This is about the money-grubbing record producers and managers controlling the band, which contributed to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett's mental collapse. The world around him was like a machine: the fans, the group, the record industry. They told him what to do and when to do it so they would become successful. The Wish You Were Here album revolves around Syd Barrett and what contributed to his collapse.
This song features a very rare music video only played during concerts. It features a particularly visceral depiction featuring corpses, rats, death, and waves of blood. The video was drawn by hand by Floyd's old friend, Gerald Scarfe.
Metal band Shadows Fall covered this in 2003 on their Art Of Balance album. Aside from replacing most of the synthesizers with guitars, the cover is rather close to the original version, with clean vocals and acoustic guitar.
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