Roger Waters’ incredible contributions to Pink Floyd just can’t be ignored. A fantastic creative director and musician, Waters provided the lyrical and songwriting power behind so much of their works, particularly in the concept album The Dark Side Of The Moon. Let’s look at a few other times Roger Waters proved he is a lyrical genius!
Videos by American Songwriter
1. “Have A Cigar”
On “Have A Cigar” from the 1975 album Wish You Were Here, Waters wasn’t afraid to throw some punches at the music industry.
Specifically, the lyrics “You gotta get an album out / You owe it to the people / We’re so happy we can hardly count” is a pretty brash criticism of the pressure the band was put under to release a commercial successful follow-up to The Dark Side Of The Moon. And the song as a whole still manages to be quite beautiful, shade and all.
2. “Money”
Roger Waters is a lyrical genius for a few reasons, one of which being his ability to quite poetically critique the human condition and, well, capitalism. So much of The Dark Side Of The Moon was about human motivations, which led Rogers to think about how money often gets in the way of connection between human beings.
He explores this concept in “Money” without taking himself out of the equation. After all, as a rich rock star, he fell for the same thing in Pink Floyd.
3. “Us And Them”
Like “Money”, “Us And Them” is a pretty intense confrontation of how modern humanity has failed itself, namely through loss of genuine love and connection.
Waters is at his most poetic on this track as he explores how being human doesn’t really involve one’s humanity anymore. The balance between scathing critiques and begging for empathy is beautifully done on this song.
4. “Dogs”
As we mentioned above, Roger Waters is a lyrical genius in the way he explores empathy and human connection. However, no true artist is stationary in their themes or temperment.
In “Dogs”, Waters flips his own script and gets quite agro about the villains of the time. “Deaf, dumb and blind, you just keep on pretending / That everyone’s expendable and no one has a real friend” is like a punch to the gut.
Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images
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