In 2017, as Roger Waters launched solo album Is This The Life We Really Want? he discussed being inspired by people who’d taken on ‘the system’ because they believed it was important to stand against what they saw happening.
“One takes courage from all of that,” he said. “You see people behaving properly and you think, ‘Wow, I’d like to be part of the blowing of the whistle,’ even if it’s only be writing a poem or writing a song or making a record or whatever it might be.”
Of course, that wasn’t a new position for him to take. Ever since Pink Floyd found success, Rogers had strived to tell truth to power in his own way, even if it upset some of his fans – which it did.
In 2015 Prog took a look at some of the lyrics he’d written with Floyd, picking out five songs that illustrated his attitude.
Free Four (from Obscured By Clouds)
Although Corporal Clegg from 1968 was the first time Waters referred to his father’s World War II career and passing, this seemingly cheery, on-the-road number was the first to deal with it seriously.
Money (The Dark Side Of The Moon)
One of the factors that fed into Waters’ mood recording Wish You Were Here was Waters’ disillusionment at his burgeoning wealth, as it clashed with his staunch socialist principles. His stance against the trappings of high finance was misunderstood by swathes of the group’s newly found audience, who clearly thought riches were a good thing. Their reaction formed the basis of virtually everything Waters was to subsequently record.
Pigs (Animals)
On an album that railed against everything, Pigs (Three Different Ones) looked at figures representing all the worst elements of the establishment. The ‘dragged down by the stone’ businessman from Dogs reappears; a ‘ratbag’ that Waters had spotted at a bus stop near the band’s Britannia Row Studios, who may or may not be future British prime minister Margaret Thatcher; and finally, the unloved moral watchdog Mary Whitehouse, the head of the National Viewers and Listeners’ Association.
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (The Wall)
Although almost any track could be selected from Waters’ two final Pink Floyd albums, the first anti-school song on The Wall is one of Waters’ most manic, heartfelt performances. Inspired by his time at Cambridge High School For Boys, he spat bile at the teachers, who’d treated him shabbily at a period in his life when he desperately needed a father figure. His schoolmaster impression was heavily copied in playgrounds around the country in the early 80s.
The Hero’s Return (The Final Cut)
The burning anger and sadness of The Final Cut makes it one of the most fascinating Pink Floyd albums, and one that when properly rediscovered, gives untold pleasure. Nonetheless, it is a certainly difficult listen: The Hero’s Return – written first as Teacher, Teacher for The Wall – goes some way to explain the reasons for the bitterness behind the schoolmaster from The Happiest Days Of Our Lives.
