Pink Floyd started out as a “pop” band in their early days, but changed their format in the early 70’s with Dark Side. The songs are entertaining, but have a hidden message, thanks to Mr. Waters. Great guitar riffs, driving bass lines, hard drums, and some imagination, made this album one of the highest selling albums in history.
George Roger Waters was born September 6, 1943 in Great Bookham, Surrey, England. His father, Eric Fletcher Waters, was a British soldier during World War II, and was killed in action at the battle of Anzio, Italy on February 18, 1944. Roger Waters was just 5 months old. His father’s body was never found, and Roger grew up without a father. I cannot imagine that. There was no explanation given, from the British government, as to the circumstances of his father’s death.
Following the departure of Syd Barrett, in 1968, due to using too much LSD, Waters became the lyricist, co-lead vocalist, and conceptual leader for the band.
If you carefully listen to the lyrics in the songs from their most famed albums, you will hear a person in pain, and doing what he can to deal with it. The person abused alcohol and drugs, and was obsessed with not having a daddy in his life. The most prevalent one is The Wall. It tells the story of a young boy, “Pinky”, growing up without his dad. He tried to “adopt” random men as his father, to fill the void he felt. He grew up a semi-normal person with good values. Though, he was tormented by his demons. Not having a father. His father was taken away by war. It is quite sad. The young boy turned into a rock singer, and goes mad with things he has to deal with. He builds a “Wall”, mentally, to shut out people around him, and eventually completely loses his mind to the breaking point. “The Wall” is entertaining, but, also, a bit sad, once you get to understand it. Waters spent most of his life, trying to find out why the “High Command” took his daddy away.
It wasn’t until very recently, that I discovered the meaning of all of those amazing songs he wrote. It was in the form of a rare track. It was used in the film adaptation of The Wall, but claimed it was from the album “The Final Cut”. My CD copy of that album does not contain that track. The song is titled “When The Tigers Broke Free”.
It chronicles his father’s experience, as
much as he knew at the time, of how
he died, and how he discovered the
nature of his father’s death. This
song made me understand everything
Pink Floyd did since Waters took over
the band as the conceptual leader.
All of it, was Waters trying to let
go of his personal demons, and try
to get right with himself.