Roger Waters names the four musicians he ‘really cares’ for including Bob Dylan

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Roger Waters has named the four musicians he “really cares” for and included Bob Dylan on his list of preferred artists. The Pink Floyd songwriter would call the Mr. Tambourine Man hitmaker a huge influence on his career, and most recently said his unreleased song, The Bar, lifted heavily from Blonde on Blonde album closer, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. Dylan’s influence on many artists is very clear, and for Waters it meant tapping into the “intense passion” that he and three other much-loved musicians had provided.

Waters would also credit a member of The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen as artists whom he admired greatly. The Comfortably Numb songwriter would share as much in an interview given in 1987, just two years after he had left Pink Floyd. Waters shared the four names after being asked about his work with Syd Barrett.

The first Pink Floyd songwriter would not last long in the band but both Waters and guitarist David Gilmour would help him with his solo album, The Madcap Laughs. Barrett would release no further material after his self-titled release, Barrett, in November 1970.

He said: “In spite of the fact that he was clearly out of control when making his two albums, some of the work is staggeringly evocative. Dave Gilmour and I worked with him on the first one [The Madcap Laughs]; there was a backlog of material he’d written before he flipped. It’s the humanity of it all that is so impressive.

“It’s about deeply felt values and beliefs and feelings. Maybe that’s what Dark Side Of The Moon was aspiring to. A similar feeling. That’s what I get from the musicians who I really care for: Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young – that intense passion.”

Waters is still influenced by Dylan to this day and noted as much on his live album, This is Not a Drill. When introducing his unreleased song, The Bar, Waters said: “Before we sing this other verse of The Bar, I have to mention three names. The first name is Bob Dylan. Back in 1966, Bob Dylan made a great album called Blonde on Blonde. It’s a double album, a double vinyl album, and side four was a long, incredibly beautiful ballad called Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

“I’m not ashamed to say that it crept into my head when I was writing this verse. And so I stole some of the lyrics. Well, I didn’t steal them, but I used them. I used the words ‘sad, eyed,’ and ‘lady’, and ‘big, brass,’ and ‘bed’. If you know the song, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

“So, Bob, thank you. Anyone, if you run into Bob, could you say Roger says, ‘Thank you’.” Waters would go on to share that the “sad-eyed lady” in the song is his wife, Kamilah Chavis. He added: “She is the rock upon which I lean. I think she’s actually here tonight, so she’ll hear you if you do that [cheer].”