Roger Uber Alles - Germany is Amused

Roger Waters:

The idea ... no, the title ... yes! I stole the title from that book because I love the title. I enjoy... I like the book very much as well, I thought it was really interesting. But the title I loved, so I stole it.

SWF3:

So, what's the basic idea of the album?

Well, theatrically it's characterized as this gorilla watching television. And uh, the gorilla is... is a metaphor for the human race, or for human beings. And the album is based upon my response to, um, television in the last few years.

SWF3:

So, do you watch TV sometimes?

Roger Waters:

Recently, no! Um, but I... I was in the habit of watching television from time to time. I've... I've been in the United States for the last eight or nine months, where television is almost unwatchable, unless you're interested in American Football, or, or sports. Sports, are almost unwatchable, because of the interruptions ... it's so inconsistent and irritating.

SWF3:

I remember Pink and 'The Wall', always watching TV, sitting there and zapping. Um, so was it Roger Waters, not so very many years ago, always watching TV?

Roger Waters: Um, no, I've never watched an enormous amount of television. But however, a number of the songs on this record are based on my response to specific bits of news or... or documentaries that I've seen. Um, but the beginning of the idea of the album came from the song Perfect Sense Part 1, uh, where ... so, so the image of the monkey comes from the opening shots of '2001: A Space Odyssey', the Stanley Kubrick, uh, movie, uh, where the chimpanzee, or it's not a chimpanzee, but an early man, if you like, discovers the bone and he can use this bone as a weapon. And that song precedes through a brief history of, eh, the human race until we find ourselves returning to the Garden of Eden at the end of the song ... to have another war.

SWF3:

It's a conceptional album, isn't it? You like doing concept albums!

Roger Waters:

Yes, that is my style!

SWF3:

Why? Is it boring for you to do an album just one song after another or why? What's the reason for that?

Roger Waters:

I'm... I'm... I'm not sure that, um, I can explain it. And I'm not sure that I should either, you know. Um, we don't choose the work that we do... the work chooses us. I... I have a sense, you know. Um, I think, most people, who paint pictures, that are interesting or make music, that's interesting, tend to, be in contact with something, which chooses them rather than the other way around. So, normally if you say: well now I'm going to write a song about the war in the Gulf. It would... it's likely that it will be boring, you know. Because it gets bogged down in the pedantry of a... of the approach. So um, it's... it's always been more interesting to me to produce a... a work that... that starts and goes through a series of songs, that segue and have a relationship one with the other and has a middle and finally has... has an end, than... than to do single songs. I don't know why!

"Watching TV" is played

SWF3:

SWF3 Pop Shop with Roger Waters. We listened to the song 'Watching TV'. There are some interesting instruments on that song.

Roger Waters:

Yeah, there's a ... there's a small group of chinese musicians, calling themselves The Peking Brothers, who, I believe, absconded from The National Peking Orchestra, when they were in London a few years ago. So, there's a, yeah, a shun, and a lute and a dulcimer and a bass and a girl singing as well. But also and more interesting, in the middle of the piece, after 'I grieve for my sister' you hear a girl's voice in chinese, which was a tape that was smuggled out, eh, from Bejing after the Tiananmen Square massacre from one of the leaders of the a... of the student demonstrators there. And she ... it's an extraordinary tape, the whole thing, it's called: waiting for our executioners. And the bit that I've put on the record is the end of her... her tape and she says: 'People of China, do not forget, do not forget the children who died for you. Long live the Republic!' It's really a moving thing!

SWF3:

You're not singing alone on this song, you're singing together with Don Henley. How was it working together with him? Is he a friend of yours, or?

Roger Waters:

No, he's a, he's a friend of a friend of mine. Um, the... the discjockey on 'Radio K.A.O.S.' Jim Ladd is a, is a friend of Dons'. And he's always... he's been trying to get us together, cause, you know, he felt we were like minded people. And eh, I thought that this song would work well, this duet with two male voices. So I said, hey maybe... I asked him first, whether he would sing any backing vocals, and he said he'd be delighted to and I said Well, how about a duet?. And he said Fine. So I played him the song and he liked it and came in the studio and we did it, in a session.

SWF3:

It's the first album after five years, after the 'K.A.O.S.' album. Did you work five years on this album?

