In the song The Trial, from Pink Floyd’s excellent album The Wall, this is the verse that starts the song.
I wanted to know what the meaning of this “Worm Your Honour” is, because someone told me that it is how the judges are named in England. But I didn’t believe him, it seemed a little odd.
The character of the judge was a giant worm (which is clear if you have seen the movie, and the good morning…your honour is how you address him.
i also believe several times in a few of the songs they mention “and the worms ate into his brain” referring to his insanity. So perhaps he’s addressing the “worms in his brain”
That phrase is in “Hey You”, and there is a song called “Waiting for the Worms”… I think that it all relates, but I haven’t figured it out, and I haven’t seen the movie yet.
Yeah, the worms are a recurring theme throughout the album/movie. As stated above, the “Your Honour” is how judges are addressed in some countries, “worm” is because the judge is litterally a worm (in the lyrics, though the lyrics are a figurative representation of an emotional battle occurring inside Pink’s mind IMO).
Worms are a traditional image of death and decay. See Hamlet IV:3 for an excellent example. I believe that Waters uses the worm imagery in The Wall to evoke the idea that death is near.
I am going off of recollection big time, but in the childhood incident where Pink got so sick, didn’t the dead rat have maggots that could easily be translated into “worms”?
Yah, I am a huge Floyd fan and have always been confused by that line. I think that it is fairly clear that worms are used as a metaphor for death and destruction in The Wall. However, the odd thing is, the Judge himself is not a worm, but rather a… ummm… well look for yourself:
http://members.aol.com/CompGod260/pinkani/judge_op.gif
So I don’t know. Maybe the lyric “Worm, Your Honor” is meant to address two different individuals, the Judge (your honor) and Pink (the worm?) Or maybe the judge, while not literally a worm (at least in the movie) could still represent what the worms stand for.
Anyway, I think that this question would get better answers posted in ** Cafe Society ** instead of General Questions.
As an avid Pink Floyd fan, I have always presumed him to be addressing two different entities, as Joshmaker explained. Having seen the movie at least twenty times (five times in one night, as well) I am quite sure that this is the answer. Of course, that Roger Waters is one unbalanced fellow, and ya never know what he could’ve been thinking!
“Worm” is the collective of forces that cause the Wall to be built. It is often shown in female form - the movie shows that in Pink’s life, women have been the ones hurting him and enforcing rigid social control over his life. (Note the demonic, yet female, form during the trial scene that is intimidating the helpless doll.)
This collected angst becomes the judge (as well as the prosecutor) in the trial. Hence, “worm” in this case is the judge and it is refered to as “your honor”.
I’m going with the two persons being addressed theory, as in, “Good morning, Worm, your honour.” Doesn’t Pink get referred to as worm several times more in that song?
I don’t think the judge is a worm. If I remember correctly, he’s a giant ass on legs.
Aren’t judges in England always addressed as “my lord”? Or when speaking quickly, “m’lud”? Of course “good morning Worm m’lud” doesn’t scan as well.
In the MOVIE, the judge is pictured as a giant ass; I see no reason to assume that this is Waters’s imagery, and not the director’s.
Pink is not referred to as a worm in the album (unless his wife calls him one, but I don’t think she does). In any case, the worm metaphor is one of decay, specifically mental decay: “…and the worms ate into his brain” and “Waiting for the worms.” Both are associated with the Nazi-like images in the “total mental breakdown” portion of The Wall.
I have always looked upon “His Honour, the Worm” as the final symbol of Pink’s psychotic breakdown, the self-destructive tearing-down that ultimately leads to recovery.
It’s not just in the movie that the judge is a giant ass, that image appears in the centrefold of the original vinyl LP.
As well as the prosecutor, Pink’s wife and mother both call the judge “Worm, Your Honour”.
The form of address for a judge who also a lord is “My Lord, Your Honour”, i.e. giving him both titles. See for example Henry VI.
My guess is that “Worm” is his title in the neo-fascist worm organisation referred to in the song “Waiting for the Worms”. A similar example might be “Grand Dragon, Your Honour”.
Correction for the above
The form of address for a judge who is also a lord is (or was) “My Lord, Your Honour”, i.e. giving him both titles. See for example “Henry VI”.
My guess is that “Worm” is his title in the neo-fascist worm organisation referred to in the song “Waiting for the Worms”. Similar examples might be “Klansman, Your Honour”, or “Grand Dragon, Your Honour”.
Okay, how’s this?
One is one’s own toughest critic. Perhaps the Judge is Pink himself; i.e., his “Self” or Conscience come to condemn him for his life. He fears his Self because it will be harsh with him. His insanity is the result of his battle with his Self.
Oh, I should point out that it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen the film or listened to the music and I’m just making this up as I go along.
So we have Pink, the Artist, who has had a fairly rotten childhood. He rebels and becomes a Pop Icon, but his conscience urges conformity. Usually people are told to listen to the Inner Voice. But in this case the Inner Voice is the Status Quo. Pink knows that by conforming he is condemning himself to death, but conformity will destroy him. Should he suffer the slings and arrows brought about by his artistic nature? Or should he conform to the rules of society and “kill” his true nature. His conscience says the latter. His conscience is Death, so he sees conformity as the Worm come to feast on his decay.
I’m not being clear. I clicked on this thread on a whim, and I have an idea of what I’m trying to say but I can’t quite bring it out. Maybe someone can follow and see if they can help out a bit?
I not really sure that I have seen the answer, because the movie came out six years after the album. I am not sure if the movie, truly represents the the worm completely. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the edict of Worms.
Has there ever been a more apropos zombie thread?
I saw Roger Waters on his live Wall tour last year, and the animation from the film was played in its entirety during the “The Trial” sequence, so i’d say that the-judge-as-a-giant-ass-on-legs is pretty well within Waters’ interpretation.