One Of My Turns

Album: The Wall (1979)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is part of Pink Floyd's grandiose concept album The Wall, which tells the story of a rock star named Pink who eventually becomes a cult-like leader. In the song, he invites a groupie into his room but is consumed in a fit of madness - one of his "turns" of personality.

    The album is the creation of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and is in some ways an amplified version of his own story. That's Waters on lead vocals.
  • The song is very disjointed, reflecting Pink's state of mind. It opens with dialogue where we hear the groupie, played by Trudy Young, buttering up Pink, telling him how impressed she is with his digs. But Pink turns melancholy as soft keyboards play. Then the full instrumentation hits as he loses it, frightening the girl.
  • The Wall's producer, Bob Ezrin, thought of the album as a theatrical experience, and he cites this song as an example of that vision. He told Rolling Stone: "My vision for it was informed by the LP of the 1966 film A Man For All Seasons - all the dialogue, music and sound effects. I used to put it on and close my eyes - it was an eyelid movie."
  • On the album, "One Of My Turns" begins with a dial tone, picking up where the phone call from the previous track, "Young Lust," leaves off. The songs on the album are held together by segues and transitions to create one cohesive piece.
  • This song plays out visually in the 1982 movie adaptation of The Wall, where Bob Geldof plays Pink and Jenny Wright is the unfortunate groupie.

Comments: 33

  • Greg.c from Pennsylvania UsaThat phrase was running through my brain many years ago. I was in a dark angry place. I felt some comfort from that song and a few other darker PF songs. I never liked love songs when I had the broken heart of a young man. I did like knowing there was my favorite ax just inside the bedroom in the suitcase on the left. Wait. why are you running away?
  • Brett from Avon Park , FlKelly You insult me. I am also a teenager that loves Pink Floyd. Not every kid that wears a Pink Floyd Shirt only knows of Another brick in the wall Part II. Try listening to astrononmy Domine or See Emily Play or any of the other priceless songs .Please do not be so stereotypical so say that of those who have been born to late are part of the ignorance of our generation.
  • Arturo from Brownsville, TxI myself not a drug user can see how Pink Floyd's music is very often referred to as "stoner music". In my opinion Pink Floyd's music in itself is mind opening, and people who don't like it are close minded. People like that see the world trough a key hole and not as the world really is. The people who don' like this music are the same people who still believe the world is flat. Of course this is only my opinion. I myself write music and I am an artist (draw/paint/tattoos) and every time i really want to create something that people admire i listen to pink floyd instead of using drugs (i am not judging or much less looking down at anyone who uses drugs) to create my work. I find the different songs inspire me in different ways (artistically speaking). And as an open minded art lover i listen to all types of music, the second part of this song reminds me of another known drug using song in a completely different genre and from a different planet (today was a good day by ice cube).
  • Brad from Lexington, KyWow Kelly from Burbank, I'm a teenager who owns every single Floyd album from all eras, including live albums, compilations, and I even have Dark Side and The Wall posters in my room. I can also play several Floyd songs on guitar and know almost all Floyd lyrics by heart. I even have Roger Waters and Syd Barrett's solo albums. I've probably heard more Floyd music than you have in your entire lifetime. So I'd stop being so stereotypical if I were you.
  • Blake from Tahlequah, OkOne of the greatest bands to walk on Gods green earth. It's a shame that most of this generation likes this music. I've tried to get my friends to listen to "Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynard Skynard, Black Sabbath, and Jimi Hendrix etc..." but none really like as much as me
    this rap and hip hop thing is just a fad and will eventually fade. THERE IS A MOVIE CALLED THE WALL although it may be hard to find it is AWSOME it's basiclly one long video for the entire album nothing like it and ALL PINK FLOYD FANS SHOULD BUY IT !!!
  • Chloe from St. Louis, MoWhoever said that kids today don't listen to the album, *cough cough kelly from burbank* I'm 13 and i am nothing less than obsessed with this album, not to mention Dark Side. This song is definately one of my favorites. No matter how many times I hear it, I get chills at the line "Would you like to see me try?" The anguish in his voice is unbelievable. They acted as much as sang.
  • Joe from Brooklyn, NyIt is posted here that Toni Tennille is the voice of the groupie. However, Wikipedia has the groupie listed as Trudy Young. Wikipedia's source is quoted as 'Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.86. Can anyone confirm who it the true voice of the groupie?
  • Joe from Brooklyn, NyIt is posted here that Toni Tennille is the voice of the groupie. However, Wikipedia has the groupie listed as Trudy Young. Wikipedia's source is quoted as 'Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb - A History of The Wall 1978-1981, 2006, p.86. Can anyone confirm who it the true voice of the groupie?
  • Jeremy from Ventura, CaWhen i saw the movie for the first time, i realized that the main groopie looks almost identical to my best friend's (now ex) girlfriend.