Roger Waters:

No, um, I've done other things in the meantime. I wrote the music for a... an opera called Saga ('Ca Ira') about the French Revolution. The brett is written by, eh, a friend of mine in Paris, called Etienne Roda-Gil. And, uh, maybe... maybe even that will be the next thing that I'll work on ... after this. And also do one or two other things.

SWF3:

How do you work when you compose an album? Do you write the lyrics first or do you compose the music first ?

Roger Waters:

It's ... It depends! It varies a lot. Um, recently I've moved more and more towards a technique, whereby having been moved by something enough for the idea for the song to form in my mind, I will then record a, a demo of some music. Eh, and then I wait until I have a pregnant feeling, when I feel that the lyrics may be ready to appear. And, we go into the studio and put the tape on. And I put headphones on and stand in front of the microphone and the engineer will play the tape and when the moment comes when the song should start, I sing ... with nothing written down on paper. And sometimes I get three, four, five, six lines out straight away. And then... some of it of course is rubbish. And then I'll go back and drop in, and record over what I've done and build the song up that way. And eh, when, when the mood is right, sometimes I can get a whole song done in about, you know, half an hour, fourty minutes. It's very efficient. But also, it takes the ego out of the writing, you know. And, and eh, it reduces the amount of craft and increases the connection with whatever the muse is, that, you know, that enables me to write songs in the first place.

SWF3:

How long did you really work in the studio with that album? Because there are many phantastic sounds, you must have needed a long time to do this!

Roger Waters:

Um, yeah, we... I thought, that I'd finished this record at one point in 1990. And then, you know, when you... when you think you finish something, you... the day comes when you put it... you sit and you listen to it and you know whether you finished it or not. And I realized that I hadn't. It was then, um, I started looking for a co-producer to work with. And eventually... I spoke to many people, and eventually, uh, Pat Leonard and I got together and we then worked on it. And Pat and myself and Nick Griffiths, who's the engineer, uh, on the record, have spent many painstaking hours trying to express the feelings that are inherit in the songs.

"Late Home Tonight" (Pt.1)" is played.

"It's A Miracle" is played. (not played in full length)

SWF3:

This is the song 'It's A Miracle'. At the end it describes a really nice miracle... Andrew Lloyd-Webber breaks his fucking fingers... 'It's A Miracle' sings Roger after that. SWF3 Pop Shop with Roger Waters and his new album 'Amused To Death'. It's interesting how the voices came about." You have a chorus on the song, the London Welsh Chorale, but it's not a normal chorale, I think?

Roger Waters:

Uh, no, they, they... This is the second version of the song that we did. Because the first version was twice this tempo. It was done with a very strong drumming beat in the background, but it didn't fit within the context of this part of the album, so we had to re-record it. And we'd used the London Welsh Chorale over it. But because we changed the tempo, we could no longer use that recording behind the song. So, what we did, it was Pat Leonard's idea actually, was to, ehm, take the choir and to, ehm, isolate the sound of the choir and to cut them up into 80 centimetre lengths and throw it all in a dustbin and stick it back together at random, backwards, forwards, however it came out and then play it against the track. And because it's in the same key as the track, the random juxtaposition of what we re-recorded at a... at a different tempo. And that strange, um, you know, conglomeration of bits of tape works, I think, really well and gives that weird atmosphere in the background. This was a good idea, Pat!

SWF3:

... the idea of the producer, Patrick Leonard, isn't it?

Roger Waters:

Yeah, yeah! It's an old Beatles trick, I have to say! It's been something, he's been dying to do for like twenty years.

SWF3:

".. there's also the late Toto-drummer Jeff Porcaro on drums..."You're working a lot with real voices and real instruments. Why?

Roger Waters:

Um, I think, uh, they're real feelings and they need real people playing real instruments to really interpret them really well.

SWF3:

Do you like the modern sythesizer stuff?

Roger Waters:

I'm not ... I'm very, um... I'm very bored with drum machines, you know, if I hear another record, it goes: (makes sounds of a drum), you know, I think I'll shoot, well, I won't shoot myself, but ... uh, the problem with these things is, that makes it very easy for people to make something that sounds like a record. That is like a facsimile of every piece of rock'n'roll very easily. You going to the shop, you buy a Roland 828, you bring it home, you plug it in and there you are. You can make records, you know. And if you speak over them, than that's a rap record. And uh... and uh, by and large, what you produce is... is stuff, that, uh, has a... at least a facile attraction, but, um, that you don't want to listen to the next day. Well I don't!

