Pink Floyd: Welcome to the Machine Meaning

Welcome to the Machine Lyrics

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been?
It's alright we know where you've been.
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,
Provided with toys and 'Scouting for Boys'.
You bought a guitar to punish your ma,
And you...

1. anonymous

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   Apr 17th 2011 !⃝

   The song is about government control and dystopia.
2. Damian

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   Mar 10th 2011 !⃝

   You're all crazy.... It's about being born into the world in which we live. We are born into a certain culture that has a pre-determined path due to history. Through school and government in which we are forced to live, breathe and learn.... we are programmed. It's a well oiled machine because it's withheld the sands of time and will be not only engrained in our minds through genetics but also through practice. Pink Floyd collectively are independent thinkers like most other "weird" people in the world.... that's why although Dark Side has been number one since it came out... Pink Floyd has really never obtained mainstream success... because they are brilliant and have an outlook on life that doesn't fit in because it doesn't just go with the flow. In Fact! It totally goes against the flow and challenges none other than THE MACHINE ITSELF....
3. Petro16

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   Oct 28th 2010 !⃝

   I don't have a full interpretation but I notice a lot of people saying they think "the machine" is about people. Or the government. Or about life, there all good but I thought "the machine" is life it's self not just one component of life
4. AudioVibe

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   Oct 13th 2010 !⃝

   To me this song is about a young man who joins a rock band thinking that he will now start living the perfect lifestyle, but as he begins his journey with the band, he starts to receive prophecies from the veteran members of the band indicating that it might not be as much fun as he thought it would be and maybe even quite the opposite of the glamorous life he had previously envisioned.
5. latrodectus

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   Jul 2nd 2010 !⃝

   I would have to agree with what everyone has said, it has all been along relevant lines. Think about it. Whether, we are talking about contracts, corporations, or governments...they all function the same. They have their secrets, their legal or questionable tactics. I've worked for two corporations so far (major cruise lines), I understand very well, the scariness of being a part of it, as well as, making connections between Government and other corporations. They are the rude of all evil and I think that's what Water's means to expound on. Water's wouldn't just be referring to a musical contract, the band wasn't that self centered, they have something to say to all of us. That's the way times were back then, everyone was family.
6. anonymous

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   Apr 24th 2010 !⃝

   well, that's a good one any way. let's say a perfect one! u know sometimes some of us r put in a state of neglect by those around us and the whole things surrounding us perhaps, but at the same time we're rather watched and checked all the time. or is that merely an illusion we prefer to emerge? i have no idea of the rationale behind that, though just guess that we're more neglected in life than watched!
   by the way can any one possibly find a relation between this song of pink Floyd and little Susie by Micheal Jackson???
7. crazyeyes

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   Mar 28th 2010 !⃝

   Many pink Floyd Lyrics have to do with the iiluminati and the New World Order the shadow Government that run congress and have completely owned every president in the last century, they are the Global elite; Major bank owners, Major media owners, and all the major corperations. Who meet in secret with all the major political figures in the US and across the globe to plot their plan to bankrupt America and the Global economy to merge us into a World Government with one world currency while turning us all into their finnacial slaves
8. jeagle

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   Mar 19th 2010 !⃝

   Lairandir your an asshole you don't break down other peoples interpretations and just think yours is it. people can interpret songs anyway they want it doesn't matter what yours is. people like Pink Floyd and red hot chili peppers put their own meanings in their songs but it opens other people up to interpret it the way they think the song speaks to them. So shut your trap dude fuck you.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 17th 2009 !⃝

   I think "the machine" is the world and we are all just the governments little robots.
10. FloydFanatic

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    Jan 27th 2009 !⃝

    In addition to seeing 3 live Pink Floyd concerts (although none with R.W. and D.G. Together) I have read 2 biographies and own every album and DVD. Nothing has proved definitively the meaning, and that is the beauty of great lyrics! I lean toward the war theory on this song but Have A Cigar is clearly a lash back at the music moguls wanting ever more. Off subject while PF was recording darksidemoon, three doors down on abbey road - beatles were recording SGT.PepsLHCB. They actually dropped in to meet the PF legends....
11. anonymous

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    Sep 15th 2008 !⃝

    They had so many compilation albums with the same songs that seems like a money-making marketing scheme. Wish You Were Here was released in 1975, just two years after immensely successful Dark Side of the Moon. We know how the record companies basically own the musicians and get way more money from anything they produce from the Beatles to NWA and many others. It seems EMI would be pretty happy at that point and would have a vested interest to keep track of them and keep them full of schedules with promos, interviews, tours and all that. The lyrics are definitely the mode of control. I doubt communistic control or a technological control since it was 1975. It's like the record company is holding their lives against them, they know everything about them, they can pick at their personal lives, they have no where to go because no one could turn down the opportunity they were given. Rodger was exclaiming metaphorically how the record company has invaded every inch of their lives and exaggerated it "it's alright we told you what to dream" coupled with all the acid in his tea, he probably felt trapped and mind fucked. So, I agree it makes sense to be about EMI records.
12. PAJOFLOYD

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    Jul 27th 2008 !⃝

    There are plenty of things we can relate these lyrics to.
    Some think Pink Floyd lyrics are mostly related to hard drug trips...of course it often fits but you guys have to look further than dope.
    The way I see "Welcome to the Machine" is the Control that society gets on you.
    Mostly it tells about the Rock Star Fame "cycle"...abusing your talent for money, and how much the "machine" is guiding you through your fame; "What did you dream? its alright we told you what to dream."
13. ziadog

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    Jul 9th 2008 !⃝

    To me this is a realization of the loss of control. The acute understanding that you are no longer a rudder to your own destiny, however willing it may have been. I could only imagine that Waters was reflecting on the day that they signed their first professional contract at the EMI offices in London. It must have been a great day of liberation to know that they would have some form of assurance that they could be artists and survive doing so. The retrospective tone the song portrays, Waters now realizes he and his mates put themselves in the hands of forces well beyond their control. Understanding all of this, he is admitting that the price of artistry and success means... SELLING OUT. This theme is expounded upon in Have A Cigar.
14. anonymous

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    Mar 21st 2007 !⃝

    Whoever said y'all are over interpreting it to be something it is not. It says bluntly in the song "And did you exchange a walk on part in the WAR for a lead Role in a cage" clearly stating the obvious. The cd came out shortly after the Vietnam war finally came to an end. "A smile from a veil" which is commonly seen at funerals. "Trade your heroes for ghosts" we all know that veterans our found to be heroes and they do die in wars. And even at one of their concerts "Delicate Sound Of Thunder" it shows in the back ground footages of the war during the song. So that's the simple facts. wrong song, that's wish you were here.
    
    Also I personally thing that this song is in fact about Syd Barret, and how when they first started out they were unknown and pretty much became famous over the coarse of a week, and the noise at the beginning or end(I don't remember which) at first its a steady tone and then suddenly and rapidly raises high, and at its peak stays there and then drops rapidly, but at first it's about how fast they got famous then when it drops it reffers to syd barret comes crashing down and gose insane.
15. Bcacks

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    Feb 15th 2007 !⃝

    aside from all the government related opinions this song also sorta means that opinion has no relevance. That having an opinion on something basically means your just agreeing with someone whos said something you understand, and that no matter what you say or think it really doesn't matter cause someone else told you or suggested that you should think it

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