Video hit Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd - High Hopes
"High Hopes" is the eleventh and final track from the 1994 Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell, to be composed by David Gilmour with lyrics by Gilmour and Polly Samson.
It's also the final track that concludes the entire Pink Floyd discography as no other albums have been recorded ever since. Its lyrics speak of the things one may have gained and lost in life, written from Gilmour's autobiographic perspective. Gilmour has said that the song is more about his early days, and leaving his hometown behind, than about the seeds of division supposedly planted in Pink Floyd's early days.
Douglas Adams, a friend of Gilmour, chose the album title from one verse in this song.
Live versions are featured on Pulse, Remember That Night and Live in Gdańsk.
The 7 inch vinyl version of the single was released on a transparent record.
The song is mostly in the key of C minor, and features the sound of a single church bell chiming a 'C' throughout, except for a short section in the middle where the song briefly modulates into E minor for a guitar solo.
In this video record: The Division Bell Tour 1994, Live at Earls Court / PPV.
It is a combination of two sources of the same show (live at earl's court): to the left, the PPV version that was broadcast live on October 1994. To the right, the official PULSE realease.
Cover versions
The song was covered by Shark 'n the Smoke on 2003 tribute album A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd.
The song was covered by Nightwish who released two different live versions; one on the compilation album Highest Hopes: The Best of Nightwish and another one on the DVD End of an Era.
The song was covered by Gregorian for their album Masters of Chant Chapter IV.
The song was covered by the German band Sylvan in 2000 for the album Signs of Life – A Tribute to Pink Floyd.
The song was covered by the French power metal band Karelia in 2005 for the album Raise.
The song was covered by the German Metalcore band Caliban in 2012 for the deluxe version of I Am Nemesis.
The song was covered by the Bosnian band Aesthetic Empathy in 2011.
The lyrics:
Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the Long Road and on down the Causeway
Do they still meet there by the Cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder
Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world
Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever