Amused To Death

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Amused To Death is Roger Waters' fifth studio album since leaving Pink Floyd. It was recorded between the years of 1988 and 1992. Like most other Waters works, it is a concept album.

Background

The album was inspired by the Neil Postman book Amusing Ourselves To Death. The album explores how people come to watch a lot of TV and how we are sucked into the mass media. It goes on to criticize the First Gulf War ("The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range" and "Perfect Sense"). It also talks about the protests for democracy in China in Tienanmen Square ("Watching TV").

Track Listing

  1. The Ballard Of Bill Hubbard (4:20)
  2. What God Wants, Part I (6:00)
  3. Perfect Sense, Part I (4:16)
  4. Perfect Sense, Part II (2:50)
  5. The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range (4:43)
  6. Late Home Tonight, Part I (4:00)
  7. Late Home Tonight, Part II (2:13)
  8. Too Much Rope (5:47)
  9. What God Wants, Part II (3:41)
  10. What God Wants, Part III (4:08)
  11. Watching TV (6:07)
  12. Three Wishes (6:50)
  13. It's A Miracle (8:30)
  14. Amused To Death (9:06)


Total Time-72:45

BBC 1

The BBC would not air the first single of the album, "What God Wants, Part I", because of its "touchy" lyrics. Waters was outraged.

What God Wants

What God Wants criticizes the church for being a hypocrisy. It is split up into three parts, making the total time of the song to be 13 minutes and 48 seconds.


"What God Wants, Part I"

This part of the song appears second on the album, after "The Ballard Of Bill Hubbard" and before "Perfect Sense, Part I". This part tells us that the media has an effect on the person to the extent that the media choses what happens, even if that person does not agree. Roger Waters said about the first Gulf conflict, "I'm very upset by religious dogma, I get angry, gobsmacked in fact when I hear George Bush saying that God was on their side during the Gulf war. It's amazing that in 1992, one of the most powerful men in the world can reduce political rhetoric to that level. But that's what he has to do, to get votes and maintain power and then use that power to help the American automobile industry." This song says that we as human beings do not care about that and just live with it.


"What God Wants, Part II"

This part of the song is the ninth song on the album, after "Too Much Rope" and before "What God Wants, Part III". This part, much like the first part, tells us that although God wants good, God also wants bad in the world. The song begins by hearing an evangelical priest preaching on television. The priest says the following:


"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 money
And the power of prayers"


The priest not only replaces the word church with "Television audience", but also replaces the word God with "Money" thereby suggesting that God is money. This shows that the priest is twisting the word of God to simply fit his own need. Then, the song says that although "God don't want small potatoes", God also wants to associate It self with small towns that are filled with right-winged conservatives. The end of the song states that God wants for people not to find out what is really going on.


"What God Wants, Part III"

This is the final part of "What God Wants". It is the tenth song on the album, after "What God Wants, Part II" and before "Watching TV". This song has hope that someday, we (the human race) will be able to escape the influence of the media. It says towards the being of the song,
"And in banks across the world
Christians Moslems Hindus Jews
And people of every
Race creed color tint or hue
Get down on their knees and pray".


Although the media is pumping out propaganda, the line, "But the monkey's not watching" seems to say that humans can, hopefully, be able to overcome the influence of the mass media.


The Big Picture

In all three tracks, the Alien profit tells the monkey "Don't be surprised", like it was obvious. In a few instances, the animal does what he is told to do. However, the last time, the monkey simply writes down what is being said, not absorbing it.

Perfect Sense

Perfect Sense is split up into two parts. When put together, the total length of the track is 7 minutes and 6 seconds.


Perfect Sense, Part One

"Perfect Sense, Part One" is the third track on the album. It is preceded by "What God Wants, Part One" and is followed by "Perfect Sense, Part Two". It is 4 minutes and 16 seconds. It is about holy wars. In the first part, it says "Memory's a stranger/History's for fools", which probably is talking about the Crusades and relating it to George Bush Sr. going into the Persian Gulf. In the Crusades, the Pope told people that God was on their side to take over the Holy Land. However, they lost the Crusades. This is a comment that Roger Waters made regarding something Bush Sr. said:

"I'm very upset by religious dogma, I get angry, gob smacked in fact when I hear George Bush saying that God was on their side during the Gulf war. It's amazing that in 1992, one of the most powerful men in the world can reduce political rhetoric to that level. But that's what he has to do, to get votes and maintain power and then use that power to help the American automobile industry."

Then, after the kid says "Mama Mama, the President's a fool", a line which indicates that he thinks that Bush was out of his mind when he said that comment. Then, after that, the people of power (Wall Street, Joint Chiefs of Staff, et cetera) all say that the kid is insane for thinking that ("Don't make us laugh, you're a smart kid"). The song ends with them giving "him command of a nuclear submarine/Sent him back in search of the Garden of Eden", suggesting that the Persian Gulf War was fought simply for religious reasons.


Perfect Sense, Part Two

"Perfect Sense, Part Two" is the fourth track on the album. It comes after "Perfect Sense, Part One" and before "The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range". It is 2 minutes and 51 seconds. It is about how it would make perfect sense to attack because there would be money in the picture, as stated by the chorus of the song:

"Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents,
Pounds, schillings, and pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense"

Also, you can hear the audio of what sounds to be a soccer game, but what is in fact talking about blowing up an oil rig. The fact that it is announced like a game suggests that people in power do not care that people die in war, and therefore, they think of war as simply a game.

See Also

Song Lyrics


Charts

  1. "Amused To Death"-UK, 8th Place (1992)
  2. "Amused To Death"-Billboard (North America), 21st Place (Billboard 200)
  3. "What God Wants, Part I"-Billboard (North America), 2nd Place (Billboard Mainstream Rock)

Singles

  1. Side A-What God Wants, Part I Side B-Three Wishes
  2. Side A-What God Wants, Part I Side B-What God Wants, Part III

External links

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