Even David Gilmour fans that don’t think much of rap music or thrash metal should give Body Count’s reinvention of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” intriguing. First of all, the song featured wall-to-wall guitar leads played by none other than Gilmour, himself. And, Body Count frontman Ice-T has turned the psychedelic classic about chemical sedation, detachment, and retrospection into an inflammatory call to arms.
“Body Count’s version of ‘Comfortably Numb’ is quite radical,” agrees Gilmour. “But the words really struck me. It astonishes me that a tune I wrote almost 50 years ago is back with this great new approach. They’ve made it relevant again.”
Ice-T, a lifelong fan of classic rock, contacted Gilmour for permission to use the song on the upcoming Body Count album Merciless (out November 22). The guitarist gave Ice his blessings and then made an offer the actor/rapper/metal frontman couldn’t refuse.
“I thought I might offer to play on it as well,” Gilmour says. “I like the new lyrics, they’re talking about the world we’re living in now, which is quite scary. Ice-T and Body Count played in London recently. Sadly I couldn’t make it, but if another opportunity came up to play with them, I’d jump at it.”
For Ice-T having Gilmour on the track was a dream come true, and it provided more punch to his political reinterpretation of the original. “For me, ‘Comfortably Numb’ is an introspective song,” says Ice. “It’s me acknowledging that I’m older now. I’m telling the younger generation, ‘You’ve got two choices: You can keep the fire burning or you can give up.’ It’s me trying to make sense of what’s happening, but also pointing out that we’re all in a place where we don’t have to face reality.”
And what does giving up mean, exactly? If we all tune out all the verbal (and sometimes physical) fusillades from the left and the right, if we stay at home instead of taking a stand and exercising our right to vote. If we choose to become comfortably numb instead of making a statement, what then? “We’ve got flat-screen TVs and popcorn, and we can just sit back and watch the chaos of the world like it’s a TV show,” Ice says. “It doesn’t feel real until it shows up at your door. I’m a little numb, too—we all are.”
As for Gilmour, at least on a musical level, he’s not about to give up and continues to find new approaches to trademark sounds. His most recent album Luck and Strange has been critically and commercially acclaimed. The week after release it topped the UK charts and entered the US Billboard Hot 200 album charts at number six, marking Gilmour’s first solo album to hit the top 10.
Watch an eighteen-minute-long video about the making of Luck and Strange.
To keep the momentum going, Gilmour will stage two rehearsal performances for the Luck and Strange mini-tour at Brighton Centre on September 20th (Evening) and 21st (Matinee). Only 1,500 tickets were sold for each show and they went exclusively to fans who purchased Luck and Strange on Gilmour’s UK album store.
The shows will offer an exclusive preview of David’s forthcoming live performances in Rome, London, Los Angeles, and New York.
