Contents
In his posting from juli 24, 1995, Publius asked us a question. The question was: "what
exactly is a division bell and where could this lead your thoughts?".
In this part, I went back into
all articles posted about this subject to find out whether there are already some conclusions to be drawn.
There are several postings in which Publius mentioned the words "The Division Bell". It appears for the
first time at july 8, 1995. An excerpt:
Strangely enough Publius doesn't use capitals for "The Division Bell"
in this posting. This could mean that capitals
of the other words (or maybe only in this part of the message, the recipe) might very important. Or as Mark Brown
already described in his uboat:
There seem to be other "word-game" clues in the Publius
posts, but they are quite ambiguous. For example, the capitalized
phrase beginning a paragraph of a post, "AS SOME OF YOU HAVE SUSPECTED",
seems to me as if it can be read phonetically as, "Assume a few halves
expected", thus fitting into a division theme. There are capitalized
words in the lyrics that draw one's attention, as well.
Later on, Publius mentioned the title again:
And, then there's the matter of those three dots -
right between THE DIVISION BELL and Cluster One.
About this we can read in Mark Brown's Uboat file:
Publius typed THE DIVISION BELL
(all caps) and Cluster One (normal), I picked up on him implying
something by typing that way... Publius likes to play with
So far there are no other postings in which Publius mentions The Division Bell.
David Gilmour answered this question himself in an interview:
RB: What is, eh eh, the division bell?
DG: The division bell is, um, a bell that rings in, um, Westminster, in
the houses of Parliament. And it also rings in the apartments of many of
the members of pa.. uh members of Parliament. And it is a bell that
rings to summon all the members of Parliament to go the houses, ah House
of Commons, and to divide into yays and nays to vote on the issues. Em,
because often in debates in the house of Parliament, the members of
Parliament are not necessarily all there. Some of them have already made
up their minds about what they are want to do, or are just going to follow
the party line. And so they may be sitting at home in an apartment,
there's a sort of catchment area around the houses of Parliament
where..., within a certain distance where, if you are a member of
Parliament they install this bell in your apartment. They get to the
point where they finish debating, they ring this bell, everyone that's in
the area comes down, if you're (? mumbled) all the tories and all the labor
people, all come down to vote one way or the other. Its a, a division
bell, it divides the yeses from the noes.
Dave Foster explained
a bit more about the procedure.
Division provedure
Note 1: The image of the stage and the pigs burst out the doors high up either side of the stage is an interesting picture.
After two minutes the speaker will put the question again if it is
still challenged then s/he will choose tellers, two from each side of
the house, who stand next to the locked doors.
After another four minutes the speaker calls "Lock the doors" any
members outside of the lobby after this time are excluded.
Division Lobbies
The time was measured by a two minute hour glass, this hour glass is
still in the house but is not used anymore, as far as I am aware.
Time video Earls Court maybe.
The electric bells ring out intermittently for a Count, and in two
long bursts for a Division and are supposedly quite melodious. They
are also used when the House rises, also they ring once when the
speaker enters for prayers and again after prayers when s/he takes the
chair.
The bells have not always been electric and today they are wired into
restaurants apartments and places within the vicinity of Westminster.
Looking at this question, a few things were quite clear; Publius says: "What is a division bell...". So
he tries to steer us towards a general meaning, not specifically The Division Bell. I therefore think the
answer we came up with, which refers to the division bell in London, is not correct. There must be more division
bells somewhere else on this world. Those bells need to have a general meaning. So here's a summary of where
division bells can be found.
1) London
As I've mentioned before, the definition of a Division Bell given
in the FAQ may hint at a time clue for us -- the bell is rung in the
Houses of Parliament to call members to the chamber, and they must
gather before the bell ceases to toll and the doors are closed.
The Houses of Parliament have been on summer recess until now, and
have just resumed or are about to. Also, the Division Bell World Tour
is ending at the end of the month, so that bell will cease tolling.
2) USA
"Publius" being the pen-name of the Federalists such as Alexander
Hamilton, provides a link to the secret societies that participated in
the founding of the United States and its Constitution -- secret societies
that placed the pyramid in the Great Seal of the US and constructed the
Capitol complex in a master plan that matched the sacred geometry of
ancient Egypt, right down to the "Washington Monument" which is
positioned at the location appropriate to the "Lost Penis of Osirus"
which is the treasure sought after by the higher orders of Masonry.
An answer to the question:
In the context of the founding of the U.S., it brings to mind "the
Liberty Bell" which, according to legend, rang once to announce the
Independence of the Colonies from England, and then cracked.
3) Army
Acorrding to my grandfather a WWII vet, a Division
Bell was kept on base. Each Battallion is broken up into divisions, each
division has it's own bell. He refuses to tell me why the bells were rung
if they were rung at all.
4) Alexander Bell
The name Alexander Graham Bell - chappie who invented the telephone.
All about communication! The British Telecom advert was the source
of the Steven Hawkings bit in Keep Talking.
5) British colonies
Websearches learned me that a lot of Former British colonies
still use a division bell in their parliament. An example is India.
6) Bells in the album
Also, ever notice there are a lot of bells in the different songs?
