The Wall was ‘inspired’ by Roger Waters’ background as songwriter talks of ‘obvious’ connection

An “obvious” inspiration proved to be a major inspiration for Roger Waters when writing The Wall.

The acclaimed double album is considered one of Pink Floyd‘s very best works, and Waters has since shared he was kicked off a course, which could have inspired him. He said as much during an interview given just two years after he left the band, at which point guitarist David Gilmour took over. Waters reflected on what he believed was a “fair battle” between himself and the teacher of his course. Following Waters’ reflection on his two years of study, he suggested that the “training” he had helped him visualise a crucial part of The Wall when it came to touring the album. An “autobiographical narrative” found on the double album is also seemingly inspired by Waters’ two years on the course.

While being kicked off his architecture course may have inspired him, Waters has also insisted that mathematics had nothing to do with his music. He told Q Magazine in 1987: “But music is only mathematics anyway. It is another way of interpreting maths. Musical intervals are also mathematical intervals.

“But let me say that I never saw any music in maths. It was all complete drudgery to me. I was completely uninterested in it. I could never see the beauty of mathematical relationships.” What may have inspired The Wall is Waters’ architectural studies, which he carried out for two years before being kicked off the course for not attending a specific set of lectures.

He recalled: “I started studying Architecture but they slung me out after two years for refusing to attend History of Architecture lectures. I was very bloshie. I must have been horrible to teach. But the History lecture that I came up against was very reactionary, so it was a fair battle.”

Waters says he “couldn’t handle it” and compared it to school when the class were told to copy from the blackboard, which the teacher was “copying” out of a textbook. Waters went on to say he could get “great pleasure” from woodworking, which brought daily satisfaction, and praised the “erosion” which comes from the daily use of furniture.

He said: “There’s something very nice about the human body slowly eroding a piece of timber. I always like pieces of wood that are worn from having had horses tethered to them and that have become lovely and smooth, allowing you to see the grain.”

These comments led to Waters reflecting on whether his background in studying architecture, albeit for two years, had influenced the making of The Wall.

He said: “Well, maybe. Maybe the architectural training to look at things helped me to visualise my feelings of alienation from rock ‘n’ roll audiences. Which was the starting point for The Wall.

“The fact that it then embodied an autobiographical narrative was kind of secondary to the main thing which was a theatrical statement in which I was saying, ‘Isn’t this fucking awful? Here I am up onstage and there you all are down there, and isn’t it horrible! What the fuck are we all doing here?'”