DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

MS. Hebelyn Caro

SONG ANALYSIS
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

By Jessica Pea, Jhon Carvajal and Javier Landinez

This was a song written by the British musician and composer
Roger Waters. Starting by the tone in which the song was
composed (D minor), we can say that it is sad and charged with
hatred and resentment; maybe something that Roger Waters felt
when he was a student and his teachers were too strict with him.
Waters considered that teachers used their authority to force
students be part of the system at the same time that they didnt
allow them to be themselves; turning them just in another brick in
the wall something useful for the society.
The song starts with the next sentence; which is yelled by male
voice:
You, yes you, stand still, lady
The expression clearly shows the way military leaders talk to the soldiers and the offensive way they call them:
Ladies. With this utterance the composer wants people to understand that teachers behaved like militaries
and that students were being treated like soldiers.
After this short imperative, expressive and meaningful sentence, Waters continues with an introduction that
gives us a clear idea of the way that teachers mistreated and humiliated students:

When we grew up and went to school

There were certain teachers
Who would hurt the children in any way pouring their derision
ay they could
Upon anything we did
Exposing every weakness
However carefully hidden by the kids
With a low pitch and a dark voice, the author complains about the painful words teachers used with their
students. He says he felt hurt in many ways; not able to hide his weaknesses because teachers always found
the way of bringing them into public view. Despite of this sad statement, there is something positive hidden in
all this, and it is that he says that some teachers" caused that damage to the kids; it means not all teachers
were mean and acted like army generals, just some of them. The song continues as follows:

But in the town it was well known

When they got home at night
Their fat and psychopathic wives would trash them
Within inches of their lives
Now with a much higher pitch and a more expressive voice, the song writer reveals that behind these men who
dare to punish and put students into ridicule at school, at home have a completely different behavior and have
a different situation in which they pass from dominant to dominated; their wives are the ones who are in charge
and maybe treated them in the same way they treat their students. Now the roles are swapped and the
teachers assume a submissive attitude towards their wives whom seem to be stronger and with a worse
temper than them.
Then, we are finally able to listen to the theme of the song; the chorus and the most important part of this
masterpiece. Musical instruments like the drums, the guitar and the bass guitar have a much more marked
rhythm and pace. This part makes us imagine all the students marching like soldiers and the lyrics are as
follows:
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave those kids alone
Hey, Teacher, leave those kids alone
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
This part is so important that we will paraphrase it and will explain it sentence by sentence
We don't need no education
Teachers are just worried to make students part of the system; teaching is an industrial process where there is
concern for students' results in the society, but not for their development and growing as human beings. What
students need is real education.
We don't need no thought control
It is not necessary to be hard with the students; discipline with love would be more than enough. This aspect
didn't allow students to develop creativity; they just have to memorize a lot of things and do what exactly what
teachers asked them to do.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers were not only being too strict but also cruel; by highlighting the students' weaknesses and defects
they were creating people full of hatred and resentment. It is clear that sarcasm shouldn't be words used by a
teacher and these kinds of words should never be used in a classroom.

Teacher, leave those kids alone

It is like a voice of protest where the singer says "hey, come on, stop bothering and mistreating students!" He
thinks this is not a good strategy to be used at school, because it is not creating students with values and
positive things but people full of fear to failure. He emphasizes this sentence by saying it twice.
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall
Maybe the expression that defines the whole sense and meaning of the song; it says that these students were
just a small piece in the huge mechanism that makes up a society. Just another sheep from the herd willing to
obey the masters or shepherd's voice. Be part of the system was the most important part for the current
society, and not to develop an individual thinking and analysis of surrounding things and situations.
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
He says that not only he was forced to be part of the system, but also the rest of the people around the world.
He continues with another stanza that says as follows.
I don't need no arms around me
And I don't need no drugs to calm me
I havent seen the writing on the wall
Don't think I need anything at all
No, don't think I need anything at all
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall
In this phrase arms are mentioned in a figurative sense; they are described as a barrier that didn't allow people
to be as they were, act as they wanted to. Of course drugs were something forbidden for people, as it is also
nowadays in most of the world, but the writer complains and says that sometimes he needed them to be
relaxed, and was pissed off because there were some people who used to tell him that they were harmful for
him.
He says he has seen all around him the things the society wants him to do; they are instructions to follow and
successfully be part of the system, but he doesn't want that, he doesn't need those guidelines; just wants to be
a free person. He finally repeats that we are all just a small part in this big gear; we are just part of the system,
just another brick in the wall.