which measures radio play in the United States, and is not a measure of record sales), staying atop for six weeks.

The song was included on the 2001 compilation, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.

Live

The song was performed every night during the 1994 The Division Bell Tour and live versions, taken from different shows, were included in both the album Pulse and the video of the same name.

The song was sampled by Wiz Khalifa on the title track of his 2009 mixtape Burn After Rolling.

Quotes

[Interviewer:] Several songs on the album, like "Keep Talking" suggest that all problems can be solved through discussion. Do you believe that?
[Gilmour:] It's more of a wish than a belief. [laughs] — David Gilmour, 1994

Well, I guess I experiment more than I think I do. I had a Zoom [effects box] in my control room one day and I was mucking about with something. Suddenly, I thought I should stick the E-bow on the strings and see what would happen. It sounded great, so we started writing a little duet for the E-bowed acoustic guitar [a Gibson J-200] and a keyboard. We never finished the piece, but Jon Carin [keyboardist] decided to sample the E-bowed guitar part. We kept the sample and ended up using it as a loop on "Take It Back", and again on "Keep Talking". — David Gilmour, 1994