(translator begins to translate, Roger interrupts)

Roger Waters:

Sorry to interrupt but ...and anyway, I think, it's really good to encourage people to learn to play instruments. That's a good job, you know, and it's a job, that's disappearing. It's... it's,one of the jobs around, where somebody can learn and the technique and, and uh, and it's a fulfilling satisfying thing for them to do and also, uh, for us to hear. And the same goes for choirs, you know. Choirs... choirs are wonderful things and the more we use them the better in my view.

SWF3:

(during the intro of the song)Well, now it's your time to ask Roger Waters. You can call in from now on!

"Perfect Sense (Pt. 1)" is played

SWF3:

Questions from the audience for Roger Waters. Here we are! Hello?

Caller 1:

Hello?

SWF3:

Yes!

Caller 1:

Yes, here's Sven from Trier. Hello!

SWF3:

"Hello Sven."

Caller 1:

I've a short question for Roger Waters.

SWF3:

Yes, ask him.

Caller 1:

Yes, will there be a reunion with Pink Floyd and Roger Waters?

(laughter)

Roger Waters:

No... why not go back to the Caller from Ipswich! (the previous Caller)

SWF3:

No, we do it later.

Roger Waters:

Oh, we do that later, dear!

SWF3:

So, you don't want to answer, really.

Roger Waters:

No, I did answer. I said 'No'!

SWF3:

Not why!

Roger Waters:

No, I'm not interested in Why? I think, it's well documented.

Caller1:

OK!

Roger Waters:

OK, thanks!

SWF3:

SWF3 hello?

Caller 2:

Hello? I like to ask him, whether, how did he feel now about Berlin? Eh, for the reason, that there has been many big stars and I heard about it, that it was not so successful as it could be.

SWF3:

Well, 'The Wall In Berlin' wasn't as successful as he expected it to be, was it?

Caller 2:

In fact!

SWF3:

Roger?

Roger Waters:

Is that it? That was the question? Um, yeah, there was... there were many stars there. If you... you're talking economically, are you? In terms of the money raised?

Caller 2:

Yeah!

Roger Waters:

It's that rumour, is it? OK! Well, you're absolutely right! Um, the Memorial Fund, I'm afraid, was let down in a number of ways, by a number of people, and the... the show is still in the red. Um, Polygram Records, who took the video and who released the album, uh, and whom I thank and will thank eternally for doing that. Because it was very difficult getting the thing off the ground in the first place. It's still selling videos and records and I have every hope that at some point in the future the thing will go into the black. Um, we were promised two and a half million dollars for the television rights and the company that took them, (who I won't mention, cause they'll probably sue me if I do, but ) disgustingly enough, only came up with 400.000 dollars at the end of the day, which left us with a short fall of 2.1 million dollars from what was promised to us. And there were problems with all kinds of other things. So, ehm ...

Caller 2:

What do you think about the music? Would you try it again, such a... such a big show?

Roger Waters:

Um, you know, it's a strange... Were you there?

Caller 2:

I've not been there. But I heard the record and I think the record is, pardon, as bad as it is, comparing it with normal records you made. Eh, I think the show must be... I don't like complaining you about that... you know what I mean!

Roger Waters:

Well, you know, you're... you're entitled to your opinion. I... I actually think that the record's a very good record. And, uh, I think it's very well produced and very well engineered.

Caller 2:

OK!

SWF3:

The next one, hello?

Caller 3:

(a question in german - translation below)

SWF3:

This is a good question! You've heard of all the things that have happened with the... the young german people attacking foreign people, living in Germany at the moment? Um, he's asking, whether you would play here again for german kids.

Roger Waters:

Yeah, of course I would! You can't... you know, you can't tar everybody with the same brush. Uh, in every country, in every society all over the world, there are kids, who've been uh... uh, strangely enough I had a conversation with somebody about this, only the other day. And, eh, we were trying to decide whether there was social or economic or, or whatever the reasons, for the people that behave like that. We have them in England, just the same as you have them in Germany. I suspect, um, if we could produce one generation of kids who weren't beaten by their fathers, you know, I suspect that all of these kids, who, who commit these heinous crimes have been beaten. Probably severely and savagely over long periods of time, certainly abused in some way or other by their parents. And, uh, it's in response to that and their anger at those acts, um, that they blindly lash out, um, at easily identifyable targets, because they don't understand where their own anger is coming from.

