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Rog gets nostalgic

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An extract from his forthcoming memoir Love and Truth…..

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  4. RW thinks his shit doesn’t smell, and while we are at it, farts above his arse.

    “Look, I did something, and I’m good at everything – people cheer when they see me. I’m a profound creative person!”

    This sort of dross underlines that creativity is not as special as many think it is, and Chat-GPT can sometimes do as well (or better) as an “artist” with a 50-year career. Does anyone ever go to a RW concert looking forward to his solo material? (Though “The Wall” might as well be, given how few decent moments it has other when DG is involved.)

    Roger, please retire. You’ve lost almost all the dignity you once had.

  7. Playground monitor:
    “Look, chaps, see that patch of scrubby grass over there under the big tree? You can go over there and show off to each other how much you think Roger is a tosser You can do it as much as you like, over and over again. No-one else will have to listen to you and you can take as long as you like over it.”

  8. If I were yer man, I’d chill out.

    Fame (a relatively marginal fame in his case, though not without its riches) is a funny business, but, I think, having the benefit of the Golden Age (born 1943) and surely the recognition that my talent is significantly less (HE DOESN’T KNOW THIS?) than Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Jimi et al… I’d…erm.. yeah, chill out.

    You got lucky, very, very, very lucky, Roger… chill out!

    Note – I didn’t read the original thread so, hey-ho.

  9. I’m a huge Floyd fan and also like the vast majority of his solo work, but as a piece of writing that is very poor. I didn’t read it from start to finish because what I saw was so uninteresting and it badly needed editing, but if this really is taken from his memoir I’ll give that book a miss.

  10. It needs editing. Mind you, I thought that the first time I heard The Wall. (And subsequently.Not that I had to put myself through it often.) He is not one of life’s miniaturists, I suppose.

        • The OP story (what little of it I or any other normal person could be arsed to read) is indeed total drivel. In his interviews he always comes across as someone who thinks his every utterance is profound, his “sense of humour” hilarious, his every fart laudable. He obviously thinks that self-indulgent nonsense worth sharing. Just as he did DSotM Redux.

          However, though and but… I honestly can’t think of a better rock songwriter who has written as many good songs and as few crap ones as Rog. Whole albums of them! Two of them gazillion-sellers! Sales don’t equal quality, but you must be doing something right if you can write two gazillion-selling albums.
          From Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (1968) up until The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking (1984) he was churning out fan-pleasing quality with (unlike all the other great songwriters) relatively little drivel. So many songs, so many great albums.
          Not to everyone’s taste, natch, but I totally disagree that his lyrics can be dismissed as “sixth form” (a criticism widely perpetuated by his critics, but I think that’s actually due to him once saying as much himself in an extremely rare moment of self-deprecation). I find them often simple yet meaningful. I can cite so many in defence of my view, but I’ll go with my favourite, Shine On You Crazy Diamond. “Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.” What a beautiful, simple, lyrical way to introduce a tribute to a dear “lost” friend. From the gorgeous title onwards, every beautiful, simple, lyrical line has meaning understandable to anyone with knowledge of Syd’s life. Sometimes Rog’s lyrics remind me of Ted Hughes’s poetry in their bluntness and sparsity.

          I haven’t liked his few albums since Pros and Cons, although I thought his Lockdown Sessions was superb. I know Amused to Death and Is This the Life That You Really Want have many outspoken fans (above all, Roger Waters) but not me. Dark Side Redux was a nonsensical nonsense. waste of everyone’s time. He keeps harping on about his forthcoming album, The Bar. I wonder if it’ll be a Blackstar-like resurgence in creative excellence? I doubt it somehow.

          Shame the man’s such a twat, though but.

          • Well said. I don’t agree with much of what he says outside music, but on the whole I find his lyrics very good indeed.

            As beautiful as some of the music on DSOTM is, I don’t imagine that a gazillion people bought it (and keep on buying it) for On the Run, Any Colour You Like, etc. The lyrics and concept must have really hit home with listeners for it to have done so well.

            As if that wasn’t enough, he followed it with the above-mentioned Shine On, WYWH, Dogs, Comfortably Numb, Another Brick, etc., and many more lyrics that – for me, at least – really work.

            Some of the lyrics of his solo albums are of a similar quality, but I think their concepts tend to overpower the tunes, and he never had a collaborator/foil as good as Dave G.

            I do wish he’d stop banging on about politics though.

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