Poet, prophet and genius - George Roger Waters is one of the most influential and brilliant artists of our time.
To mark his milestone 80th birthday, The Sound is spotlighting tracks from his extensive catalogue.
Here, we are counting down his top ten tracks from his solo career and his time with Pink Floyd. Today (September 6th) at 9 PM, we will be playing his live album ‘In The Flesh’ in its entirety on air. It’s a good day to be a Roger Waters fan!
Roger Waters' top ten songs to celebrate his 80th birthday
10. 5:01 AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking) (1984)
The title track from Roger’s debut solo album is one of his best. The concept album follows a man named Reg during a mid-life crisis, centred around a dream where he takes a road trip across California including a moment where he cheats on his wife with a hitchhiker.
Eric Clapton plays guitar on the track, hence the epic solo. Yoko Ono is also referenced in the track, that’s thanks to drummer Andy Newmark having a dream about John Lennon's infamous girlfriend.
9. Oceans Apart (2017)
‘Oceans Apart’ from Roger’s 2017 album ‘Is This The Life’ yanks at the heartstrings in such a short amount of time.
At just sixty-seven seconds long, it is still one of Roger’s most loved solo tracks, with over four million plays on Spotify.
8. The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid) (1987)
Originally released as a single but later included on his 1987 album ‘Radio K.A.O.S’, ‘The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)’ is a hopeful song that believes the everyday person can make a positive change.
Roger performed the song at the famous Berlin Wall concert in 1990 and its title is an obvious allusion to the even more famous Live Aid concert in 1985.
7. Us And Them (1973)
Roger co-wrote ‘Us And Them’ from Pink Floyd’s distinguished 1973 album ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’. The track is all about the reductive black-and-white perspective humans adopt during times of conflict and even in day-to-day life.
“The first verse is about going to war,” he told Louder Sound. “How on the front line we don’t get much chance to communicate with one another, because someone else has decided that we shouldn’t.”
“The second verse is about civil liberties, racism and colour prejudice. The last verse is about passing a tramp in the street and not helping.”
6. Time (1973)
Another track from Pink Floyd’s sensational ‘73 album, Roger wrote ‘Time’ all by himself. The song is a message “To be here now, this is it. Make the most of it”, he said, according to Genius.
Fun Fact: The ‘tick tock tick tock’ sounds on the track were made by Roger muting the bass guitar with one hand and plucking the bottom two strings with the other.
5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (1975)
Technically a nine-part composition released as two tracks on Pink Floyd’s 1975 album ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ is an incredible piece of music. Roger composed the track alongside David Gilmour and Richard Wright.
The ‘Crazy Diamond’ is one of the band's founding members Syd Barret, who left the band in 1968 due to his drug addiction and subsequent mental health issues.
4. Money (1973)
‘Money’, yet again from ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, is one of the greatest commentaries on materialism ever constructed. Rogers wrote all the lyrics and even was the lead vocalist on the song.
The track is the only song from the album to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100.
3. Wish You Were Here (1975)
Syd Barret is again the subject of ‘Wish You Were Here’, the emotional title track of Pink Floyd’s 1975 album. Gilmour and Roger also put this song together to express their longing to reunite with Syd.
This time, Roger hopped on the acoustic guitar and helped out with vocal harmonies while Gilmour led the vocals and main guitar.
2. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) (1979)
‘Another Brick In The Wall’ is another composition, but we had to single out part two because it’s just that good. Waters drew from his own experiences with strict schooling and penned the track as a bit of an ‘eff you’ to the schooling system.
Another chart surprise: This is the only Pink Floyd song to reach number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
1. Comfortably Numb (1979)
‘Comfortably Numb’ from ‘The Wall’ is (comfortably) one of the best songs of all time. It can be interpreted as a commentary on how one’s passion for life dims over the years, but Roger actually wrote it with a more literal experience in mind.
Before a Philadelphia concert in 1977, he was injected with tranquilisers as he was suffering from hepatitis.
“That was the longest two hours of my life,” he told Rolling Stone. “Trying to do a show where you can hardly lift your arm."
What a talent. What a musician. Happy 80th to Roger Waters!
