Amused To Death

Roger Waters solo album

Released: September 7, 1992

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Cd:SONY COL 4687612
Limited edition 2LP-box:
SONY COL 4687610
 

The Ballad Of Bill Hubbard 4.19
What God Wants, part 1 6.00
Perfect Sense, part 1 4.16
Perfect Sense, part 2 2.50
The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range 4.43
Late Home Tonight, part 1 4.00
Late Home Tonight, part 2 2.13
Too Much Rope 5.47
What God Wants, part 2 3.41
What God Wants, part 3 4.08
Watching TV 6.07
Three Wishes 6.50
It's A Miracle 8.30
Amused To Death 9.06

Written by Roger Waters
Produced by Patrick Leonard and Roger Waters
Co-produced and recorded by Nick Griffiths
Mixed by James Guthrie

Engineers: Hayden Bendall, Jerry Jordan, Stephen McLaughlan

Assistant engineers: Mike Bosley, Andy Bradfield, Chris Brown, Brian Burrows, Ross Donaldson, Steve Heinke, John Lowson, Marc Moreau, Dary Sulich, Roy Sweeting, Jeremy Wheatley

Assistant mix engineer: Sean O'Dwyer

Recording studios:
The Billiard Room, Olympic Studios, CTS Studios, Angel Studios, Abbey Road Studios, London; Compass Point Studios, Nassau; Devonshire Studios, Ameraycan Studios, Evergreen Recording, Johnny Yuma Recording, Los Angeles

cover

Mix Studio:
Devonshire Audio & Visual Studios, Burbank

Recorded in QSound.

Mastered by Doug Sax & Ron Lewter at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles

Creative Director: Christopher Austopehuk
Art Direction: Mark Burdett
Art Co-ordination: Paul M. Martin
Front Cover photography: Tony Kaye
Additional photography: Richard Haughton

The gorillas appear on courtesy of the Howletts and Port Lympne Foundation.

Management: Mark Fenwick

Special Thanks:
The late Tom Bromley, Rick Chertoff, Flea, Don Ienner, Tony Kaye, Andrew Locke, Andy & Lynn Quiqley, Tony Russell, Suzanne Taylor, Michael and the staff at the Sunset Marquis.

Dedicated to Private William Hubbard (1888-1917), Eighth Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, City Of London Regiment.


Musicians:

The Ballad Of Bill Hubbard
Vocal - Alf Razzell (Royal Fusiliers)
Keyboards, percussion programming - Patrick Leonard
Guitar - Jeff Beck
Percussion - Luis Conte

What God Wants, part 1
Vocal, EMU synthesizer, intro bass - Roger Waters
Keyboards, Choir arrangement - Patrick Leonard
Solo Guitar - Jeff Beck
Arpeggio Guitar - Geoff Whitehorn
Electric and acoustic rhythm guitars - Andy Fairweather Low
Chorus guitars - Tim Pierce
Bass - Randy Jackson
Drums - Graham Broad
Background vocals - Katie Kissoon, Doreen Chanter, N'Dea Davenport, Natalie Jackson
London Welsh Chorale conducted by Kenneth Bowen

Perfect Sense, part 1 & 2
Vocals - Roger Waters, P.P. Arnold
Sportscaster - Marv Albert (the voice of the NBA)
Keyboard, 2nd sportscaster - Patrick Leonard
Pedal steel guitar - B.J. Cole
Intro guitars - Steve Lukather
Low grunting guitar - Rick DiFonzo
Acoustic guitar - Bruce Gaitsch
Bass - James Johnson
Drums - Graham Broad
Percussion - Luis Conte
Snare, hi hat - Brian Macleod
Strings arranged and conducted by John Dupree

The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range
Vocal, 12-string guitar - Roger Waters
Hammond organ, syntheziser - Patrick Leonard
Guitar - Tim Pierce
Bass - John Pierce
Drums - Denny Fongheiser
Background vocals - Natalie Jackson, Lynn Fiddmont-Linsey

Late Home Tonight, part 1 & 2
Vocal - Roger Waters
Guitars, background vocals - Andy Fairweather Low
Bass - James Johnson
Drums, percussion - Graham Broad
Percussion - Luis Conte
Cornet - Steve Sidwell
Nation Philharmonic Orchestra Limited
arranged and conducted by Michael Kamen

Too Much Rope
Vocal - Roger Waters
Keyboards - Patrick Leonard
Rickenbacker 12-string played with a feather - Andy Fairweather Low
Guitars - Geoff Whitehorn
Additional Guitar - Steve Lukather
Bass - James Johnson
Drums - Graham Broad
Percussion - Luis Conte
Background vocals - Katie Kissoon, Doreen Chanter
Screaming kids at end - Jessica and Jordan Leonard
National Philharmonic Orchestra Limited
Arranged and Conducted by Michael Kamen

