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+--- Forum: Roger Waters (/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Thread: Watching T.V (/showthread.php?tid=296)
- Sydney - 11-19-2005 05:31 PM
Currently I am in love with Watching TV. When I first got the album I didn't think heed much attention to the song, but omg, once I really listened to it, well it became my fav song. I think the music is very cool, for one. It's different-very 60ish, kinda reminds me of Bob Dylan (though that may be the image representing the 60's for me). And of course the lyrics are amazing, but that's nothing new coming from Roger. :)
Any opinions about it? This is meant to be a general discussion of the song I just can't get enough of at the moment. :)
Edited By Sydney on 1132450296
- meno - 11-19-2005 05:33 PM
ATD Is an amazing Album....I also have a VCD Watching TV it is Music Videos....If You'd Like?
- Woof Oink Baaa - 11-19-2005 05:46 PM
You said, "omg."
Sorry. :D
Great song though. One of the only songs off ATD I can actually stand to listen to.
- Sydney - 11-19-2005 05:52 PM
Woof Oink Baaa Wrote:You said, "omg."Were you not expecting omg from Sydney? I'm glad I made you smile.
Sorry. :D
Great song though. One of the only songs off ATD I can actually stand to listen to.
You don't really like ATD? It's one of my favorite albums of all time. I guess it's all preference. But yeah, I can't imagine not like Watching T.V. I mean the importance of the message makes it brilliant alone. The last line "She's the one in 50 million who can help us to be free.....because she died on T.V" just takes my breath away!
- Woof Oink Baaa - 11-19-2005 06:51 PM
No. In fact, I hate a good amount of it, which is weird since I loved PACOH and KAOS. Rog just seemed a bit repetative on ATD.
- Spectre - 11-19-2005 06:53 PM
ATD is my fav Waters album. Watching TV is a great tune. My fav is probably Three Wishes.
- Sydney - 11-19-2005 09:08 PM
Ooh, yes Three Wishes is very cool too! It has a bit of a scary sound though, with the background "genie" vocals...eww...I don't know it's eerie, but very cool.
- pointmeatthesky - 11-19-2005 09:16 PM
I never loved Three Wishes, i dunno why.
Watching T.V is cool, and Perfect Sense, and others. there all good. i need to listen to that album someday.
- Sydney - 11-19-2005 09:43 PM
I think it would be good for me just to say every song is cool. I love them all, I love that album, it ranks top in the top three for me. There now I don't have to post an individual post for each song mentioned, saying how much I love it. :;):
- scalzmoney - 11-19-2005 10:38 PM
He loses me at 'my yellow rose'.
A smart guy like Roger has to know that it is not generally considered polite to refer to an asian person as 'yellow'. When his language is directed at sworn enemies like WWII era Japanese, I can almost understand. 'If it wasn't for the Nips being so good at building ships...'
But here a girlfriend, a female companion is called 'yellow'. It stops me dead in my tracks whenever I listen to this album.
On this album he also says: 'You don't have to be a Jew, to dissapporve of murder.' Even this seems an abrupt turn of a phrase.
It's like he lacks sensitivity when it comes to racial things. Or is so much the opposite that it doesn't register with him that it might not be the best choice of words.
Or maybe I just don't get it.
Edited By scalzmoney on 1132468799
- Space Cadet - 11-19-2005 11:02 PM
scalzmoney Wrote:He loses me at 'my yellow rose'.It has nothing to do with Roger being insensetive, I feel. He just happens to be a very lyrically open artist but is still able to maintain the conceptual "you have to think to understand it" factor through most to all compositions, which makes him uniquely his own as opposed to most solo artists, who either veil the song meaning completely to the point where it pains to you attempt assessment, or are so brazen that a second grader could write a similar musing. Roger isn't the type of man to water down a song to employ a politically correct stance, he says it like it is, and he means it.
A smart guy like Roger has to know that it is not generally considered polite to refer to an asian person as 'yellow'. When his language is directed at sworn enemies like WWII era Japanese, I can almost understand. 'If it wasn't for the Nips being so good at building ships...'
But here a girlfriend, a female companion is called 'yellow'. It stops me dead in my tracks whenever I listen to this album.
On this album he also says: 'You don't have to be a Jew, to dissapporve of murder.' Even this seems an abrupt turn of a phrase.
It's like he lacks sensitivity when it comes to racial things. Or is so much the opposite that it doesn't register with him that it might not be the best choice of words.
Or maybe I just don't get it.
- Seamus - 11-20-2005 03:03 AM
Superb song.
- pakistanifloyd - 11-20-2005 05:52 AM
Yep, the song is good, specially when Roger and Don Henley sings together.
