The Pro's and Con's of Hitchhiking

Album versions

Later issues of this album are censored.

There are some differences between the respective lyrics sheets. For one thing, the British version has the characters who say each bit listed, but the CBS version does not. This is from a posting by Dave Cowl: 

    Type of Difference      British EMI             US/Japan CBS
    =====================...=====================...==================
    Extra                 . Surgeon:"Drill"       . drill 
                          . Man:"Oh God!"         . Wake up..       
                          .                       .
    Extra                 . Wife:"What border?    . Uh, what border
                          . Go back to sleep"     .
                          .                       .
    Extra bit after Arabs . Arab:"Don't cut the   .
    with knives           . woman Mohammed,       .
                          . I want the woman"     .
                          .                       .
    Extra line            . You've got to admit   .
                          . it was wrong what     .
                          . you did.              .
                          .                       .
    Difference            . oder drinken Mehr Ha  . oder drinken bier, ha
                          .                       .
    Extra from Clerk      . Room Clerk:"Goodnight .
    Keys bit              . Sir"                  .
                          .                       .
    Extra in Stay with    . Woman:"No...I'm       .
    Me! bit               . sleeping"             .
                          .                       .
    Lost bit              . 4 lines of Sexual     .
                          . Revolution Missing    .
                          .                       .
    Extra                 .                       .  (Thunder)
                          .                       .
    Difference            . And trailed our..     . And we trailed our..
                          .                       .
    Extra                 . ...gets two presents" .
                          . (Man pauses to light  .
                          . a joint)              .
                          .                       .
    Difference            . Jump says Yoko        . Jump says Yoko Ono
                          . "Oh No!...            .
                          .                       .
    Extra                 . Trucker:"Hey...Turn   .
                          . the fucking Juke Box  .
                          . Down"                 .
                          .                       .
    Difference            . In the company of has . In the company of 
                          . beens In bent backs   . has beens and bent
                          . In sleeping           . backs and sleeping
                          .                       .
                          . Under tube trains in  . Under tube trains and
                          . commuter accidents    . commuter accidents
                          .                       .
    Difference            . On loading ramps      . On unloading ramps
                          .                       .
    Difference            . Then the moment of    . And the moment of 
                          . clarity.              . clarity
                          .                       .

The most amusing part is that in the music book, the listed lyrics are the British ones, but the words against the music are the CBS lyrics. Weird, huh!

Who or What was Fassbinder ? 

        Fixed on the front of her Fassbinder face 
        Was the kind of a smile
        That only a rather dull child could have drawn 
        While attempting a graveyard in the moonlight

Fassbinder is a German playwright and filmmaker. He's been called ``artsy,'' ``grim,'' and ``simplified.'' The line could refer to the kind of leading lady that he'd use in a movie, or perhaps it means ``grim'' or ``mournful.''

Why is Yoko Ono mentioned ?

Said Roger Waters: Some of the ideas have come from my own dreams and also there are bits and pieces of other people's dreams. In fact, the third verse of the album's title track talks about standing on the wing of an aeroplane, looking down at the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and Yoko Ono being there, and telling me to jump; that everybody's got to die some time and the manly thing to do is to end it all now.

That dream belongs to Andy Newmark, the drummer. He came in one day and over lunch in the pub he told me about this dream and I thought, ``That's a good dream, I'll try and fit that in somewhere.'' So I did.