Waiting for the Worms Lyrics

[Verse 2: David Gilmour & Roger Waters]
Would you like to see Britannia rule again
(Would you like to see us rule again)
My friend?

All you have to do is follow the worms
Would you like to send our coloured cousins home again
(Would you like to send them home again)
My friend?

All you need to do is follow the worms

[Outro: Roger Waters]
The Worms will convene outside Brixton Bus Station, where we'll be moving along at about 12 o'clock down Stockwell Road
At that point, we'll be heading towards Lambeth Road, where we will walk calmly with resistance, leaving twelve minutes to three as we move along Lambeth Road towards Vauxhall Bridge
Now when we get to the other side of Vauxhall Bridge, we're in Westminister Borough area. It's quite possible that we may encounter some Jew boys all the way from 4, 5, and 6 on the way as we go
Now is the time to clean up the city, for this is the beginning! We need to secure our people! We can't stand around and let ourselves be robbed, maimed, and killed!
And when we make it to the Highclock Corner, I want you to spread out and find them!
Storm the halls, and then tear the walls and the doors! Break down the doors and hunt them where they are!
(Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Hammer!)
Stop!

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About

Genius Annotation

Pink wars within himself as his insane, dictator rants culminate in shouts of ethnic cleansing, effectively turning him into the very sort of force that killed his father.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Pink Floyd say about "Waiting for the Worms"?
Genius Answer

“Waiting for the Worms” in theatrical terms is an expression of what happens in the show, when the drugs start wearing off and what real feelings he’s got left start taking over again, and he is forced by where he is, because he’s been dragged out his real real feelings. Until you see either the show or the film of this thing you won’t know why people are shouting “hammer,” but the hammer, we’ve used the hammer as a symbol of the forces of oppression if you like. And the worms are, the thinking part. Where it goes into the “waiting” sections…

Yeah, before it goes “waiting to cut out the deadwood” you hear a voice through a loud-hailer, it starts off, it goes “testing, one two,” or something, and then it says “we will convene at one o'clock outside Brixton Town Hall,” and it’s describing the situation of marching towards some kind of National Front rally in Hyde Park. Or anybody, I mean the National Front are what we have in England but it could be anywhere in the world. So all that shouting and screaming…because you can’t hear it you see, if you listen very carefully you might hear, er, Lambeth Road, and you might hear Vauxhall Bridge and you might hear the words “Jewboys,” er, “we might encounter some Jewboys” it’s just me ranting on.

Roger Waters, Radio 1

What is the idea behind this song?
Genius Answer

In an interview with Tommy Vance, Roger Waters explains:

The idea is that the drugs wear off and in “Waiting for the Worms” he keeps flipping backwards and forwards from his real, or his original persona if you like, which is a reasonably kind of humane person into this waiting for the worms to come, persona, which is crack!, flipped, and is ready to crush anybody or anything that gets in the way…which is a response to having been badly treated, and feeling very isolated. But at the end of “Waiting for the Worms” it gets too much for him, the oppression and he says “stop.” I don’t think you can actually hear the word “stop” on the record, or maybe you can, anyway it goes “STOP,” yeah, it’s very quick, and then he says “I wanna go home, take off this uniform and leave the show,” but he says “I’m waiting in this prison cell because I have to know, have I been guilty all this time” and then he tries himself if you like. So the judge is part of him just as much as all the other characters and things he remembers…they’re all in his mind, they’re all memories, anyway, at the end of it all, when his judgment on himself is to de-isolate himself, which in fact is a very good thing.

Credits
Written By
Drums By
Hammond Organ By
Piano By
Prophet 5
Lead Vocals By
Electric Guitars by
Mastering
Sound Equipment
Voice Effects
EMS VCS 3
Recorded At
Brittania Row, London; Super Bear Studios, France; Studio Miraval, France; Producer's Workshop, Hollywood
Release Date
November 30, 1979
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