ROGER WATERS « Da wackelt die wand », Stereoplay, January 1981.
Stereoplay: « How long did it actually take you to develop the double album « The Wall »? »
Roger Waters: «After a tour in the summer of 1977, I started writing. In July 1978 I had a tape with 90 minutes of music that I played to the others. In October or November 1978, we started working on it together. We went into the recording studio from April to November 1979. So it took quite a long time, but we always tend to work very slowly anyway »
Stereoplay: « Perhaps we should go through the plot of « The Wall ». It begins with In The Flesh »
Roger Waters: «That's right - the title refers to our 1977 tour, which ran under the motto Pink Floyd In The Flesh. During the show, we remain completely hidden during this piece »
Stereoplay: « Then comes Another Brick In The Wall, the huge hit, the anthem of all schoolchildren ... »
Roger Waters: « That's what my school days were like: horrible, horrible. Bad teachers can really ruin kids, and where I went to school there were some incredibly nasty ones who treated kids really badly »
Stereoplay: « Then we have Mother: What kind of mother are you singing about?»
Roger Waters: « An overprotective, all-protective one: In my opinion, there is only one criticism that applies to all mothers - that they protect their children too much and for far too long. The song is not a portrait of my mother, although some of the statements also apply to her »
Stereoplay: « Later comes Young Lust. Was there such a stage in her life? »
Roger Waters: «Yeah, sure. The song is about wandering around the city after school and hanging out in front of porn cinemas and sex shops - that stage when you're already interested in sex but are still too scared to actually do anything »
Stereoplay: «Then One Of My Turns … »
Roger Waters: « One Of My Turns is the answer to all the trouble in the life of our hero Pink, who has never really got on with a woman, even though he has been married for six years. He simply separates from his wife and takes another girl to his hotel room. But he can't do anything with this girl either »
Stereoplay: « But in Don't Leave Me Now he realises what state he is in. After all, it is obvious that he feels aggressive, completely depressed and paranoid. Lonely, on the verge of suicide »
Roger Waters: « Not quite that bad - but it's a very depressing song. I love it »
Stereoplay: « Was passiert eigentlich bei Goodbye Cruel World ? »
Roger Waters: « There sits our hero in his American hotel room with a television, which he symbolically smashes to give himself a little relief. He convinces himself that his isolation really does fulfil his own wishes. He is symbolically walled in »
Stereoplay: « What will he do with his life now? »
Roger Waters: « The song Hey You is his cry for help to the world. After the first two verses comes a part where I say « the wall was too high, No matter how hard he tried » he couldn't get over it. « And the worms ate his brain ». This is the first time I mention worms, for me the symbol of decay. Because the basic idea of the whole thing is that if you isolate yourself, you will be destroyed. Then I sing the last verse, where he calls for help once again. But it's too late … »
Stereoplay: « Because he remains walled in »
Roger Waters: « Yes, and anyway, he's only singing to himself. There's no point in calling for help if you're only talking to yourself. It's just a game you play with yourself - but for me personally it's very useful because that's how I write my songs »
Stereoplay: « Nobody Home joins ... »
Roger Waters: « In Nobody Home, he doesn't just watch TV, but tries to call his wife, who has gone out with someone else. But then comes the most important piece of all: Bring The Boys Back Home, the central song »
Stereoplay: « Why central ? »
Roger Waters: « Because it has the most to do with me. I like this very, very small, vague song - it's a shame that everyone can now read how I feel about it. But I'm doing this interview because I think the whole thing is quite complicated and not very well done - not well enough for the audience to get it all, anyway »
Stereoplay: «What happens in the next song, Comfortably Numb? »
Roger Waters: « Someone knocks on the door and says: « Come on, time to go ». They come to get him for his performance. But they realise that something is wrong. So they call a doctor. The song describes the examination »
Stereoplay: « With the help of the friendly doctor next door and a few drugs, the rock 'n' roll wreck gets back on his feet. Now Pink is back on stage, but he really is behaving like a fascist »
Roger Waters: « Yes, he's really bad-mouthing the minorities in his audience here. I mention gays, Jews and blacks simply because they are the most easily identifiable minorities in England and the USA »
Stereoplay: « Then comes the track Waiting For The Worms, which, according to your explanation, means: « After all his traumatic experiences, Pink is now on the verge of decline » »
Roger Waters: « Now comes the point during his performance when the drug effect wears off and his real feelings resurface. He is suddenly confronted with this. In the show we use the hammer as a symbol of material oppression, and the worms represent the thinking part of the forces of oppression »
Stereoplay: «So this is actually a statement against the political right? »
Roger Waters: « Yes, completely. Because even if the left went out and beat people up, I could sympathise with that violence more emotionally than the violence from the right. It seems to me that the right-wingers are more inclined to hatch diabolical plans and conspiracies. And this is precisely the result of poor treatment and the overwhelming feeling of isolation behind the wall. In the end, Pink sits in judgement of himself and feels guilty and bad about everything he has done. He decides to break out of his self-imposed isolation. And at this point in the show, the wall is actually torn down »
Stereoplay: «The last track Outside The Wall probably contains the basic message of the album and the whole show. Outside, his friends and fellow human beings are already waiting for him, always trying to run against the wall he had built around himself »
Roger Waters: « I have no intention of explaining this in more detail »
Stereoplay: « It speaks for itself. But how would you summarise the whole story? »
Roger Waters: « Not at all - because we have discussed everything important »
Stereoplay: « Do you have any other plans for « The Wall » apart from the album and the show? »
Roger Waters: « Not yet. After all, the show is an enormous project that cannot be staged very often. So we can't just move from one country to another ».
