3/20/2016 , , , ,
Pink Floyd - When The Tigers Broke Fre
Pink Floyd - When The Tigers Broke Free


Pink Floyd - When The Tigers Broke Free Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Echoes - The Best Of Pink Floyd
Released: 1982

When The Tigers Broke Free Lyrics


It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black '44
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn
And the generals gave thanks
As the other ranks
Held back the enemy tanks for a while
And the Anzio bridghead was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives

And kind old King George sent mother a note
When he heard that father was gone
It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll
With gold leaf and all
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away
And my eyes still grow damp
To remember
That his majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp

It was dark all around
There was frost in the ground
When The Tigers Broke Free
And no one survived from the Royal Fusiliers, Company see
They were all left behind
Most of them dead
The rest of them dying
And that's how the high command
Took my daddy from me

Writer/s: WATERS, ROGER
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

When The Tigers Broke Free Song Chart
  • Roger Waters wrote this about his father, who died in World War II at Anzio, Italy in 1944. Roger was just five months old when his father was killed. The feeling of loss became a theme in Roger's songs, many of which dealt with military themes and the repercussions of war.
  • Released as a single in 1982, this song did not appear on an album until it was used on Pink Floyd's 2001 Greatest Hits compilation. It also appeared on the reissued version of The Final Cut in 2003.
  • This was used in Pink Floyd's movie The Wall. It appeared in the "Enemy Bridge Was Held" and "High Command" sections, when Pink sees his dad loading a gun and dusting his army uniform. (thanks, patrick - Chicago, IL)
  • Original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett also lost his father, who died when he was 14. It may have contributed to the mental illness that forced him out of the band.
  • In this song, Roger Waters sings about finding a letter that "His Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp." Waters says that he was trying on his father's uniform when he found a condolence letter from George VI, which was indeed signed with a rubber stamp. He found the replica signature particularly disturbing, since his dad gave up his life for the country. He would have preferred an actual signature, even if it was simply on behalf of the King.