University of Surrey
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Music and Media
BMus Music (3 year)
Final-Year Individual Project MUS3078
‘To What Extent Did Roger Waters’ 1967-1969 Songwriting Style Shape 1983’s The Final Cut?’
Daniel Peeke
Supervised By Dr. Christopher Wiley
May 2019
2 Acknowledgements
Since hearing The Wall at a friend’s house when I was twelve, Pink Floyd led me towards all the music I’m passionate about today, whether it’s Ben Folds, Cannibal Corpse or Dr Dre.
Since Roger Waters composed much of their best work, I felt it appropriate to explore the way in which his style grew their sound from innocent, underground psychedelia into genius conceptual art.
I’d like to thank Dr Chris Wiley in particular for his countless pointers in the right direction and for giving up so much of his time to help refine all 12,000 of these words. Also, my parents for reading this repeatedly despite not understanding what a single word of it means, Joe and
Stelios for letting me obsessively play prog 24 hours a day at home, and Shan for pretending to care about metric irregularity, modal interchange and melodic contour.
Contents
Abstract...... 3
Introduction...... 4
Part One: Roger Waters’ Early Style And The Introduction Of Later Songwriting
Staples...... 7
Part Two: Roger Waters’ Late Style And The Impact Of His Early Songwriting
On The Final Cut...... 26
Conclusions...... 45
References...... 47 3 To What Extent Did Roger Waters’ 1967-1969 Songwriting Style Shape 1983’s
The Final Cut?
Abstract
This dissertation offers an analysis of the solo-credited, studio-album released songs Roger Waters contributed to Pink Floyd’s first four albums between 1967-1969 (with focus on ‘Corporal Clegg’), and their final album featuring Waters, 1983’s The Final Cut (with focus on ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’). Allan Moore and
Remy Martin’s ‘Elements Of An Analytic Musicology Of Rock’ (2017) provided a framework for my popular music analysis, while Dai Griffiths (2003) and Deena Weinstein (2002) provided valuable starting points for my discussion of lyrics. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the extent to which the features of these earlier writing contributions shaped Waters’ approach to songwriting on The Final Cut. I will explore the ways in which songwriting threads persist throughout Waters’ Pink Floyd career via three ‘thread types’ I have determined: ‘unchanged’, ‘developed’ and ‘expanded’. I have chosen to focus on Roger Waters due to the large changes in sound Pink Floyd experienced across their career, with much of this change stemming from Waters’ rise from bassist/backing vocalist to sole songwriter. As the change in Pink Floyd’s sound is so clear between the periods I am focusing on, I expect some features of his early songwriting to be phased out entirely by 1983, but for many consistent features to manifest themselves with subtlety, rather than simply be reused in the same way throughout his career. This would suggest that the consistencies between Waters’
1960s and 1980s Pink Floyd songwriting were present and important, but require the close analysis provided by this dissertation in order to be located.
4 Introduction
Roger Waters was born in Surrey on 6 September 1943. His father, a Second Lieutenant in the
Territorial Army, died one year later in the Battle Of Anzio at Aprilia. Around twenty years later, Waters joined an early version of a band which soon became Pink Floyd. When their debut album, The Piper At The
Gates Of Dawn, was released on 4 August 1967, Syd Barrett was the band’s centrepiece. His songwriting, voice, guitar playing and lyrics defined their earliest sound. By 1969, Barrett’s mental deterioration saw him phased out of the band, leaving Waters’ songwriting to gradually dominate, culminating in the release of The
Final Cut (referred to as TFC from this point onwards) on 21 March 1983, which was “essentially a Roger
Waters solo album.”1
On the face of it, finding threads between the early and late output of a songwriter is rarely a difficult practice. Most songwriters have defining features that maintain throughout their career, though it is the way and extent to which these features are used which makes them interesting to investigate. In order to do this, I have determined three main ways (which I’ll term ‘thread types’) in which consistency can be examined across a songwriter’s early and late work.
• Unchanged’: Clear links between a songwriter’s early and late output that go mostly unchanged whether
appearing early on or later.
• ‘Developed’: Links between early and late songwriting that show clear similarity, but have been
developed upon, making their consistent presence less clear.
• ‘Expanded’: Features that were once small and non-defining that have expanded into large scale
songwriting focuses.
My intentions with this dissertation are to focus on Roger Waters and determine the extent to which the features of his 1967-1969 songwriting maintained into TFC. His particular influences will not impact my discussion, with my focus being his idiolect, regardless of its origin. I will do this through analysis of his structure & timbre; metre & hypermetre; vocal melodies; harmony & tonality; and lyrics in his 1960s and
1 Blake, M (2008) Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story Of Pink Floyd. Da Capo Press. p299. 5 1980s songwriting. From this analysis, I’ll be able to ascertain the similarities/differences in each feature across eras, discovering the thread types present in Waters’ work. How these thread types appear will show the ways in which Waters’ early songwriting impacted his later work, while how often they appear will determine the extent to which 1967-1969 shaped TFC.
My primary approach will be via Allan Moore’s Rock The Primary Text, using chapter two (‘Elements
Of An Analytic Musicology Of Rock’) as the backbone of my analysis of Waters’ take on popular music construction. Lyrically, Dai Griffiths and Deena Weinstein have proved valuable in determining the threads in his words, something Waters acknowledged as “central to his works.”2 In terms of the literature surrounding
Pink Floyd/Roger Waters, both Bill Kopp and Phil Rose have provided illuminating insights into their early/late output respectively. However, little musical analysis-focused material exists about the band, with almost none regarding the eras I will be focusing on, allowing this dissertation to offer a rare and original insight into the configuration of Roger Waters’ songwriting, while introducing a new way of categorising the threads that run through any songwriter’s career. [Figure 1] lists the eleven pre-1970 studio-released tracks which Waters is credited as sole songwriter (working under the assumption that should individual embellishment from performers have been large enough, tracks would be co-credited, suggesting that Waters retained primary creative control over these pieces), alongside the twelve tracks found on 1983’s TFC that will form the basis of my comparison.
Part one of this dissertation will determine the defining elements of Waters’ 1967-1969 songwriting style while pointing out those with importance to TFC. Part two will take a similar approach in analysing
TFC’s defining features, but with additional focus on their ‘thread type’.
2 Weinstein, D (2002) Progressive Rock As Text: The Lyrics Of Roger Waters in Holm-Hudson, K (2002) Progressive Rock Reconsidered. 1st Edition. Routledge, New York/London. p95. 6
‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk’ The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
‘Let There Be More Light’ A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
‘Corporal Clegg’
‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’
‘Cirrus Minor More (1969)
‘Nile Song’
‘Crying Song’
‘Grantchester Meadows’ Ummagumma (1969)
‘Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict’ (Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Obscured By Clouds, The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall)
‘The Post War Dream’ The Final Cut (1983)
‘Your Possible Pasts’
‘The Hero’s Return’
‘The Gunner’s Dream’
‘Paranoid Eyes’
‘Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert’
‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’
‘The Final Cut’
‘Not Now John’
‘Two Suns In The Sunset’
[Figure 1] A List Of Each Waters Composition Detailed In This Essay
7 Part One: Roger Waters’ Early Style And The Introduction Of Later
Songwriting Staples
When The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was released in 1967, Roger Waters’ songwriting style had a lot in common with Syd Barrett’s unusual, unique sound, but within a year this began to be balanced out by contrasting simplicity. A combination of these approaches defined Waters’ early style, while providing the starting point for ‘unchanged’, ‘developed’ and ‘expanded’ thread types to take many of these features into
TFC.
With this chapter, I will analyse Waters’ early use of structure & timbre, metre & hypermetre, vocal melodies, harmony & tonality, and lyrics, while pointing out their importance to TFC. I will engage with all of Waters’ 1967-69 solo credits, but my main focus will be ‘Corporal Clegg’ (from A Saucerful Of Secrets,
1968).
Structure & Timbre
In Roger Waters’ early work, his approach to structure and timbre mostly consisted of ambiguity and atypicality, with simplicity and typicality appearing in only a handful of his contributions.
Waters’ engagement with experimental, non-melodic improvised passages (which I’ll refer to as ‘noise jams’) show a clear overlap with Barrett, whose ‘Flaming’ “dissolves into a collage of impressionist aural images.”3 Waters’ use wasn’t as prominent, but it came to be characteristic of his early style, appearing in
‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk’, which is predominantly built on experimental improvisation, and the cacophonous orchestral outro of ‘Corporal Clegg’. While these noise jams didn’t persist into Waters’ later work, ‘Corporal Clegg’ demonstrated Waters’ first use of orchestra in this one-off example. Similarly, in
1969, ‘Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict’ first introduced Waters’ use of sound effects and tape manipulation. The ending of ‘Grantchester Meadows’ establishes a birdsong soundscape which “was used to establish a harmonious transition into ‘Several
Species…’,”4 showing his first experimentation with interconnected songs. Manipulated recordings of
Waters’ voice also make up the sound collage throughout, and spoken word is layered above this during the
3 Kopp, B (2018) Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett To Dark Side Of The Moon. The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, UK. p12. 4 Gonin, P (2016) Popular or non- popular? The late 1960s, the counterculture and the avant-garde in rock music. The example of Ummagumma of Pink Floyd. [Online] Available at: http://www.gatm.it/analiticaojs/index.php/analitica/article/view/165/145 8 outro. Neither these sound effects nor the use of orchestra were defining of his early sound, but both were key to TFC.
Contrasting this experimental approach was Waters’ fascination with acoustic guitar music. All of his solo contributions to More (aside from anomalous ‘The Nile Song’) were acoustic guitar-led, slow and used a persistently soft dynamic, as did ‘Grantchester Meadows’ from Ummagumma. More showed Waters’ first use of this format, defining his approach to songwriting in 1969 and acting as an important precursor to TFC.