SWF3:

Now we've got another listener, who receives us via satellite in England. It's Sam Benington in Ipswich. Sam, hello! Your question, please.

Caller 4:

Hi, um, well, me and all my family like your music. I was wondering why you think your appealls to such a wide audience?

Roger Waters:

Oh God! Thank you, Sam, for those few kind words. Um, I don't know. Maybe because... Sam, I don't know! Well, why do you think it appeals to such a wide audience?

Caller 4:

Don't know, maybe cos it's so good!

Roger Waters:

Ah, you see, maybe you've hit the nail on the head.

Caller 4:

Yeah!

Roger Waters:

Alright!

Caller4:

OK, thank you for speaking to me.

Roger Waters:

Thanks, thanks, bye.

Caller 4:

Bye!

"Perfect Sense (Pt. 2)" is played.

Intro of "The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range" is played .

SWF3:

SWF3 Pop Shop, on the microphone Markus Lorenz, Markus Brock and..

Roger Waters:

... Roger Waters.

SWF3:

And you can call and ask more questions to Roger Waters. If he will answer all of them... you will find out!

"What God Wants (Part 2)" is played.

SWF3:

'What God Wants Part 2'. Roger Waters from his new album 'Amused To Death'. Listeners ask Roger Waters. Here's SWF3. Hello?

Caller 5:

... from Elpenschied.

SWF3:

Ask your question!

Caller 5:

Hi, Roger, this is Michael from somewhere in Germany. And my question is simply: Are you going to plan a tour or plan a concert or a big show in Germany?

Roger Waters:

Well, I hope to tour with this album. I told the record company that I... if, if the album's a success, if people ... you know, if there appears to be a demand for me to do a show, eh...

Caller 5:

Of course, every time!

Roger Waters:

Eh, well, well, not quite, you know! Well, I toured with 'Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking' and 'Radio K.A.O.S.' and ... I did o.k. in the big cities, you know, in London... London and...

Caller 5:

I heard about that!

Roger Waters:

... New York and L.A., but in, in the midwest and in other places in Europe, uh, it was, uh, the audience were a bit thin on the ground. Uh, if this is a success, I'll do it! I've got some good ideas for the show. And I'd really like to do it.

SWF3:

(begins translating to German audiance)

Roger Waters: However, however, just to fill in: I have to say, I think this is a better record than they were, so, I expect that there will be a bigger demand.

SWF3:

I think, we all think... We love it really!

Roger Waters:

Okay!

Caller 5:

Yeah!

SWF3:

SWF3, hello?"

Caller 6:

"Hello?"

SWF3:

"Ask your question!"

Caller 6:

"Yes, okay!" Here is Jack from Switzerland. I saw you tour 'Hitch Hiking' and first I wanted to ask you the same question like the people, eh, the person before. So I think, when you come to Switzerland, I will see you!

Roger Waters:

Okay!

Caller 6:

And the second question is: Are you still working with... I think you work with holophonics, isn't it?

Roger Waters:

Uh, actually, no! But this album has a... holophonices is a... was invented and is owned by a guy called Hugo Zuccarelli...

Caller 6:

Yes, I know this guy!

Roger Waters:

Okay!

Caller 6:

That's why... why I ask you ..., I... I have heard now these few songs and I thought it was like this ... or is it ...

Roger Waters:

No, let me explain! Let me explain the difference. Uh, holophonics is a system designed for headphones. Um, on this album there is a system called Q-Sound, which is designed for use with, um, speakers. Uh, does this show go out in stereo?

Caller 6:

Yes!

Roger Waters:

Okay! So, if we play a track a bit later on from the album, and we'll tell you that it's coming... we'll play the beginning of the album in fact... and when that happens, you must sit exactly on the axis between your two speakers...

Caller 6:

Okay!

Roger Waters:

...and you'll hear some crickets and then you'll hear a dog barking, this only works on speakers, not on headphones...

Caller 6:

Aaaah!

Roger Waters:

...the dog barking will be... sound as if it's coming from the next door neighbor's house. It'll be opposite your right shoulder.

Caller 6:

Yeah!

Roger Waters:

So, you wanna get at least 10,or 15 feet back from your speakers... back here somewhere! Okay? We'll, we'll do that a bit later on, then you'll hear what the effects of Q-Sound is.

Caller 6:

Okay! Roger, you're great! I hope to see you again in Switzerland!

Roger Waters:

I hope you see me in Switzerland!