    this is one of my favourites form the album. Actually i have found very few songs by PinkFloyd which i havent liked (minus The Final CUt, I hate the whole album, minus Possible Pasts).

    Shine On!
  • Dan from Barnstable, MaI am 13 and this is defintely my favorite song on the album along with Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, and Young Lust, but I listen to the whole album. Also my parents aren't exactly Pink Floyd fans so I went out and bought these albums myself: Animals, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, Division Bell, and A Momentary Lapse of Reason. and also Pulse the live DVD. but Kelly you are right for the majority but Another Brick in the Wall(Pt. II) annoys the hell out of me.
  • Cera from Kentville, Nsand i'm only seventeen now. so in response to the comment below saying all kids now-a-days just know the wall and all the popular pink songs , lol... not completely true
  • Cera from Kentville, Nsthis is , hands down , my favourite song on this album . when i was about ten i found my mom's old casette copy of the wall and i was obsessed , it was all i listened to and this was the song i loved the most. his split personality is overwhelming real in this song , its so vivid and emotionally connected . i adore this song entirely .
  • Jude from Ashland, OhThis is a great tune to crank up when you're having a *very* bad day.
  • Andrew from Bartlett, TnI like the first 1 min of the song;
  • Lyle from Fredericksburg, VaBoth the movie and the album "The Wall" are autobiographies of Roger Waters. That said, there will necessarily be much about Syd in there because he (and his situation) had such a strong impact on all the band members, Roger in particular. When Syd just "showed up" at the taping for "Wish You Were Here" (an album dedicated to Syd, and basically about him) Waters was brought to tears seeing him again after all the time apart. Syd had shaved off all his hair, including his eyebrows (and put on about 30+ pounds), and nobody recognized him. This is where the scene of the main character shaving off his eyebrows comes from in the movie.
  • Rosie from Winnipeg, Mb, CanadaThis song is why stereos have a repeat button.
  • Nathan from Willow Spring, NcThis song really tears you between two emotions. I think that this is what this album is really all about. You feel the hardship of Pink in the begining, then you can share his desperation in the latter of the two parts. Most people are turned off by the sound effects used, like the traffic or the laughs on Dark Side of The Moon, but I like them. Its a concept album, so its not your run of the mill, song after song album.
  • Tyler from Buffalo, NyMy god, I think this is probably the deepest song on The Wall... great song one of Floyds best and, I believe, deffinatly their most underrated song of all time.
  • Nathaniel from Pittsburgh, Pa"I feel cold as a razor blade, Tight as a tourniquet, Dry as a funeral drum." What a song! on of my favorite pink floyd songs
  • Mike from Buffalo, NdI particularly enjoy the shift in tempo..you can sense the desperation in the character's voice. and' it's so scary when you can hear the sound of traffic below when he says, "would you like to see me fly", etc.
  • Patrick from Tallapoosa, GaI like the album in its entirety myself. I have listened to it over and over and over again. My parents had it on record; they recorded it onto tape, which I copied when I received a dual-cassette deck boombox for Christmas one year. When they bought the CD they let me have it after a while. I have listened to this album since I was about 8 or 9, which was around the same time I first saw the movie. The only reason most people tend to enjoy Comfortably Numb, Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall II, and Run Like Hell is beacuse those three songs are the most-played songs on this album on any classic rock radio staion. Some stations may play Young Lust or Hey You once in a while, but the first three are the most requested songs, and the most recognizable songs.