While he was still focused on unpredictable, ambiguous structures at this time, the slow, acoustic “celestial pop song”5 ‘Cymbaline’, was Waters’ first experiment with typical pop structuring.
As Allan Moore says, “verses and choruses will commonly repeat: verses tend to use different lyrics on each occurrence, choruses tend to repeat the same”, while “verses tend to be twice the length of choruses”,
[Figure 2] Structural Analysis Of ‘Cymbaline’ and ‘Grantchester Meadows’ “bridges, introductions, playouts and solos do not normally repeat”, and bridges appear “frequently somewhere between one-half and two-thirds through.”6 ‘Cymbaline’ [figure 2] obeys each of these songwriting traditions. The lyrics to each verse are different, emphatic repetition of the “it’s high time,
Cymbaline” lyric (along with a textural, melodic and local tonic change) which clearly indicates a chorus half the length of each verse and David Gilmour’s scatted bridge [2:24], is almost exactly halfway through the piece. ‘Grantchester Meadows’ supports the relevance of this structure [figure 2]. As with ‘Cymbaline’, due to the repeating lyrics in the shorter chorus and the appearance of a bridge section halfway through, the song demonstrates a clear use of verse/chorus structuring. In a way, the rarity of such typicality is the most important aspect of its use.
5 Black, J (2019) in Blake, M (2019) MOJO Magazine: Pink Floyd Echoes 1965-1973. Bauer, UK. p54. 6 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) Rock The Primary Text, Chapter 2: Elements Of An Analytic Musicology Of Rock. 3rd Edition. Routledge, UK. p51. 9 The other side of Waters’ engagement with verse/chorus structures can be seen in tracks such as
‘Corporal Clegg’ [figure 3]. Despite the clear chorus, various other structural devices present are atypical to popular music. The first is the use of refrain, placing the repeating “Corporal Clegg” phrase at the start of each verse, subverting Moore’s suggestion that a refrain is a “lyric repeated at the end of the verse.”7 A similar
[Figure 3] Transcription Of ‘Corporal Clegg’ (0:28-1:11) approach can be seen in ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope...’, where “doctor, doctor” is repeated at the start of every line of the opening section. However, as the repeating “set the controls for the heart of the sun” lyric is both too short and not contrasting enough to be viewed as a chorus in ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The
Sun’, it shows a standard use of refrain (or “top line”8 as Waters termed stating a track’s title within a verse).
This proves that, no matter how it was used, refrain was common in his 1960s songwriting as well as TFC.
The “dear oh dear…” section that follows the verse demonstrates another point of ambiguity within
‘Corporal Clegg’. While it could be viewed as a bridge passage due to its use of new, contrasting material,
7 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 8 Waters, R cited in Blake, M (2019) p115. 10 Moore suggests that a bridge typically appears “somewhere between one-half and two-thirds through.”9 This could suggest that as the section leads toward a chorus, it could be considered a pre-chorus. However, as the section only appears once, we are also unable to definitively conclude this, as pre-choruses typically appear before every chorus of a track, rather than just once. ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope…’ connects to this, as its distinct three-part structure avoids clear repetition, meaning there are no repeating verses to be bridged and no chorus to be led into via a pre-chorus, thus it is hard to support any clear suggestion of what each section is in relation to popular music structuring.
As mentioned, Moore believes a “chorus tends to repeat the same”10 lyrics. While this is normally the case, Waters provides many ambiguous examples that could suggest his employment of lyrically diverse choruses (a chorus where the lyrics change at each return), shown by factors such as a change of tonal centre, harmony, melodic content and texture. An example of this is ‘Crying Song’ [figure 4]. Despite the supporting
[Figure 4] Transcription Of ‘Crying Song’ (0:46-1:13) melodic, harmonic, textural and rhythmic changes, if we were to view the repeating “we smile, and smile” lyric (which changes upon each return) as a chorus, then multiple problems would arise. The lack of repeating lyrics is most overt, but this would also suggest that the following verse (“laughter echoes in your eyes”) was just two-bars long even though Moore states that “rarely are verses shorter”11 than choruses, while this
‘chorus’ would have its first appearance before the verse (though this is not unheard of). This implies that the
9 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 10 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 11 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 11 track may instead be built on two-part verses connected by linking passages. The inability to conclude either interpretation is detailed in [figure 5]. ‘Let There Be More Light’ encounters a similar problem, with the large change in texture, harmony, melody and rhythm between the “far, far, far, far away…” [1:26] section and
“then at last the mighty ship…” [1:44] suggesting a verse/chorus relationship, despite contrasting lyrical
[Figure 5] Two Interpretations Of The Structure Of ‘Crying Song’ content. These complex structural relationships highlight the distinctively ambiguous approach to structure which maintained throughout Waters’ contributions to Pink Floyd.
Easier to analyse are pieces exclusively built on verses. Both ‘Cirrus Minor’ and ‘The Nile Song’ contain no repeated lyrics or major contrast, and instead move through a sequence of verses sandwiched between an intro/outro. While this is shown to be an important feature of More, this approach was unable to survive past the 1970s.
Waters’ 1960s songwriting was defined by a combination of experimental and simple timbres, while his approach to structure balanced complex ambiguity with occasional simplicity. With only the use of noise jams and verse-led structures being eventually phased out of Waters’ songwriting, it is safe to say that his early approach was important in shaping TFC. Elements of his timbre, in particular sound effects and the orchestra, are particularly important, while ambiguous structures have just as much in common with Waters’ later work as his occasional use of refrain and structural simplicity does.
12 Metre & Hypermetre
As with structure, Waters’ early use of metre and hypermetre shows a balance between simplicity and unpredictability, though in this case the balance is more evenly split.
Moore states that “just as groups of beats (normally four) are grouped to yield metre, groups of bars
(normally four) are grouped to yield hypermetre.”12 Waters’ earliest compositions were often built on an irregular hypermetre that contrasted this “normally four” implication. The verse of ‘Corporal Clegg’ first groups three bars of 4/4, then groups a bar of 2/4 with two bars of 4/4 [figure 6], before the bridge/pre-chorus
[Figure 6] Transcription Of ‘Corporal Clegg’ (0:28-0:43) section finally uses standard 4x4 hypermetre. This inconsistency (and therefore unpredictability) is defining of Waters’ early hypermetric organisation. ‘Let There Be More Light’, furthers this, as its first verse [1:26-
1:45] is grouped into five-bars of 4/4, followed by an additional sixth on the melisma of the word “done”; while the rest of the verses are grouped into three bars of 4/4 followed by one additional bar for the melismatic melody. ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope…’ is similarly complex, with ever-changing accents making it unclear where each bar begins and therefore determine the hypermetric organisation for certain. This unpredictable organisation is found throughout Waters’ later work.
As shown in, for example, ‘Jugband Blues’, Barrett “never paid much attention to time signatures.”13
Waters’ approach to metre was more simplistic, especially in contrast to his hypermetric organisation. As
Moore suggests, “fluctuating metres are so common that they cannot be regarded as aberrant.”14 This means that while the occasional interjecting bars of 2/4 seen in ‘Corporal Clegg’ and the introduction of ‘Take Up
Thy Stethoscope...’ where “a beat seems to be lost before the song proper begins”15 are characteristic of
Waters’ early style (whose prominence developed further into TFC), they didn’t necessarily give it a unique
12 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p41. 13 Wright, R cited in Blake (2019) p115. 14 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p41. 15 Holm-Hudson, K (2001) The Future Is Now… And Then: Sonic Historiography In Post 1960s Rock. Genre, 34. Duke University Press, USA. p257. 13 nature. In fact, more often than not, Waters’ early style subscribed to a consistent 4/4 metre, in line with
Moore’s suggestion that “almost all rock music organizes these beats in groups of four.”16 In particular, all five of Waters’ contributions to More remain in 4/4. As the occasional 2/4 interjections of other tracks also maintain a strong-weak pulse, this doesn’t mark a huge difference to songs like ‘Corporal Clegg’, but the balance between total simplicity and occasional metric disruptions is key to Waters’ later work.
Harmonic sequences are often grouped into “four bars, sometimes eight or two bars, and rarely any other number,”17 and the rate of chordal change in ‘Cymbaline’ is no different [figure 7]. The verse consists of two-bar groupings that match each line of lyrics, further grouped into eight lines of lyrics per verse; while
[Figure 7] Transcription Of ‘Cymbaline’ (0:25-0:49) the chorus, bridge and intro/outro also use two-bar 4/4 hypermetre consistently. As this is so common in popular music, it would be reductive to imply that it was unique to Waters. However, similar approaches in
‘Green Is The Colour’, ‘Crying Song’ and ‘Cirrus Minor’ suggest that balanced hypermetre was an important element of his early songwriting which maintained throughout many later Pink Floyd contributions.
The way generally unpredictable hypermetric organisation and occasional metric irregularity were balanced with moments of total simplicity clearly defined Waters’ early songwriting. This balance ended up remaining a prominent feature in the construction of TFC.
16 Moore, A and Martin R (2017) p41. 17 Moore, A and Martin R (2017) p54. 14 Vocal Melody
The defining aspects of Waters’ vocal melodies were one his biggest songwriting consistencies, with a set of distinctive features acting as tell-tale signs in identifying a Waters composition.
Waters’ early vocal melodies were mostly conjunct and syllabic, with ‘Corporal Clegg’ only demonstrating melisma subtly on the descending thirds that end each phrase of the verse and chorus. His melodic construction across his entire career rarely moves far from this simplistic approach. A strong example of his noticeably syllabic writing can be seen in Nick Mason’s “in orange red and blue, he found it in the
[Figure 8] Transcription Of ‘Corporal Clegg’ (0:36-0:43) zoo” vocal passage [figure 8]. ‘Set The Controls…’ exemplifies this, as the refrain distinctly misses an opportunity for melisma (on the word “sun”) and instead makes the conscious decision to remain syllabic and conjunct throughout, much like most of ’Cirrus Minor’ and ‘Green Is The Colour’.
