All rock fans know The Wall. The album about the fictional rockstar who, after going through a life of traumatic events, builds a metaphorical wall around him to close him off from the outside world, before then being dosed with “medication” that results in a Nazi leader hallucination. If that doesn’t ring any bells, it’s also the album with the “Leave us kids alone” song on there. There you go, should be much more familiar to you now.

‘Nobody Home’ was one of the last songs written for the double album. The story goes that bassist Roger Waters was arguing with the rest of his bandmates about songwriting contributions. Surprise, surprise, am I right? Someone said if he was so good why didn’t he write something. And that’s what he did. He went home, wrote this track, came into the studio a couple days and showed everybody what he’d done. The rest of the band were impressed, and so it came to be the third track on the album’s second half. In terms of the album’s story, the track captures the Pink character in his comatose state, staring blankly at the television in a trashed hotel room, who then proceeds to list the useless things he possesses that keep him going that little bit. What he doesn’t have though, which probably matters the most, is the love of his wife who doesn’t pick up the phone when he tries to call home. The song ends abruptly after the start of what would be another verse, possibly because Pink loses consciousness again, before transitioning into the album’s next track ‘Vera’.

In my eyes, the track is one of the finest on The Wall. The double record goes off the wall at the majority of times, pardon the pun, it could probably turn some people off. But there’s something so graceful about this track. Sure, the narrator’s not in the greatest of places. But that grand piano and glorious orchestra aid in bringing a majestic-like quality to the production. Waters’ vocal delivery is top-notch. Doesn’t really go above anything than a murmur until the “Oooh, babe!” moment which is chill-inducing. And I have some appreciation for those other little musical/production choices. Like that panning heartbeat-like synthesizer during the intro, or the fact that Waters’ vocal echoes on itself to create its own rhythm. A lot of strong moments just in this one song. Could listen to it all the time.