'Hey You'

absolutely, though the anna paquin and billy baldwin characters knew right away -- just didn't say anything. i would have known and i was 12 when this film was set.

if he'd chosen a more obscure song, he runs the risk of the audience of the film not realizing the lie. i think he chose it so that we're aware of his deceit, instead of having half the audience not realize it until later. but honestly, i think every time "what a pair he's got!"

what mystifies me, is how does frank feel involved? what changed about walt's rendition, that walt says frank helped write it? it seems a simple enough unplugged cover to me.

I think the content of the song is the main reason Baumbach chose it. The symbolism is very apparent in lines like "together we stand, divided we fall" and the repetition of the song throughout the film in both diagetic and non-diagetic scenarios is powerful in that it both foreshadows (is played before the parents divorce) and culminates (is played several times later on, I forget exactly when). I would be curious as to what people thought the significance of the song itself was...

He could have still even picked a Pink Floyd song, there are bundles of ones that aren't easily recognized by most people.

The "Hey You" sequence squashed a great deal of believability for me in this film. As a product of a "joint custody" nightmare, I really identified with the premise of this film. But Noah Baumbach could have picked from a treasure trove of Pink Floyd songs ... heck, there are 23 songs on "The Wall" but "Hey You" was one of the most widely played of that era. Bad decision. Didn't ruin the movie for me, but reduced it from five stars to three.

I also adore the way Walt rationalises his theft of the song to his (admittedly rather unbelievable) school therapist: "I could have written it." In many ways, it is just a logical extension of his literary theorising - he doesn't have to read the Metamorphosis to know it is "dense", or any Fitzgerald to declare Gatsby is his masterpiece.

If only that was how it worked, there are so many pieces of great art I think I could have produced!

Interestingly, a French writer has just written a book on the joy of talking about books you've never read...

I think that it was all part of the joke. To belive that everyone in the audience is so out of touch that they don’t recognize a song that was played on just about every radio station in the free world during the eighties. What I thought was even funnier was when Walt smugly says to the therapist “Well, I could have written it”.

In one English class I was in someone used Castles Made of Sand by Hendrix for a poem. They read it aloud and word for word. Other students, teacher: No one said anything. And who steals from Hendrix? Talk about a crime against humanity. Anyway, halfway through this galling theft my friend, a huge Hendrix fan, was about to explode, he just spoke the lyrics and finished poem for them. The person ran out of the room! What a chump. Funny!

In any case, yes, it’s trying to show how “pop” culturally clueless people are. The point of the scene. But I bet the actual song that was ripped that this experience was based on was much more obtuse. It seemed "Hey You" was chosen for the audience, so they could get in with how much the writer wanted to poke fun at people for not being “pop” aware. Well, oh my, people that work for a living aren’t aware of the hip music of the day! What a tragedy. How will we survive as a society? Please. And talk about a lame cliché: Pink Floyd as a music choice to show youthful rebellion and disillusionment. Cringe-ola. Why not go all out and really stick to it to “The Man” with "Another Brick In the Wall"?

What was truly was odd, if this ripping of other works is a sign of mental problems: 75% of current working artists should be forced to seek immediate medical attention.