A high “syllabic density,”18 as Leonard Cohen called it, is key to the construction of Waters’ vocal lines as they often seem ‘full’ due to the high syllabic density most engage with at some point. The ‘Corporal
Clegg’ lyric starting from “dear oh dear…”, for instance, has a word on every quaver of the bar (thus eight syllables), which is comparable to the mostly uninterrupted, dense delivery of “then at last a mighty ship…” from ‘Let There Be More Light’. ‘Cirrus Minor’ and the verse of ‘Cymbaline’ connect More to this approach
[Figure 9] Transcription Of ‘Grantchester Meadows’ (1:46-1:54) by delivering lyrics with few periods of silence, though the 14-syllable line “hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox” that appears within the first eight beats of the ‘Grantchester Meadows’ chorus [figure
9] arguably provides Waters’ strongest example of high syllabic density. He does not seem to employ the
18 Zollo, P (1997) cited in Griffiths, D (2003) From Lyric To Anti-Lyric: Analysing The Words In Pop Song in Moore, A (2003) Analysing Popular Music. Cambridge University Press, UK. p45. 15 pattern of songs arranging “themselves as gradual build-ups in verbal garrulousness,”19 but, as all of the above examples show, the syllabically dense portions come at the start of a phrase, with emptier lines ending each one. The line “sad for me” from ‘Corporal Clegg’ is notably less dense than that which preceded it, while the
14-syllable phrase from ‘Grantchester Meadows’ is followed by the opposing “gone to ground”, which puts just three syllables in the same verbal space that the previous 14-syllable line occupied. This specific nuance is present in almost every example of Waters’ syllabically dense songwriting, and appears throughout his entire Pink Floyd tenure.
In terms of melodic contour, a distinctive feature that appears in many of Waters’ songs is a development upon a static contour, which Middleton describes as “axial (melodies that circle around a central note).”20 Specifically, the axial aspect of his melodies tends to be localised to the end of a phrase, meaning a period of static contour is followed by temporary movement away from the note previously focused upon.
Looking back to [figure 3], ‘Corporal Clegg’ demonstrates this in the bridge/pre-chorus section, which is built on repeating F#’s in a chant style, before axial movement comes from the F#-C#-F# of the following bar.
Similarly, the first half of each chorus phrase is focused on repeating A’s, with the F# and D that end each
[Figure 10] Transcription Of ‘Green Is The Colour’ (0:26-0:32) respective phrase resolving their static contour into an axial one. ‘Green Is The Colour’ follows a similar contour, with repeating D’s during the line “heavy hung the canopy of blue” being brought to an axial conclusion as the phrase ends via the single E [figure 10]. ‘Set The Controls…’ and ‘Let There Be More
Light’ employ a more traditionally axial contour throughout their verses as they both circle a focal note, though even these melodies take a broader movement away from the note as the phrase ends.
19 Griffiths, D (2003) From Lyric To Anti-Lyric: Analysing The Words In Pop Song in Moore, A (2003) Analysing Popular Music. Cambridge University Press, UK. p47 20 Middleton, R (1990) cited in Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p50. 16 Waters also extended his use of contour, with ‘Cirrus Minor’ showing a static contour that moves in line with chord changes. While a chant can be seen in most bars, the verse viewed as a whole shows a chromatic descent as the focal note changes with each chord. The G/D-C#m7-C7 sequence in [figure 11]
[Figure 11] Transcription Of ‘Cirrus Minor’ (1:07-1:26) shows this, with the melody repeating the root of each chord until it changes. An “oscillating (melodies that move back and forth between two structural notes)”21 contour can be seen in the verses of ‘Cymbaline’, where movement between A and G (and then A and B) is seen to change with each chord. This shows that Waters’ vocal melodies were often defined by their focus on axial (and similar) contours, something which persisted throughout much of his later work.
The chorus of ‘Cymbaline’, however, provides the only example of a completely contrasting approach to melody. Firstly, it is reliant on disjunct intervals and a low syllabic density. On each “[and] it’s high…” lyric there is movement of an entire octave that reaches a higher tessitura than the listener is used to, while the lyric “Cymbaline, it’s…”, may be expected to repeat notes or be embellished by subtle movements, but is
[Figure 12] ‘Cymbaline’ (0:31-0:49)
21 Middleton, R (1990) cited in Moore, A (2018) p50. 17 provided instead with a disjunct descent housed within a minor seventh. The melodic contour here avoids all axial movement, and instead employs “the downward sweep,”22 while the words “high time” demonstrate a focus on two minim notes which fill the entire bar [figure 12], moving dramatically away from his typical high syllabic density. While it is hard to compare this one-off example to the rest of Waters’ 1960s songwriting, its position as a starting point to material on TFC is important.
Vocal melodies with defining moments of syllabic density, axial contours and a general focus on syllabic, conjunct movement can be seen throughout almost all of Waters’ songwriting, with contrasting material continuing to make occasional appearances.
Harmony & Tonality
As with many other elements of his songwriting, the way Waters employed harmony/tonality in the
1960s frequently balanced complex ambiguity with traditional simplicity.
In discussion of popular music harmonic analysis, Moore states that it is fruitful to “employ a modal system”,23 with many of the features detailed below dependent on this perspective. Within this, the Mixolydian bVII chord (which is “far more common in rock than the Ionian VII”24) appears frequently. Moore’s The So-
Called ‘Flattened Seventh’ In Rock goes into detail about the regularity of this chord in popular music, which remains the case in Waters’ early songwriting. As Moore points out, “only two modes (the rare Lydian, and the Ionian) include a leading note,”25 and in Waters’ early songwriting, only one track avoids modality. All of his other pieces employ it in some way (even if it is simply in avoidance of the use of the leading note) such as the Phrygian of ‘Set The Controls...’ and the Dorian of ‘Cymbaline’. This suggests that modality was key to Waters’ early songwriting, whether in a complex setting or not. The reader should separate the Mixolydian bVII from other examples of modal interchange mentioned in Waters’ songwriting, as in popular music the
Ionian VII would actually be more unexpected.
‘Corporal Clegg’ represents each of the harmonic staples that defined Waters’ early work. Despite ambiguities, looking at the song from an A Mixolydian perspective can demonstrate this. While also providing an example of the prominent mediant relationships, the first chord change (A-C) introduces his use of modal
22 Moore, A (2018) p49. 23 Moore, A (2018) p52. 24 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p53. 25 Moore, A (1995) Popular Music, Volume 14, No.2: The So-Called ‘Flattened Seventh’ In Rock. Cambridge University Press, UK. p188. 18 interchange, borrowing a C major chord from the Aeolian mode, thus changing the C# of the A major chord into the C♮ of C major. While the interchange itself is key to his early style, the changing of note types between chords/within bars became a common feature of Waters’ harmony as a result. Despite establishing the A tonic in the first chord, this change immediately creates tonal ambiguity as the borrowed chord subverts the
“particular continuation”26 the listener may expect in functional harmony.
‘Grantchester Meadows’ uses the same type of modal borrowing, interrupting the E Mixolydian modality with an unexpected G major chord in the chorus [figure 13]. This chord uses D♮ as expected in the
Mixolydian context, but also introduces a G♮ in place of a G#, borrowing from the Aeolian mode as ‘Corporal
[Figure 13] Transcription Of ‘Grantchester Meadows’ (1:46-1:54)
Clegg’ did. Similarly, the A Mixolydian quality of ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope…’ is implied in the alternating
A-G bass notes of the verse, but the first full guitar chord change [0:21] moves from G to E. Interestingly, this suggests a borrowed Ionian chord, introducing the G# of the E major chord to an A Mixolydian modality with
G♮’s. This forces a G♮ and G# change, creating further ambiguity, while this E-G change itself is another reflection of the important mediant relationship in Waters’ music. His use of modal interchange remained present in much of his songwriting, but it began to diminish over the course of the 1970s.
A further example of modal borrowing is seen in the chorus of ‘Cymbaline’, where the Fmaj7 chord is not part of the A Dorian modality the verse suggested through its Am-Bm movement. This furthers the ambiguity, as it could both be seen as a chord borrowed from the Aeolian mode, or as a usage of one of
Waters’ other distinctive early features: temporary local tonics. The C major chord that the chorus opens with could be seen as a pivot chord between the A Dorian modality of the verse, and a new, C (major) local tonic supported by the repeating plagal cadences (Fmaj7-C) that don’t fit the Dorian modality. However, due to their temporary nature, it is hard to provide a definitive answer as to their function.
26 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p52. 19 [Figure 14] shows more appearances of these ambiguous local tonics, this time within ‘Corporal
Clegg’. While the Bm of “dear oh dear…” is technically chord II in the A Mixolydian mode, its presentation in perfect cadence-like alteration with F#m (chord V in B minor), gives the chord a temporary tonic-like quality. The plagal cadence that is created by the move from the E7#9 beforehand strengthens this. Similarly,
[Figure 14] Transcription Of ‘Corporal Clegg’ (0:28-1:11) the following D chord (which is chord IV in A Mixolydian) leads directly into a G, creating a perfect cadence which now suggests a G major local tonic. However, both of these examples are made up of chords common to the A Mixolydian tonal centre of the track and are too fleeting to provide a consistent implication of new tonality. This makes their presence ambiguous, as they create a similar inability to be labelled as many of
Waters’ structural devices did. ‘The Nile Song’ is another demonstration of tonal ambiguity as Waters moves the local tonic up by a tone in each verse; while the movement from E-A in ‘Set The Controls…’ could be viewed in two contrasting ways. The persistent use of F♮ in the main riff implies the E Phrygian mode, but when this riff is moved up by a fourth, the Bb begins to suggest either a local tonic on A, or even the E Locrian mode when viewed in conjunction with its previous positioning. As the organ has by this point played B♮, it 20 is hard to judge whether this movement constitutes a temporary local tonic, or is simply borrowing its diminished fifth (in this case, the note, not the chord) from the Locrian mode. Despite this defining early use of ambiguous tonality, mostly stemming from the use of local tonics, its presence didn’t have a considerable impact on TFC.
