British bass player, co-lead vocalist, lyricist and principal songwriter in the rock band Pink Floyd, Roger Waters turned 79 on September 6. Waters has been credited for writing some of the most memorable songs of Pink Floyd. Formed in 1964, the British rock band is known as the architects of two major music movements namely psychedelic space rock and blues-based progressive rock. The band was also known for their biting political, social and emotional commentary.
As Waters turns a year older today, we take a look some of the songs sung and written by Waters:
Money (1973)
From the album The Dark Side of the Moon, this song is written and sung by Waters. The British singer loves to write songs that are factual and resonate with his listeners. As the song mentions that money “is the root of all evil today.”
Ironically the album became one of the biggest hits of Pink Floyd and made its creators: Waters, guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour, keyboardist/vocalist Rick Wright, and drummer Nick Mason, extremely wealthy at the time. The song spent a whopping 937 weeks on the Billboard 200.
Hey You (1979)
Another classic Pink Floyd song written and sung by Waters is from the 1979 album The Wall. The song comes with a haunting yet hopeful undertones as the song ends with lyrics, “Don’t tell me there’s no hope at all. Together we stand, divided we fall/”.
Set The Controls Of The Heart Of The Sun (1968)
Waters was inspired by ancient Chinese poetry to write this Pink Floyd song. The song composition has a very hypnotic hymn-like sound to it. This song was part of Pink Floyd’s 1968 album A Saucerful of Secrets.
Sheep (1977)
From the album Animals, Sheep was initially entitled “Raving and Drooling.” The song has political undertones as Waters wrote it to describe a circumstance where people blindly follow an ideology without knowing the reason.
Another Brick in the Wall pt2 (1979)
This song created quite a controversy after many children used the song to protest. Water wrote this political song to speak out against the teachers of his childhood who were not so kind to him. The song is an early chapter in the rock opera album The Wall where the protagonist blames his education for contributing more bricks to his wall of mental detachment.
Which Pink Floyd song are you listening to?
