Worst Roger Waters Lines

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If you should go skating
on the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
of a million tear-stained eyes

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I think by and large he's a pretty decent lyricist. Here's a good one:

We cower in our shelters
With hands over our ears
Lloyd-Webber's awful stuff
Runs for years and years and years
An earthquake hits the theatre But the operetta lingers
Then the piano lid comes down
And breaks his fucking fingers

― shookout (shookout), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't be suprised if a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
You slip out of your depth
And out of your mind
With your fears flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.
(Guitar solo)

― sexyDancer, Monday, 19 April 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Are there any queers in the theater tonight?
Get them up against the wall

― sexyDancer, Monday, 19 April 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they'll like this song?
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother should I build a wall?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Out of context, the line sexyDancer quotes is horrifying.

In context, it's intentionally-horrifying and actually pretty fucking tremendous.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

When we were young and went to school
there were certain teachers who would hurt the children in any way they could.

By pouring their derision upon everything we did.
Exposing every weakness, however carefully hidden by the kids.

But in the town it was well known when they got home at night their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

My pony's name is Marcel
He's not the greatest
pony in the world
But he's the only one I got.

― Buster (mokey), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Oooh babe" (various)

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

(Okay, Buster wins)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

That pony bit reads like Rumsfeld poetry.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I believe it was Waters that wrote these, despite Gilmour's handling of the vocals:

I am just a new boy,
Stranger in this town.
Where are all the good times?
Who’s gonna show this stranger around?

Ooooo I need a dirty woman.
Ooooo I need a dirty girl.
Will some woman in this desert land,
Make me feel like a real man?
Take this rock and roll refugee.
Ooo babe, set me free.

Ooooo I need a dirty woman.
Ooooo I need a dirty girl.
Ooooo I need a dirty woman.
Ooooo I need a dirty girl.

This makes Motley Crue sound like Tolstoy

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 April 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, Eugene,
This is Henry McClean
And I've finished my beautiful flying machine
And I'm ringing to say
That I'm leaving and maybe
You'd like to fly with me
And hide with me, baby

Isn't it strange
How little we change
Isn't it sad we're insane
Playing the games that we know and in tears
The games we've been playing for thousands and thousands and
....

Pointing to the cosmic glider
"Pull this plastic glider higher
Light the fuse and stand right back"
He cried "This is my last good-bye."

Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly

And if you survive till two thousand and five
I hope you're exceedingly thin
For if you are stout you will have to breathe out
While the people around you breathe in

People pressing on might say
It's something that I hate to say
I'm slipping down to eat the ground
A little refuge on my brain

Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly
Point me at the sky and tell it fly

And all we've got to say to you is good-bye
It's time to go, better run and get your bags, it's good-bye
Nobody cry, it's good-bye
Crash, crash, crash, crash, good-bye...

― sexyDancer, Monday, 19 April 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

'Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way' would be a great line, were it not a direct nick from Henry David Thoreau (Most men live lives of .. etc)

― dymbel, Monday, 19 April 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome Reagan and Haig
Mr. Begin and friend Mrs. Thatcher and Paisley
Mr. Brezhnev and party
The ghost of McCarthy
The memories of Nixon
And now adding colour a group of anonymous latin-
american meat packing glitterati

Did they expect us to treat them with any respect

They can polish their medals and sharpen their
smiles, and amuse themselves playing games for a while
Boom boom, bang bang, lie down you're dead .

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 19 April 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

That is pretty fuckin' bad, but then again....everything on The Final Cut was bad.n

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 April 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

_The Final Cut_ was an exercise in "Oops."

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 19 April 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Not true--here is a good line from the final cut:

"In derelict sidings the poppies entwine
with cattle trucks lying in wait for the next time."

― shookout (shookout), Monday, 19 April 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The Final Cut is the Floyd's Music from the Elder or Cut the Crap.M

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 April 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I figured that I was cheating by going to The Final Cut in this thread.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 19 April 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Oooh babe" (various)

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I never thought much of the "two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl" line in "Wish You Were Here." Great song, though.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 19 April 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

What is that Roger Waters song where he mentions Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 19 April 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I think we can safely say that the entire Radio KAOS concept—lyrics, story, liner notes—are really fucking terrible. No "ooh babe's" though...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

These are pretty good, no?

Dark doom
Gruel ghoul
Greasy spoon
Used spoon
June bloom

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 19 April 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Or better yet, just for bad prosity:

"These are the pro's and cons of HITCH! HI! KING!"

