Former Pink Floyd lead singer and bassist Roger Waters yesterday tweeted a new live performance of the sing “Mother” from the iconic Pink Floyd album The Wall . The video was shot with musicians in separate remote locations because of the viral pandemic which afflicts our world. Waters says watching a video shot with social distancing in mind reminds him of just how much he misses being with his band. It reminded me of just how much I like the song and how it was the singular track from The Wall which resonated most with me the first time i heard the entire album.
Social distancing is a necessary evil in Covid world. Watching "Mother" reminds me just how irreplaceable the joy of being in a band is. pic.twitter.com/F4fxQCfbd6
— Roger Waters (@rogerwaters) May 17, 2020
I was an 18-year-old college student living in my dorm room at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire when The Wall was released. The rock station I grew up listening to in Minneapolis, the legendary 92.5 KQRS (KQ-92), announced that it wold be playing the two album set in its entirety as soon as it was legally allowed to do so. That meant a midnight appointment with the radio despite a full load of early morning classes to follow. But I certainly wasn’t going to miss it because I was avid Floyd fan since making Dark Side of the Moon and Animals two of my very first album purchases as a 12 and 13-year-old in the early 70’s.
The problem was that my college was about 110 miles away from the KQRS tower in the suburban Twin Cities and it didn’t come in very well on my receiver in the dorm room. I had an antenna hooked up to the thing but the reception still sucked. That’s when I had a moment of genius and attached a long length of speaker wire to the antenna input and draped the 20-foot or so long makeshift antenna out the dorm window (I never told anyone about the tiny hole I made in the corner of the screen). Success, sort of! I could get the radio station with just a little bit of static but it was passable. Preparations for the upcoming debut broadcast were made, including a six pack of Leinenkugel’s, headphones and whatever it is that college students mighty have enjoyed while listening to Pink Floyd (use your imagination). Midnight struck, The Wall was started and my love affair with “Mother” was born as side on of album one concluded with it. .
I can’t put into words exactly why I have such a visceral reaction to that song in particular. I guess it’s not really the lyrical content as much as the melodic simplicity which hooks me in. That and the soaring David Gilmour guitar. Or maybe it’s Waters’ plaintive and almost pleadingly childlike voice on it. I can’t put a finger on it but, whatever it is, it somehow hits me in the primitive emotional gut somehow and I love the feeling I get when I hear it.
Now there’s this new version and it gives the same feeling. Maybe even more so because I’m reminded of my own past when making sure I was geeking out to an certain album on a scratchy radio signal at midnight was the most important thing in my world. Seems so quaint and innocent compared to the times being lived by 18-year-olds today.
