…what I get from the musicians who I really care for: Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young – that intense passion.
– Roger Waters (1987)
George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943), singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. In 1965, he co-founded Pink Floyd with drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Richard Wright and guitarist, singer, and songwriter Syd Barrett. Waters initially served as the group’s bassist, but following the departure of Barrett in 1968, he also became their lyricist, conceptual leader and co-lead vocalist.
He has, on several occasions, expressed his admiration for Bob Dylan. There are also reports from fans the he have played several of Bob Dylan’s songs during soundchecks.
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd talks to Howard Stern about Bob Dylan and the Beatles:
…I always buy the new Dylan album and the new Neil Young album and the new John Prine album and I’ll sniff around one or two other things if I catch something on the radio. But by and large I’m not really interested in it.
– TVNZ (2007)
Roger Waters – Forever Young (Newport, 2015) with former Dylan guitarist G.E. Smith and My Morning Jacket(they have also toured as opening acts for Dylan):
“This being the Newport Folk Festival – where Bob Dylan infamously went electric exactly 50 years ago today – Waters closed out his set by paying homage to Dylan with a cover of Planet Waves’ “Forever Young.””
– Rolling Stone magazine
Roger Waters – Knocking on Heaven’s Door (from the album, Flickering Flame: The Solo Years Volume 1):
“You can draw a line between what I’m interested in and what I’m not interested in. On one side you can name Dylan and Lennon, who observe the world and have feelings, and write songs directly from those feelings. On the vapid side you have pop groups who need material and write songs to fill the hole, rather than getting somebody else…
I always question stuff I do. There’s a moment after making a demo of a song and sticking it on in the car when I really get off on it, but it doesn’t last very long. And then when it’s in a finished record and you listen to it once or twice, it’s there, but again, it doesn’t last. I think it is in the nature of all people who do these things – in the Lennon, the Dylan, the Pete Townshend manner, that come from the heart – that the gratification doesn’t stay with you and you feel compelled to go start the process all over again. ”
– Musician (1992)
– Hallgeir & Egil
Roger Waters is a vicious anti-Semite, a Goebbels like propagandist of Israel hatred and he has nothing in common with Dylan.
I think it is an offence to Bob to name him in the same sentence and if there is any justice, Waters will rot and burn in hell.
Dylan and Waters two icons who truly get it forever and a day. See you both knocking on the door that leads to The Dark side of the moon.