Someone asked about how the last lines fit into a war interpretation:
out of the way, it's a busy day
I've got things on my mind
for want of the price of tea and a slice
the old man died
As in the first half of this verse, they speak of war as a facade for economics. Britain has in its colonial past gone to war for mercantilist reasons, lowering the price of tea and other commodities. Roger Waters is marveling that for such a consideration as the price of tea, men go and kill one another; and that the ordinary citizens can't be bothered to care about the wars at all ("Out of the way, it's a busy day/ I've got things on my mind...").
I think that the anti-war interpretation fits this song best of the ones offered here.
Someone asked about how the last lines fit into a war interpretation:
out of the way, it's a busy day I've got things on my mind for want of the price of tea and a slice the old man died
As in the first half of this verse, they speak of war as a facade for economics. Britain has in its colonial past gone to war for mercantilist reasons, lowering the price of tea and other commodities. Roger Waters is marveling that for such a consideration as the price of tea, men go and kill one another; and that the ordinary citizens can't be bothered to care about the wars at all ("Out of the way, it's a busy day/ I've got things on my mind...").
I think that the anti-war interpretation fits this song best of the ones offered here.