What God Wants, part 2
Vocal - Roger Waters
TV Evangelist - Charles Fleischer
Keyboards - Patrick Leonard
Lead Guitar - Tim Pierce
Electric and acoustic rhythm guitars - Andy Fairweather Low
Bass - Randy Jackson
Drums - Graham Broad
Background vocals - Katie Kisson, Doreen Chanter

What God Wants, part 3
Vocals - Roger Waters
Keyboards, Choir arrangement - Patrick Leonard
Solo guitar - Jeff Beck
Guitar - Geoff Whitehorn
Bass - James Johnson
Drums - Graham Broad
Percussion - Luis Conte
London Welsh Chorale conducted by Kenneth Bowen
Nation Philharmonic Orchestra Limited
arranged and conducted by Michael Kamen

Watching TV
Vocals - Roger Waters, Don Henley
Acoustic piano - Patrick Leonard
Electric guitar - Jeff Beck
Acoustic guitars - Roger Waters, Andy Fairweather Low
Upright and electric bass - John Patitucci
Dulcimer, lute, zhen, oboe, bass - Gou Yi & The Peking Brothers

Three Wishes
Vocal - Roger Waters
Keyboards - Patrick Leonard
Hammond Organ - John 'Rabbit' Brundrick
Solo guitar - Jeff Beck
Chorus Leslie guitar - Tim Pierce
Rhythm and feathered 12-string guitars - Andy Fairweather Low
Bass - James Johnson
Drums - Graham Broad
Percussion - Luis Conte
Background vocals - Katie Kissoon, Doreen Chanter

It's A Miracle
Vocal - Roger Waters
Piano, Synthesizers - Patrick Leonard
Guitar - Jeff Beck
Bass - Roger Waters, James Johnson
Drums - Jeff Porcaro
Background vocals - Jon Joyce, Stan Laurel, Jim Haas
London Welsh Chorale conducted by Kenneth Bowen

Amused To Death
Vocals - Roger Waters, Rita Coolidge, Alf Razzell (Royal Fusiliers)
Keyboards - Patrick Leonard
Solo Guitar - Jeff Beck
Electric guitar - Geoff Whitehorn
Acoustic guitar - Roger Waters
Bass - James Johnson
Drums - Graham Broad
Background vocals - Katie Kissoon, Doreen Chanter



THE BALLAD OF BILL HUBBARD

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases:
Amused To Death


WHAT GOD WANTS, part 1

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
What God Wants (single, 1992)
The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range (Single, 1992)
What God Wants

What God wants God gets, God help us all
What God wants God gets
The kid in the corner looked at the priest
And fingered his pale blue Japanese guitar
The priest said
God wants goodness
God wants light
God wants mayhem
God wants a clean fight
What God wants God gets
Don't look so surprised
It's only dogma
The alien prophet cried
The beetle and the springbok
Took the Bible from its hook
The monkey in the corner
Wrote the lesson in his book
What God wants God gets God help us all
God wants peace
God wants war
God wants famine
God wants chain stores
What God wants God gets
God wants sedition
God wants sex
God wants freedom
God wants semtex
What God wants God gets
Don't look so surprised
I'm only joking
The alien comic cried
The jackass and hyena
Took the feather from its hook
The monkey in the corner
Wrote the joke down in his book
What God wants God gets
God wants boarders
God wants crack
God wants rainfall
God wants wetbacks
What God wants God gets
God wants voodoo
God wants shrines
God wants law
God wants organised crime
God wants crusade
God wants jihad
God wants good
God wants bad
What God wants God gets


PERFECT SENSE, part 1

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range (Single, 1992)
In The Flesh
Flickering Flame
In The Flesh

The beginning of the song has a "secret message" for film director Stanley Kubrick. The voice is recorded backwards. It says:

"In the light and visions of the issues of Stanley, we have changed our minds. We have decided to include a backwards message, Stanley, for you and all th eother book-burners."