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Guys, you're not even trying... Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking is MUCH more cringe-inducing than The Final Cut.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"Don't point
Don't point your finger at me
I woke in a fever
The bedclothes were all soaked in sweat
She said "You've been having a nightmare
And it's not over yet"
Then she picked up the doggy in the window
(The one with the waggly tail)
And she put him to bed between two bits of bread"

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"A housewife from Encino
Whose husband's on the golf course
With his book of rules
Breaks and makes a 'U' and idles back
To take a second look at you
You flex your rod
Fish takes the hook
Sweet vodka and tobacco in her breath
Another number in your little black book"

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

There's also that line about Yoko Ono, which seemed the apex of his paranoia with respect to women...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey...girl
Take out the dagger
And let's have a stab at the sexual revolution
Hey girl
Let freedom for all be our rallying call
Tomorrow lets make...our new resolution
Yeah, but tonight lie still
While I plunder your sweet grave
And remember
Only the poor can be saved

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm standing on the leading edge
The Eastern seaboard spread before my eyes
Jump, says Yoko Ono
I'm too scared and too good looking, I cried

No, Roger. No you're not.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Radio waves, radio waves, he hears radio waves
Radio waves, radio waves, hopeful radio waves,
dopeful radio waves
Radio waves, Russian radio waves, Prussian radio waves
Eastern radio waves, western radio waves
Testing radio waves, one, two. One, two.
Radio waves. Getting through to you
Morse code radio waves, Tobacco road radio waves
South to Paloma radio waves, Oklaholma City radio waves
Sitting pretty radio waves, nitty-gritty radio waves
Radio waves

― original bgm, Monday, 19 April 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Radio waves, radio waves
AM radio waves, FM radio waves
Radio waves, mind-numbing radio waves
Fish-stunning radio waves
Radio waves.

― original bgm, Monday, 19 April 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw the Radio KAOS tour. My mom took me.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Was it theatrical?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Dan, was that the tour where he had some telephone booth thing set up where you could talk to him from the audience?

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 19 April 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Had to be, since the plot of the album involves a quadriplegic kid launching a nuclear holocaust using his telephone.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

No, no — using his WHEELCHAIR.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Ok, in Water's defence, the Radio Kaos show I saw, 1987, Indianapolis, IN, was among the best concerts I have ever seen. I'm being serious. I thought it was great. The album sucks--the live show was really amazing.

― shookout (shookout), Monday, 19 April 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Fish-stunning radio waves

Wasn't there a 60's-era Pink Floyd outdoor concert that was so loud all the fish in nearby pond died?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 24 April 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

(Or so the rumor goes...)

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 24 April 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

We were Watching T.V.
Watching T.V.
In Tiananmen Square
Lost my baby there
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
She was a short order pastry chef
In a Dim Sum dive on the Yangtze tideway
She had shiny hair
She was the daughter of an engineer
Won't you shed a tear
For my yellow rose
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
She had perfect breasts
She had high hopes
She had almond eyes
She had yellow thighs
She was a student of philosophy

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 24 April 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hi ho
The dillyo
I have a brillo pad
Please take it to your father
He is very mad"

― craptastic, Saturday, 24 April 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

through the fish eyed lens
of tear-stained eyes

― (Jon L), Saturday, 24 April 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Is Rogers Waters the worst lyricist in the world or what?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 25 April 2004 09:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, this thread DID take off when we started quoting his
solo stuff. But "The Wall" and "The Final Cut" contain some
of the best lyrics ever committed to tape. I understand the
TFC hate, because the album's sound is completely different
from what had come before. But in my book it's a powerful album,
a haunting, sorrowful dirge that darkens my eyes every time.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Jarvis Cocker certainly agrees ... he took his whole act from the Final Cut.

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 28 April 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I LOVE THE FINAL CUT AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT.

― shookout (shookout), Thursday, 29 April 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

How many times did he mention "tear-stained eyes"?

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 29 April 2004 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

cant stop lose job mind gone silicon
what bomb get away pay day make hay
break down need fix big six
clickity click hold on oh no brrrrrrrrrring bingo!

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 29 April 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't there a 60's-era Pink Floyd outdoor concert that was so loud all the fish in nearby pond died?

May 1971 at the Crystal Palace bowl. Quoting from this page

Pink Floyd's concerts were not entirely devoid of Spinal Tap moments. In 1971, for example, the band performed at a "garden party" at a lake in a London suburb. The show climaxed with a display of fireworks as an inflatable octopus shrouded in dry ice rose from the lake. The show received mixed reviews. It impressed the audience, and killed all the fish in the lake.

The reason the fish died at Crystal Palace was because the floyd set off smoke flares under water while trying to inflate the octopus which would not inflate because of damage from the many people who splashed around in it earlier. Stirring up the bottom of the pond did nothing to help the health of the fish either. It also killed off the water lilies!!

That page also has a picture of the octopus.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 29 April 2004 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

"you don't have to be a jew / to disapprove of murder"
--"Too Much Rope," from Amused to Death.

― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 18 July 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

tearing the stains of a million eyes
with the million eye-staining tears
Syd, i bet you think this song is about you.
you're so stained (by a million teary eyes)

― sherm, Sunday, 18 July 2004 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

welcome my son, welcome, to the machine...

― francesco (francesco), Monday, 19 July 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

My pony's name is Marcel
He's not the greatest
pony in the world
But he's the only one I got.

hey I really like that...it's sweet...he's nice to his pony. people should be accepting of ponies for who they are. seriously.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Pink Floyd had an inflatable octopus?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 6 October 2005 00:48 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

i cringe every time I hear that "mother will they break my balls" bullshit on the radio. excruciating.