‘Corporal Clegg’ also includes slow harmonic rate at points, with the E7#9 chord lasting throughout most of Mason’s vocal, and the second D chord being held for four bars. This continues to be shown through
‘Let There Be More Light’, which focuses its verse around a static C root note; while ‘Crying Song’ would have a relatively typical folk sequence if it wasn’t for the changes from D to Ddim [0:46-1:01] which sustains the same root for an extended period. Even the verses of ‘Grantchester Meadows’ keep an E bass note when changing between E and A major. This shows that Waters’ slow harmonic rate was not just based around extended chord durations, but also used static bass notes as a basis for harmonic movement above. This unpredictable, non-standard approach to harmony connected Waters to Barrett, of whom Robyn Hitchcock
[Figure 15] Transcription Of ‘Green Is The Colour’ (0:26-0:51) 21 said would “start off a song in E, and then he’d realise it was in A.”27 While much of Waters’ early style overlapped with Barrett’s in many ways, ‘Green is The Colour’ was an important contrast for Waters. Moore’s description of functional harmony states that “a particular chord will lead the competent listener to expect a particular continuation,”28 and as the only chords featured in ‘Green Is The Colour’ are completely diatonic to G major (with no chord VII and a standard harmonic rate) [figure 15] this shows Waters’ only consistent use of diatonic functionality in a 1960s track. Interestingly, despite its rarity early on, the simple harmonic construction of this track has a lot more similarity to TFC than much of the rest of Waters’ 1960s harmony.
His early songwriting was defined by his use of modality, slow harmonic rate, the mediant relationship, and ambiguity created by modal interchange and the use of local tonics. While some of these features maintained into his later songwriting (and some were phased out), his rare use of diatonic functionality is arguably the most important precursor to his later style.
Lyrics
While Rick Wright has stated that “the first thing that came into [Barrett’s] head were the lyrics,”29 the reader will be aware of the importance Waters gave lyrics in his later work, such as the narrative of The
Wall (1979). His early style was full of defining features that played an important role in establishing his position as the band’s lyricist, which continued into TFC.
The Barrett-like overlap was mostly contained within 1967-68, with a focus on fantastical elements such as a spaceship landing in ‘Let There Be More Light’; and the interstellar theme of ‘Set The Controls...’.
Humour was also approached within this era, showing itself in the virtually nonsensical lyrics of ‘Take Up
Thy Stethoscope…’ (“gruel ghoul, greasy spoon, used spoon, June bloom”); while ‘Corporal Clegg’ continues this through his use of wordplay that suggests that Corporal Clegg “won” his wooden leg in the war
(juxtaposing the positivity of winning with the misfortune of losing a leg), and “found” his medal in the zoo
(receiving the medal incidentally in a seemingly random location). By 1969, Waters’ style had already begun to phase these features out, with ‘Cirrus Minor’ including the one far-fetched line “on a trip to Cirrus Minor, saw a crater in the sun, a thousand miles of moonlight later”; and ‘Cymbaline’ using the singular, self-aware,
27 Hitchcock, R cited in Kopp, B (2018) p16. 28 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p52. 29 Wright, R cited in Blake, M (2019) p28. 22 semi-comedic line “will the final couplet rhyme?” (it doesn’t). While these themes defined some of Waters’ early style, their relevance to his songwriting quickly began to diminish.
Replacing these themes were much more serious lyrics. These temporarily took the form of the descriptive, pastoral tales which went hand in hand with the fact that “by 1969, Waters was putting more care into his lyric writing.”30 Though these pastoral lyrics didn’t have much longevity within his style [figure 16], the poeticism and seriousness they introduced led Waters towards the greater realism seen in TFC. They also demonstrate the “lyric” style of writing Waters was employing at this time.
Percentage Of Appearances Of Scenic/Pastoral Lyrics Across The Decades In Which Roger Waters Was A Member Of Pink Floyd 30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0% 1967-69 1970-82 1983
Scenic Lyrics
[Figure 16] Chart Showing The Declining Use Of Pastoral Lyrics In Waters’ Songwriting Dai Griffiths suggests that there are two paths words can take in music: “lyric”, which is “like poetry”, and so has emphasis on rhythm, flow and musicality; and “anti-lyric”, which is “like prose”31 and gives the words and meaning prominence. Much of Waters’ early work could be seen as “lyric”-oriented: ‘Take Up
Thy Stethoscope…’ includes lines such as “(doctor, doctor) I'm in bed, (doctor, doctor) aching head, (doctor, doctor) gold is lead, (doctor, doctor) choke on bread” which are loosely linked but have limited meaning.
They are instead guided by their rhythm, shown through the persistent “bed”, “head”, “lead”, “bread” etc. rhyming scheme, with rhyme being acknowledged as “a key technique in lyric.”32 In these tracks, the words
30 Kopp, B (2018) p73. 31 Griffiths, D (2003) p42. 32 Griffiths, D (2003) p54. 23 are formed like an extra instrument, built on rhythmic interest that isn’t intended to be thought about on any deeper level.
This is a similar approach to that of Yes, where Jon Anderson’s lyrics have “often been savaged as incomprehensible gibberish”33 as they are predominantly written for their sound, rather than meaning. Even
More includes this “lyrical” approach despite an increased seriousness. The pastoral settings prioritise evoking a mood, rather than unravelling substantial meaning. Wordplay like “in the lazy water meadow I lay me down” from ‘Grantchester Meadows’ brings similar sounding words like “lazy” and “lay me” to the forefront, without attempting to tell a particular story. Similarly, Waters gave the vague description that ‘Green Is The
Colour’ is simply “about being on Ibiza,”34 with the “lyric”-oriented technique of opening with the alliterative
“heavy hung” supporting the suggestion that a poetic evocation of mood takes the focus over that of a prosaic storyline. Interestingly, as Waters’ lyrical style developed, he prioritised meaning, and this exclusive use of
“lyric” was not maintained.
Few of Waters’ songs could be described as completely “anti-lyric”, but this early era did begin to introduce prosaic elements to his words, foreshadowing a middle ground between “lyric” and “anti-lyric”, where a use of language akin to poetry was combined with a narrative akin to prose. ‘Corporal Clegg’ shows this. Its loose storyline discusses the horrors of war, intending to making the listener think about what is being said (“anti-lyric”), but the bouncy presentation that generally gives each verse three rhyming lines in a row
(“too”, “blue” and “zoo”, for example) suggests a poetic, “lyrical” approach that employs words for their rhythm. ‘Let There Be More Light’ is similar, allowing each of the first four lines to rhyme consistently, despite the lyrics avoiding evocation of the humour that often permeated many Waters tracks of the era, and instead telling the aforementioned story of a spaceship landing. At this point, it seems that Waters’ use of
“lyric” trumps “anti-lyric”, as the rhythmic element of the words seems more overt than the prosaic content.
This precise balance did not maintain until TFC, though a simultaneous employment of both approaches continued to have presence in his Pink Floyd songwriting.
Deena Weinstein has noted another formal feature of lyric writing that is hard to categorise as lyric or anti-lyric; “his use of lists.”35 This is arguably the most consistent element of his career, appearing from 1965’s
33 Rycenga, J (2002) ‘Tales of Change within the Sound, Form, Lyrics and Philosophy in the Music of Yes in Holm-Hudson, K (2002) Progressive Rock Reconsidered. 1st Edition. Routledge, New York/London. p144. 34Waters, R (1970) Pink Floyd - Interstellar Encore (Live San Francisco, California, USA - April 29th, 1970). YouTube. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBy-z7INb-o 35 Weinstein, D (2001) p101. 24 ‘Walk With Me Sydney’ (“...flat feet, fallen arches, baggy knees and a broken frame, meningitis…”) all the way to 2017’s solo album Is This The Life We Really Want? track ‘Picture That’ (“picture your finger pushing the doorbell, picture the skull and crossbones on the doormat, picture yourself on the streets of Laredo, picture the Casbah…”). ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope…’ demonstrates this feature in Pink Floyd studio releases too, through the list of ailments that follow the word doctor (“I’m in bed, “aching head” “gold is lead”, “choke on bread”, “underfed” etc.); while ‘Crying Song’ opens its verses with the word “we” and then something new (“smile”, “climb”, “cry”, “roll”) each time. As expected, this is present in TFC.
Looking primarily at what Waters wrote about, rather than how he wrote it, Weinstein notes four key themes that connect Roger Waters’ lyrics: “images of the sun and moon and allusions to madness, war and the music business [which] function like a composer’s signature sound.”36 Despite not defining his early work, all of these elements were first explored in the 1960s, and as such, many played an important role in the creation of TFC.
‘Corporal Clegg’ marks the crucial first appearance of war themes in Waters’ songwriting, fifteen years before it took its place as the central focus of TFC. We can see this through clear lyrical suggestions such as “he won it in the war”. The aforementioned comedic undertones of ‘Corporal Clegg’ show Waters’ willingness to make allusions to humour while making the serious point that war had no positive outcomes for Corporal Clegg. This slots the song into the early era, but shows its foreshadowing of Waters’ more serious future use of the theme, furthered by the personal connection that also returns in TFC, with Waters himself stating that Corporal Clegg is “about [his] father and his sacrifice in World War II.”37
Through lines such as “Corporal Clegg, umbrella in the rain, he's never been the same”, Waters also introduced the recurrent theme of madness and introspection. While clear in The Dark Side Of The Moon, it was also key to TFC, showing that its place maintained throughout Waters’ career. As Weinstein says of
‘Corporal Clegg’: “the shell-shocked veteran has also lost his mind.”38 ‘Set The Controls…’ supports this, as allusions to mental illness such as “witness the man who raves at the wall” are present. Despite the often
“lyric” style in which these allusions are presented, they are discussed with clarity, with no metaphor/imagery blocking an understanding of their meaning. The context of these lyrics is also important, as Waters’ close
36 Weinstein, D (2001) p101. 37 Waters, R (2009) cited in Fricke, D (2009) MOJO Magazine, issue 193, December 2009. Bauer, UK. p30. 38 Weinstein, D (2001) p101. 25 relationship to Barrett during his period of mental demise (which peaked in early 1968) had a clear impact on his frequent later exploration of the theme.
