Pink Floyd – When The Tigers Broke Free Lyrics - Genius

2025, In ReviewFeaturedChartsVideosPromote Your MusicSign Up3When the Tigers Broke FreePink FloydProducersRoger Waters, James Guthrie & 1 moreTrack 111 onDiscovery Jul. 15, 19821 viewer57.7K views36 ContributorsTranslations

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When the Tigers Broke Free Lyrics

“When The Tigers Broke Free”, written by Roger Waters, was originally planned to be a song on The Wall. However, it was scrapped due to other band members claiming it was “too personal.” The song was split… Read More [Verse 1]It was just before dawn one miserable morning in black Forty-FourWhen the forward commander was told to sit tight, when he asked that his men be withdrawnAnd the Generals gave thanks as the other ranks held back the enemy tanks for a whileAnd the Anzio bridgehead was held for the price of a few hundred ordinary lives[Verse 2]And kind old King George sent Mother a note when he heard that Father was goneIt was, I recall, in the form of a scroll with gold leaf and allAnd I found it one day in a drawer of old photographs hidden awayAnd my eyes still grow damp to remember his Majesty signed with his own rubber stamp[Verse 3]It was dark all around, there was frost in the ground when the Tigers broke freeAnd no one survived from the Royal Fusiliers Company ZThey were all left behind, most of them dead, the rest of them dyingAnd that's how the High Command took my daddy from meYou might also like3EmbedCancel

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“When The Tigers Broke Free”, written by Roger Waters, was originally planned to be a song on The Wall. However, it was scrapped due to other band members claiming it was “too personal.” The song was split into two parts for the movie of “The Wall” with the first half of the song opening the film, as the camera pans over a soldier, in a foxhole. Later in the film, an adolescent Pink finds the scroll as the second half of the song plays. It later appeared on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. From 2002, however, all issues of The Final Cut have included this track as the 4th in the track listing.

Within the story of The Wall, Pink feels betrayed by his country and those in power for sending his father to war and subsequently treating his sacrifice as just another statistic.

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Ask a questionWho produced “When the Tigers Broke Free” by Pink Floyd?When did Pink Floyd release “When the Tigers Broke Free”?Who wrote “When the Tigers Broke Free” by Pink Floyd?Discovery (2011)Pink Floyd

