Even a pandemic can’t stop Roger Waters from excoriating Donald Trump. During a screening of concert film Us + Them earlier this year, he called the POTUS a “mass destroyer of everything that any of us might love.” Now, from his home studio, the Pink Floyd legend has covered “The Right to Live in Peace” in protest of autocrats like Trump.
“This is for the people of Santiago & Quito & Jaffa & Rio & La Paz & New York & Baghdad & Budapest and everywhere else the man means us harm,” Waters said of his rendition, originally recorded in 1971 by Victor Jara, a Chilean folk artist and activist who was killed by dictator Augusto Pinochet. “The Right to Live in Peace” recently became the protest anthem of the 2019 Chilean protests against President Sebastian Pinera.
For his update, Waters changed a few of Jara’s lyrics to reflect some of the world’s present-day autocrats. “From my cell in New York City/ I can hear the casarolazos/ I can smell you Pinero/ All fucking rats smell the same,” the rock icon sings early on. “So beware Bolsonaro, Giuido and Modi and Trump,” continues Waters. In the accompanying homemade video, Waters quite literally spits on their names during this line. Watch the full cover below.
Waters recently was forced to postpone his “This is Not a Drill Tour” due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Roger Waters Covers Protest Anthem “The Right to Live in Peace” from Home Studio: Watch
Lake Schatz