The introduction of sun/moon imagery was incorporated into Waters’ early songwriting in multiple ways. From clear lyrics such as the repeating “the heart of the sun” that connected Waters to the fantastical songwriting of Barrett; to the realistic, literal depictions of the sun such as “basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon” from ‘Grantchester Meadows’. Both far-fetched depictions and literal appearances are important to TFC. On the other hand, Weinstein’s final key theme (“the music industry”) appears only in
‘Cymbaline’ through the lyric “your manager and agent are both busy on the phone, selling coloured photographs to magazines back home”. While this theme became prominent on albums such as Wish You
Were Here, it was mostly unnoticeable by 1983.
All of the above shows how Waters’ early writing was defined by a focus on elements with little in common with TFC: a “lyric” style, humour and the fantastical. However, the foreshadowed seriousness, use of war, madness and sun/moon themes, as well as a “lyric”/“anti-lyric” balance, shows that there is still a clear connection between Waters’ early and late lyrical styles.
26 Part Two: Roger Waters’ Late Style And The Impact Of His Earlier
Songwriting On The Final Cut
During the 1970s, Pink Floyd cemented their status as one of the most successful bands in the world.
Eventually, cracks in the band’s working relationship began to show, culminating in the release of the Roger
Waters-penned The Final Cut (again, referred to as TFC) in 1983. As I will demonstrate, Waters’ late songwriting style drew ‘unchanged’, ‘developed’ and ‘expanded’ thread types from his 1960s work, though a developing timbre and the balance of these thread types created a sound with characteristic differences to that of 1967-1969.
With part two of this dissertation I intend to highlight the structure & timbre, metre, vocal melodies, harmony & tonality and lyrics of Waters’ late songwriting, while examining the thread type of each feature and thus the extent of its connection to the 1960s. I’ll discuss all twelve tracks from TFC, but my primary focus will be ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’.
Structure & Timbre
While it has been developed upon and is sometimes approached from alternate angles, the overall balance of Waters’ approach to structure remained quite consistent between the 1960s and 1980s. However, as Waters became the leader of the band, his vocals became more prominent; Gilmour’s guitar tone replaced that of Barrett, and as Rick Wright was replaced by session musicians his trademark organ was mostly replaced by synthesisers. Combined with a general fidelity increase across the 1970s, contextual timbre changes impacted the sound of Waters’ songs and showed an advancement upon the 1960s.
The use of orchestra in TFC was far more prominent than in the 1960s, with [figure 17] showing its increasing presence in Waters’ songwriting. The availability of the orchestra likely came from the band’s increased budget, but its presence added a sense of refinement seen in areas such as the detailed middle section of ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’, which clearly contrasts its experimental ‘Corporal Clegg’ appearance. As
Moore says, the use of orchestra constitutes a middle layer in popular music, and “it is arguably the 27 constitution of this layer which has the greatest impact on the attribution of a particular style by any naive listener.”39 This suggests that its centrality and refined usage had an impact on the contrasting sound of TFC,
Percentage Of Waters' Studio Album Tracks That Incorperate Orchestral Instruments 70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% 1967-69 1970-82 1983
Orchestral Instruments (Including Saxophone)
[Figure 17] Chart Demonstrating The Increasing Use Of Orchestras In Waters’ Songwriting despite stemming from ‘Corporal Clegg’ via an ‘expanded’ thread. Interestingly, TFC also saw the presence of female backing vocalists. As this was first used on 1973’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, this is one of the few timbral elements of TFC with no connection to the studio albums of 1960s, though interestingly, Waters’ first songwriting credit, ‘Walk With Me Sydney’, did employ Rick Wright’s then-wife Juliette Gale as backing vocalist.
TFC is defined by its use of sound collages, tape effects and “the studio as an instrument.”40 Sound effects and spoken word extend the concept of the album, while almost every track is segued into smoothly.
For example, the sound of seagulls connects ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ to ‘Southampton Dock’, stemming from the 1969 connection between ‘Several Species...’ and ’Grantchester Meadows’. As this interconnection of tracks is seen throughout most of TFC, it shows another clearly ‘expanded’ thread type.
As in More, slow acoustic tracks make up a large portion of TFC. In fact, ‘The Hero’s Return’ and
‘Not Now John’ are the only songs on the album that can avoid being defined as such, while tracks like ‘One
Of The Few’ and ‘Two Suns In The Sunset’ put this approach in the foreground. However, as a whole, this feature was approached through more of a ‘developed’ thread type. More tracks on TFC focus on acoustic
39 Moore, A (2012) Song Means: Analysing And Interpreting Recorded Popular Song. Routledge, UK. p38. 40 Ableton Live Blog (2016) A Brief History of The Studio As An Instrument: Part 2 - Tomorrow Never Knows. [Online] Available at: https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/studio-as-an-instrument-part-2/ 28 piano, rather than acoustic guitar (such as ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ and ‘The Gunner’s Dream’), the acoustic focus appears in conjunction with orchestral backing, and the dynamic range is explored in more depth than the persistently quiet acoustic songs of More. For example, ‘Two Suns...’ is interjected with a short, dramatic middle section [2:17] and ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ has sudden moments of louder material
[1:38]. This gives the album a more progressive feel, with dynamic contrast showing a development on the
1960s consistency, despite the album as a whole predominantly being similarly slow, quiet and acoustic.
Structure is approached from a variety of angles in TFC. As in the 1960s, traditional verse/chorus structures remained infrequent, with the only appearance of typical popular music structuring as Allan Moore
[Figure 18] Structural Analysis Of ‘Your Possible Pasts’ describes it (“verses tend to use different lyrics on each occurrence, choruses tend to repeat the same lyrics” and bridges “appear between one-half and two-thirds through”41) being seen in ‘Your Possible Pasts’ [figure
18]. As this track was the lead single from the album, it is probable that Waters was aware of its typical pop structure, but made the decision to continue prioritising structural ambiguity throughout the rest of the album.
As said in part one, the most important element of Waters’ use of typical structures is its rarity, so rather than it defining either era, its ‘unchanged’ thread type comes from its consistently uncommon use.
Refrain also retained its presence in Waters’ songwriting. ‘Paranoid Eyes’ includes an example of this, with “hide, hide, hide” being “repeated at the end of [the] verse”;42 while ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ sees
Waters sing “The Fletcher Memorial…” at the end of most verses. However, even this uses Waters’ trademark
41 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 42 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 29 ambiguity when the refrain returns with new lyrics (“did they expect us to…”) at [1:38]. This shows another
‘unchanged’ thread type, as the balance between standard and non-standard refrains persisted since the 1960s.
‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ demonstrates the continued ambiguity of Waters’ structuring, with multiple contrasting sections with unusual placements mostly avoiding lyrical repetition. The spoken word section that follows the two opening verses [1:08] is built on new material that doesn’t return, implying a bridge section. However, as Moore suggests that a bridge typically appears “between one half and two thirds”43 through a track, this section is hard to define as such. Interestingly, the section that follows this is partially reprised in place of an outro. If this section were to be viewed as a chorus, then the piece of spoken word that precedes it could be classed as a pre-chorus (much like the “dear oh dear…” of ‘Corporal Clegg’) and the following guitar solo as the bridge (bridging the gap between the ‘chorus’ and the third verse) [figure
18]. Due to the lack of lyrical repetition, strange section placement, and the ‘chorus’ only being partially reprised, this suggestion is also impossible to confirm, but shows the multiple interpretations Waters’
[Figure 19] Two Interpretations Of The Structure of ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ structuring could evoke. In an alternate interpretation, the middle section could be seen as the three-part bridge of a piece with no chorus (instead employing the aforementioned lyrically diverse refrain-like sections) [figure
19]. However, this would go against Moore’s suggestion that a bridge does “not normally repeat”44 and with the bridge part two reprisal bringing around the end of the piece, it would lose its core function as it wouldn’t be ‘bridging’ anything. Pieces such as ‘Not Now John’ and ‘The Final Cut’ also show this ambiguity. The latter includes textural, harmonic and melodic change which could imply a pre-chorus and chorus relationship, but with completely new lyrics on each repetition, Walter Everett’s suggestion that a chorus “carries an
43 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 44 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p51. 30 unvaried poetic text”45 is subverted. This implies that Waters’ choruses either shouldn’t be classed as such, or that they ignore Everett’s (and to an extent Moore’s) suggestion and do in fact change lyrics upon re-entry.
As with 1960s examples such as ‘Crying Song’, a similar number of tracks from TFC employ these lyrically diverse choruses. ‘The Hero’s Return’ provides a strong example, alternating two contrasting sections between an introduction and outro. The two verse-like sections have a large textural difference, but their harmony and melodic content is the same, while the two chorus-like sections introduce a contrasting texture, new harmony and a new melody, but without any lyrical repetition. This suggests a verse/chorus alternation, but the lack of repeating lyrics blurs this and could be seen as a two-part verse. ‘Two Suns...’ has a similar approach, as each verse could either be seen as two-part, or as a verse/chorus alternation with changing lyrics due to its change of texture, harmony and melody [0:57]. While these sections sound more like lyrically diverse choruses than two-part verses, the lack of repeating lyrics make it hard to define, which suggests a clear ‘unchanged’ thread type connecting the inability to conclusively label many of Waters’ structures in both the 1960s and 1980s.
