Take it Back

1. Introduction
2. The Music
3. The Lyrics
4. Strange Sounds
5. The Artwork
6. The Video
7. The Locations

1. Introduction

In februari 1996, we got new interest in the Take it Back video. Soon after we contacted one of the persons who worked on the animated part, I found it time to take a second look at the whole song. Lots of new things were discovered, especially in the video. Of most of the things the relation with our Enigma is still unclear. However, the relevance might be seen later and if not, we at least found a lot of new 'hidden' elements in the work of Floyd.

First we will summarize all the facts in this songs, including the music, lyrics, artwork and videoclip. At the end we will try to connect all these findings and give a possible interpretation.

2. The Music

Here you have a part of Take it Back in midi format. I hope to perfectionize and complete it soon...

3. The Lyrics

The lyrics seem to consist of two layers. The first one is very obvious, about the relation between men and nature. Interestingly, the first strophe contains the classical four elements, earth water, air and fire, from which everything could be derived. It's well known that the Floyd members are categorized as being one of the four elements. As far as I know, this originates from the Wish You Were Here album, where the elements appear on the cover with the mechanical hands. And a reference to this cover might be on the cardboard from the PULSE album.

A short list of the elements, their color and the references in 'Take it Back'. The numbers indicate the line in which you can find the words.

Earth (yellow): earth (4)
Water (green): rains (1), waves on the sea (2)
Air (blue): breeze (1), breathing (2)
Fire (red): burning (3), rage (3), fire (4)

In this part, another classical view appears; the (greek) Gaia idea, mother Earth. The earth is described here as a 'she'. Generally, we can say that the first part describes what mother Earth is doing with the 'I' person. She treating the 'I' person as be it her child, stressing the Mother versus child relation between Nature and Men.

The second strophe (lines 6-9) shows us the way Men treats Nature. Line 6 sets the tone for the way we treat Nature, using negatively sounding words are used like spying, lying, promises I cannot keep. Line 7 might give an indication that Nature initially did nor care. That Nature could overcome the damage Men did to her. Men take a step further (line 8) and we take all that we can take. Continuing till the very end of Nature's flexibility.

In the third strophe (11-14), it is shown that (at least a few) people realize that we are going too far. We see all the things that are going wrong, because they are screaming from all sides. But lots of people ignore the warnings and just continue their harmfull life. They take the easiest way. Then there is the G-d knows I've tried, which seems to be a confession that even the 'I' person has tried to ignore the environmental disasters caused by Mankind. Then the friction in the conscience comes up. All of this temptations, it turned my faith to lies and the lying starts. By adding the words you know in the song, it sounds as a public admission, as if we all know about it. The lying turns into believing the lies and cuts off the link with reality; I couldn't see the danger or hear the rising tide.

Second layer; a relation between two human beings

The second layer is weaker. To get into this layer you only have to see the previous story about the relation between Earth and Mankind as a metaphore for a relation between a man and a woman.

4. Strange Sounds

5. The Artwork

1 2 3
4 5 6

panel 2
Graphic of a white dot fading into blue, with some blue lines orbiting around it. In the lower half we have a blue target, next to the caption

panel 3
stone heads with surf, as described in I.1

superimposed over the picture is

* *  TAKE IT BACK
     (ALBUM VERSION/EDIT)

     song credits/production credits

  *  ASTRONOMY DOMINE (LIVE)

     dito

panel 4
b/w picture of a field with high grass, with lyrics superimposed over it in white. PF logo underneath, followed my song credits and copyrights.

panel 5
stone heads with boy in front of right head, as described in I.1

panel 6
cover as described above.

the CD itself
The CD features the same picture as the cover, in all over print.

the back of the jewel box
The back features a closeup to the same stoneheads with surf as on the inside. A huge target is superimposed over them. In front of this, we have again the songs listed, this time in running order (TIB album, AD, TIB edit), with the targets next to the names (green, blue, light red). Beneath is a miniature copy of the TDB CD UK cover, with the caption Taken from the EMI release THE DIVISION BELL. A green target is next to this caption. Further beneath are again copyrights and an EMI UK logo.

6. The Video clip

For the analysis of the video clip we got help from Rob Bredow, who works at Vision Art and has contributed to the animated part, and from Mark Brickman, hired by Pink FLoyd and responsible for the story boards. Mark Brickman asked for a few 'hidden' images in the animated part of the video clip. The images were depicted on a few stones while the road explodes. The images that can be seen are:

1. The eye and the pyramid from the one dollar billet
2. The hospital beds from the Momentary Lapse of Reason cover
3. B-52 bombers

7. Places connected with 'Take it Back'

Two different places appear in all the things connected with 'Take it Back'. First there is the place where the pictures for the artwork were taken, the fields around Ely cathedral. This place has been visited many times and also one picture from the tree were taken. It shows the rude way people tryed to damage this tree, using a knife for writing things down. It would be hypocritical to write a song about environmental disasters and meanwhile damaging a tree in this way. So I would exclude a connection between the inscription and Pink Floyd / the Enigma.

The second place is the place which was used for the animated part of the video clip. Rob Bredow told us that is was in ......, USA.

8. Trying to explain

The helicopter-like drum rithm migth be a reference to 'Another Brick in the Wall'

From the FAQ we learn that the "ring o' roses" refers to circular rosy rash, which was an early symptom of the Great Plague. People carried herbs in pockets which they thought would protect them against the plague, therefore "a pocket full of posies". "A-tishoo" refers to the final sneeze of the plague, which precedes physical collapse. Finally, "we all fall down" means that all will die.

9. List of contributors