Toe in the Water

Floyd Interviews

Floyd Interviews

A couple of days ago I discovered on YouTube a series of interviews with the members of Pink Floyd. Much of my time since then has been devoted to listening to them and trying not to give in to my urges to interrupt them with points of my own. They have brought home to me just how much we are products of our generation, how we were all involved in the cultural shift initiated by the Beatles, contributing our own particular (if insignificant) understanding of what was happening to us. Now that we are old it seems that we have much time to reflect on those formative years of our lives, and it is somewhat of a surprise to find that our thoughts are pretty similar.

Roger Waters especially is interesting to listen to. He is the most articulate and deep thinking of the four, something that makes sense when you remember that he was the band’s lyricist after the demise of Syd Barrett. Of course writers will have a greater ability to construct orderly thought patterns, while the musicians express themselves more easily through music. Still Waters run deep.

I find it encouraging that the video of Floyd’s Pulse concert is the yardstick of the growing horde of “reactors” to music new to them. There are some pretty good actors amongst them but, when they listen to Floyd, the pretense falls away and they are visibly affected, many of them with tears. It is wonderful to watch the dawn of their understanding of the most powerful music of our now wrinkly generation.

If you like Floyd, give these a listen. They explain so much.

David Gilmour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDxwuby7mpg
Roger Waters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI0lFi1JFHQ
Rick Wright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crRtKHa94iQ
Nick Mason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhcHa7wDEWk


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