Too much rope

Thought I should write about a song my mom just requested! It's her first request, and when someone ask me to write about a song, of course I will! It is my readers that is keeping me going all the way :)

Very well. Not quite sure where to start about this song. It is a very powerful and 'spot-on' song from the master himself, Roger Waters. The song is track number 8 on his third solo album "Amused to death" from 1992. This album was the first Roger Waters album I 'discovered', and I fell in love. There are so many great songs, and the lyrics are priceless. 

"Too much rope" is not as known as songs like "Amused to death", "Perfect sense" and "What God wants". That is a bit sad, because the song has a great lyric and I will recommand you all to listen to this song just one more time! When I was talking with my mom, I realized that I haven't heard this song in at least a year!

I have been thinking about the lyrics in this song for a very long time, but I can't seem to figure it all out! There is just so much! So I think I'll just jump to it, and feel free to comment if you think that I am wrong, cause this is mostly my own thoughts. 

"Each man has his price Bob. And yours was pretty low". The first thing I thought about, was 'who is Bob?'. It came to me qute fast. It might just be Bob Ezrin, the music producer. He has been co-producing albums like "The Wall", "The division bell" and "A momentary lapse of reason". What did he do that made Roger put in a line in the song about him, in a negative way? Well, there were some problems between these two men when Roger left the band and didn't want the others to still be using the name Pink Floyd and continuing to produce, what Roger think is, false Floyd. Roger felt that Bob was betraying him, since he was up for still produce the albums after Roger left. Fair enough, he was a angry man at this point, and he didn't want Pink Floyd to continue as a band, so when someone like Bob wanted the band to keep up, and mostly because of the money... It's not good! 

Bob Ezrin

Lines like "The poor man sells his kidneys, in some colonial bazar", Is that your new Ferrari car" and "Closer to the gold" has to be about money and that there are so many desperate people who wants all the money in the world, even if they have to sell their own body parts. I think that it also is about showing how much money a person have. It's a silent competition about having most money and the most expencive things. But money is often the root of a problem, and there are people and/or countries who use loads of money to buy the most powerful machines and weapons. You can easily see the link of how negative money abuse can be. 

He is also singing about different religions, and I am not sure, but he put's it in a way that make me think that he see religions as a joke. That religions separate and control us. Roger is almost mocking humans. I am trying to read between the lines and it is clear that we are intelligent, but maybe too intelligent for our own good. The intelligece is not always used in a good way, and there I see the link to wars. He did loose his father in the war, and the album "Amused to death" is dedicatet to a solider who fought in WWI, William "Bill" Hubbard. He was badly hurt in the battlefield, and there were a fellow solider who were trying to help him, but he was forced to abandon him. The voice of this solider, Alfred Razzel, can be heard in some of the songs on the album. So because of that, I am quite sure that the song is about wars and Rogers point of view about war. Who can blame him though?

"Give any species too much rope, and they'll fuck it up". Here we can again look at the fact that he might be mocking again. I find this line myself very spot-on. "Too much rope" might be a comparing to the intelligence of humans, and that we have too much of it, and are unable to use it in a good way. Maybe he think that humans are developing into a wrong and scary direction where we are unable to show feeling and it is all about money, religions and war.

Well, that was unfortunaly all I could come up with today, but I'll keep trying to figure out a little more about the song, and if I get some eye-opneners, I'll put it in as well. 

Just to have it said, this is just my own thoughs and how I think it can be, but it might be all wrong. I had to give it a go!

As usual, I'll put in the lyrics and a video of the song, and I will recommand that you read trough the lyrics, and if you have anything you'll think I could put in, please leave a comment!

When the sleigh is heavy
And the timber wolves are getting bold
You look at you companions
And test the water of their friendship
With your toe
They significantly edge
Closer to the gold
Each man has his price Bob
And yours was pretty low
History is short the sun is just a minor star
The poor man sells his kidneys
In some colonial bazaar
Que sera sera
Is that your new Ferrari car
Nice but I think I'll wait for the F50
You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove of murder
Tears burn our eyes
Moslem or Christian Mullah or Pope
Preacher or poet who was it wrote
Give any one species too much rope
And they'll fuck it up
And last night on TV
A Vietnam vet
Takes his beard and his pain
And his alienation twenty years
Back to Asia again
Sees the monsters they made
In formaldehyde floating 'round
Meets a gook on a bike
A good little tyke
A nice enough guy
With the same soldier's eyes
Tears burn my eyes
What does it mean
This tearjerking scene
Beamed into my home
That it moves me so much
Why all the fuss
It's only two humans being
It's only two humans being
Tears burn my eyes
What does it mean
This tender TV
This tearjerking scene
Beamed into my home
You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove of murder
Tears burn in our eyes
Moslem or Christian Mullah or Pope
Preacher or poet who was it wrote
Give any one species too much rope
And they'll fuck it up