The Tide Is Turning

One of my favorite artists of all time and who I think is a musical and lyrical genius is a man by the name of Roger Waters. Those that don’t really know the man by that name may have heard of the group he helped form. It was a little band that made a little noise on the charts back in the day known as Pink Floyd. They had a massive mainstream hit back in the 80’s with “Another Brick in the Wall” off of their huge selling album “The Wall”. About eighty percent of that double record LP was written by Roger Waters as was Pink Floyds previous records and their last as a complete group “The Final Cut”. Due to shall I say “creative differences” Roger left the band and struck out on his own for good. He and other members had released solo albums while still within the fold of Floyd but Floyd was over as far as Roger Waters was concerned. I won’t go into the drama that ensued between him and his ex bandmates but just know it wasn’t pretty. That being said, Roger Waters lost absolutely nothing creatively wise while stepping out without the rest of Floyd and his album “Radio K.A.O.S.” proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt. It was an impressive solo debut and the most impressive song of that album was “The Tide is Turning”.


Roger was never known for a great singing voice and actually he’s a horrible singer. Thankfully though it’s not his singing that keeps fans like me interested, it’s his lyrical ability and that’s on full display with “Tide”. It’s a song of a man who is coming to the realization that while things look bleak for the future of mankind that the tide is turning. It starts of with “I used to think the world was flat/rarely threw my hat into the crowd/I felt I had used up my quota of yearning…Used to look in on the children at night/in the glow of their Donald Duck light/and frighten myself /with the thought of my little ones burning but the tide is turning. It goes on to tell you that the youth stood as one and refused to back down and believe what they were told and fed by the powers that be and that began the tide turning.


I will always be a Roger Waters fan because of songs like this. He will always be one of those artists I hold in the highest of regards because in my opinion he belongs in the pantheon of all those other artists we consider geniuses. Enjoy!