Caller 6:

Okay, go straight ahead!

Roger Waters:

Okay, bye!

Caller 6:

Bye-bye!

SWF3:

Bye! SWF3 Pop Shop, hello?

Caller 7:

(a question in german - translation below)

SWF3:

He's asking whether the next tour will be the same size... as big as Pink Floyd tours, the last... as big as Pink Floyd?

Roger Waters:

I didn't see the last Pink Floyd tour. So I can't answer that question.

SWF3:

I think, he means the Pink Floyd tours with you.

Roger Waters:

Oh, eh, well there, there was the wall in Deusseldorf (!) and before that, there was the Animals show. Um, yeah, I guess, the staging would be of a similiar nature.

Caller 7:

"OK, yes, thank you very much!"

SWF3:

The next one, hello?

Caller 8:

Hello?

SWF3:

Yes! Your question for Roger Waters!

Caller 8:

Yes, I've got a very simple question for Roger Waters: Would he play with some friends of mine, who play professional, for the organisation 'Only For Kids'? We're planning a big concert next year.

SWF3:

Oh, I think, we don't ask such questions here. I'm sorry! SWF3, hello?

Caller 9:

(a question in german - translation below)

SWF3:

He's asking, why there's such a big difference between 'The Wall' album from, from Berlin and the real concert?

Roger Waters:

And the con... oh! Because we worked on it like crazy after it was finished! We... we went into a lot of, eh, technical problems on the night. Uh, after Scorpions had finished their, um, uh, introduction, 'In The Flesh' part 1, just as Ute Lemper was about to start singing 'The Thin Ice', we lost all the power on the stage. So, um, the 300,000 people there, had to sit and wonder what was going on. Uh, while, and... and I, I believe, went and did a tap-dance on the front of the stage. Uh, and, in consequence, it meant that at, uh, 3 o'clock in the morning, when all the people had gone home, Ute Lemper and The Hooters and, uh, the guys from the band, uh, came back onto the stage and we re-recorded, uh, some of the material. Uh, we re-recorded in fact three tracks, um, from the thing. And also we did post-production work, um mixing work, and additional work on... on the tracks.

SFW3

(begins translation for German listeners)

Roger Waters:

And, and, and we did it in order to make the record into, um, something that everybody would want to go out and buy. And, in contrast to what the guy from Austria had to say earlier, this is actually a very good record. Uh, it's worth buying! Um, if for nothing else, for the performances of Van Morrison on 'Comfortably Numb' and, eh, and Bryan Adams on 'Young Lust', which are both exemplary, not to mention Joni Mitchell singing 'Goodbye Blue Sky'. This may sound like a commercial for the record... and it is! Go out and buy it! It's really... and buy the video, as well! Because The Memorial Fund needs the money!

"The Ballad Of Bill Hubbard" is played.

"Radio Waves" is played. (how apropos ed.)

SWF3:

Right, 'Radio Waves', a real pop song from Roger Waters from the 'K.A.O.S.'-album five years ago. SWF3 Pop Shop with Roger Waters live in the studio and you may ask questions ... and here's already the first one! Yes, your question to Roger Waters?

Caller 10:

Hello?

SWF3:

Yes!

Caller 10:

I have a question about your working with other musicians. Did... is it all written down before the recording or have they sometimes the possibility to choose what... what they want to play?

Roger Waters:

Well, if they, if... if it's a violin player in a string section, it's written down for him, but if it's Jeff Beck, uh, he can't read music. So we have to let him make it up as he goes along.

SWF3:

... Earlier he told us another story about some rhythms, where he used improvisations to build up a structure for his songs. So there's a lot of room for improvisation within. The next one, hello? Hello?

Caller 11:

Hello?

SWF3:

Your question!

Caller 11:

Yes, thank you! To Roger: What is he doing next?

Roger Waters:

Uh... you mean af... after this album and possibly this tour?

Caller 11:

Right, right!

Roger Waters:

Uh, I'm not sure! But I think, I may... will make an hour long recording of extracts from uh, uh... an opera that I wrote the music for, the libretto is by, uh, um, a Spaniard called Etienne Hodochille, who lives in Paris... and it's based on the French Revolution and it's called 'CA Ira'.

Caller 11:

Aha! And I've got another question. Is it possible to get you in a band for a benefit concert?

Roger Waters:

That would depend upon the band and upon the benefit and upon the concert.

