Pink Floyd are a pretty tricky band to define. Psychedelic rock, sure, but that’s not really doing them justice, is it?
The band have gone through very specific phases, most of which have been determined by the members contributing music at the time. One of the most fundamental members of the band was Roger Waters, who has always had something to say on each of these phases of Pink Floyd.
I won’t bore you with the details, but essentially, Waters isn’t a fan of any projects that he was in charge of. When Syd Barrett was writing with the band, Waters didn’t think they had much direction and were trying to be experimental. He has spoken previously about disliking the album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn for this very reason. Then, once he left the band, he wasn’t a fan of the albums that came next, as he said they were attempting to sound like Pink Floyd but falling short of the mark.
If these were the opinions of any other musician, we’d be tempted to call them bitter, but there are many fans who debate the fact that some of the best Pink Floyd records were plucked from the mind of Waters. The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall are two of the band’s elongated concept albums, and they were very much initiated by Waters, when he had the revelation that he couldn’t write songs like Syd Barrett.
If the title of this article were “The Pink Floyd song that most influenced Roger Waters”, that would go to ‘Point Me at the Sky’. Despite being referred to as “one notable failure when Syd left the band”, that failure helped him realise that the two don’t have different writing styles. He realised he couldn’t mimic Barrett and started to write with concepts in mind, which gave rise to the Pink Floyd albums we consider classics.
There is much variety present on these albums, which is what leads people to find them so endearing. They’re not just records; they’re entire stories with concepts attached that explore complicated emotions both with music and lyrics. The way in which Pink Floyd have been able to create something cinematic using just sound is truly tremendous.
On the other hand, this variety means picking a song of theirs that best defines Roger Waters and what he did for the band is tricky. It’s the variety amongst these songs that draws us all in so much, so do we ever begin to pick one that represents them all? The truth is, we can’t, but we can try our best to find a song that most beautifully represents all of the different aspects of Pink Floyd that appeal to us. That’s what I’ve done here, and I apologise in advance if you clicked onto this article with the hope of an underground psychedelic gem, or some nuanced take on Waters, for the song of his which best defines his ability as a musician has to be ‘Comfortably Numb’.
Released on 1979’s The Wall, ‘Comfortably Numb’ is one of the most popular Pink Floyd tracks in the world, and for very good reason. In it, we follow the main character of this concept album as they describe a state of delirium and detachment. It’s a story within itself, as we loop around this spiral, which doesn’t seem to have an exit. The tale is told through lyrics, music and the general atmosphere created through the track. This is what Waters did best, and the track highlights his ability as a musician more so than any other Pink Floyd song.
The track is often associated with drugs, but Waters has previously said, in some aspects, he was describing a feeling he used to get when he was younger. “I remember having the flu or something, an infection with a temperature of 105 and being delirious,” he said, “It wasn’t like the hands looked like balloons, but they looked way too big, frightening. A lot of people think those lines are about masturbation. God knows why.”
It’s the variety of Pink Floyd that we find so beautiful, and therefore, picking one song that encapsulates all of Roger Waters is borderline impossible. However, a classic is a classic is a classic, and in this case, ‘Comfortably Numb’ is one of his most exceptional pieces of work.
