The Dark Side of Pink Floyd

Waters addressed the UN security council at Russia’s invitation. He called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, but the Ukrainian ambassador dismissed his words as “just another brick in the wall” of Moscow’s propaganda.

The band is just fantastic
That is really what I think
Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?

These lines are from Roger Waters’ lyric for ‘Have a Cigar’, the third track of Pink Floyd’s 1975 album Wish You Were Here, lampooning the greedy, manipulative and cunningly submissive record company executives who once swarmed around the most commercially successful progressive rock band in history.

We still don’t know which one’s Pink. But now we do know who former band members think is the diametrical opposite of a pinko ― Roger Waters, the prime mover of the group, who wrote many of their hit albums. Waters has been the target of activists who believe his statements have been anti-Semitic, and there have been campaigns to have his concerts in Germany and Poland cancelled. In essence, he has said that Israel would be acceptable as a fully democratic nation which offered equal rights to all, irrespective of ethnicity and history. But it doesn’t. It discriminates between Jews and Muslims.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new fault line opened between Waters and the world. He has taken a complicated position which is hard to agree with: Putin is indeed an aggressor, but not the most aggressive. Joe Biden, who has a military-industrial complex to service, and has the help of a propagandist international press, is primarily to blame for opening a conflict which, Waters believes, could lead to World War III.

Indeed, the US has traditionally projected force where it doesn’t belong, and the international press has supported flagrant lies like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But his argument evades the basic question: who’s to blame for Ukraine, Putin or Biden? On the question of Israel, though, many Indians who are seeing the effects of state-backed majoritarianism in India might concur with Waters.

Never mind what we think, far removed as we are from Israel and the UK alike. On the internet, what Pink Floyd thinks is now of primary interest. Polly Samson, who is married to the band’s guitarist and singer David Gilmour, and was songwriter on multiple albums, has brought the rift within to the public domain:

Gilmour has stepped up to the crease in support of his wife, who needed no help at all. He had chosen his corner of the ring in April last year, when he and drummer Nick Mason released Pink Floyd’s first song in eight years, ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up!’ It incorporated the vocal track of Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk’s rendering of a traditional song which had gone viral already. Khlyvnyuk’s clip was shot in Sophia Square in Kyiv after he returned from a US tour to join the Territorial Defense Forces, and he sang holding an automatic rifle. He moved to the National Police of Ukraine after being wounded in action.

On Tuesday, Roger Waters stepped back and sought counsel:

Most recently, Waters addressed the UN security council at Russia’s invitation. He called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, but the Ukrainian ambassador dismissed his words as “just another brick in the wall” of Moscow’s propaganda.

That’s the state of play this week, as Dark Side of the Moon heads for its 50th anniversary on March 1. Waters’ name is in the credits for most of the lyrics, and he is believed to have insisted on sharper writing, which made it one of the most influential commercial hits of all time, a point of reference in psychedelic music and an inspiration for thousands of practitioners.

Dark Side of the Moon is a powerful political work bearing the signature of a man who was careful about his words. Perhaps he is not so careful anymore. In his comments on Israel and Ukraine, he has grappled with complex geopolitical questions, and the answers don’t always sound right. In the Berliner Zeitung, whose intrepid journalists interviewed him on the weekend, he blames it on hearing impaired by Western propaganda. The English translation is on his website. Waters’ opinions on the Ukraine conflict are dated, coloured by the politics of the Vietnam war era, to which he belongs. His opinions on Israel are politically imprudent, but ethically logical.

The unkindest cut was delivered by the Russians, the very beings whom Waters is supporting. In September, he had published an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, opposing the Western supply of weapons to Kyiv. On Tuesday, Russia invited him to address a meet at the UN on precisely that issue. Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said: “Let’s see what he will say… Perhaps he will sing to us, too.” That was a low blow, delivered to a man who is really not in the pink, but who always said, very honestly, that his singing voice is not brilliant.

Pratik Kanjilal is Editor, The India Cable.