Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?

Song Meaning

In "Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?," Roger Waters distills the existential dread of fame and the futile search for meaning into a relentless, almost manic, inventory of distractions. The song, a centerpiece from *The Wall*, isn't just about filling voids; it's about the desperate, often self-destructive, ways we attempt to silence the "waves of hunger" that roar within us. The lyrics offer no solace, only a spiraling list of increasingly absurd and destructive options. Waters lays bare the performative nature of modern life. The "sea of faces" demanding "more and more applause" highlights the insatiable appetite of the audience and the artist's resulting dependence on external validation. The material acquisitions – "a new guitar," "a more powerful car" – are fleeting, incapable of providing lasting fulfillment. The darker impulses – "get into fights," "drop bombs," "break up homes" – reveal the potential for self-annihilation that lurks beneath the surface of this desperate pursuit. The genius of "Empty Spaces/What Shall We Do Now?" lies in its relentless accumulation of hollow pursuits. Each line adds another layer to the portrait of a man (or society) on the brink, desperately flailing to avoid confronting the emptiness at his core. The frantic energy, the jarring juxtapositions (from sending flowers by phone to contracting diseases), and the ultimate futility of it all capture the essence of modern alienation. It’s a brutal, unflinching self-examination, a mirror reflecting our own anxieties about purpose and connection in an increasingly fragmented world. The song meaning, therefore, transcends the personal struggles of the character in *The Wall* and becomes a universal lament for the human condition.