The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hicking

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Produceret af Roger Waters og Michael Kamen
Udgivet 1984 af Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd

Dengang Floyd skulle igang med et nyt projekt efter Animals, kom Waters med to demobånd til de andre medlemmer. Gilmour tog dem begge med hjem og lyttede dem igennem. Han vurderede at det der var mest potientiale i, var det der så senere blev til The Wall. Du har nok gættet nu hvad det andet demobåd var.

Pladen blev først sendt på gaden i 1984, altså efter The Final Cut og efter filmen The Wall. Hvad angår filmen The Wall, så sidder Pink jo på toilettet (Stop) til sidst i filmen og resiterer først et par linier fra The Final Cut (Your Possible Pasts) og derefter et par linier fra The Pros and Cons (5.11 AM -The Moment of Clarity) :

Put out my hand, just to touch your soft hair.
To make sure in the darkness, that you where still there.
And I have to admit, I was just a little afraid.
of the ones living under the dirty old knife.
And the ones who where pointed with guns to their backs

Som man kan se er teksten ændret lidt siden, da de sidste to linier ikke nåede med på pladen.

Weishman: "Apparently they were traveling abroad
and they picked up some hitchhikers"
Surgeon: "Drill"
Man: "Oh God..."
Wife: "Wake up you're dreaming."
Man: "What?"
Wife: "You're dreaming."
Man: "We were moving away from the border."
Wife: "Huh, what border?"
Hells Angel: "Have a nice day."
Wife: "Huh?"
Hells Angel: "Have a nice day."

We were moving away from the border
Looking for somewhere to sleep
The two of us sharing the driving
Two hitch hikers slumped in the back seat

I sneaked a quick look in the mirror
She gave me a smile
I said "Is anyone hungry?
Should we stop for a while?"
So we pulled off into a lay by
Her dress blew up over her head
I said "Would you like to come with me?"
She said something foreign under her breath
And the sun shone down on her lovely young limbs
I thought to myself she's too good for me
I lay down beside her with tears in my eyes
She said

So I stood by the roadside
the soles of my running shoes gripping the tarmac
like gun metal magnets
Fixed on the front of her Fassbinder face
was the kind of a smile
that only a rather dull child could have drawn
while attempting a graveyard in the moonlight
but then she was impressed
you could see that she thought I looked fine
and when she turned sweeter
the reason, between you and me, was
she'd just seen my green Lamborghini

So we went for a spin in the country
to feel the wind in our hair
To feel the power of my engine
To feel the thrill of desire

And then in the trees I heard a twig snap
Warning lights flashed on my map
I opened my eyes and to my surprise

there were Arabs with knives
at the foot of the bed
Right at the foot of the bed

Oh my God how did they get in here?
I thought we wee safe home in England
She said "Come on now kid, it was wrong what you did
You've got to admit it was wrong what you did.
You've got to admit it was wrong."

Through closed eyes
I see West German skies on the ceiling
And I want to get back
to the girl with the rucksack
to feel her flaxen hair
I want to be there
See the sun going down
behind Krupps steelworks
on the outskirts of some German town

Mein host: "Guten Abend meinen Damen und Herren Ha Ha Ha Ha"
"Willkommen in Königsburg Ha Ha Ha Ha"
"Wollen Sie tanzen mit mir oder trinken mehr Ha Ha Ha Ha"

Thank you but......
this young lady and I
will just finish this bottle of wine
It was kind of you...but
I think we'll just say goodnight.

Man: "Leave us alone"
Man: "Could I have the key to one-four-three please?"
Room clerk: "There you are"
Man: "Thank you, goodnight"

Room clerk: "Goodnight sir".
Man: "Hello yes I'd like to order breakfast please
I'd like coffee for two,
and toast with marmalade.
No...marmalade."

For the first time today
I help her naked body next to mine
In this hotel overlooking the Rhine
I made her mine
Ooh babe...ooh babe
come with me and stay with me
Please stay with me
Stay with me

Hey...girl
Take out the dagger
and let's have a stab at the sexual revolution
Hey girl
let freedom for all be our rallying call
tomorrow lets make...our new resolution
Yeah, but tonight lie still
while I plunder your sweet grave
and remember
only the poor can be saved

Hey girl
as I've always said I prefer your lips red
Not what the good Lord made
but what he intended
Hey girl
don't point the finger at me
I am only a rat in a maze like you
and only the dead go free
So...please hold my hand
as we blunder through the maze
and remember
nothing can grow without rain

Don't point
don't point your finger at me

I woke in a fever
The bedclothes were all soaked in sweat
She said "You've been having a nightmare
and it's not over yet"
Then she picked up the doggy in the window
(The one with the waggly tail)
and she put him to bed
between two bits of bread

I just cowered in the corner
My pajama coat over my head
and she smiled as she finished her sandwich
And her cold eyes fixed me to my dark history
as she brushed the remains
of our love from the bed
And when she had turned back the covers
when all of the prayers had been read
she said "Come on over here you silly boy
before you catch your death of cold
I was only joking"
"Let's leave behind the city grime
Let's not compete
it could be fine in the country"
"Couldn't it though...come on let's go"
I said "OK"

Jade: "Are we going to go now?"
Man: "Where would you like to go darling?
Wife: "Mmm...Vermont...Wyoming (yes)
Man: "Wyoming...uh huh, Children"
Justin: "What?"
Man: "We're going to Wyoming.
Darling... Which way is Wyoming?"
Wife: "Hook a right here.
You're going the wrong way"
Man: "I know that.
I know children...
let's see how many...Volvos we pass
on the way to our new life in the country
...One"
Wife: "Jade don't do that, that's really negative"

As cars go by I cast my mind's eye
over back packs on roof racks
beyond the horizon
Where dream makers
working white plastic processors
invite the unwary
to reach for the pie in the sky
Go fishing my boy!

