Roger Waters Covers Pink Floyd’s ‘Two Suns In The Sunset’ In Isolation
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press
Roger Waters has covered Pink Floyd‘s ‘Two Suns in the Sunset’ while in isolation.
The song originally appeared as the album closer of Pink Floyd’s 12th album The Final Cut in 1983.
Reflecting the album’s political theme, ‘Two Suns in yhe Sunset’ deals with the grim prospect of nuclear holocaust.
“It describes a nuclear war,” Waters informed Uncut in 2003, “the remnants of all that paranoia about nuclear war from the ’60 – and it’s that idea that it may be at the end of life, one may have that kind of realization that you could have when you’re alive and living, and you go, ‘Hold on a minute, maybe this is what I should do.'”
It was Roger Waters’ final contribution to the band before leaving in 1985.
In fact, the song was never performed live until Roger Waters US + Them Tour in 2018.
“I had an idea to make an album of all the songs we did as encores on the US + Them tour,” Waters writes of his latest rendition.
“We did ‘Mother’ first,” he notes, “Had to do it remotely because of COVID-19. ‘Two Suns in the Sunset’ is #2. Hope you like it. I love it.”
Waters then praises his current band before closing with a reflection on the song’s original theme.
“PS.,” he adds. “That we allow Nuclear Weapons to exist in a world controlled by deranged sociopaths is, in itself, a deranged arrangement. We are many they are few. We could just say no, to the whole MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) insanity. It makes zero sense and is potentially omnicidal.”
The prospect of nuclear annihilation ties in with the theme of Waters postponed This Is Not A Drill tour.
“As the clock ticks faster and faster and faster down to extinction, it seemed like a good thing to make a fuss about it, so that’s why I’m going on the road,” Waters shared of the tour late last year. “To be blunt, we need to change the way we organize ourselves as a human race or die. This tour will be part of a global movement by people who are concerned by others to affect the change that is necessary. That’s why we’re going on the road. That’s why we speak to each other in pubs. That’s why this conversation should be on everybody’s lips, constantly, the whole time, because it’s super important. So I hope you’ll all come to the shows. This is not a drill.”