The monkey sad on a pile of stones
And he stared at the broken bone in his hand
And the strains of a Viennese quartet
Rang out across the land
The monkey looked up at the stars
And he thought to himself
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
And he cleaned his hands
In a pool of holy writing
Turned his back on the garden
And set out for the nearest town
Hold on hold on soldier
When you add it all up
The tears and and the marrowbone
There's an ounce of gold
And an ounce of pride in each ledger
And the Germans killed Jews
And the Jews killed the Arabs
And the Arabs killed the hostages
And that is the news
And is it any wonder
That the monkey's confused
He said Mama Mama
The President's a fool
Why do I have to keep reading
These technical manuals
And the joint chiefs of staff
And the brokers on Wall Street said
Don't make us laugh
You're a smart kid
Time is linear
Memory's a stranger
History's for fools
Man is a tool in the hands
Of the great God Almighty
And they gave him command
Of a nuclear submarine
And sent him back in search of
The Garden of Eden



PERFECT SENSE, part 2

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
In The Flesh
Flickering Flame
In The Flesh

Can't you see
It all make perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all make perfect sense
Little black soul departs in perfects focus
Prime time fodder for the News at Nine
Darling is the child warm in the bed tonight
Hi everybody I'm Mary Albert
And welcome to our telecast
Coming to you live from Memorial Stadium
It's a beautiful day
And today we expect a sensational matchup
But first our global anthem
Can't you see
It all make perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all make perfect sense
And here come the players
As I speak to you now the captain
Has his cross hairs zeroed in the oil rig
It looks to me like he's going to attack
By the way dis you know that a submarine
Captain earns 200,000 dollars a year
Oh that's less tax Marv yeah less tax
Uh thank you Emery you're welcome
Now back to the game he fires one yes
There goes two both fish are running
The rig is going into a prevent defense
Will they make it I don't think so
Can't you see
It all make perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all make perfect sense



THE BRAVERY OF BEING OUT OF RANGE

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range (Single, 1992)
In The Flesh
The Lockdown Sessions
In The Flesh
Lockdown Sessions

You have a natural tendency
To squeeze off a shot
You're good fun at parties
You wear the right masks
You're old but you still
Like a good laugh in the locker room
You can't abide change
You're at home on the range
You opened your suitcase
Behind the old workings
To show off the magnum
You deafeted the canyon
A comfort a friend
Only upstaged in the end
By the Uzi machine gun
Does the recoil remind you
Remind you of sex
Old man what the hell you gonna kill next
Old timer who you gonna kill next
I looked over Jordan and what did I see
Saw a U.S. Marine in a pile of debris
I swam in your pools
And lay under your palm trees
I looked in the eyes of the Indian
Who lay under on the Federal Building steps
And through the range finder over the hill
I saw the frontline boys popping their pills
Sick of the mess they find
On their desert stage
And the bravery of being out of range
Yeah the question is vexed
Old man what the hell you gonna kill next
Old timer who you gonna kill next
Hey bartender over here
Two more shots
And two more beers
Sir turn up the TV sound
The war has started on the ground
Just love those laser guided bombs
They're really great
For righting wrongs
You hit the target
And win the game
From bars 3,000 miles away
3,000 miles away
We play the game
With the bravery of being out of range
We zap and maim
With the bravery of being out of range
We strafe the train
With the bravery of being out of range
We gain terrain
With the bravery of being out of range
With the bravery of being out of range
We play the game
With the bravery of being out of range


LATE HOME TONIGHT, part 1

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases:
Amused To Death

Standing at the window
A farmer's wife in Oxfordshire
Glances at the clock it's nearly tmie for tea
She doesn't see
The phantom in the hedgerow dip its wings
Doesn't hear the engine sing
But in the cockpit's techno glow
Behind the Ray Ban shine
The kid from Cleveland
In the comfort of routine
Seans his dials and smiles
Secure in the beauty of military life
There is no right no wrong
Only tin cans and cordite and white cliffs
And blue skies and flight flight flight
The beauty of military life
No questions only orders and flight only flight
What a beautiful sight in his wild blue dream
The eternal child leafs through his
War magazine
And his kind Uncle Sam feeds ten trillion in
Change into the total entertainment
Combat video game
And up here in the stands
The fans are goin' wild
The cheerleaders flip
When you wiggle your hip
And we all like the bit when you take
the jeans from the refrigerator and
Then the bad guy gets hit
And were you struck by the satisfying
Way the swimsuit sticks to her skin
Like BB gun days
When knives pierce autumn leaves
But that's okay see the children bleed
It'll look great on the TV
And in Tripoli another ordinary wife
Stares at the dripping tap her old man hadn't
Time to fix
Too busy mixing politics and rhythm
In the street below



