Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters unveiled a reimagined version of The Wall standout “Comfortably Numb.” The noticeably darker “Comfortably Numb 2022” single, which arrived with a Sean Evans-directed video, was recorded while Waters was touring North America earlier this year.
“During Lockdown I made a demo of a new version of ‘Comfortably Numb‘ as an opener for our new show This Is Not A Drill,” Waters explained. “I pitched it a whole step down, in A Minor, to make it darker and arranged it with no solos, except over the outro chord sequence, where there is a heartrendingly beautiful female vocal solo from Shanay Johnson, one of our new singers.”
Co-produced by Waters and Gus Seyffert, “Comfortably Numb 2022” features strings by Nigel Godrich. Roger Waters (vocals) and touring band members Gus Seyffert (bass, synth, percussion, vocals), Joey Waronker (drums), Dave Kilminster (vocals), Jonathan Wilson (harmonium, synth, guitar, vocals), Jon Carin (synth, vocals), Shanay Johnson (vocals), Amanda Belair (vocals) and Robert Walter (organ, piano) also contributed to the track.
Spanning nearly nine minutes, the reworked take is over two minutes longer than the original found on 1979’s The Wall. Waters played the revised version at each stop of his North American tour. Watch the “Comfortably Numb 2022” video below:
