How Polly Samson and David Gilmour co-wrote 'Take It Back' line by line

The “poisoned snake” and “the hunted fear” in “Take It Back” aren’t about a relationship gone sour — they’re environmental metaphors. Gilmour and Samson were reading about humanity’s betrayal of the natural world, and the snake image came from that: we poison the earth, then act surprised when it turns on us. The “hunted fear” is the planet’s own instinct to recoil from the damage we’ve done.

Samson didn’t just suggest a few words. On The Division Bell, Gilmour handed her instrumental demos with placeholder melodies, and she wrote the lyrics syllable by syllable with him in the room. For “Take It Back,” they worked through every line together — he’d sing a phrase, she’d offer a revision, they’d test the next line against the vocal melody. It was more seamstress than ghostwriter: she was stitching his musical ideas into language, not writing independently.

The song