― richard wood johnson (rwj), Friday, 30 June 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

I think I'll buy myself a football team.

― Alicia Fucking Silverstone (sexyDancer), Friday, 30 June 2006 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

Pink Floyd had an inflatable octopus?

Yeah, I had to see that one for myself as well.

― Edward Bax (EdBax), Friday, 30 June 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

I just ran across a CD full of Waters' on-stage meltdowns, rantings, and spontaneous anger. The track names are priceless...

1. Introduction (1999-09-19)
2. Richard, Are You Ready? (03-13-70)
3. We Haven't Got To That Bit Yet (10-23-70)
4. This Is Called *SQUEAL*BARK (11-14-70)
5. And In This Corner
6. The Nile Song? Good, Great, Terrific
7. One Two, One Two (12-22-70)
8. I Think We're Ready (04-26-75)
9. Either You Get It Or You Don't
10. A Cruel Song, But Fair
11. Assholes In Yellow Shirts
12. Oooh, Ack, Auugh (06-18-75)
13. Thiry-One (04-24-77)
14. Cunt (07-03-77)
15. Stupid Motherfucker (Part 1)
16. Stupid Motherfucker (Part 2)
17. Ninety, Fifty-Three
18. No More Fucking Fireworks
19. Thanks
20. Shitbag (07-04-77)
21. Ninety, Fifty-Four
22. For Fuck's Sake (07-06-77)
23. Ninety, Sixty-One
24. Come Back Pig
25. A Few Assholes
26. A Quiet Tune
27. Some Music To Go Home To
28. What A Fabulous Tub (02-01-80)
29. No Click-Track In The Cans
30. We Must Never Stop
31. Don't Start The Tape, James
32. Whatever The Words Are (Nobody Home)
33. No Vocal In The Cans (Vera)
34. Where's The Tape, James?
35. The Unforgettable Fire (02-07-80)
36. A Little Song For The Paranoiacs
37. Hup, Oooh!(02-08-80)
38. Run Like Fuck (02-13-80)
39. The Quiet Bits (02-25-80)
40. Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaah!!!!
41. Garlic-Eyed Fat Thing (02-27-80)
42. Having A Marvelous Time (02-28-80)
43. A Big Pig
44. A Little Bored (08-06-80)
45. Ve Haff Vays Of Making You Clap (02-14-81)
46. Don't Touch The Pig (02-19-81)
47. Loveable Dave (02-20-81)
48. Willy The Wanker
49. A Funny Pig
50. Mmmm, Disco !!! (06-16-81)
51. No Neil Diamond in Ze Hall (06-17-81)
52. Let's All Have A Clap!!!
53. Can You Hear Me, Dammit (06-16-84)
54. No Whistling In Ze Hall (06-27-84)
55. Silence!!! (07-03-84)
56. Absolute Silence In Ze Hall (07-17-84)
57. Ve Vill Haff Order!! (07-21-84)
58. A Big Prick
59. Stop Fucking Whistling (The Gunner's Dream) (07-24-84)
60. Be Quiet And Listen (03-21-85)
61. Woof Woof (09-09-87)
62. Auuuuugh (11-07-87)
63. A New Guitar (Set The Controls...) (11-10-87)
64. DJ With A Sense Of Humor (11-13-87)
65. A Crowd Of Monkeys (10-18-91)
66. Rain Like Hell? (08-13-99)
67. Where Were We?
68. Hello! (08-15-99)
69. Thank YOU!
70. Listen, It's Cool (08-28-99)
71. No No, Not Quite Yet (06-30-00)
72. It's Almost Over! (07-15-00)

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 19 January 2007 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

That sounds incredible. What's the name of the CD?

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

this might be the greatest thread on ILM (and I'm a Final Cut DEFENDER (but then again maybe not, i haven't heard it in 15+ years)).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

11. Assholes In Yellow Shirts

― slam your doors in golden silence (get bent), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

50. Mmmm, Disco !!! (06-16-81)

― slam your doors in golden silence (get bent), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

WFMU has a snippet of choice RW rants here.

― LC (Damian), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

That sounds incredible. What's the name of the CD?

"Flickering Fireworks, The Angry Years"

It's up on the Yeeshkul site.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

That page also has a picture of the octopus.

New link! http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Garden-party-71.html

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 19 January 2007 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

"So we went for a spin in the country
to feel the wind in our hair
To feel the power of my engine
To feel the thrill of desire
And then in the trees I heard a twig snap
Warning lights flashed on my map
I opened my eyes and to my surprise...

THERE WERE ARABS WITH KNIVES AT THE FOOT OF THE BED!!!
RIGHT AT THE FOOT OF THE BED!!!"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 20 January 2007 01:35 (nineteen years ago)

"STOP! Stop building the wall please... We've haven't any click track in the cans."

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 20 January 2007 08:32 (nineteen years ago)

"Don't keep builiding the wall! You're cheating! You're fucking cheating you wall-builders!"

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 20 January 2007 08:34 (nineteen years ago)

"We must never stop. If we stop we might disappear"

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 20 January 2007 08:35 (nineteen years ago)

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