LATE HOME TONIGHT, part 2

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases:
Amused To Death

Hark the wire service sing
Clear the satellite link
Check the fax machine
Hold the story boys
There's some great pictures coming in
Now the pilot's heartbeat slows
Palms dry out
No questions only orders
And the F-1 glides in nose-up
Through the cloudbase and the
Ground crew cheers as he puts down
His landing gear
Hey boy you're a hero take this cigar
Back home in Cleveland
All the papers and local TV stations
Will be calling your ma
And the farmer's wife
Shoos the cat off the chair
She says sit down my dear
Was the milking all right
Our American friends are late home tonight


TOO MUCH ROPE

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases:
Amused To Death
Flickering Flame

When the sleigh is heavy
And the timber wolwes are getting bold
You look at your companions
And test the water of their friendship
With your toe
They significantly edge
Closer to the gold
Each man has his price Bob
And yours was pretty low
History is short the sun is just a minor star
The poor man sells his kidneys
In some colonial bazaar
Que sera sera
Is that your new Ferrari car
Nice but I'll think I'll wait for the F50
You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove of murder
Tears burn my eyes
Moslem or Christian Mullah or Pope
Preacher or poet who was it wrote
Give any one species too much rope
And they'll fuck it up
And last night on TV
A Vietnam vet
Takes his beard and his pain
And his alienation twenty years
Back to Asia again
Sees the monsters they made
In formaldehyde floating 'round
Meets a gook on a bike
A good little tyke
A nice enough guy
With the same soldier's eyes
Tears burn my eyes
What does it mean
This tearjerking scene
Beamed into my home
That it moves me so much
Why all the fuss
It's only two humans being
It's only two humans being
Tears burn in my eyes
What does it mean
This tender TV
This tearjerking scene
Beamed into my home
You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove of murder
Tears burn my eyes
Moslem or Christian Mullah or Pope
Preacher or poet who was it wrote
Give any one species to much rope
And they'll fuck it up



WHAT GOD WANTS, part 2

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death Airborne

Do you believe in a better day
Do you have faith in a golden way
If you do then we must come together this day
Come together as one united
Television audience
Brought together by the sound of my voice
United united financially united socially
United spiritually and all possible ways
Through the power of your prayers
What God wants God gets God help us all
God wants dollars
God wants cents
God wants pounds shillings and pence
God wants guilders
God wants kroner
God wants Swiss francs
Oui il veut des francs francais
God wants escudos
God wants pesetas
Don't send lira
God don't want small potatoes
God wants small towns
God wants pain
God wants clean up rock campaigns
God wants widows
God wants solutions
God wants TV
God wants contributions
What God wants God gets God help us all
God wants silver
God wants gold
God wants his secret
Never to be told
God wants gigolos
God wants giraffes
God wants politics
God wants friendship
God wants fame
God wants credit
God wants blame
God wants poverty
God wants wealth
God wants insurance
God wants to cover himself
What God wants God gets God help us all



WHAT GOD WANTS, part 3

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases:
Amused To Death
What God Wants (single, 1992)

Don't be afraid it's only business
The alien prophet sighed
The vulture and the magpie took
The cash box from its hook
The monkey in the corner wrote
The figures in his book
Crazed the checkout lady's fingers
Flash across the till
And the captain posts
The menu of the day
And in banks across the world
Christians Moslems Hindus Jews
And people of every
Race creed colour tint or hue
Get down on their knees and pray
The racoon and the groundhog
Neatly make up bags of change
But the monkey in the corner
Well he's slowly drifting out of range
Christ it's freezing inside
The veteran cries
The hyenas break cover
And stream through the meadow
And the fog rolls in
Through his bottle of gin
So he picks up a stone
That looks like a bone
And the bullets fly
And the rivers run dry
And the fat girls sigh
And the network anchor persons lie
And the soldier's alone
In the video zone
But the monkey's not watching
He's slipped out to the kitchen
To pile the dishes
And answer the phone



WATCHING TV

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases:
Amused To Death

We were watching TV
In Tiananmen Square
Lost my baby there
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
She was a short order pastry chef
In a Dim Sum dive on the Yangtze tideway
She had shiny hair
She was the daughter of an engineer
Won't you shed a tear
For my yellow rose
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
She had perfect breasts
She had high hopes
She had almond eyes
She had yellow thighs
She was a student of philosophy
Won't you grieve with me
Fo rmy yellow rose
Shed a tear
For her bloodstained clothes
She had shiny hair
She had perfect breasts
She had high hopes
She had almond eyes
She had yellow thighs
She was the daughter of an engineer
So get out your pistols
Get out your stones
Get out your knives
Cut them to the bone
They are the lackeys of the grocer's machine
The built the dark satanic mills
That manufacture hell on earth
They bought the front row seats on Calvary
They are irrelevant to me
And I grieve for my sister

