Ticket 2 Ride

I got into this spirited back and forth with a guy about Roger Waters and Pink Floyd. The debate was whether most of Pink Floyd’s songwriting credit belongs to Waters. I said no. Certainly, Waters wrote some key songs for the group, but his impact is overrated in my opinion. He wasn’t Pink Floyd.

Is this an important debate? Hardly. For my own delight, I am going to list my favorite Floyd songs to look at the songwriting credit. Waters was very important from a conceptual standpoint and his strength was in bold lyrical statements.

In the early years, Richard Wright was a significant musical contributor, and giving Pink Floyd the abstract sonic soundscapes, the mystery and atmospheric intrigue that defined the band. Gilmour provided the musical muscle, the riffs and soaring solos, plus he sang lead on many of the hits, even ones he did not write.

This is not dissing or pissing on Waters; his Pink Floyd legacy is secure. Waters wrote or co-wrote seven of ten songs on Dark Side of the Moon, all five songs on Wish You Were Here, all five songs on Animals, all twenty-six songs on The Wall and all twelve songs on the disappointing The Final Cut. Quantity is not the same as quality.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell are, in my lucid opinion, better than Animals and The Final Cut. I even like The Division Bell better than The Wall. Blasphemy, the Pink Floyd gods cry! Impossible!

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“Astronomy Domine” (Barrett, Wright)

“Intersteller Overdrive” (Barrett, Waters, Wright and Mason)

“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (Waters)

“Careful with That Axe, Eugene” ( Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Mason)

“One of These Days” (Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Mason)

“Echoes” (Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Mason)

“Breathe” (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)

“The Great Gig in the Sky” (Wright, Torry)

“Time” (Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Mason)

“Money” (Waters)

“Us and Them” (Waters, Wright)

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)

“Welcome to the Machine” (Waters)

“Wish You Were Here” (Gilmour, Waters)

“Dogs” (Gilmour, Waters)

“Pigs” (Waters)

“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” (Waters)

“Mother” (Waters)

“Young Lust” (Gilmour, Waters)

“Comfortably Numb” (Waters, Gilmour)

“Run Like Hell” (Gilmour, Waters)

“Learning to Fly” (Gilmour, Moore, Ezrin, Carin)

“On the Turning Way” (Gilmour, Moore)

“Sorrow” (Gilmour)

“What Do You Want from Me” (Gilmour, Sampson)

“Marooned” (Gilmour, Wright)

“Take It Back” (Gilmour, Sampson, Laird-Clowes, Ezrin)

“Keep Talking” (Gilmour, Sampson, Wright)

“High Hopes” (Gilmour, Sampson)