Watching TV by Roger Waters

Album: Amused To Death (1992)

License This Song

lyrics

Songfacts®:

This song describes a fictional woman killed at Tiananmen Square in 1989 to show how much of an effect someone's death can have on the world if it happens live on TV. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Jonathan - Riverside, CA
The album title, Amused To Death, comes from Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman, a nonfiction book about how the media is affecting our attention, politics, and thinking. It was written in 1985. In 2006 the author's son wrote an intro for the 20th anniversary edition. On page viii he mentions:

"Roger Waters, cofounder of the legendary band Pink Floyd, whose solo album, Amused To Death, was inspired by the book."

Comments: 5

Dr Ling from UsaShe is fictional and she is real. If you go to a library you’ll observe that Poetry is in the non-fiction category and this is for a good reason. Poetry uses constructed images and characters to tell the truth and inform us by moving the emotions and mind. This is why the Muse is the Sister of Philosophy. Both have the truth as their aim, but approach it by different paths. Wu Ming is real. She is the artistic construction of the Poet to represent the Martyr of China/Taiwan for democratic freedoms against the regime. Rock N Roll is the medium. Her poem honors the real girl in this photograph and those like her who gave their lives in a just cause to remove the evil of this world brick by brick, from the WALL.
Bmn from Hisuan, ArgentinaThis song became a hit in Iran after the June 20, 2009 brutal killing of Neda Salehi Agha Soltan, during the 2009 Iranian election protests. The similarity between Waters' song and Neda actually being a "student of philosophy" mentioned first by Komeil Bahmanpour in his Facebook lit and spread the fire.
Alienanthropologist from Silver Spring, Md1. She's not fictional. In fact, you can hear her speak on the track.
2. It's not so much about HER as it is about you and me watching her and then going down to Applebees for the $7.99 steak sizzler or stopping off at Starbucks for a latte. He is ridiculing US for our lack of action in the face of reality.
Freddy from Alajuela, OtherThis song refers to the Tiananmen Square massacre which I sadly remember watching "on TV". Waters has done a great job as usual.
Shelby from Out Beyond The Wall, KyNo one's commented? Wow. Never heard the song, but the lyrics sound like typical Roger Waters and they sound pretty darn good. Heh.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

With Arms Wide OpenCreed

Scott Stapp of Creed wrote "With Arms Wide Open" when he found out he was going to be a dad. He named his son Jagger.

The JokerSteve Miller Band

The "pompatus of love" from the Steve Miller song "The Joker" comes from a line in a '50s doo-wop song Miller misheard: "puppetutes of love."

Amber311

The 311 song "Amber" is likely about Nicole Scherzinger, who was dating the band's lead singer Nick Hexum.

Bitter Sweet SymphonyThe Verve

"Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve samples an obscure orchestral arrangement of the 1965 Rolling Stones song "The Last Time." The Verve had to sign away most of the royalties before they could release the song.

Cult of PersonalityLiving Colour

"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour incorporates speeches by John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Six Months In A Leaky BoatSplit Enz

The Split Enz song "Six Months In A Leaky Boat" is about the journey explorers made from Europe to colonize Australia and New Zealand, where the band is from.