One of the only structural elements of TFC with no connection to the 1960s was through composition.
‘The Post War Dream’, ‘One Of The Few’ and ‘Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert’ all employ the feature, showing it to be a distinctive feature of Waters’ late style, but one with little in common with his earliest work.
As a whole, TFC was defined by a more refined, mature timbre, and a balance of structural ambiguity and simplicity maintained since 1967-1969. While through composed structures and occasional timbral features such as female backing vocalists and contextual developments were unconnected to the studio albums of the 1960s, threads are seen throughout virtually every other element of Waters’ late songwriting style.
‘Unchanged’ was the most prominent, with examples including the avoidance of lyrically consistent choruses, the way he uses refrain, and the ambiguous labelling of sections. The use of orchestra and sound effects moved from one-off experiments in the 1960s into style defining features through an ‘expanded’ thread, while a
‘developed’ thread took Waters’ focus on acoustic music into more dynamically intense, instrumentally diverse realms.
45 Everett, W (1999) The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology. Oxford University Press. p16. 31 Metre & Hypermetre
Throughout TFC, there is a balance between the simplistic approaches to metric organisation seen in work such as More and the unpredictability found in earlier tracks like ‘Corporal Clegg’.
Moore’s “normally four” implication is avoided frequently throughout TFC’s hypermetric organisation, with ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ demonstrating this. The entire first two bars give the impression of a long anacrusis in 3/4, before three bars lead into two groups of four bars of 3/4, followed by a two bar link [figure 20] that leads towards the 10-bar ‘refrain’. This entire section splits an odd number of bars (25) unevenly, while verse two also uses 25 bars, but in a different formulation, furthering the
[Figure 20]Transcription Of ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ (0:00-0:21) unpredictable nature of Waters’ hypermetre. Other pieces show a more subtle use of unbalanced hypermetre, with ‘The Gunner’s Dream’ mostly using simple phrase lengths, though the extension heard before the 32 saxophone solo [2:05] adds two bars to the hypermetre, and the opening 12 bars of the outro [4:12] are grouped into 4+2+4+2. This shows that Waters’ hypermetre has maintained an ‘unchanged’ thread since the 1960s.
However, ‘Two Suns...’ adds a further level of complexity. The verse lyrics “sinking behind bridges in the road” [figure 21] are housed within three bars of 8/8-7/8-8/8; while “think of all the good things…” is
[Figure 21] Transcription Of ‘Two Suns In The Sunset’ (0:39-0:58) also built on three bars, showing a hypermetric complexity combined with metric changes. Waters stated himself that ‘Two Suns...’ “was in 5/4 so Andy Newmark played that,”46 showing an increased complexity resulting in the need to replace drummer Nick Mason. The piece is actually even more complex than this, opening and closing in 9/8, with the 8/8 verses full of frequent 7/8 and 3/8 interjections. Even when the E minor ‘chorus’ section seems to be employing simple metre, the bar of 7/8 that completes it takes a quaver away from this expectation. Various examples from the album employ similar techniques, from ‘The Post
War Dream’, whose drum fill at [2:09] is in 7/4; to the insertions of 6/8 and 9/8 within the 12/8 metre of
‘Paranoid Eyes’. Even Phil Rose expects simplicity in line with Waters’ earlier output, incorrectly stating that
“the continued insertion of a measure of two beats disrupts the comfortable triple metre”47 of ‘Your Possible
Pasts’, when these measures are actually of a more complex 3/8, such as at [1:43]. This shows that Waters’ metric irregularity employs a ‘developed’ thread type in TFC, adding an obviously unexpected level of complexity that wasn’t explored between 1967-1969.
However, as with the 1960s, simple consistency remained more prominent. Pieces that show this include ‘One Of The Few’, ‘The Final Cut’ and ‘Not Now John’ [figure 22], with these examples mostly
46 Bezer, T (2009) Classic Rock Magazine. Vintage Pink Floyd Interview, Part 1. [Online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20090413165017/http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/vintage-pink-floyd-interview-part-1/ 47 Rose, P (2015) Roger Waters And Pink Floyd The Concept Albums, Chapter 5: The Final Cut: A Requiem For The Post War Dream. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, USA. p158. 33 overlapping with the More-esque approach of changing chord once or twice per bar and following the expected
[Figure 22] Transcription Of ‘Not Now John’ (0:03-0:09) practice of grouping hypermetre into “four bars, sometimes eight or two bars.”48 This shows an ‘unchanged’ thread type. However, despite often remaining simple, Waters began to use 3/4 in place of 4/4, with examples including ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’. This was something the 1960s failed to foreshadow.
Aside from the introduction of this 3/4 metre, TFC seems to balance Waters’ style-defining simplicity and complexity in much the same way as the 1960s, with both standard and irregular hypermetre remaining present through an ‘unchanged’ thread. While his persistently simple metre also remains ‘unchanged’, the thread running through his metric irregularity has been ‘developed’ through a distinctly increased complexity.
Vocal Melody
As mentioned in part one, Waters’ approach to writing vocal melodies was one of the most consistent aspects of his songwriting, with these defining features surviving into TFC.
‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ provides many examples of these unchanging features. Most overt, perhaps, is the consistently syllabic nature of the vocal line where each syllable is provided one note, with few intervals greater than a 2nd. This is shown to be consistent across TFC. ‘The Post War Dream’ [figure 23], is entirely syllabic aside from four uses of melisma (across the whole track) which are all versions of the simple appoggiatura on the word “why”. It is also mostly conjunct, with the question “is it for this that daddy died?”
[Figure 23] Transcription Of ‘The Post War Dream’ (0:49-1:06)
48 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p54. 34 simply a descending scalic move from G-C. Furthermore, the opening “fuck all that, we’ve gotta get on with this” of ‘Not Now John’ is presented with one syllable per note and only one disjunct interval (on the word
“with”); and ‘Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert’ is conjunct and syllabic throughout. This demonstrates an ‘unchanged’ thread.
The most prominent example of high syllabic density maintaining into this late era is the sudden “no one ever disappears, you never hear their standard issue…” from ‘The Gunner’s Dream’ [3:29]. This sees
Waters deliver 16 syllables within eight beats, clearly drawing parallels with the 14 syllables in eight beats of the ‘Grantchester Meadows’ chorus. Further examples can be seen in the 3/8 bars of ‘Your Possible Pasts’ which house a quick vocal delivery each time they appear, with the top line spread across these quaver beats.
This also appears in ‘Two Suns...’ as six consecutive quaver beats are emphasised within the lyrics “like the moment when the…”. The syllables present here are “influential in determining the length of a line,”49 and follow similar detail as the 1960s, with density being followed by an emptier period. For example, the following eight beats in ‘The Gunner’s Dream’ are distinctly emptier, housing only five syllables: “kicking in your door”. Furthermore, “your possible pasts” (from ‘Your Possible Pasts’) is followed by four bars of vocal silence, while the line from ‘Two Suns...’ concludes with words on each crotchet rather than each quaver. This shows an ‘unchanged’ thread type down to the specific formulation of this distinctive melodic element.
Often, these periods of syllabic density overlap with the “axial” melodic contour that defined much of
Waters’ earliest melody writing. ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ creates an axial melody by circling a G in
[figure 24], derived from the similar focus on D heard in the piece’s opening bars. These melodies are clearly axial, as while the syllables “-rial” are given a descending F#-E, the melody returns to the repeating G when
[Figure 24] Transcription Of ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ (0:21-0:27) the word “home” appears. This shows that even the specific concluding movement that ended most 1960s axial phrases is still present here. ‘Your Possible Pasts’ supports the use of regular axial contours, as the opening line “flutter behind you, your poss-…” is built on a repeating D, while the “-ible pasts” completes the phrase by moving away from the static note. The start of the chorus (“Do you remember me? How we
49 Cohen, L cited in Zollo, (1997) in Griffiths, D (2003) p45. 35 used to be”) focuses on an E, with the concluding two syllables of each phrase axially moving to F# and G.
Further examples of various static contour developments include the first line of ‘Not Now John’, where repeating notes follow the chord changes as they did in ‘Cirrus Minor’, while an oscillating contour is seen in the G-F# alternating line “no one ever disappears, you never hear their standard issue…” from ‘The Gunner’s
Dream’, similar to the verses of ‘Cymbaline’. This shows an ‘unchanged’ thread type connecting 1967-1969 to TFC through various uses of axial (and related) contours.
Despite most of Waters’ approach to vocal melody being consistent with that of the 1960s, occasional parallels can be drawn with the anomalous early piece ‘Cymbaline’, whose chorus was based on low syllabic density, disjunct intervals and a highly melodic, non-static contour. For example, the refrain of ‘The Fletcher
Memorial Home’ [0:22], moves up a perfect fourth to a “high vocal register,”50 mirroring the movement of the opening octave leap of ‘Cymbaline’ to highlight the change of section, yet contrasting a lot of his earlier vocal deliveries. While the syllabic density here isn’t as low as the chorus of ‘Cymbaline’, the three crotchet rhythms show a contrast to the verse and most of Waters’ other melodic content. Interestingly, there are more
[Figure 25] Transcription Of ‘The Hero’s Return’ (2:20-2:42) examples of these highly melodic lines in TFC than there were in the earlier era, with Waters engaging with a high tessitura far more frequently. This includes “and hold on to the dream” from ‘The Gunner’s Dream’, and the outro of ‘The Hero’s Return’, where the lyrics “my memory smoulders on, of the gunner’s dying words” use a higher tessitura than the rest of the piece, with more disjunct movement and held notes across a
50 Rose, P (2015) p173. 36 “downward sweep” contour where each phrase gradually lowers in pitch [figure 25]. While there is clear consistency in the way this technique is employed, a ‘developed’ thread type seems more appropriate here due to its increased presence.
