Martyrdom of a Yellow Rose as a Student Protest
Roger Waters, Amused to Death, Watching TV (1992)
Jun 22, 2009
Watching TV is the eleventh track of 1992 album of Roger Waters named Amused to Death. Like many other works by Roger Waters, Amused to Death has a political theme. Amused to Death generally addresses severe problems in the political systems which will lead to the humankind downfall.
The track Watching TV is devoted to the dictatorial suppression of a happening revolution in China. Tiananmen Square Protesting in 1989 is well known as the largest student protesting and a symbol of unsuccessful revolution. It was started in April 15 by the presence of more than 100,000 students, and suppressed in June 4 in which more than 2,500 students were killed.
Watching TV is the story of a young girl among the student protests who were died, while the world people were silently amused themselves to death.
World People Reaction to an Unsuccessful Revolution
The song starts with the title phrase "We were watching TV" to include the narrator who has been one of the millions of people who were watching TV when she died. But the phrases such as "lost my baby", "my yellow rose", "won't you grieve with me" clarify that the narrator is no longer one of the TV watchers. The narrator is now grieving for the tragic event, though it's too late. In reply to those who my believe this is another tragic event in the TV, it is said
"They are irrelevant to me
But I grieve for my sister"
In the last part, it is clearly indicated that we all are responsible for such events and should care about her martyrdom
"She's everybody's sister
She's symbolic of our failure
She's the one in fifty million
Who can help us to be free"
And the song finishes by a screaming vocal "And I grieve for my sister".
Who Was the Martyr?
The character of the girl is elaborately introduced by apparently unimportant phrases like
She was a student of philosophy
She had high hopes
She was the daughter of an engineer
This also defines the protests' standpoint. It is aimed to separate her (and generally student protests) from other political opponents (like Aztec, Cherokee, unknown jew) through several phrases; and
"Half superstar half victim
She's a victor star conceptually new"
There's a flashback to 1940s when protesting against the dictatorship in China was started (in this story). The song message is delivered through a background voice of the revolutionary protest
"Do not forget do not forget
The children who died for you
Long live the Republic
Did we do anything after this
I've a feeling we did"
We Were Watching TV
The track has a mysterious ambiguity in the meaning of "watching TV". On one hand, TV is treated as a modern tool for amusing ourselves to death, according to the album theme; on the other hand, TV has united the world.
"She's the one in fifty million
Who can help us to be free
Because she died on T.V."
This means that she is part of our world and one of the few who can help us to be free. In other words, she is not only a part of China history, but also a martyr of the world. But still we do not care, and this is the reason that the narrator emphasizes in the final screaming phrase "I grieve for my sister".
Such irony can be seen in other parts too
"Won't you grieve with me
For my yellow rose"
... at least
"Shed a tear
For her bloodstained clothes"
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