Roger Waters

Roger Waters – Comfortably Numb 2022

(2022)

Only a few weeks have passed since the remix of “Animals” and here comes a new chapter in the ongoing rediscovery of Pink Floyd. Bringing the band's historic songs up to date, capable of adapting to new times and new historical events, is always a stimulating exercise, one that largely depends on the fact that Pink Floyd's records from the '70s carry universal, timeless messages – “eternally contemporary,” to borrow the words of maestro Daniel Barenboim from his book-interview “Paralleli e paradossi.” It's therefore no surprise that, over the years, Roger Waters has managed to update “The Wall” first to the fall of the Berlin Wall and then to the Iraq War, and to give “Animals” a major reappraisal on his latest world tour with the emblematic anthem “Trump Is A Pig.”

Given this premise, “Comfortably Numb 2022” feels less like an alternative version of the memorable track from “The Wall” and more like a prophecy. Stripped of every last trace of '70s sound, of any link to pop-rock tradition – including, of course, Gilmour's celebrated solo (perhaps the very emblem of '70s rock) – the sound becomes more contemporary, dominated by synth, harmonium and bass.

Roger Waters seems intent on underlining the importance of his music, still not fully understood to this day despite its worldwide success. It's as if he's telling us, “stop humming my songs without understanding them.” That's why he slows down and deconstructs “Comfortably Numb,” reducing it to its essence and stripping it of any element that might allow for a superficial, “entertainment”-style listen.

The atmosphere in the video becomes particularly unsettling. Scenes of war and destruction seem to foreshadow a not-so-distant future. If in the original version it was drugs that numbed Pink, and in “Amused To Death” it was TV that distracted the man-apes, “entertained” to death, now hordes of people move unknowingly through scenes of war, alone and abandoned, heads bowed toward their smartphones, feeling neither anger nor fear, but calm, as if anesthetized to pain. Humanity wanders without awareness toward its end, perhaps toward a third world war, while above, watching over and dominating the scene, flies the usual pig, the symbol of evil and power throughout Waters' entire discography.

“Comfortably Numb 2022” is therefore consistent with Waters' entire philosophy, the definitive evolution of the poetics of “Animals,” “The Wall” and “Amused To Death,” a solemn and desperate elegy for a man racing towards his end that – to attentive eyes and ears – hits harder than a punch in the gut.

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17/04/2026