Roger Waters denies Pink Floyd song from The Wall is a ‘portrait of his mother’

Songwriter and bass player for Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, has denied one song from The Wall is a “portrait of his mother”.

While Waters, who wrote and released The Wall with Pink Floyd in 1979, suggested aspects of one song featured on the double album related to his mother, he denied it being solely about her. In an interview given at the time of release, Waters suggested the song was more an amalgamation of other people. Waters found the reception of the song with those he knew to be fascinating, as one person said they felt “guilty” after having listened to the album.

The Wall is considered one of Pink Floyd’s best albums, with the double LP receiving mixed reviews at the time, but eventually warming to listeners over time. While explaining the song, Mother, Waters was asked in an interview whether it related to his own upbringing. Though he said some aspects of the song were influenced by his relationship with his mother, he said the entire song pulled from more than one source.

Waters said the song was about mothers who were “overprotective,” with the bassist saying “most mothers are” possessive. He went on: “If you can level one accusation at mothers it is that they tend to protect their children too much.

“Too much and for too long. That’s all. This isn’t a portrait of my mother, although some of the, you know, one or two of the things in there apply to her as well as to I’m sure lots of other people’s mothers.”

Waters went on to suggest many people had realised this about the song, and that their experiences with their own mothers and children had gotten them thinking. He added: “Funnily enough, lots of people recognize that and in fact, a woman that I know the other day who’d heard the album, called me up and said she’d liked it.

“And she said that listening to that track made her feel very guilty and she’s got herself three kids, and I wouldn’t have said she was particularly over-protective towards her children. I was interested, you know, she’s a woman, of well, my age, and I was interested that it had got through to her. I was glad it had, you know, if you can… if it means…”

Elsewhere on the album, Waters says one song should work “for any generation” in its influence. Another Brick in the Wall, Part I, was the song Waters said could work for every generation, and his reasoning links to the “simple story” it tells.

The bass player confirmed he featured in the song, as he saw a lot of himself in the character sent off to war. He said in an interview at the time: “Yeah, well, it could be, you see it works on various levels – it doesn’t have to be about the war – I mean it should work for any generation really.

“The father is also… I’m the father as well. You know, people who leave their families to go and work, not that I would leave my family to go and work, but lots of people do and have done, so it’s not meant to be a simple story about, you know, somebody’s getting killed in the war or growing up and going to school, etc, etc, etc but about being left, more generally.”