“Injustices”: The song David Gilmour wrote to attack Roger Waters
The line-up of Pink Floyd was rarely, if ever, harmonious. From the very start, the band was storied by arguments, musical differences, and ego battles. Not only did these arguments result in the harsh sacking of the band’s main source of creativity, Syd Barrett, but they also stifled a lot of the band’s later output. David Gilmour and Roger Waters, in particular, never saw eye-to-eye. Even today, decades after Waters left the band, the pair are still consistently at each other’s throats.
Seemingly, the root cause of the rift is that Waters simply does not respect Gilmour as a songwriter and never has done so. This fact is perhaps best evidenced in the construction of Pink Floyd’s 1983 album The Final Cut. For the album, Waters flat-out refused to allow Gilmour to contribute any tracks to the final mix of the album, which is perhaps why the record was such a disappointing flop for the band. Although Waters left the group soon thereafter, the bitterness of his relationship with Gilmour continued.
Any half-decent writer will tell you that you produce your best work when writing about what you know. In that sense, it is not at all surprising that Gilmour’s mixed feelings towards Waters occasionally reared their head in his own songwriting. One of the most notable examples of this came with the release of About Face, the sophomore solo album released by Gilmour in 1984. Clearly, the relationship between Gilmour and Waters was at its worst during this period, immediately following the production of The Final Cut.
Gilmour fired shots at Waters throughout the tracklisting of his solo album, but the most abundant airing of grievances featured on the song ‘You Know I’m Right’. If you examine the lyrics of the track, there is very little doubt over who Gilmour was writing about. “We really seem to have a problem here,” he sang, “But is it you or me? Whatever I have going through my mind, You always have to disagree, It’s just a matter of opinions, It’s not a simple fact, Why don’t you try to see the other side? Don’t turn your back.”
Those lyrics could be lifted, verbatim, from the studio sessions of any Pink Floyd album, during which the pair regularly came to blows. According to Gilmour, however, ‘You Know I’m Right’, “Didn’t begin life as a song about Roger but ended up as one, prompted by the future of Floyd being in doubt,” as he told Mojo back in 2015. As it turns out, Pink Floyd would continue, but without the inclusion of Roger Waters – which was probably a best-case scenario for Gilmour.
Continuing in his assessment of the track and his complicated relationship with his former bandmate, Gilmour shared, “You are tempted to allow yourself to let those grumbles surface in things. I think it’s generally a poor idea. And if I went back to it, I probably wouldn’t do that. It’s impossible not to grumble and moan about the inequalities and injustices of life.”
Admittedly, a member of one of the most successful rock bands of all time moaning about “injustices” is pretty insulting. Nevertheless, it seems as though the argumentative tendencies of Gilmour and Waters have never left the minds of either musician. The release of ‘You Know I’m Right’ certainly did not slip under the radar of Roger Waters, and it likely spurred on his desire to engage in a legal battle with Gilmour over the future of Pink Floyd.
Although the song came out 40 years ago, Gilmour and Waters have remained unable to bury the hatchet. In fact, after Waters and Pink Floyd released their anti-war single, ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up!’ in 2022, Waters attacked the effort, saying it “lacked humanity” and once again denouncing Gilmour’s songwriting talents.
