Roger Waters Rerecords ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ Without the Rest of Pink Floyd

Roger Waters has re-recorded Pink Floyd‘s classic 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon without his remaining band members, including guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, as the record approaches its 50th anniversary on March 1, 2023.

“I wrote ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’” said Waters, 79, in a recent interview. “Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap.”

In another recent interview with the German newspaper, Berliner, which Waters had translated into English and posted on his official website, the singer, who left Pink Floyd in 1985, elaborates on why he revisited the band’s iconic album, prior to its 50th anniversary this year.

“The new concept is meant to reflect on the meaning of the work, to bring out the heart and soul of the album, musically and spiritually,” said Waters. “I’m the only one singing my songs on these new recordings, and there are no rock and roll guitar solos.”

Waters is credited with writing all the lyrics to the 1973 album, in addition to composing three of its tracks on his own.

On his revised The Dark Side of the Moon, Waters also recorded more spoken word poetry over some of the more instrumental tracks. His remixes of songs like “The Great Gig in the Sky,” “Speak To Me,” “On The Run,” “Money,” and “Any Colour You Like,” reflect the deeper message within the original collection of 10 songs.

“It’s about the voice of reason,” said Waters. “And it says ‘what is important is not the power of our kings and leaders or their so-called connection with God. What is really important is the connection between us as human beings, the whole human community.’”

Waters added, “We, human beings, are scattered all over the globe, but we are all related because we all come from Africa. We are all brothers and sisters, or at the very least distant cousins, but the way we treat each other is destroying our home, planet earth, faster than we can imagine.”

Consistently outspoken on his social and political views, particularly the recent war in Ukraine, Waters’ on-and-off feud with bandmate Gilmour, 76, came to another head this week on Twitter.

In the same German interview, Waters called the recent Pink Floyd Ukraine anthem “Hey Hey Rise Up,” featuring Gilmour and Mason, as “really, really sad,” and also said that he was open to hearing what Russian president Vladimir Putin had to say about the invasion.

Following the publication of the interview, Gilmour’s wife, author Polly Samson, called Waters a “misogynistic,” “antisemitic,” and “Putin apologist,” among several other things in a tweet. Shortly after her post, Gilmour backed his wife’s sentiments by retweeting it with the caption “Every word demonstrably true.”

Waters, who recently wrote an open letter to the Russian president, said he was considering taking legal action against Gilmour and Samson following the posts.

In 2022, Waters released a more somber version of Pink Floyd’s iconic The Wall track “Comfortably Numb.” Revisiting a number of Pink Floyd classics, along with some of his solo songs, and remixing them as demos during the pandemic, Waters eventually recorded his newer version as “Comfortably Numb 2022,” during the recent U.S. leg of his This Is Not A Drill Tour.

The Dark Side of the Moon still ranks as one of the most successful rock albums ever released. The album spent 736 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart through July 1988 and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. 

Photo: Brian Lima / Courtesy of Rogers and Cowan