The last album written by Roger Waters for Pink Floyd was ‘The Final Cut’. The title had a number of meanings, including the fact that Waters would leave the band after this album.

I have all Pink Floyd’s albums on vinyl, but unfortunately I no longer play vinyl records, which meant I had to replace them with CDs. (What a great thing new formats are for record companies, they keep reselling the same music, to the same customers, but in a different form)!

When I looked at the Final Cut CD my heart sank. There was an extra track. Record companies often try to ‘add value’ to a CD reissue by including extra tracks, which are usually inferior demo’s or studio out-takes.

The reason my heart sank, is that this extra track had been placed in the middle of the original song sequence. In fact it had been inserted as the fourth song, which would obviously completely change my listening experience. It would certainly destroy my memory of the original album.

I still bought the CD but it was with some trepidation that I played it….Then, joy of joys! It was a fantastic track!! In fact I think it is the best thing on the album, and I just wondered why it hadn’t been included on the vinyl version?

The song is called “When the Tigers Broke Free”, and is an account of how Roger Water’s father died at the Battle of Anzio, during the Second World War. A British infantry company were ordered to fight, and delay the advance of a German Tiger tank division, with the inevitable consequence.

Roger Waters wrote the song after clearing his Mothers house and finding an old shoe box packed with photos of his dad, military medals, and a telegram from the King reporting his death. 

As Roger Waters wrote …”and it makes my eyes go dim, to remember that his Majesty had signed, with his own RUBBER STAMP”!

John McNally