TFC uses vocal melody in virtually the same way as the 1960s. This shows that distinctive features of
Waters’ vocal melodies maintained throughout his career through an ‘unchanged’ thread type which impacted everything from frequent syllabic density to axial contours, though his employment of contrasting content increased its presence through a ‘developed’ thread type.
Harmony & Tonality
Previous sections have seen a distinct overlap between the 1960s and TFC. However, Waters’ late approach to harmony was noticeably split between some overt threads and a more distant, yet style-defining,
‘expanded’ thread.
The main element of this distancing is a favouring for diatonicism over modality. While the 1960s employed a range of modes in every track but one, TFC focuses on major keys throughout, with only one example of persistent modality. Over half of the tracks are diatonic to G major (a key which in itself has been determined the second most common in popular music51 and suggests increasing predictability in Waters’ songwriting), three are in F major, and one is in D major. This D tonic also provides the only examples of modality in the piece, with short moments of Aeolian and Mixolydian being heard. This suggests that modality hasn’t been entirely removed from Waters’ style, but greatly reduced. This is furthered by the fact that the
Aeolian example appears on the album’s joint-shortest song, the ‘One Of The Few’ interlude; and the
Mixolydian example (‘The Hero’s Return’) is “predominantly in D Mixolydian,”52 but even then, it eventually moves towards G major. To further avoid ambiguity, Waters avoids chord VII almost entirely, making the once defining Mixolydian bVII appear only in the chorus of ‘The Hero’s Return’ [1:05].
51 Carlton, D (2012) I Analysed The Chords Of 1300 Popular Songs For Patterns. This Is What I Found. www.hooktheory.com [Online] Available at: http://www.hooktheory.com/blog/i-analyzed-the-chords-of-1300-popular-songs-for-patterns-this-is-what-i-found/ 52 Rose, P (2015) p163. 37 As his pieces were now mostly tonal, Waters’ use of modal interchange was less frequent than it was in the 1960s, with just four tracks on TFC interrupting their diatonicism. These examples include ‘The Post
War Dream’, where the phrase “…should we scream, what happened to the post war…”, is built on an A major chord in place of the diatonic A minor, implying a borrowing of the leading tone from the dominant minor (in this case D minor). An alteration where “the subdominant (IV) is altered to the minor subdominant”53 follows this, as Bbm comes directly after Bb [2:22]. ‘Southampton Dock’ makes this same
Bb-Bbm movement as it transitions into the second verse. ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ also includes one recurring section of modal borrowing within its otherwise diatonic G major harmony, much like ‘Corporal
Clegg’ does when the C major chord is inserted into the otherwise persistent A Mixolydian modality. The first appearance of this is seen, as [figure 26] shows, when BbAug appears, borrowing its root note from G Aeolian before resolving to a diatonic Bm chord. This continues the resultant changing note type seen in the 1960s, as the Bb turns into a B♮ (as D♮ became Db in ‘The Post War Dream’ and ‘Southampton Dock’ above). The Bm
[Figure 26] Transcription Of ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ (0:12-0:21) is then followed by a passing A/C# chord, where the unexpected major third of this chord is taken from G
Lydian. Interestingly, the ‘developed’ thread in Waters’ approach to modal interchange is furthered by the presentation of these borrowed chords. Due to the BbAug’s chromatic resolution up to Bm, followed by the root note placement of the C# in the A major chord to act as a leading note into the following D, an “expected particular continuation”54 is created. The opening sequence of ‘The Gunner’s Dream’ supports this, moving from G to a harmonic minor borrowed GAug chord (D becomes D#) and then to Em/G (D# becomes E). This contrasts the sudden, non-functional use of C major in the A Mixolydian context of ‘Corporal Clegg’ (in fact, the C major removes what would have otherwise been a leading note into the following D), and suggests that
53 Rose, P (2015) p158. 54 Moore, A and Martin, R (2017) p52. 38 Waters’ late approach to modal interchange was both less frequent and more functional; therefore it continued to exist via a ‘developed’ thread.
Tonal ambiguity was a defining feature of Waters’ earlier style, approached from many angles including the modal interchange that persisted into TFC, and the use of local tonics, which did not. As part one demonstrated, local tonics were common in his early writing, but aside from the movement from D
Mixolydian to the G major outro of ‘The Hero’s Return’, there is nothing else that could be strongly implied as a local tonic in TFC. The closest he gets to the use of this feature is the regular hints at the relative minor, which became a defining feature of his late songwriting. For example, the chorus of ‘Your Possible Pasts’,
[Figure 27] Transcription Of ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ (3:54-4:04) holds an Em chord [1:06] drawing the ear toward a new tonal centre; while the “make them laugh” section of
‘Not Now John’ has a drawn out E pedal underneath its harmony. The temporary nature, lack of supporting cadences and the fact that the chords are still diatonic to the G major key suggest that this is simply an extended use of chord vi. Along similar lines, ‘The Gunner’s Dream’, ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ [figure 27], and the outro of ‘The Hero’s Return’, all use an Em chord to conclude pieces with G major tonal centres. Regarding
‘The Hero’s Return’, this technique convinced Phil Rose that “the piece ends in E Aeolian,”55 even though this final chord is simply an interrupted cadence due to lack of supporting cadential evidence of a new tonal centre, nor any non-diatonic notes. This disagreement with Rose does, however, suggest that even though his use of local tonics was now in the past, tonal ambiguity did at least partially survive into 1983. However, as
55 Rose, P (2015) p165. 39 the use of temporary local tonics and general tonal ambiguity are not seen in this era, it can be concluded that this is one of the only defining features of the 1960s that didn’t maintain into TFC, and was instead replaced by frequent, style-defining relative minor implications.
However, the importance of Em in G major does show that the mediant relationship survived. Various other examples prove this harmonic staple is still present in TFC, from the C-Emadd9 movement seen in
[figure 27]; to the “there’s a kid…” section from ‘The Final Cut’, which moves from Am-F-Am-C (all mediant movements); and even the aforementioned relative minor (normally E minor in G major) implications that appear throughout the album. Frequent uses of slow harmonic rate have also carried through to Waters’ final Pink Floyd contribution: the held, 18-beat Em of the chorus of ‘Your Possible Pasts’ [figure 28]; the
[Figure 28] Transcription Of ‘Your Possible Pasts’ (1:05-1:15) persistent D of the verses in ‘The Hero’s Return’; and even the maintained E root under changing harmony in the “make ‘em laugh” section of ‘Not Now John’ which connects to the verses of ‘Grantchester Meadows’.
These examples are the only overt ‘unchanged’ threads in Waters’ late harmonic style.
As shown, Waters’ approach to harmony in this later era is the only large-scale feature of his songwriting to mark distinct differentiation from the 1960s. Both his harmonic rate and the prominent mediant relationship remain ‘unchanged’, and his approach to modal interchange has ‘developed’, but the use of modality, local tonics and general tonal ambiguity have been replaced by the ‘expanded’ thread of consistent diatonicism seen previously in ‘Green Is The Colour’ only.
Lyrics
As Pink Floyd’s lyricist from 1973-1983, it is clear that Waters’ words were key to his songwriting, with later works such as The Wall (1979) following a clear narrative. The way in which he wrote for TFC has 40 a lot in common with the 1960s, though certain key elements appear through a distinctly ‘expanded’ thread type.
The main large scale change that separates TFC from the 1960s is its organisation into a concept album, which Waters didn’t do outright until 1973. However, thematic connection was foreshadowed from many
1960s angles, including the Waters-spearheaded performance piece ‘The Man And The Journey’ from 1969.
Studio album examples can be seen in the flow between ‘Grantchester Meadows’ and ‘Several Species...’ and the general Ibiza-based thematic connection throughout More, which was conceived as a soundtrack album.
However, as the lyrical connections in these examples aren’t as strong as that of TFC, a ‘developed’ thread is shown to connect his organisation of lyrics in this way.
Waters quickly phased out the fantastical, far-fetched lyrics of the 1960s, with Gilmour stating that the
1969 piece ‘Moonhead’ was “sort of the end of [their] explorations into outer space.”56 Reference to the music industry also had little relevance to TFC: “would you sell your story to Rolling Stone” from ‘The Final Cut’ is the extent of the theme. However, while pastoral, scene-setting lyrics were also removed by 1972, their serious presentation created a backbone for his late writing. The once defining use of humour was reduced from song-wide examples like ‘Corporal Clegg’ to the occasional light-hearted moment such as the opening
“fuck all that we’ve gotta get on with these” of ‘Not Now John’, which “dismisses the quest for compassion that characterises the rest of the work.”57 Instead, TFC discusses the horrors of war, often telling real stories with Waters’ personal experiences included. This shows a clear ‘developed’ thread expanding on his previously serious lyrical content.
Waters’ once prominent use of a Jon Anderson-like “lyric” style was almost entirely replaced by the combined use of “lyric” and “anti-lyric” writing by 1983. A “lyric” focus on the rhythm of words was still present, but their meaning now took a clear “anti-lyric” approach, replacing the frequent ambiguity of much of his early style with a clear message. While this was first hinted at in ‘Corporal Clegg’, where the anti-war viewpoint is clear and the listener gradually learns more about the titular character, the narrative didn’t unfold further. In TFC, there is a much more prosaic depiction which ‘The Hero’s Return’ encapsulates.
As in a piece of literature, Waters first sets the scene. In this example, it is of growing up in the war
(“when I was their age, all the lights went out”). He then provides a plot point to keep the listener engaged,
56 Kopp, B (2018) p100. 57 Rose, P (2015) p182. 41 without explaining its nature (“a memory that is too painful to withstand the light of day”). At the conclusion of the song, this memory is revealed to be “the gunner’s dying words on the intercom”, concluding the developing prosaic storyline, and leading into the following track, ‘The Gunner’s Dream’. Not only do these features create a narrative, they lead directly into the events of the following piece like chapters in a book.
