‘Empty Spaces’: What was Pink Floyd’s secret message?

Ask any true rock aficionado what their favourite concept album is, and The Wall by Pink Floyd invariably appears as one of the greatest ever warbling efforts. It’s not just for the litany of iconic hits it holds in its midst, including ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Pt 3’ – although this is a significant factor – but because, at the time of its release in 1979, it was a true reckoning to the expanses rock music could take. If there’s anything that Pink Floyd showed, it’s that there was no limit.

Across the whole length of The Wall, it’s a treasure trove of sonic sorceries and lyrical liturgies, all rooted around the story of the elusive ageing rocker Pink, battling with the weight of building an emotional wall to isolate himself from the world. It hardly took a rocket scientist to conclude that this seemingly metaphorical character drew some pretty truthful parallels to the dynamic of the band themselves, especially in relation to then-reclusive former frontman Syd Barrett.

This is never so overtly channelled than in the tune ‘Empty Spaces’, as Pink comes to contemplate his desperation at cutting himself off from the life and people he once loved. But it wouldn’t be complete without the album’s ultimate master, Roger Waters, chiming in at the end to deliver a secret, if seemingly indecipherable, message. He exclaims: “Hello looker. Congratulations, you have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the Funny Farm, Chalfont…” before being interrupted by a voice that says, “Roger, Carolyne’s on the phone!,” to which he simply responds: “OK.”

If at points the entire expanse of The Wall seemed too conceptual and perhaps inaccessible, there was no moment that epitomised this better than the ending of ‘Empty Spaces’. Between the backmasking that hides the real exposure of the words, or the sheer meaning behind the message itself, it takes a true code-breaker to get to the heart of what exactly Pink Floyd meant in their mind-bending addendum to the song – and even then, it only takes Waters coming out with the truth to throw it all up in flames.

What did Pink Floyd mean in their secret message?

Perhaps more than any other track on The Wall, ‘Empty Spaces’ is the ultimate insight into the mind of both writer Waters and his inspiration Barrett, as the guitarist tried to crack the enigma of his former frontman. Indeed, the only thing that was not secret in the midst of this was Barrett’s well-documented struggles with mental health and the effects of fame, which led him to leave the band just as they were reaching their prime.

Indeed, when Waters instructed listeners to “send your answer to Old Pink,” it was speculated to be a reference to Barrett himself, who by this point had receded from public life and would not be seen by any member of Pink Floyd again. In that vein, the “Funny Farm” was likely a thinly veiled allusion to a psychiatric hospital, which he was set to give more details on before an incoming call from his then-wife interrupts proceedings.

With our modern understanding of mental health, you can wager that Barrett’s life may have taken a different path if his struggles had been treated with the compassion they deserved. But at the end of the 1970s, that level of appreciation had not yet been stowed, and Waters’ convenient cut-off was representative of what was never said, more than what was. In many ways, ‘Empty Spaces’ was geared up to be his olive branch to Barrett, before the weight of the world set in to eschew and distort the reality.