Caller 11:

Uh, how... ?

SWF3:

Well ... two questions are enough. Other listeners have questions too... The next question, hello?

Caller 12:

Yes, hello?

SWF3:

Yes!

Caller 12:

Yes, here is Gernot Klar. I've got a short question, two short questions. The first question is about... a friend of mine has... a CD called 'Body Music' with Roger Waters. And this is a very avant-garde sound, full of human sounds. Has this... is this record connected with Roger Waters in former times?

Roger Waters:

Yeah, it was a... it was a soundtrack, uh, for a film called 'The Body', that I did with a scottish musician called Ron Geesin and we did it in 1969 or something...

Caller 12:

I see ... and second short question is: On the latest album 'Amused To Death' you're very hard with Lloyd- Webber. Are you afraid to struggle with Mr. Lloyd-Webber about... ?

SWF3:

Nice question!

Roger Waters:

Have you ever seen Andrew Lloyd-Webber? If you ...

Caller 12:

Yeah, I've seen him on TV and I... I know a lot of his musical background.

Roger Waters:

Well, he doesn't, he doesn't carve a very imposing figure. Physically I don't think there'll be any problem. Um, no, I... I... you know, I attack him on the record and um, I... I thought long and hard. I did it as a joke in the studio one day and we laughed and laughed and so... (laughs)... it's very funny!

Caller 12:

And no reactions from Mr. Webber?

Roger Waters:

Eh, no! I have had no reactions yet and uh, and I... I suspect, that I'm unlikely to get one. It's interesting that he ripped off, um, part of, um, 'Echoes' for the beginning of 'The Phantom Of The Opera'. I only discovered this fact, when having attacked him, uh, I thought I ought to listen to some of his later works or listen to 'Phantom Of The Opera'. And I was absolutely staggered by just how bad it is. I always knew... I always knew that he was a very, very, um, poor musician. But I never, I never in my wildest nightmares could've imagine anything quite as bad as that.

SWF3:

The next question, SWF3, hello?

Caller 13:

Hello, here is J”rg Friedel from Maulburg.

SWF3:

Hello, J”rg!

Caller 13:

I have a question! I've been at the concert in Berlin and this was more or less a benefit-concert for the Memorial Fund For Desaster Relief. Um, now I'm interested in what happened to the money since this concert. I haven't heard anything about it, besides that Leonard Cheshire died. Although there were recently enough chances, e.g. the flooding catastrophies and so on, where the money could have been spent for. But you just hear nothing about it. What exactly happened to it?

SWF3:

It seems, that you didn't listen before, when he explained this in details already. Um...

Caller 13:

Yes, I've been dialling all the time.

SWF3:

O.K. then, I'll explain it quickly. So we don't have to pass on this question to Roger. He explained before that there were problems with the album, some legal problems with the transmission rights. He's, he's asking what happened with the money from the Berlin Concert, but you've answered that before.

Roger Waters:

Well, well! I explained that before. But what is interesting is, that um, the most important thing that happened to me at that concert was that I met Leonard Cheshire, who was an extremely, uh, important, uh... and, uh, edifying figure, who died about six weeks ago. And uh... and the work looks as if it will be taken over by an arm of the British Government, using Leonard's name. Uh, so it may be that the Memorial Fund For Desaster Relief will finally become an initiative of Government, which is where that responsibility lies in the end, in my uh, in my view. You know, the raising of money to save fellow human beings on other sides of .. you know, in different places round the world, should not rest with Leonard Cheshire or me or Bob Geldof or any of the rest of it. It's the responsibility of the Government.

"Young Lust" (The Wall Live In Berlin) is played.

Roger Waters:

Hi, I'm here! Yeah, just in response to our Caller... from Austria was he? Who was claiming that the record of, of... from the show in Berlin was not a good record. That is, um, um, Bryan Adams doing 'Young Lust'. And, uh, it's the live recording from the show, but, of course, we've taken it into the studio and we've remixed it, but nothing is added, that is absolutely purely the live performance from the Berlin show, as is 99% of the rest of the record. We had to repair the bits that we've lost because of the technical failures, but the band were incredible, the performance is fantastic and, and, and, uh, it didn't sound too great when it went out live on the television, but the record isn't like that. And this is a very good record! So, this guy is wrong!

"Amused To Death" is played but not in full length.