7) Bells in other Pink Floyd albums
In Time (PULSE and DSOTM), when Dave sings "Far away accross the fields the tolling
of the iron bell, cause the faithfull to their knees"
and right after "iron bell" they ring the "division bell" sound
which, of course, is also the same bell they play for the song
Grandchester Meadows (Ummagumma), which is part of the trilogy
Notice on PULSE how Sorrow and HH are right next to each other?
Which are part of the Trilogy.
The sound of a tolling bell is the sum of its distinct component
sounds, and more. A bell projects a note from the sound bow just
above its mouth, and at a point about 1/8 the height of the bell
above the mouth it projects a note that's about a third higher.
At a point about 3/4 its height above the mouth it sounds a tone
a fifth above the main tone, and at its shoulder the tone should
be an octave above. There's a tone an octave below the main tone
called the hum tone, which sounds longer than the other tones. So,
a well-made bell strikes a pleasant chord; but it may need to be
ground down after casting to put it in tune with itself (so it will
create an overall harmonious sound). The sound of a bell often has
a mysterious quality that speaks to our hearts and souls.
Likewise, Pink Floyd's music is a synergetic phenomenon that is
more than the sum of the musical styles of its individual members.
When they combine their creativity, a unique Pink Floyd sound is
produced that speaks magically to many of us.
Bells may celebrate great events, or simply be listened to for
pleasure; but a bell can toll with mournful, memorable beauty. It
may be foreboding or jarring as it rings out a warning, or it may
signal "all clear" to our relief. A bell may call us together, or
may guide us through the night or the storm. So it is with PF.
Different people may argue about a bell's overall pitch because
the component sounds are perceived differently by different people.
Also, a bell's tones radiate differently into the area around it, so
the overall tone depends on where the listeners stand. Pink Floyd
is like that too, with all of us hearing something a little different
depending on our personal points of view, which can easily change.
If you trade places with another listener, each of you can come much
closer to perceiving the sound as the other person does.
A bell's sound depends on its blend of metals, and on a myriad of
casting techniques and other things that determine the grain of the
metal in the finished bell and so on. Some bells are cast with flaws
and if they resonate too strongly around a weak point they eventually
crack. When that happens, a mold can be taken from the cracked bell
and it can be recast. It's similar to what has happened to Pink Floyd
when some members left. Bells are exceptionally durable and can still
make a sweet sound even after they suffer many blows.
Perhaps a division bell is quite simple just that: a bell (or possibly
any type of musical intonation), that when sounded, causes division
amongst the hearers of the tone. I realize that I hang upon the Waters
split too much, but it seems to make sense in the context of the enigma.
The group heard the tolling of the Division Bell (possibly the music
they were playing, ala Mark's Big Bong theory), and subsequently split up.
Perhaps it could be a contrast to another bell quote, "tolling on the
iron bell calls the faithful to their knees." A bit of a contrast
there. One bell causes division, and one calls the faithful together.
Maybe, in that context, the bells are symbolic of leaders. Some call
their subjects together, others split them apart. Many such examples
can be seen throughout history. 1) Introduction
2) Pos(t)ing the question
AS SOME OF YOU HAVE SUSPECTED, "The Division Bell" is not
like its predecessors. [....]
How and Where?
The Division Bell
This seems to be a kind of 'irrelevant' but while screening
all the postings from Publius,
I saw that there is something strange.
I will also provide some new data to work with:
My friends
* A recipe for a solution
Review the division bell material
[...]
: and two more -
[...]
A question: what exactly is a division bell and where could
this lead your thoughts?
3) What is a division bell?
DG = David Gilmour.
When a motion has been debated, the speaker "puts the question to the
house". Those in favour shout Aye and those against shout No.
The speaker may then say "I think the Aye's have it" or " I think the
Noes have it" Then if the vote is unclear the speakers decision may
be challenged. He then calls out "clear the Lobbies" that means that
there is going to be a division. Immediatly, the doors at one end of
the lobbies are locked. Electric bells ring everywhere. The police
(and other officialdom were once referred to by hippies as pigs [see note 1])
and attendants shout "Division" all the doors which might impede
passage are fastened open so that nothing can prevent a member from
reaching the Lobby in time.
Those lobbies are on each side of the speakers chair. There are doors at both ends of
the Lobbies. They are so called Division Lobbies because when the
House divides on any questions and the members have to vote, they all
have to pass through these lobbies and are counted as they go by.
The one's voting in favour pass through the door to the right of the
Speakers Chair. It is called the Aye Lobby. Those voting against the
measure go through the No Lobby on the other side, This I understand
is done by entering the Lobbies from the doors at the other end of the
Lobby, so that when they exit they are counted. This can be quite a
mess really as not all MP's are present when a division is called and,
all are expected to vote, they often have to scurry along the
parliamentary corridors to get there in time.
4) And where could this lead your thoughts ?
by Mark Brown
by Jim Bowery
"A question: what exactly is a division bell and where could
this lead your thoughts?"
by Phil
by ??
by Eric Spierings
by Seth T Rivard
by Trever J. Cornwell
5) The Big Bong theory
by Mark Brown
6) The Division Theme
by Kirk R Horter