People of China
Do not forget do not forget
The children who died for you
Long live the Republic

Did we do anything after this
I've a feeling we did
We were watching TV
Watching TV
We were watching TV
Watching TV
She wore a white bandanna that said
Freedom now
She thought the Great Wall of China
Would come tumbling down
She was a student
Her father was an engineer
Won't you shed a tear
For my yellow rose
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes
Her grandpa fought old Chiang Kai-shek
That no-good low-down dirty rat
Who used to order his troops
To fire on women and children
Imagine that Imagine that
And in the spring of '48
Mao Tse-tung got irate
And he kicked that old dictator Chiang
Out of the state of China
Chiang Kai-shek came down in Formosa
And they armed the island of Quemoy
And the shells were flying across the China Sea
And they turned Formosa into a shoe factory
Called Taiwan
And she is different from Cro-Magnon man
She's different from Anne Boleyn
She is different from the Rosenbergs
And from the unknown Jew
She is different from the unknown Nicaraguan
Half superstar half victim
She's a victor star conceptually new
And she is different from the Dodo
And from the Kankabono
She is different from the Aztec
And from the Cherokee
She's everybody's sister
She's symbolic of our failure
She's the one in fifty million
Who can help us to be free
Because she died on TV
And I grieve for my sister



THREE WISHES

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
Flickering Flame
Three Wishes (video-clip)

Reached back for the bottle
And rubbed against the lamp
Genie came out smiling
Like some Eastern tramp
He said hey boy what's happening
What is going on
you can have three wishes
If you don't take too long
I said well
I wish they all were happy in the Lebanon
Wish somebody'd help me write this song
I wish when I was young
My old man had not been gone
Genie said consider it done
There's something in the air
And you don't know what it is
You see someone through a window
Who you've just learned to miss
And the road leads on to glory but
You've used up your last wish
Your last wish
And you want her to come home
Bring her home
Genie said I'm sorry
But that's the way it goes
Where the hell's the lamp sucker
It's time for me to go
Bye
There's something in the air
And you don't know what it is
You see someone through a window
Who you've just learned to miss
And the road leads on to glory but
You've used up your last wish
Your last wish
And you want her to come home


IT'S A MIRACLE

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
In The Flesh
In The Flesh

Miraculous you call it babe
You ain't seen nothing yet
They've got Pepsi in the Andes
McDonalds in Tibet
Yosemite's been turned into
A golf course for the Japs
The Dead Sea is alive with rap
Between the Tigris and Euphrates
There's a leisure centre now
They've got all kinds of sports
They've got Bermuda shorts
They had sex in Pensylvania
A Brazilian grew a tree
A doctor in Manhattan
Saved a dying man for free
It's a miracle
Another miracle
By the grace of God Almighty
And pressures of the marketplace
The human race has civilized itself
It's a miracle
We've got warehouses of butter
We've got oceans of wine
We've got famine when we need it
Got designer crime
We've got mercedes
We've got Porsche
Ferrari and Rolls Royce
We've got choice
She said meet me
In the Garden of Gethsemane my dear
The Lord said Peter I can see
Your house from here
An honest mna
Finally reaped what he had sown
And a farmer in Ohio has just repaid a loan
It's a miracle
Another miracle
By the grace of God Almighty
And pressures of the marketplace
The human race has civilized itself
It's a miracle
We cover in our shelters
With our hands over our ears
Lloyd-Webber's awful stuff
Runs for years and years and years
An earthquake hits the theatre
But the operetta lingers
Then the piano lid comes down
And breaks his fucking fingers
It's a miracle



AMUSED TO DEATH

Roger Waters 1991

Lyrics/Music: Waters

Album releases: Used in film/video:
Amused To Death
In The Flesh
In The Flesh

Doctor Doctor what is wrong with me
This supermarket life is getting long
What is the heart life of a colour TV
What is the shelf life of a teenage queen
Ooh western woman
Ooh western girl
News hound sniffs the air
When Jessica Hahn goes down
He latches on to that symbol
Of detachment
Attracted by the peeling away of feeling
The Celebrity of the abused shell the belle
Ooh western woman
Ooh western girl
And the children on Melrose
Strut their stuff
Is absolute zero cold enough
And out in the valley warm and clean
The little ones sit by their TV screens
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the the very last breath
Bartender what is wrong with me
Why am I so out of breath
The captain said excuse me ma'am
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We oohed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped 'round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged they only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry
No feelings left
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death

Lyrics Copyright: 1988-1991 Roger Waters Music Overseas Ltd./Pink Floyd Music Publishers Inc.