Pink Floyd – Think Bensonium

Song 4: The Dogs Of War, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 20:06:24 +0000

So post Covid Island Discs normally consists of occasional reports that act as memoranda to famous musicians who have passed away. Yet every day of course many people lose their lives in tragic circumstances. A few days back I learned about the death of a friend from breast cancer and of course at the time of writing we are witnessing the deaths of many innocent people in Gaza: both innocent Jews and Palestinians who are the victims of the dogs of war. I remember in the 80s seeing this song performed live by Gilmour in the Sydney Entertainment Centre with my great friend Simon. One of the best concerts I ever experienced and I have certainly been blessed to experience many great concerts.

What are the dogs of war? Those ideologues who justify the murder of innocent people in the name of some political cause. In this sense Pink Floyd on their album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, were spot on in their diagnosis of an age-old problem that seems to continually plague humanity.

In relation to the whole Palestine/Jewish question, this is by far the best analysis of the situation I have seen on Youtube.

Day 312: Paranoid Eyes, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 00:00:16 +0000

So yesterday, I posted a song by Panic at the Disco called High Hopes. Both the video and the lyrics of this song suggest a positive story of a young man who has high hopes for his life and indeed those hopes are largely realised.

In contrast, this song captures the opposite extreme of an elderly man who has been battered and bruised by harsh realities of life. His childhood dreams have been largely shattered by the never-ending pounding of the oncoming years as he ages towards the concluding scenes of his life and recalls the pie in the sky that turned out to be miles too high.

Day 266: Shine on you crazy diamond, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I shall close off week 38 returning to my musical centre of gravity with this Pink floyd classic from their Wish you were here album. It is funny but I started scouring the 2020 music charts for something modern to include in Covid Island Discs and I could not believe how the music scene now is dominated by what I would describe as techno pop from single female artists. A far cry from the stuff that constitutes the golden days of rock and roll. What happen to all those amazing guitar riffs. I guess like every generation before me I’m showing my age and let’s face it, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Day 210: The Fletcher Memorial Home, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 23:00:00 +0000

This is from the final Pink Floyd album with Roger Waters and it was appropriately titled the Final Cut. I have already posted the title song on day 173 of Covid Island Discs. The album has a very strong anti-war theme as it was pretty much Waters protest against the Falkland war of the 1980s. This is perhaps the darkest song on the album where Waters imagines rounding up all world leaders who make and cause war and placing them in a special home (named after his late father who was killed in world war II when Roger was only 5 months old).

An August 2022 update: Today the breaking news on Sky is a massive escalation in tensions between China, Taiwan and the USA as China live miltary exercises breaches Taiwan’s territory. All in response to a visit by the US Senate leader Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. What with the mess the UK is in currently as Truss and Sunak try to out rightwing each other by offering us a dystopian vision of a world with nearly zero taxes, zero services and slave wages, this song has never felt somehow more apt even given its rather ungodly solution to the world’s “leadership question”

Day 199: On the turning away, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 23:00:00 +0000

So last week I posted a song from Pink Floyd’s album a momentary lapse of reason called learning to fly. This song is from the same album which was published after Roger Waters left the band. I was very fortunate to see Pink Floyd just after this album was released and it was definitely one of the best concerts I have ever seen. The lighting show was truly out of this world. This particular song not only supports a lovely tune but attempts to appeal to our better natures as we witness the immense suffering of the millions in this world who are not as fortunate as ourselves.

Day 196: Learning to fly, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 23:00:00 +0000

This song is from Pink Floyd post Roger Waters. It comes from their Momentary lapse of reason album which I really think is a brilliant album and showed that the band was still able to produce rock and roll classics after the departure of RW. I will probably post at least one other song from this album before Covid Island discs finally comes to an end.

Day 173: The final Cut, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:44:48 +0000

In the 80s Pink Floyd released what was then to be their last album entitled “The Final Cut”. This represent the point where Roger Waters left the band. Some years later the remaining members of Pink Floyd released another album suitably titled “A Momentary lapse of Reason”. However, “the final cut” is more Roger Waters than Pink Floyd per se and the main theme of the album’s songs is based around a strong protest against Thatcher’s Falklands war.

This song however returns to Water’s other major theme captured in their album “The Wall”. The idea of how we all hide our genuine selves from other people. In this context the final cut is full of double meaning from suicide to the cutting away of all external pretence to reveal one’s “dark side”. And yet “if I show you my dark side, will you still hold me tonight?” is the age-old question Waters considers in this heavy but moving song.

Day 125: Money, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 14:49:54 +0000

Staying on Shania’s money theme, I wonder if she got the start of her Ka-ching song from this all time Pink Floyd classic?

Day 112: Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd

Roderick Benson — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:07:55 +0000

Let’s give the boys a turn. Wow this song is amazing and captures at least one of the reactions one can have against the modern world: “I have become comfortably numb”. Enjoy the amazing electric guitar at the end which is truly a work of art. If you have not heard it before take the time to listen to it. If you like electric guitar, the extended riff in this song will take your breath away.

Day 50 (album cover 5 of 10): Wish you were here, Pink Floyd

Rbenson — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 19:57:36 +0000

What an amazing album cover and appropriate song for day 50 of this long shutdown. I bought a 12 string just so I could play this piece when I was a young and foolish 20 something year old. I’m sure a lot of us can relate to this song now more than ever.