Pink Floyd member Roger Waters says it’s still “very moving” to perform songs from The Dark Side of the Moon in his solo shows.
The veteran performer who fronted Pink Floyd until his departure in 1985 features songs from the band’s discography in his solo shows. Much of what Waters performs, particularly Us and Them, remains relevant, or at least it was when Waters spoke about how moving it is to perform such material in an interview given in 2007. Waters says Us and Them still has a relevancy in modern times, let alone what it stood for in the tours to follow the release of The Dark Side of the Moon. Speaking to Uncut Magazine in 2007, the veteran songwriter would share his thoughts on how Pink Floyd had remained relevant to new generations. Part of it, he believes, is to do with how the group structured their songs.
Waters said: “The record is musically sophisticated and yet simple. The song structures are very simple. Lyrically, it speaks to successive generations who have continued to have the same concerns over and over and over again. Sadly, a song like Us and Them seems just as apposite politically in 2006 as it did in 1979. Also, a song like Time expresses feelings lots of young people have when they reach a certain age and they’re looking for meaning.”
Waters would go on to say that there is an “enormous attachment” to The Dark Side of the Moon which has carried over from generation to generation. He added: “I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, all you young people out there, but it goes on.
“We keep re-examining out lives and our relationships with our friends, our family, and other human beings. There’s no doubt there’s an enormous attachment to the work that runs through umpteen generations of people which is very moving when you’re playing it live.
“In the show, I go out to the edges of the stage and get close to people. I get empathy from all kinds of different people, particularly out in the wings where the seats are a bit cheaper. They’re all ages, from 10- to 80-year-olds, and it’s great.”
Another classic song by the band which featured on Wish You Were Here remains a favourite of frontman Waters. He said: “That’s pitching it too strong. But I love singing that song. I only sang the second verse of it. But I always loved singing it when we were on the road. I still like the song very much. I wrote it whenever it was, 1975 or something, and it still means a lot to me.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Waters would note another Wish You Were Here track, Shine On You Crazy Diamond [Parts 1 – 5], was particularly hard to sing after the death of Syd Barrett.
Speaking about the track in an interview with Uncut Magazine, Waters would confirm a Wish You Were Here track remained much too difficult to play, and that he still feels a “deep connection” with Barrett when performing the song. The first few performances of the song were trickiest of all for Waters, who says the shows after Barrett’s death were an emotionally trying time.