1. 1. Astronomy Domine
2. 2. Lucifer Sam
3. 3. Matilda Mother
4. 4. Flaming
5. 5. Pow R. Toc H.
6. 6. Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk
7. 7. Interstellar Overdrive
8. 8. The Gnome
9. 9. Chapter 24
10. 10. The Scarecrow
11. 11. Bike
12. 12. Let There Be More Light
13. 13. Remember a Day
14. 14. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
15. 15. Corporal Clegg
16. 16. A Saucerful of Secrets
17. 17. See-Saw
18. 18. Jugband Blues
19. 19. Cirrus Minor
20. 20. The Nile Song
21. 21. Crying Song
22. 22. Up the Khyber
23. 23. Green Is the Colour
24. 24. Cymbaline
25. 25. Party Sequence
26. 26. Main Theme
27. 27. Ibiza Bar
28. 28. More Blues
29. 29. Quicksilver
30. 30. A Spanish Piece
31. 31. Dramatic Theme
32. 32. Astronomy Domine (Live)
33. 33. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Live)
34. 34. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Live)
35. 35. A Saucerful of Secrets (Live)
36. 36. Sysyphus
37. 37. Grantchester Meadows
38. 38. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict
39. 39. The Narrow Way
40. 40. The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party
41. 41. Atom Heart Mother
42. 42. If
43. 43. Summer ’68
44. 44. Fat Old Sun
45. 45. Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast
46. 46. One of These Days
47. 47. A Pillow of Winds
48. 48. Fearless
49. 49. San Tropez
50. 50. Seamus
51. 51. Echoes
52. 52. Obscured by Clouds
53. 53. When You’re In
54. 54. Burning Bridges
55. 55. The Gold It’s in the...
56. 56. Wot’s... Uh the Deal?
57. 57. Mudmen
58. 58. Childhood’s End
59. 59. Free Four
60. 60. Stay
61. 61. Absolutely Curtains
62. 62. Speak to Me
63. 63. Breathe (In the Air)
64. 64. On the Run
65. 65. Time
66. 66. The Great Gig in the Sky
67. 67. Money
68. 68. Us and Them
69. 69. Any Colour You Like
70. 70. Brain Damage
71. 71. Eclipse
72. 72. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5)
73. 73. Welcome to the Machine
74. 74. Have a Cigar
75. 75. Wish You Were Here
76. 76. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 6-9)
77. 77. Pigs on the Wing (Part One)
78. 78. Dogs
79. 79. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
80. 80. Sheep
81. 81. Pigs on the Wing (Part Two)
82. 82. In the Flesh?
83. 83. The Thin Ice
84. 84. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1
85. 85. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
86. 86. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2
87. 87. Mother
88. 88. Goodbye Blue Sky
89. 89. Empty Spaces
90. 90. Young Lust
91. 91. One of My Turns
92. 92. Don’t Leave Me Now
93. 93. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3
94. 94. Goodbye Cruel World
95. 95. Hey You
96. 96. Is There Anybody Out There?
97. 97. Nobody Home
98. 98. Vera
99. 99. Bring the Boys Back Home
100. 100. Comfortably Numb
101. 101. The Show Must Go On
102. 102. In the Flesh (Reprise)
103. 103. Run Like Hell
104. 104. Waiting for the Worms
105. 105. Stop
106. 106. The Trial
107. 107. Outside the Wall
108. 108. The Post War Dream
109. 109. Your Possible Pasts
110. 110. One of the Few
111. 111. When the Tigers Broke Free
112. 112. The Hero’s Return
113. 113. The Gunner’s Dream
114. 114. Paranoid Eyes
115. 115. Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
116. 116. The Fletcher Memorial Home
117. 117. Southampton Dock
118. 118. The Final Cut
119. 119. Not Now John
120. 120. Two Suns in the Sunset
121. 121. Signs of Life
122. 122. Learning to Fly
123. 123. The Dogs of War
124. 124. One Slip
125. 125. On the Turning Away
126. 126. Yet Another Movie
127. 127. Round and Around
128. 128. A New Machine (Part 1)
129. 129. Terminal Frost
130. 130. A New Machine (Part 2)
131. 131. Sorrow
132. 132. Cluster One
133. 133. What Do You Want from Me
134. 134. Poles Apart
135. 135. Marooned
136. 136. A Great Day for Freedom
137. 137. Wearing the Inside Out
138. 138. Take It Back
139. 139. Coming Back to Life
140. 140. Keep Talking
141. 141. Lost for Words
142. 142. High Hopes

The Final Cut (1983)Pink FloydEchoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (2001)Pink FloydThe Wall: Music From the Film (1982)Pink FloydExpand CreditsReleased onJuly 15, 1982ProducersRoger Waters, James Guthrie & Michael KamenWriterRoger WatersMastered AtThe Mastering LabVocalsRoger WatersChoir ConductorNoel DavisOrchestrationMichael KamenWhen the Tigers Broke Free CoversWhen the Wall Broke Free by The Nostalgia Critic, When the Tigers Broke Free by Year of the Cobra & When the Tigers Broke Free by Low Red LandWhen the Tigers Broke Free RemixesWhen The Tigers Broke Free (Part 2) (1982 Recording) by Pink Floyd & When The Tigers Broke Free Part 1 (1982 Recording) by Pink FloydWhen the Tigers Broke Free Live PerformancesWhen The Tigers Broke Free by Roger WatersWhen the Tigers Broke Free TranslationsPink Floyd - When the Tigers Broke Free (Nederlandse Vertaling) by Genius Nederlandse VertalingenTagsRockProtest SongSymphonic RockSoundtrackProgressive RockArt RockUK RockUKOrchestralExpand CommentsAdd a commentSign Up And Drop Knowledge 🤓Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love.Sign Up