The Final Cut

Lyrics:

Through the fish-eyed lens of tear stained eyes
I can barely define the shape of this moment in time
And far from flying high in clear blue skies
I'm spiraling down to the hole in the ground where I hide.

If you negotiate the minefield in the drive
And beat the dogs and cheat the cold electronic eyes
And if you make it past the shotgun in the hall,
Dial the combination, open the priesthole
And if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind the wall.

There's a kid who had a big hallucination
Making love to girls in magazines.
He wonders if you're sleeping with your new found faith.
Could anybody love him
Or is it just a crazy dream?

And if I show you my dark side
Will you still hold me tonight?
And if I open my heart to you
And show you my weak side
What would you do?
Would you sell your story to Rolling Stone?
Would you take the children away
And leave me alone?
And smile in reassurance
As you whisper down the phone?
Would you send me packing?
Or would you take me home?

Thought I oughta bare my naked feelings,
Thought I oughta tear the curtain down.
I held the blade in trembling hands
Prepared to make it but just then the phone rang
I never had the nerve to make the final cut.

"Hello? Listen, I think I've got it. Okay, listen its a HaHa!"

"The Final Cut" is the title track from Pink Floyd's twelfth studio album, The Final Cut (1983).

Background

This song tells of a man's social isolation, clinical depression, sexual repression and social rejection. At the end of the song he attempts suicide but "never had the nerve to make the final cut".

It has been speculated by some listeners that the song may be told from the perspective of Pink, the main character of The Wall (1979), after the events of that album.

"The Final Cut" is one of four songs (along with "The Hero's Return", "One of the Few", and "Your Possible Pasts") used in The Final Cut that had been previously rejected from The Wall. This song is included in the video version of the album The Final Cut Video EP. The song made an appearance as the B-side of the "Selections from The Final Cut" radio promotional single (with "Your Possible Pasts" on the A-side.) It also appears in the American romantic science fiction comedy-drama film Strange Frame (2012).