The use of plotlines shows a strong development upon the less clear “anti-lyric” features of Waters’ 1960s writing, with pieces such as ‘The Final Cut’ and ‘Two Suns...’ providing a clear sense of storyline progression similar to that of ‘The Hero’s Return’; ‘The Final Cut’ even has a direct harmonic and lyrical transition into
‘Southampton Dock’.
Despite this “anti-lyric” progression, Waters manages to maintain a “lyric” approach, as the rhythm of his words remain just as defining as in the 1960s. One of the clearest examples is found in ‘The Fletcher
Memorial Home’, where Waters swaps the phrase ‘boys and girls’ around to become “girls and boys” in order to rhyme with the word “toys” in the previous line. This has a lot in common with the frequent rhyme of tracks such as ‘Corporal Clegg’. The chorus of ‘Your Possible Pasts’ also stands out, as not only does it open with two rhyming lines (“do you remember me, how we used to be”) but these rhymes are furthered by two uses of the word “we”, which creates a pattern similar to the “internal rhyme (“lip”, “slip”, “grip”) at the beginning of the first verse”58 of ‘Paranoid Eyes’. This internal rhyme has a lot in common with the chorus of
‘Grantchester Meadows’, where “lark”, “hark” and “bark” rhyme. A final “lyric” point found in TFC connects the alliterative (and rhyming) “willow weeping in the water, waving to the river daughters” from
‘Cirrus Minor’ to the sibilance of ‘The Gunner’s Dream’: “after the service, when you’re walking slowly to the car, and the silver in her hair shines...” [1:26]. There are many more examples of this style throughout
TFC, showing that “lyric” inflections persist even though his “anti-lyric” usage has advanced in complexity.
This demonstrates a ‘developed’ thread type linking his early and late “lyric”/“anti-lyric” balance.
As mentioned in part one, the list-based “formal feature”59 of Waters’ songwriting is one of his most consistent lyrical devices, and has maintained into the 1980s via an ‘unchanged’ thread. In TFC, it can be seen in Waters’ ‘Not Now John’ vocal, where a series of rhyming phrases (“Can't stop! Lose job! Mind gone!
Silicon! What bomb? Get away...”) create a reminiscence to ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope’; the list of names in the first part of the bridge in ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ (“Reagan and Haig, Mr Begin and friend...”);
58 Rose, P (2015) p168. 59 Weinstein, D (2002) p101. 42 and ‘One Of The Few’, where “make ‘em” is followed by a list of changing words : “mad”, “sad”, “add two and two” etc. at each verse.
In terms of lyrical themes, the focus on war is clear, and shows that Deena Weinstein’s suggestion of
“allusions to… war”60 have become the centrepiece of Waters’ lyrics [figure 29] with this overt ‘expanded’
Percentage Of Waters' Tracks With Lyrics That Reference War 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1967-1969 1970-1982 1983 War Themes
[Figure 29] Chart Showing Waters’ Increased Use Of War Lyrics thread stemming from ‘Corporal Clegg’. The album’s subtitle is A Requiem For The Post War Dream, but the lyrics look at war from varying perspectives, from the obvious opposition to conflict, to the personal aspect of Waters losing his father in WWII, and even nuclear weaponry. His use of war lyrics have seen a large tonal shift since ‘Corporal Clegg’ with TFC favouring harrowing lyrics like “I held the blade in trembling hands”
(from ‘The Final Cut’) over the light-hearted “Corporal Clegg had a medal too, he found it in the zoo”. While
Waters’ confirmed ‘Corporal Clegg’ to be about his father, the connection is loose and not necessarily about his death, while TFC openly mentions it (“is it for this that daddy died?”) and even names ‘The Fletcher
Memorial Home’ after him (Eric Fletcher Waters61). While ‘Corporal Clegg’ wasn’t as far-fetched as some of his other early songs, the suggestion of finding his medal in a zoo seems to have a certain fictional aspect to it, while ‘The Hero’s Return’ ends with the realistic reference to hearing “the gunner’s dying words on the intercom”, before sound effects of these words are played. We can see how, much like the light-heartedness
60 Weinstein, D (2001) p101. 61 Thompson, D (2013) Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall. Backbeat Books, UK. p7. 43 of ‘Corporal Clegg’ overlapped with the humour of the era, Waters’ later use of war lyrics intersects with the overarching seriousness of TFC.
As [figure 30] shows, Waters’ “allusions to madness” have maintained more consistency than war lyrics, with appearances of the theme appearing roughly as much in the 1960s as the 1980s. Interestingly,
Percentage Of Waters' Tracks With Lyrics That Reference Madness 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 1967-1969 1970-1982 1983
Madness Themes
[Figure 30] Chart Showing Waters’ Relatively Consistent Allusions To Madness unlike the presentation of war lyrics, the way Waters alludes to madness remains relatively consistent. “His dream is driving me insane” from ‘The Gunner’s Dream’, is equally as unsubtle as “witness the man who raves at the wall” from ‘Set The Controls’, with no real attempt at hiding the meaning behind metaphor nor imagery. Furthermore, the “he’s never been the same” of ‘Corporal Clegg’ ties in to TFC, as ‘The Fletcher
Memorial Home’ refers to war veterans as “incurable tyrants”, implying that they, like Corporal Clegg, were changed by war. These examples suggest that Waters’ was happy to make similarly clear references to madness in both 1968 and 1983, thus creating an ‘unchanged’ thread.
While sun/moon imagery was consistent throughout Waters’ career, the appearance of the sun reduced from four 1960s tracks, into just the opening and closing songs from TFC, while appearances of the moon are absent. The opening ‘The Post War Dream’ uses it fleetingly and literally (“beneath the rising sun”), connecting to the passing appearances seen in ‘Cirrus Minor’ and ‘Grantchester Meadows’. Phil Rose mentions that it is “tempting to return to the symbolism that Waters employed on The Dark Side Of The 44 Moon”62 regarding ‘Two Suns...’, which makes the sun both titular and the central focus of the piece, as it was in ‘Set The Controls...’. Here, however, one of the ‘Two Suns...’ is a metaphor for a nuclear explosion (also acting to connect this to the war theme) showing a ‘developed’ thread, as while the theme is still present, it has been reduced and adapted in presentation over the fifteen years between this album and the 1960s.
Deena Weinstein summarises the overarching consistencies in Waters’ lyrics, stating that “they are expressions of a singular artistic vision”.63 To an extent, this is true. While Barrett-like humour, fantastical elements, reference to the music industry and explicitly “lyric” approaches made little impact on TFC, huge consistencies show threads running through all of his Pink Floyd lyrics. This ranges from the ‘unchanged’ use of lists and the theme of madness; to the ‘developed’ use of sun/moon imagery and a “lyric”/“anti-lyric” balance; and the overarching, album-defining ‘expanded’ thread that finally brings war lyrics to the forefront of Waters’ songwriting.
62 Rose, P (2015) p188. 63 Weinstein, D (2002) p104. 45 Conclusions
Almost all songwriters have distinctive features that follow them throughout their career, no matter how much their style is perceived to change. As this dissertation has shown, this is also the case with Roger
Waters and his time with Pink Floyd.
Through the frequent appearances of ‘unchanged’, ‘developed’ and ‘expanded’ thread types in almost every element of his songwriting, I can confidently conclude that The Final Cut was in many ways shaped by
Waters’ 1967-1969 songwriting. However, due to the various uses of these thread types, different elements of his songwriting are more overt and consistent than others.
From my analysis, it seems that an ‘unchanged’ thread type was most frequent in connecting these eras, with key elements such as his unchanging approach to vocal melody and ambiguity of structure contributing to this. This shows a use of clear and expected consistency that maintains the tell-tale signs of a
Waters composition throughout his career. ‘Developed’ also proves common, with many features being developed during the 1970s in preparation for their use in TFC, such as his gradually complexifying use of metre and new approach to modal interchange. The ‘expanded’ approach is also present, but least common.
However, as the appearances of this thread impact some of the most style-defining features of TFC, including the persistent yet more prominent use of orchestra, sound effects, diatonic harmony and the overarching war theme, it is this thread that may actually have had the greatest impact on his late work. This provides an explanation as to why Waters’ later songwriting has so much in common with his early writing, yet sounds so different.
As a whole, while Waters’ 1967-1969 songwriting was important in shaping TFC, its most prominent features were approached through surprising subtlety. A focus on reimagining and building on previously used elements was favoured over simply assembling an unchanging arsenal of distinctive musical features that permeated his entire body of work.
As shown in my discussion of lyrical lists, Waters’ solo albums also demonstrate many of his songwriting trademarks. An analysis of thread types could be used to investigate his sound following his 1985 departure from Pink Floyd, to determine the extent to which these consistencies have carried into his solo work. After all, he was only a member of Pink Floyd for 20 years, but has been producing solo albums since 46 1984. Similarly, the same model could be used to analyse his 1970s songwriting, which would encompass his engagement with progressive rock, as well as the journey through Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful period of 1973-1979. Expanding further, this model could be applied to virtually any other songwriter, providing the ability to uncover the approaches others have to consistency across their careers. This could deliver similarly (or even more) illuminating and interesting results to those of Roger Waters.
47 References
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Discography
• Pink Floyd- The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Released 4 August 1967 (EMI Columbia, UK)
• Pink Floyd- A Saucerful Of Secrets. Released 29 June 1968 (EMI Columbia, UK)
• Pink Floyd- More. Released 13 June 1969 (EMI Columbia, UK)
• Pink Floyd- Ummagumma. Released 7 November 1969 (EMI Harvest, UK)
• Pink Floyd- The Dark Side Of The Moon. Released 16 March 1973 (EMI Harvest, UK)
• Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here. Released 12 September 1975 (EMI Harvest, UK)
• Pink Floyd- The Wall. Released 30 November 1979 (EMI Harvest, UK)
• Pink Floyd- The Final Cut. Released 21 March 1983 (EMI Harvest, UK)