- Sydney - 11-20-2005 12:04 PM
scalzmoney Wrote:He loses me at 'my yellow rose'.He could be calling the sterotypes the way he sees them. I think he uses sterotypes in his songs in a way to show that this how the world sees things, how we classify...does it bother you, then maybe you should do something about it, that's his point I think. Maybe or that could be a total guess, but he does sing alot of observations. I agree in general with what FF has said too, he's not one to water down material.
A smart guy like Roger has to know that it is not generally considered polite to refer to an asian person as 'yellow'. When his language is directed at sworn enemies like WWII era Japanese, I can almost understand. 'If it wasn't for the Nips being so good at building ships...'
But here a girlfriend, a female companion is called 'yellow'. It stops me dead in my tracks whenever I listen to this album.
On this album he also says: 'You don't have to be a Jew, to dissapporve of murder.' Even this seems an abrupt turn of a phrase.
It's like he lacks sensitivity when it comes to racial things. Or is so much the opposite that it doesn't register with him that it might not be the best choice of words.
Or maybe I just don't get it.
- scalzmoney - 11-20-2005 07:12 PM
I see your points Syd. I love the song, too.
I just think that without those references that song could have been a top ten hit, especially with Henley onboard (he was riding quite a wave of solo success at the time). Of course that's assuming Sony/Capitol would have promoted it properly.
I know top ten hits are not important to folks like Roger. Not until they are achieved, at least.
Roger is a big brain. A smart guy. A brilliant writer. Still, ask an asian person how they feel about being called 'yellow'.
- White Like Jesus - 11-21-2005 08:47 PM
Wow, the person who was offended at using the word "yellow" needs to really lighten up. And it's not as if he's saying "yellow bastard" or anything, it's "yellow rose". He's referring to the color merely as on observation, not a racial slur. I'm amazed at how far-reaching slimy PC brainwashing has gotten.
"If it wasn't for the Nips...", when you read it in context, looks to me more like he's speaking by using words of another person from that time period. Calling them "Nips" because he was trying to present an image of how they viewed a particular situation...you can almost picture an Englishman in the 1940s saying something like "If it wasn't for those damn Nips..." They probably thought that the yards would still be open on the clyde if it wasn't for them being so good at building ships.
Edited By White Like Jesus on 1132639870
- meno - 11-22-2005 03:16 PM
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! SOMEONE WHO IS OPEN MINDED!
- scalzmoney - 11-24-2005 07:33 PM
Hey Jesus,
Actually, I don't have to lighten up. I'm entitled to my opinion and you are entitled to yours. This is a discussion about a song. I love this album and this song. What I wouldn't give for some music today that's as interesting as Roger's 15 year-old album!
Where I'll argue is over the lyric itself. When he says 'yellow rose' he's not talking about Texas. He's using an Asian slur typical of someone of Roger's generation. We're not generally nice to our enemies in war. Perhaps he's using the term ironically, but it doesn't seem that way. He's clearly anti-war. He's clearly on the right side of the students who protested against their government in China during the Tienanmen Square incident(I sure hope you know the history he's talking about). That's why the use of that line is so confusing.
However, as even you noted, he does step into a character sometimes in his lyrics. In other places it's a lot more obvious("that one looks Jewish! that one's a koon!")This is what he's done to a certain extent in 'Watching TV', but that doesn't explain the epithet used about a loved one. The song raises interesting issues and that's what we're talking about.
- Spectre - 11-24-2005 07:41 PM
Personally, I dont agree with alot of Roger's political views and understand he has the right to speak his mind and feel the way he feels. Clearly he is against war and most political leaders and a stout peace advocate, which is fine. He clearly cuts through the bull and political correctness in many of his songs and though some of his words make me wince [like the "yellow rose with yellow thighs" stuff], I tend to look at the whole picture and take his stuff with a grain of salt. I consider him a musical/lyrical genius in many aspects and this may simply be his style of his feelings flowing through his work.
Spectre
- High Mesa Floyd - 11-29-2005 08:03 PM
This song is beyond beautiful. I respect his opinions, and he expresses his opinions in creative and inspiring ways.
I think the heart of this song is that human beings suffer reguardless of who is in control of the government (i.e. Chang Ki Chek(spl?) and Mao Tze Tung). Also, there is the obvious statement that human suffering is trivialized by TV, such as the Tiennimen (spl?) Square massacre.
Even though Rogers' views are for the most part left-wing, I think he shows in this song that communists are just as capable of wrongdoing as are facists, capitalists, ect.
Edited By High Mesa Floyd on 1133323848
- HeyBurningGuy - 12-02-2005 08:05 PM
Excellent song, excellent album in my opinion. :)
- Eclipse73 - 12-04-2005 11:52 PM
Watching TV is great song!