Polly Samson's View of Roger Waters

[Keith Jordan]

Whilst wanting to avoid divisive politics of any nature on the NPF website (we would prefer to bring people together, not give reasons to be apart) it is difficult to ignore Polly Samson's apparent post concerning Roger Waters.

She didn't hold back!

Polly is of course one of the writers of post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd songs/lyrics and also wrote lots of her husband, David Gilmour's solo albums.

https://twitter.com/PollySamson/status/ ... 2602205184

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

Is it wrong that in my head I could hear her tweet to the tune Great Gig In The Sky?
Tax avoiding? That's a new one. Thought they'd learnt from the 70's. Wouldn't surprise.
But yes, that is textbook on not holding back.
Safe to say stories of Pink Floyd selling their songs for millions just isn't going to be happening anytime soon.

[Niebla de Fuego]

Actually I was a bit surprised at her tirade. She had been rather calm for many years, and she had not answered in a similar way to his past attacks. I wonder if there was anything in particular that triggered her today and that we don't know.

And I mean, besides Rogers' Berliner Zeitung interview. There's absolutely nothing new on that interview besides Roger's desire to get rid of the guitar solos in his own Dark Side re-recording. All the rest is just the same thing he always says, once more confirming what he believes and what has been public knowledge about him for many years. And there was not a direct attack towards her. So I really don't thing Polly is answering specifically to that. That's what makes me think there's something else.

Let's wait and see what happens in the course of the following days. Maybe there will be more statements this week.

Or it may well be a smoke curtain to distract people from the discussion of the poorly assembled Dark Side 50 boxset. Who knows? Everything is possible.

[Keith Jordan]

Because I am not well versed in the political nature of what Roger is saying, I asked the new ChatGPT AI bot for its opinion...

Accusations of antisemitism have been made against Roger Waters, a co-founder of the rock band Pink Floyd. Some people claim that his political activism, including his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and his criticism of Israel, crosses the line into antisemitism. However, others argue that his activism is focused on human rights and that he is not antisemitic.

It is important to note that antisemitism is a complex and sensitive issue, and accusations of antisemitism should be made with care. In this case, it's also important to consider the wider context and the motivations behind someone's actions, as well as the impact of those actions on Jewish communities. Ultimately, the determination of whether someone is antisemitic is a matter of interpretation and subjective judgement.

[Keith Jordan]

Kind of inevitable but here it goes.....

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[Niebla de Fuego]

Well... things are going fast.
This will be an interesting week indeed.
I would think people in their position are thoughtful about their public tweets and statements. This are not kids, and surely they thought it more than once before clicking the submit button and are very well aware of the consequences of their tweets.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

It's not funny but it is. Imagine an upper middle class (Lower upper class?) version of Jerry Springer.
Roger's sitting there being all polite.
"So she says you're an antisemitic tax dodger who mimes when performing live! Let's bring out Polly Samson!"
*Audience cheers as Roger gets up ready to throw hands but gets restrained by Jerry's security.

[Keith Jordan]

Why now? After all these years?

Memoirs draft shared?
Blocking projects?
No longer cares?
The sale of the song catalogue being blocked worth 500m!

[drafsack]

Roger has always been a bit stroppy and has clear ideas of his truth. David has worked with Roger long enough to know what he is like and has pretty much has a 'smile and wave' attituded. I expect David has been mumbling on about Roger to Polly and she is fed up of hearing his gripes so has finally said something that has forced David to make a comment in support of yoko - sorry Polly

[pazhimself]

I'm wondering if their twitter accounts were hacked. Cause I haven't read anything that would have triggered such a response.

[Keith Jordan]

Well the three of them are at it, and there hasn't been any official announcement to say there has been an issue.

[Neil]

As someone else has said, it’s hard to imagine that PS has posted this in a fit of pique without thinking through the very obvious consequences, but who knows what has triggered this response. Surely more than just the Berliner Zeitung interview. There’s something about the tweet that suggests somewhere along the line, there has been a ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’.

It’s terribly sad really. You’d have thought that after appearing in eachother’s shows back in… 2011 was it?… that there’d have been some sort of entente cordiale between RW and DG. Sad it’s come to this. Especially as their combined voice would have been far more powerful than the public bickering they’ve resorted to in recent years, which is becoming unseemly.

I actually hope this is quickly and privately resolved, with the relevant tweets deleted; alas, as it hasn’t happened already, that seems unlikely.

[scarecrow]

Maybe Polly just felt she should speak up, from being appalled at Roger Waters' position on Ukraine and other things, and her feelings are stronger given her son has married a Ukrainian.

I think Waters has been in recent times horribly dismissive of Gilmour and Mason's political position re Ukraine (and the recent Pink Floyd single), talking about them just wanting to pick the 'winning side' and then blathering about Amused to Death.

And although Waters has often grumbled about his former bandmates touring the world playing 'my songs', its a shared legacy, you could say... perhaps Samson felt it best to unequivocally distance herself and husband from Waters' worldview.

I have had some time for Roger Waters over the years, certainly rate his best songwriting efforts from the 1970s, but with his plain nasty comments about Polly Samson in the ridiculous spat he started over the Floyd website a couple or so years ago, he just seemed such a miserable hateful guy, I tend to think Robyn Hitchcock is on the right track about this...

[Hadrian]

Sad. I think that it is the Ukraine thing more than anything else, because of the extended family connections Polly and David have with the country (their grandchildren are half-Ukrainian, which also explains the Pink Floyd single in 2022). I guess the second honeymoon days of 2005-2011, during which Roger and David shared the stage together a number of times, are gone forever now. This will probably end up in court.

[Djgilmour]

I think Polly had “that time of the month” again.