A Dogs World

 

Nosound Release Cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dogs’ Featuring Tim Bowness

Apparently, David Gilmour is playing Madison Square Garden on election night.

It's interesting to think about the evolution of Pink Floyd since the 70s, and what they meant to boomer musicians. They were a seminal band for me, and they are almost sacred in that regard. But will anyone be able to fully drink it that moment, continually distracted by the election results coming in?

Lyrics can be very emotionally triggering: Many lines in Dogs could be triggering because they strike so close to the moment, and describe Trump's take-no-prisoners style in Waters' take-no-prisoners style. ("You got to strike when the moment is right without thinking") Not that it's on Gilmour's set list, but when you revisit 1977 and compare it today, it's pretty chilling.

Looking at old family photos also gives you that same cognitive dissonance. Jimmy Carter was in office when I was first got into Pink Floyd, one year after the bicentennial. Today's world would have been inconceivable then except as a series of dystopian concept albums. I look at photos of my grandparents who emigrated from Italy in 1908, and think they dodged all the bullets: Mussolini, both World Wars, benefited greatly from the New Deal, and lived into their 90s. And here we are in a country that might be like the ones people leave. It boggles the mind.

So will the Fourth Turning be over?