Roger Waters: his best political songs, according to Ultimate Classic Rock

What are Roger Waters's best "political" songs? That's the question posed by Ultimate Classic Rock magazine, which has put together a ranking of the English musician's best compositions of this kind. Waters hasn't always been a political songwriter. In fact, his early compositions for Pink Floyd "leaned mostly toward fantasy and wonder at the natural world around us", as UCR recalls, adding: "Sure, he could also get deeply weird. But something changed after the reflections on life, madness, death and Syd Barrett that marked his rise to prominence in the Seventies, with 1973's "The Dark Side Of The Moon" and 1975's "Wish You Were Here". Over Pink Floyd's next three albums, Waters probed the history of the conflicts that bind us all together, confronted his own pain, and gave free rein to his anger. There were very few battles he shied away from", the magazine goes on to note. Before he left the band, 1977's "Animals", 1979's "The Wall" and 1983's "The Final Cut" landed blow after blow. Waters - as Far Out further notes - took aim at the power-hungry, those who compromised with the system, moralists, war criminals and the wealthy. These were the groundwork for a solo career that would go on to keep touching the exposed nerves of current affairs. On his own he was far less prolific, releasing just four rock albums of new material right up until the 2010s. But he often found room for sharp commentary on the issues of the day, especially on 1987's "Radio K.A.O.S." and the long-awaited "Is This The Life We Really Want?" from 2017. "He kept taking openly controversial stances even as others were starting to avoid political statements, in an era marked by deep divisions. According to some critics, he went too far. His outspoken support for the Palestinians, for instance, has repeatedly earned him accusations of antisemitism", UCR further notes.

So here is the ranking of Roger Waters's best political songs according to Ultimate Classic Rock (full feature here).

Two Suns In The Sunset (The Final Cut, 1983)
Watching TV (Amused To Death, 1992)
Smell The Roses (Is This The Life We Really Want?, 2017)
The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range (Amused To Death, 1992)
The Powers That Be (Radio K.A.O.S., 1987)
Southampton Dock (The Final Cut, 1983)
Home (Radio K.A.O.S., 1987)
Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Animals, 1977)
Picture That (Is This The Life We Really Want?, 2017)

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