How 'Pigs (Three Different Ones)' Uses Swine to Skewer Britain's Elite – and Why the Solos Hit So Hard

The pig in “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” isn’t just any pig – it’s a stand-in for three specific types of British power: maybe a politician (Mary Whitehouse is name-checked), a corporate boss, and a media baron. By calling them pigs, Roger Waters turns the whole social hierarchy into a barnyard, implying the ruling class grunts, shoves, and eats at a trough of public trust. It’s nastier and more direct than anything on The Wall, and the extended noise-making between verses leans into that anger.

David Gilmour’s solos are the real story here. The main one after the second verse stretches for nearly three minutes, building from a clean, crying tone into a wall of bent notes and tape echo that feels like a lashing out. The tape effects – flanging, delay, and what sounds like varispeed – aren’t decorative; they make the guitar sound unhinged, like the pig’s own squeal turned into a weapon. The song’s middle section even drops into a distorted, almost free-jazz breakdown that Waters introduced live with farm animal noises. The result is a critique that doesn’t just argue – it attacks.