Pink Floyd debuted their song “On the Turning Away” on their 1987 album “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”. The song gives the consistent message that as people when tend to turn away from those in need and often put ourselves above them.

The song starts out with just a fluctuating synth bass line giving the beginning of the piece an eerie feeling. The lead singer, David Gilmore, then comes in with an echo backing singing the words “On the turning away from the pale and downtrodden”. In this line, Gilmore draws direct attention to the problem by using the word “downtrodden” representing those in need who are looked down upon by those “above” them.

In the second stanza, Gilmore sings about people’s tendency to just accept a situation and not do anything about it. For example, oftentimes when people see a homeless person on the side of the road, they just pass them by without a second thought. Or as said in Gilmore’s words, they accept “What’s happening as just a case of other’s suffering”. He then goes on to say that by just accepting an unfortunate situation, one is joining in “the turning away”.

In the third stanza, an acoustic guitar is added in while Gilmore goes on to express that the action of people “turning away” has become so common and second nature that “it’s a sin that somehow light is changing to shadow”. By the phrase “light is changing to shadow”, Gilmore is explaining that turning away from those in need has become acceptable, thus, being changed from a sin to a commonality.

In the fourth stanza, Gilmore sings the line “unaware how the ranks have grown”. This line exemplifies how the amount of people who ignore those in need has grown. He also relates this group of people to a military by using the term “ranks”, drawing even more attention to how large the amount of people is that don’t put a second thought to helping those in need. He continues this stanza by saying those who just turn away are “driven on by a heart of stone”.

In the fifth stanza, Gilmore sings about how the “speechless unite”. Here he is referring to those that have stayed silent finally uniting together to do something about the problem of ignoring those in need. Then, in the next stanza, he sings about the “new wind of change” that has come from the power of the silent to speak up. The song then goes into a powerful electric guitar interlude giving the feeling of strength and the ability to change.

Finally, in the last couple of stanzas, Gilmore changes the initial lyric of “turning away” to “no more turning away” signifying that there has been a change, that enough is finally enough. He sings to no longer turn away from “the weak and the weary” nor “from the coldness inside”. Here Gilmore is drawing direct attention to the fact that turning away from those in need is a personal decision.

The song ends with the lyric “is it only a dream that there’ll be no more turning away?”. This final lyric leaves the listener with the realization that they have the ability to change the central conflict of the song. That they can choose to no longer turn away.