David Gilmour features on the new Body Count single, a cover of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb, their classic track from 1979's The Wall album.
Body Count, rapper Ice-T's heavy metal band who rose to prominence on the back of the controversial Cop Killer from their 1991 self-titled debut album, will release their new album, Merciless, through Century Media Records on November 22. It's the follow-up to 2020's Carnivore.
Comfortably Numb famously explores themes of detachment and introspection that run throughout The Wall, and which inspired Ice-T to create new lyrics for the track, which resonated with Gilmour, leading to his offer to play on the song.
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"Body Count's version of Comfortably Numb is quite radical, but the words really struck me," says Gilmour of the collaboration. "It astonishes me that a tune I wrote almost 50 years ago is back with this great new approach. They've made it relevant again. The initial contact from Ice-T was for permission to use the song, but I thought I might offer to play on it as well. I like the new lyrics, they're talking about the world we’re living in now, which is quite scary. Ice-T and Body Count played in London recently, sadly I couldn't make it, but if another opportunity came up to play with them, I'd jump at it."
"For me, Comfortably Numb, is an introspective song – it's me acknowledging that I'm older now," adds Ice T. "I'm telling the younger generation, you've got two choices: you can keep the fire burning or you can give up. It's me trying to make sense of what's happening, but also pointing out that we're all in a place where we don’t have to face reality. We've got flat-screen TVs and popcorn, and we can just sit back and watch the chaos of the world like it’s a TV show. It doesn’t feel real until it shows up at your door. I’m a little numb, too – we all are."