  • Dave from Toledo, OhThank you kelly! As I posted in "in the flesh" this is another "chapter" in the "story" The "groopie" is trying to get a response from Pink; he snaps "explaining" his thoughts. "would you like to eat, watch tv, talk" as if to say "what! what can I do for you?" Would you like to learn to fly? would you like to see me try?
    ---Do you want to see me jump? and finaly "why are you running away? -- a sarcastic but serious cry out for compasion.
  • Ashley Jade from Cleveland, GaI agree with Kelly from Burbank
  • Kelly from Burbank, CaThis is my favorite song on The Wall. It starts out soft, slow, gracefully, and suddenly turns for the worst as "Pink" goes hysterical, angry, and becomes absolutely crazy. I love how Waters' voice changes so quickly and drastically, and how the music changes the entire mood of the song. I had always wondered why people had caught on to only Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell, and worst of all, Another Brick in the Wall (Part II). Compared to listening to the entire album, the songs aformentioned really aren't all that great. Yes, the guitar solo in Comfortably Numb is "incredible", but what about the acoustic stuff on Mother? Have any "fans" bothered to listen to it? No, because they're too busy listening to those three...dang..songs. The Wall is my very favorite Floyd album, showing (in my opinion), some of the heights of human emotion, but these days all I hear is, "Oh yeah, we don't need no education, that's great!" But that's not the point, because it's a concept album! This comment mostly pertains to the kids today who haven't even listened to the album...because people who comment on here obviously have (and discovered) what a great song this is. Thanks, because if no one ever actually listened to Floyd's words or music, then everything would have lost point when Syd Barrett left. Yay for Roger Waters =).
  • Jeanette from Irvine, Cauh...i don't think that "fact" is right for anyone who's listened carefully to the wall or read any waters interviews.
  • Nathan from Memphis, TnThis song is really actually quite strange. I like it now don't get me wrong. I mean like, in the movie "The Wall" is that real stuff that happened to supposedly Roger Waters / Syd Barrett? In the movie he like tries to throw bottles at the groupie and like stabs his hand on a piece of glass after throwing a TV out of the window and screams, "THERE YOU GO MOTHER F--KERS!!" or somehting like that. I was just wondering if he was like remembering how his father died and bad stuff from his childhood. The movie I think is about former bandmate Syd Barrett, and that everybody should check out this movie. It is the most disturbing movie I have ever watched. Veryy weird. Especially the part where Comfortably Numb starts playing. Woohoo...
  • Gregmon from Intelbuquerque, NmI really like the "80's-esque" tempo shift. I've listened to this album and seen the movie so many times though, I can no longer distinguish the good from the bad.

  • Zac from Grove City, OhThis song is beautiful and touching until the soft organ playing is interrupted with terrible 80's-esque guitar and singing. I always listen to the first part and quickly change the song before the loud part. Most of this album is like that; you can feel the evil and bad influence of the 1980's seeping through.
  • John from Waterville, MiOne of my Turns is on side A
  • Tom from New York, NyGreat song, I remember it was the B-Side to Another Brick in the Wall. One of My Turns is the much better song of the two.
  • Ron from Detroit, MiThis is a great song. Truly, this is what makes the album work.
  • Tawnee from Tucson, AzI dont know why there are so little comments on this song.. I LOVE this song
  • Ben from Beaverton, OrLed Zeppelin was also really good friends with Roy Harper, note "Hats off to Roy Harper".
see more comments

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