"Sunset Strip"
Single by Roger Waters
from the album Radio K.A.O.S.
B-side	"The Tide Is Turning" "Money" (Live) "Get Back to Radio (Demo)"
Released	12 September 1987 (1987-09-12)
Recorded	1986
Studio	Billiard Room (London)
Length	4:45 (Album Version) 4:06 (Single Version)
Label	Columbia/CBS (US) EMI (UK)
Songwriter(s)	Roger Waters
Producer(s)	Roger Waters Ian Ritchie Nick Griffiths
Roger Waters singles chronology
"Radio Waves" (1987) "Sunset Strip" (1987) "The Tide Is Turning" (1987)
Alternative covers
American single cover
Music video
"Sunset Strip" on YouTube

"Sunset Strip" is a song written by Roger Waters for his second studio album, Radio K.A.O.S. It was placed as the fifth track on the record. It was also released as the album's second single, in September 1987.

Background

Billy is a young man with a disability. He uses a wheelchair and is thought to be incapable of speech. However, Billy is highly intelligent and gifted, and can hear radio waves in his head. He begins to explore the cordless phone, recognising its similarity to a radio. He experiments with a phone which his brother, Benny, now in prison, hid in his wheelchair after burgling an electronics shop. Through it Billy is able to access computers and speech synthesisers and learns to speak through them. He calls a radio station in Los Angeles named "Radio KAOS" and tells the disc jockey (DJ) of his life story. "Sunset Strip" is about Billy's sister-in-law, Molly not being able to cope and sending him to L.A. to live with his uncle Dave. During the song Billy expresses his longing for home and the song mentions various things associated with Wales, such as the Red Dragon, male voice choirs, the land of his fathers and the Black Fields.

Track listings

Charts

See also

• Sunset Strip

References

External links

• "Sunset Strip" at Discogs (list of releases)
• Roger Waters official website