We set out in the spring
with a trunk full of books about everything
About solar devices
and how nice natural childbirth is
We cut down some trees
and trailed our ideals
through the forest glade
We dammed up the stream
and the kids cooled their heels
in the fishing pool we'd made

We held hands and we exchanged bands
and we practically lived off the land
You adopted a fox cub
whose mother was somebody's coat
You fed him by hand
and then snuggled him down
in the grandfather bed while I wrote
We grew our own maize
and I only occasionally went into town
to stock up on antibiotics
and shells for the shotgun that I kept around
I told the kids stories
while you worked your loom
and the sun went down sooner each day.

Man: "Chapter six in which Eeyore has a birthday
And gets two presents"
Jade: "Daddy...come on dad"
Man: "Eeyore the old gray donkey stood by the side
of the stream and he looked at himself in the water
"Pathetic" he said, "That's what it is"
"Good morning Eeyore" said Pooh

"Oh" said Pooh, He thought for a long time"

The leaves all fell down
Our crops all turned brown
It was over
As the first snowflakes fell
I realized all was not well in the camp
The kids caught bronchitis
The space heater ran out of diesel
One weekend a friend from the East
rot his soul
stole your heard
I said "Fuck it then
Take the kids back to town
Maybe I'll see you around"

And so...leaving all our hopes and dreams
to the wind and the rain
Taking only our stash
left our litter and trash
and set out on the road again
On the road again

Jade: "Bye Bye Daddy."
Justin: "You can bring Pearl she's a darn nice girl
But don't bring Liza....."

For the first time today
I feel it's really over
You were my everyday excuse
for playing deaf, dumb and blind
Who'd have ever thought
this was how it would end for you and me
To carry my own millstone
out of the trees
And I have to admit
I don't like it a bit
being left here beside this lonesome road.
Lonesome road
Lonesome road

I nailed ducks to the wall
Kept my heart in dark ruins
I built bungalows all over the hills
Dunroamin, duncarin, dunlivin
Took my girl to the country
to sleep out under the moon
Next thing she's going crazy

She waits for the real Mr. Right to come
gently removing her heart
With his promises of real communication

With his neat feet
and his clean fingernails
with his wise but twinkling eyes
he's a rock standing out in an ocean of doubt

and compromise
I'd like to go on with this bit of a song
describing this schmuck
I'd like to go on, but I'm going to throw up

An angel on a Harley
pulls across to greet a fellow rolling stone
Puts his bike up on it's stand
leans back and then extends
a scared and greasy hand...he said

Then he takes your hand
in some strange Californian handshake
and breaks the bone

A housewife from Encino
whose husband's on the golf course
with his book of rules
breaks and makes a 'U' and idles back
to take a second look at you
You flex your rod
Fish takes the hook
Sweet vodka and tobacco in her breath
Another number in your little black book

These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
These are the pros and cons of hitch hiking
Oh babe, I must be dreaming
I was standing on the leading edge
The Eastern seaboard spread before my eyes
"Jump" says Yoko Ono
"I'm scared and too good looking" I cried
"Go on", she says
"Why don't you give it a try?
Why prolong the agony all men must die"

Do you remember Dick Tracy?
Do you remember Shane?

The bitch said something mystical "Herro"
so I stepped back on the kerb again

These are the pros and cons of hitch hiking
These are the pros and cons of hitch hiking
Oh babe, I must be dreaming again
These are the pros and cons of hitch hiking

Waitress: "Hello...you wanna cup of coffee?"
Trucker: "Hey, turn the fucking juke box down"
"You want to turn down that juke box
it's damn loud in here"
Waitress: "I'm sorry. Would you like a cup of coffee?
OK. You take cream and sugar?"
"Sure"

In truck stops and hamburger joints
in Cadillac limousines
in the company of has-beens
and bent-backs
and sleeping forms on pavement steps
in libraries and railway stations
in books and banks
in the pages of history
in suicidal cavalry attacks
I recognize
myself in every stranger's eyes
And in wheelchairs by monuments
under tube trains in commuter accidents
in council care and county courts
at Easter fairs in sea-side resorts
in drawing rooms and city morgues
in award winning photographs
of life rafts in the China seas
in transit camps, under arc lamps
On loading ramps
In faces blurred by rubberstamps
I recognize...
myself in every strangers eyes.

And now
from where I stand
upon this hill I plundered from the pool
I look around, I search the skies
I shade my eyes, so nearly blind
And I see signs of half remembered days
I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways
I recognize
the hope you kindle in your eyes

It's oh so easy now
as we lie here in the dark
Nothing interferes it's obvious
how to beat the tears
that threaten to snuff out
the spark of our love

And the moment of clarity
faded like charity does
sometimes
I opened one eye
and I put out my hand just to touch your soft hair
to make sure in the darkness that you were still there
and I have to admit
I was just a little afraid, oh yeah
But then...
I had a little bit of luck
you were awake
I couldn't take another moment alone.