# A question about "The Wall" lyrics and certain illnesses. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783 "2007-08-24T16:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/1 "2007-08-24T16:59:55Z")
Roger Waters, I believe sings on “Nobody Home” on The Wall, _“Got those swollen hand blues”_. And also Gilmour sings on Comfortably Numb (which I believe Waters wrote the lyrics) these lyrics, which are, _“When I was a child I had a fever. My hands felt just like two balloons.”_. Now, for the question. What disease/virus/sickness is he talking about that makes you have or feel like you have swollen hands? Did he really have such a thing as a child, anyone know? Or are these lyrics strictly made up for entertainment? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/2 "2007-08-24T17:13:43Z")
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? Kawasaki Disease? Those two seem to pop up by seaching for ‘fever “swollen hands”’. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/3 "2007-08-24T17:33:37Z")
If it help any, the video for Comfortably Numb showed the boy handling a sick rat before the fever hit. When my sister was a child, she had an allergic reaction to penicillin. I was too young to remember, but everyone says that her hands swelled up enough that she couldn’t move her fingers apart from each other. I’d guess that other fevers could produce swelling, depending on circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/4 "2007-08-24T17:35:05Z")
When I was a child, I had a fever, my hands felt just like two balloons. This is a true statement. I had a high fever, but it didn’t cause my hands to swell - they just felt that way. It was a very odd hallucination. I didn’t think much about it until I heard the song many years later. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/5 "2007-08-24T18:41:28Z")
According to Wiki, Comfortably Numb was inspired when Waters had hepatitis. His doctor gave him a shot to perk him up so he could go on stage. He was still too beat to lift his arms, he says. Not that that’s what the song in its final form is about, necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/6 "2007-08-24T18:45:06Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] When I was a child, I had a fever, my hands felt just like two balloons. This is a true statement. I had a high fever, but it didn’t cause my hands to swell - they just felt that way. It was a very odd hallucination. I didn’t think much about it until I heard the song many years later. [/QUOTE] I had exactly the same experience. I had it more than once when I had fevers from various childhood illnesses. My hands felt gigantic. Apparently it’s a common phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/7 "2007-08-24T18:51:52Z")
[QUOTE=davidm] I had exactly the same experience. I had it more than once when I had fevers from various childhood illnesses. My hands felt gigantic. Apparently it’s a common phenomenon. [/QUOTE] I hear it happens to Mickey Mouse all of the time. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/8 "2007-08-24T20:19:41Z")
[QUOTE=davidm] I had exactly the same experience. I had it more than once when I had fevers from various childhood illnesses. My hands felt gigantic. Apparently it’s a common phenomenon. [/QUOTE] Me three. ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/9 "2007-08-24T20:23:16Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] When I was a child, I had a fever, my hands felt just like two balloons. This is a true statement. I had a high fever, but it didn’t cause my hands to swell - they just felt that way. It was a very odd hallucination. I didn’t think much about it until I heard the song many years later. [/QUOTE] A friend of has told me of having the exact same experience. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/10 "2007-08-24T20:33:03Z")
I seriously thought that the line “I’ve got the swollen hand blues” refered to masturbation. In fact, I remeber a radio interview with Roger Waters and that late-night syndicated DJ who was on Water’s _Radio K.A.O.S._ (or whatever it was called) album discussing it on air. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/11 "2007-08-24T20:37:41Z")
Me five. I didn’t have a fever though, it was just an inexplicable sensation I sometimes had, most often when just settling down to sleep so possibly brought on by tiredness. It wasn’t restricted to my hands either. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/12 "2007-08-24T20:40:48Z")
I’ve felt it, too. I mainly associate it with being kind of sick/feverish. It’s not like my hands actually felt swollen. More like, in my mind, I had this feeling of having hands like that. Bizarre feeling. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/13 "2007-08-24T20:47:36Z")
[QUOTE=Zoggie] I’ve felt it, too. I mainly associate it with being kind of sick/feverish. It’s not like my hands actually felt swollen. More like, in my mind, I had this feeling of having hands like that. Bizarre feeling. [/QUOTE] That’s right. It’s hard to describe exactly but that sounds like my experience. It was a bizarre and, for me, _extremely_ unpleasant sensation. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/14 "2007-08-24T21:16:32Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] What disease/virus/sickness is he talking about that makes you have or feel like you have swollen hands? [/QUOTE] Swollen hands can also be a sign of long term heroin use. ---
**Author:** ![npb214](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@npb214](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/npb214)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/15 "2012-10-02T20:53:17Z")
Swollen hands are common in heroine users and ex heroine users Hepatitis C is often from sharing IVs. Hepatitis C is a liver disease causing a protein deficiency which causes swelling. Both hep and heroine were common for rock stars in the time this song was written. Oasis has interpreted the term “Swollen Hand Blues” this way and written a song with the same title. However, someone who has punched a lot of concrete walls may have a different interpretation of this. I believe the relation to the “hands felt just like two balloons” is coincidental as there is no evidence the fictional Pink was using heroine as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/16 "2012-10-02T21:19:20Z")
On the other hand, when you are hypnotised a common thing that they do when putting you under is suggest that there is a balloon attached to your hands and they are getting lighter and lighter, and then they start rising. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/17 "2012-10-03T01:32:36Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I had exactly the same experience. I had it more than once when I had fevers from various childhood illnesses. My hands felt gigantic. Apparently it’s a common phenomenon. This post has been “Me Too”'ed by the Me Too’er ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/18 "2012-10-03T23:39:21Z")
> [@Sean\_Factotum](#): > > I seriously thought that the line “I’ve got the swollen hand blues” refered to masturbation. In fact, I remeber a radio interview with Roger Waters and that late-night syndicated DJ who was on Water’s _Radio K.A.O.S._ (or whatever it was called) album discussing it on air. Jim Ladd ---
**Author:** ![Bremidon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Bremidon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bremidon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/19 "2012-10-04T10:34:10Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > When I was a child, I had a fever, my hands felt just like two balloons. > > This is a true statement. I had a high fever, but it didn’t cause my hands to swell - they just felt that way. It was a very odd hallucination. I didn’t think much about it until I heard the song many years later. I also had this as a kid. Massive fever; couldn’t hold anything down; and all sorts of _very_ interesting hallucinations. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-wall-lyrics-and-certain-illnesses/416783/20 "2012-10-04T12:50:08Z")
From an interview with Waters referenced above; > [@](#): > > **On _Nobody Home_** : > JL : Got those swollen hand blues. Every once in a while you come right off of Cosmic land into the bathroom. I just got to bust you on that one. > > RW : I don’t know what you think that’s a reference to. > > JL : Masturbation. > > RW : No. > > JL : No? Not at all? > > RW : No, no, no, no (laughing). > > JL : What’s it a reference to? > > RW : It’s a reference to another song that comes later on called ‘Comfortably Numb’ that’s about fever. > > **On _Comfortably Numb_** > JL: Are there a number of rock and roll doctors that way, in real life? He’s kind of a maniacle cat. I mean, he’s really kind of evil, this doctor, in a way. > > RW: Yeah. I had one guy once who thought I’d got food poisioning for an upset stomach. And he thought I had stomach cramps…he wasn’t listening to me at all either. In fact, I discovered later on that I had hepatitis. He gave me this tranquilizer, it was in Philadelphia, and boy that was the longest two hours of my life. Trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm. If he’d just left me alone, the pain I could have handled. It was no sweat. I could hardly lift my arms or move any of my limbs. God knows what he gave me, but it was some very heavy muscle relaxant. (Bolding mine) > **[Wall Interview - Jim Ladd](http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/119.htm)**