SWF3:

The title song of Roger Waters' new album 'Amused To Death'. Our listeners can ask questions to Roger Waters. Hello, SWF3! ...SWF3, hello?

Caller 14:

Yes, Lessmann, hello! I've got a question ...(a question in german - translation below)

SWF3:

Oh! Ehm, He's, he's asking that... um, the 'Radio K.A.O.S.' album, he really likes it, but he says the promotion in Germany was really bad for this album. He had problems getting it.

Roger Waters:

Yeah, it was really bad! You're right! I... I, there was a .. you know, there, there was a strange problem in, uh, the record company with a... a conflict of interests between myself and my ex-colleagues, who're now called Pink Floyd. And I've now left that record company and I'm with a new record company and I'll think you'll find that this new record is promoted much better.

(Radio KAOS was released on Columbia Records, Amused to Death was released on Columbia Records, and although Roger was promised a huge promotion campaign the promise proved to be Bullshit! ed.)

Caller 15:

Uh, the words in your lyrics... do you think, that's a mirror of our society, uh, or do you think your words are a mirror of future and most people live in past, like... they have wars in Yugoslavia, they kill each other, and in your lyrics you often say, um... you need doctors, in your um, CDs or LPs. Do you mean, we need new doctors, new musicians to bring us to a better world?

Roger Waters:

It may well be, that uh, that the musicians can help. It will be interesting to see whether the people in Yugoslavia look at their TV sets and uh, and... and think to themselves uh, hang on a minute, we've seen this all before this, we've been watching this shit from Lebanon for the last ten years, you know. And uh, here we are, suddenly it's happening to us... and whether they can uh, understand that uh, that conflict between uh, contrasting ideologies of eh, Christianity and um, Islam um, are really worth all the bloodshed, and pain that it causes the individual human beings and their families and friends and someone who's sad for.

SWF3:

So, after I'm finished with coughing, the next listener, hello? No question? SWF3, hello?

Caller 16:

(a question in german - translation below)

SWF3:

He wants to know, whether Jeff Beck will be touring with you.

Roger Waters:

No! Jeff's not very good... he's very good at rehearsals, but not very good about doing actual gigs.

SWF3:

Why?

Roger Waters:

Uh, I... I don't know! Ask Mick Jagger! He did all his rehearsals for the Jagger tour and then he... uh, no, to be serious, um, uh, Jeff has, um, Tennisis, you know, which is this condition of the ear where you hear noises and, eh, to be on stage is very bad for his ears, he can't take the very loud volumes anymore.

SWF3:

SWF3, hello?

Caller 17:

Yes, good evening! Eh, I've got the following question for Roger: Roger, years ago, when you played in the Roundhouse, I'd like to hear what your mo

st excellent memory is from that period.

(laughing) They always say, if you can remember it, you weren't there, which, I know, is an old cliche. Uh, Rick Wright pulled his back very badly I remember, and could hardly walk.

Caller 17:

That's not what I'm fishing for.

Roger Waters:

Well, I have no other serious memories of the Roundhouse.

Caller 17:

Really?

Roger Waters:

No!

Caller 17:

Oh! Well .. OK!

SWF3:

That was really an...

Roger Waters:

...good fishing...

SWF3:

".. insider talk, about old times in the Roundhouse, where they (Pink Floyd) played."

"Have A Cigar" (final sequence) is played.

"Wish You Were Here" is played

Roger Waters:

(during the intro of the song)Yeah, there was a strange thing, when we delivered this track to CBS in the first place. They... they listened to it and they heard this bit and they said 'We really love the album, but there's this bit, where the sound goes really crazy. Uh, the guitar has this very thin sound and we think, you should fix it... and it was this, you're listening to... (laughing)

SWF3:

But I think, there's a more interesting story of 'Wish You Were Here'. How did you write the song first?

Roger Waters:

Well, Dave... Dave Gilmour, um, came up with this, uh, guitar riff and... and it... it kind of never went any further and then he played it to me one day and I really loved it. I think, it's great! Um, and so I wrote the chord sequence that comes after it and, um, and then wrote the lyrics and then made a demo of the song and we finally put it all together. I think it was the best thing... one of the best things that Dave and I ever did together. I like this song!

SWF3:

It's a pity, that the two hours are over right now... but that's it! SWF3 Pop Shop with Roger Waters live. On the microphone Markus Lorenz, Markus Brock and ...

Roger Waters:

...Roger Waters...

SWF3:

...music: Helmut Melling.