Roger Waters has said he “regrets” the decision to give songwriting credits to bandmates David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, on one of Pink Floyd‘s greatest albums.
The bassist, whose comments after departing the band on everything from Ozzy Osbourne to his long-time collaborator Gilmour have split opinion, believes he should be the sole credit on The Dark Side of the Moon. While the trio were hugely influential on the instrumental portions of the album, Waters says he wrote the entire work without input from the rest of Pink Floyd. Waters remains protective of the album, so much so he released a “redux” version of The Dark Side of the Moon in 2023, which remains a contentious release for Pink Floyd fans. Despite this, his love for the classic progressive rock album is clear, and Waters has called it “my baby”.
In an interview with Uncut Magazine in 2003, Waters confirmed he “regrets” the decision to credit his Pink Floyd bandmates. He said: “This album is my baby. In terms of what the records were about, they were my ideas and I wrote them. Dave, particularly, but Rick as well, had major, important contributions.”
Though he was thankful for the contributions made by Gilmour and Wright, Waters remained clear in his belief that it was a mistake to credit them as writers for the album. Waters went as far as to single out a credit given to Mason which he had come to regret.
Waters shared: “I’ve regretted it rather a lot since, but I’m over that now. I went through many years when I really regretted having given away half the writing credits, particularly [Nick Mason’s solo credit for] Speak To Me. I gave it to him. Nobody else had anything to do with it at all.”
The bassist would also criticise Gilmour, who had suggested his contributions to The Dark Side of the Moon were not as great because he had been “lazy” around this period. Waters disagreed, though, and suggested the problem with Gilmour and The Dark Side of the Moon was not his attitude, but his ideas.
Waters added: “He doesn’t have very many ideas. He’s a great guitar player, but he’s not really a writer. However conscientious or hard-working Dave was, he would never actually write anything.”
Gilmour released his most recent studio album, Luck and Strange, in 2024. Fans picked up on the September 6 release date as more than a coincidence, as they believed Gilmour had chosen the date to coincide with Waters’ birthday.
Cult Following previously reported the link between release date and bassist’s birthday. One user wrote: “David Gilmour has been trolling Roger on his birthday the last four years.” Another user replied with screenshots of Pink Floyd posts on social media, which wish their former band member “peace and enlightenment” on his birthday.
But some were unconvinced by the theory Gilmour had chosen the date of release to poke fun at Waters. One fan wrote: “The date was probably decided by the record company and they probably had no clue it was his birthday. Still ironic and awesome though.” Others disagreed, though, and some fans maintain it is a “delicious” joke from Gilmour.
