“A sort of parody”: the song Roger Waters will always regret
Love him or loathe him, Roger Waters is not a man who appears to be wracked by guilt or regret. Throughout the decades, the former Pink Floyd leader has often made headlines with his controversial, outspoken, and often blinkered view of the world, but he does at least stick by these views and opinions, refusing to retract or qualify even his most outspoken takes. That is not to say, however, that the musician is completely free from the shackles of regret, particularly when it comes to the extensive and beloved repertoire of his former band, Pink Floyd.
Waters had not always been at the helm of Pink Floyd, of course. During the early days of the pioneering psychedelic outfit, it was the artistic visionary Syd Barrett who led the group and wrote the bulk of their material. The Barrett era, although relatively short-lived, produced some of Floyd’s greatest work, including The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, which remains one of the finest psychedelic records ever released. It was only after Barrett was pushed out of the group in 1968 that Waters rose to the forefront.
Admittedly, it was during the Roger Waters-led era that Pink Floyd achieved some of their most profound and, crucially, successful records. Albums like Ummagumma or More might be fan favourites in the modern age, but they were largely ignored upon initial release. Atom Heart Mother fared a little better, becoming a number-one album in the UK, but it was with The Dark Side of the Moon that Waters’ band really hit their stride. That album and its follow-ups marked colossal successful releases for the band, putting them on the map of rock history indefinitely.
At the same time, however, the band was plagued by internal conflict, with Waters regularly butting heads with David Gilmour, in particular. This conflict caused a litany of issues within the band’s output, and eventually led to the departure of Waters during the 1980s. This conflict is also at the heart of some of Waters’ regrets when it comes to Pink Floyd – not in terms of the friendships and collaborations he severed, but in terms of the band’s musical output at that time.
Namely, Waters has always regretted the band’s 1975 track ‘Have a Cigar’. Appearing on Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album, the song was written by Waters as a comment on the greed and murkiness of the music industry at the time. However, the musician did not feel as if he could have sung the song himself, and Gilmour refused to take on the lead vocals due to the fact that he disagreed with Waters’ view on the topic. So, the band drafted folk-rock singer Roy Harper to sing lead.
“I regret it, and that’s not ‘cause I’ve got anything against Roy,” Waters once told John Edginton. “I haven’t, you know. To me, it doesn’t feel very natural, him doing it. I think if I’d persevered with it, I would have done it better.”
Seemingly, the musician’s regret lies with the fact that he didn’t try hard enough to sing the song himself. “I think if I’d sung it, it would be more vulnerable and less cynical than the way he did it. But that’s not the way Roy sings. It’s like he was singing a sort of parody, which I don’t like.”
‘Have A Cigar’ is most notable as being one of only three Pink Floyd tracks to feature an outsider on lead vocals, but it does not seem as if Waters regrets recruiting Clare Torry for 1973’s ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ – the only other song from his era with the band to feature an outside vocalist. Perhaps Torry’s performance was not as disappointing for Waters as that of Harper’s.
