The groupie was voiced by Canadian actress Trudy Young who has never been credited for her performance in the liner notes.

In the narrative of The Wall, Pink has taken a groupie back to his hotel room in “One Of My Turns” after he has discovered his wife is having an affair of her own during a phone call. He basically melts down, trashes the room, and over the course of the next couple of songs, the last few bricks get filled in.

“One Of My Turns” is not listed on Roger’s original Wall demo. It was added to the story and recorded sometime during January-March, 1979 during the band’s sessions at Brittania Row Studios. An early version of the track appears on the second production demo dated March 23, 1979. Long before the groupie was cast, this recording featured Roger as the groupie for the demos — his vocals processed to sound more feminine. It sounded a bit silly, actually.

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For the album, the groupie was voiced by Canadian actress Trudy Young whom co-producer Bob Ezrin had worked with in Toronto earlier that year. Her voice-over performance was recorded in one day in August, 1979 at Nimbus Nine Soundstage Studios in Toronto, Canada. She has never been credited for her performance in the liner notes. Throughout the years, many have thought that this was voiced by Toni Tennille of The Captain and Tennille fame. Part of this confusion stems from the similar voice qualities of the two and that Tennille is credited in the liner notes (for backing vocals). Tennille’s vocal contributions can be heard in “The Show Must go On”, “Waiting For The Worms”, and both “In The Flesh” tracks.

In the film, the groupie is played and voiced by actress Jenny Wright.

In the album version, a few seconds of dial tone obscures the transition between the end of “Young Lust” and the fade-in of the squeeky hotel room door opening. The end of the track has a quick fade which quickly transitions into “Don’t Leave Me Now”. Not much is lost at the end except a few seconds of echo and reverb.

The rhythm guitar on the last half of the track ended up being played by session guitarist Lee Ritenour. The reason David Gilmour has given was that he “couldn’t think of a good part to play.” Ritenour appeared elsewhere on the album, most notably playing the high strum rhythm guitar on “Comfortably Numb“.

A version of the track with a clean opening and ending were released on the Pink Floyd Off The Wall promo LP and also as the B-side of many copies of the “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)” single. These versions contain the complete opening note with no dial tone as well as a final note that lasts about a beat or two longer where you can hear Roger’s vocal completely trail off.

Original label of the UK single. There was no window on the first pressing. Photo courtesy of Discogs.

Alternate Versions

Pink Floyd Off The Wall – Special Radio Construction (1979). (3:39) A rare 1979 US 8-track, radio-friendly promo sampler LP for The Wall album distributed mainly to radio stations. A clean version of the track. The first 6 seconds of the track is clean and lacks the dial tone sound effects of the album version. The opening synth is unobscured and and has a faster attack that fades in quicker. Echo and reverb of Roger Waters’ vocal “Why are you running away…?” sustains for about 3 seconds longer than the album version. Mastering of this vinyl was a little better than the mastering of the LP due to its deeper grooves.

“Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)/One Of My Turns” 7″ single (1979). (3:39) The same clean version of the track as the Off The Wall promo disc, with a better intro and outro. Unfortunately, the original US single is pressed on crappy Columbia Records 7″-single polystyrene where the grooves seemed to wear out before the stylus dropped, especially as the track progressed towards the label. Although this version is good (the same as the Off The Wall promo disc), expect a lot of noise from the record itself. Recent reissues are pressed on higher-quality vinyl.

Pink Floyd The Wall movie (1982). Intro uses dialog from the film. Sound effects and some lines of dialog are different than the album version. Different sound effects are used when Pink snaps and the song kicks into overdrive. There’s an extended echo at the end before transitioning to “Don’t Leave Me Now”.

Last update: January 17, 2018