Two songs written by veteran musician Roger Waters sum up “all he ever wanted to say” with his music.
The Pink Floyd bassist and founder would write some of the all-time great progressive rock tracks and manage a handful in his solo career with Amused to Death. But the legendary performer has shared the two songs that say what he wanted to in music most of all. Speaking to Uncut Magazine in 2007, Waters would suggest one song from The Dark Side of the Moon and the title track of Wish You Were Here are the two songs that he believes define what he set out to do in music best of all. Asked what he believed were the songs that sum up “all you ever wanted to say through music,” Waters suggested both Wish You Were Here and Us and Them. Earlier in the talk, he elaborated on why these songs still held such relevancy.
He said: “Two songs sprang immediately to mind. Us and Them and Wish You Were Here.” Waters would shine some light on why he chose Us and Them, saying it is as politically relevant as it was when first written as it is in 2006.
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. 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 our lives and our relationships with our friends, our family, and other human beings.”
Waters would also say he still feels a “deep connection” to former bandmate Syd Barrett when performing songs like Wish You Were Here and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Waters said: “But I love singing that song [Wish You Were Here]. 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.
“I do Shine On You Crazy Diamond in my show as well – and I have to say it was slightly unnerving playing it for a few performances immediately after Syd died. I still feel a deep connection with Syd whenever I play those songs. Shine On You Crazy Diamond is specifically about him, but Wish You Were Here is a far more general piece.”
