David Gilmour’s Concern About Roger Waters’ Lyrics In Pink Floyd

Feuds between incredible musical talents are as much a part of rock music as anything else. They tend to develop hatred against each other for creative reasons. There are many examples considering the feuds between various musicians. Still, the long-standing one between Pink Floyd’s two iconic names, David Gilmour and Roger Waters, is probably among the most famous cases. Gilmour and Waters have always shared a somewhat dysfunctional relationship since their early days in Pink Floyd.

As the years progressed, the two names found themselves in a power struggle as their creative differences unfolded. It eventually led Roger Waters to leave the band in 1985. Their different creative visions during the making process of the band’s 1983 album, ‘The Final Cut,’ was the last straw that caused them to part ways, but they also had many problems in creating previous albums. Let’s see what happened after Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album, ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ and why David Gilmour was concerned about the power of Roger Waters’ lyrics.

David Gilmour Thought Roger Waters’ Lyrics Overshadowed The Band’s Music

Pink Floyd’s iconic album, ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ arrived on March 1, 1973. It was a concept album that revolved around the themes like time, greed, conflict, and mental illness. Thanks to its massive impact on modern music and upcoming generations of musicians, the record brought a great legacy. After this powerful album, the band started to discuss the details of their next release.

In the book ‘Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd,’ author Mark Blake revealed that David Gilmour and Roger Waters strongly disagreed with the next album’s direction following ‘The Dark Side of the Moon.’ Gilmour confessed years later that they lost their creativity after ‘Dark Side.’ 

About his concern, Gilmour said:

“After ‘Dark Side,’ we were really floundering around. I wanted to make the next album more musical. I always thought that Roger’s emergence as a great lyric writer on the last album was such that he came to overshadow the music.”

As revealed in the book, Roger Waters wanted the follow-up record to be again a concept album. In contrast, David Gilmour wanted it to be more musical as he thought that Waters’ lyrics overshadowed the band’s music despite being fantastic. Gilmour was more interested in working on the records they’d already written. Thus, he didn’t want to deal with another themed album.

However, the next album, ‘Wish You Were Here,’ released in 1975, was again a concept album revolving around the central theme of absence. Roger Waters became the decision-maker regarding the album’s creative direction. Despite what Gilmour wished, the album again stood out with its strong lyrics rather than its musical side.