By Susan Sliwicki Show
Stock up on Pink Floyd vinyl, collectibles and more — including The Dark Side of the Moon CD you'll need to complete this Wizard of Oz challenge — at Goldmine's store. Snowed in for the weekend? Want to get new entertainment from items you’ve already got in your collection? Need to entertain a pack of munchkins but want a more sophisticated twist for yourself? Test out the Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz urban legend. We’ll be the first to admit the band’s Dark Side of the Moon album sounds best when heard on vinyl (topped only by a live performance, of course). But for this experiment, it’s more practical to use a CD, which is what we did. If you’re going to do this experiment with particularly young munchkins who shouldn’t hear a word like bulls**t, consider using headphones). Here’s how to make it work:
Note: Movie-viewing snacks for this experiment consisted of potato chips and decaf soda. Your results may vary based on the “refreshments” you choose (wink wink). •••••••••••• Urban legend claims that if you play Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon while watching “The Wizard of Oz,” there’s an incredible synchronicity that could only come about had the band literally planned the entire album around the movie. Pink Floyd has denied the rumor outright for years, with Floyd drummer Nick Mason giving one of our favorite answers to MTV in 1997: “It’s absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ It was all based on ‘The Sound of Music.’” OK. So those evil flying monkeys could be symbolic Nazis. But it sure seems like Wizard of Oz is a better fit — at least, hearing the line “I don’t know; I was really drunk at the time” while we gaze upon Munchkin Land seems like a pretty realistic reaction. There are plenty of tidy thematic coincidences between Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. The movie’s keynote song, “Over The Rainbow,” fits neatly with the iconic, light-splitting prism design used for the album’s cover art. The album boasts the song “Great Gig in The Sky,” which sounds like the perfect name for a song to go with a movie about a tornado. For the most part, the biggest coincidences seem to show up on the first trek through the album. That may be due to greater familiarity (and, by extension, observational powers) of what’s going on in the movie and on the album. Or, it could be that writing an album to hold up through two and a half cycles isn’t exactly easy — or, possibly, wasn’t even done in the first place. In our book, this urban legend lands somewhere between reading a horoscope and analyzing literature: There’s probably some truth in it somewhere, but finding the “truth” relies upon the user doing a lot of mental heavy lifting, and those theories may not match up with what the authors actually intended. Judge the coincidences for yourself. Regardless, this was a fun way to spend a Saturday night. Warning: Even if you love Dark Side, you’ll probably want to have something else to listen to for a few weeks after doing this. “SPEAK TO ME/BREATHE” Music: “Look around and choose your own ground” Music: “Long you live and high you fly/But only if you ride the tide/And balanced on the biggest wave/You Race towards and early grave.” “ON THE RUN” Music: “On the Run” continues; you can hear the woman announcing flights at the airport. Music: What sounds like an airplane flying overhead and crashing at the very end of “On The Run” “TIME” Music: An almost doorbell-like “ding-dong” chime sounds. Music: The ticking and chiming introduction fades into the ominous opening tones of the song with it’s percussive emphasis Music: “Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town/Waiting for someone or something to show you the way” Music: “Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain/You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill
today” Music: “And then one day you’ll find 10 years have got behind you/No one told you where to run, you missed the starting gun.” Music: “The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older/shorter in breath but one day closer to death.” Music: “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the
English way/The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say” leading into the reprise of “Breathe.” Music: “Home, home again/I like to be here when I can” “THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY” Music: Spoken line: "And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime." Music: The emotional vocal solo begins and picks up in intensity. Music: The piano interlude leads to a more mellow, soothing vocal solo. Movie: Dorothy drifts into dream world. When she wakes, the house is shown spinning, a woman in a rocker, a cow and a pair of fishermen in a rowboat drift past her window. Music: “If you can hear this whispering, you are dying.” Vocal solo switches back to pick up intensity. “MONEY” Music: “Money get back” Music: “Money it’s a hit/don’t give me that do-goody good bullshit/I’m in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set/And I think I need a Lear jet” Music: Sax solo Music: Guitar solo Music: “Money, it’s a crime” Music: “Money so they say/Is the root of all evil today” Music: “Away, away, away” “US AND THEM” Music: “Us … Us…
Us…” Music: “Black and blue” Music: “And who knows which is which
and who is who” Music: “Up and down/And in the end it’s only round and round and round” Music: “Down … Down… Down…” Music: “Out … Out … Out …” Music: “Out of the way it’s a busy day/I’ve got things on my mind” “ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE” “BRAIN DAMAGE” Music: And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too/I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” Music: “There’s someone in my head, but it’s not me” “ECLIPSE” Music: “Everyone you fight” Music: The pulse-like drum sequence at the end of the song (sounds like a heartbeat) SECOND TIME THROUGH THE RECORD “SPEAK TO ME/BREATHE” Music: “Don’t be
afraid to care” Music: “Leave but don’t leave me/Look around and choose your own ground Music: “Run rabbit run” “ON THE RUN” Music: Running feet transitioning to eerie music. Music: Maniacal laughter “TIME” Music: The percussion section switches over to a “tick-tock” type of heartbeat rhythm. Music: “Ticking away
the moments that make up a dull day/you fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way/Waiting for something or someonen to show you the way” Music: “And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking/and racing
around to come up behind you again/The sun is the same in the relative way, but you’re older/shorter of breath and one day closer to death.” Music: “The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something
more to say” Music: “Home, home again” Music: “Far away across the field/the tolling of the iron bell/calls the
faithful to their knees/to hear the softly spoken magic spells” “GREAT GIG IN THE SKY” Music: Double drumbeat just before vocal solo picks up again. “MONEY” “US AND THEM” Music: “Us … Us … Us …” Music: “And Them … Them ... Them… Music: “And after all we’re only ordinary men” Music: “Me … Me … Me …” Music: “And You … You … You … Music: “Forward he cried from the rear and the front rank
died” Music: “And the general sat, and the lines on the map/moved from side to side/Black and blue” Music: “Haven’t you heard it’s a battle of words/the poster bearer cried/Listen, son said the man with a gun/” Music: Down and out/It can’t be helped but there’s a lot of it about Music: “With, without/And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about” Music: “For want of the price of a tea and a slice/The old man died” “ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE” “BRAIN DAMAGE” Music:
“The lunatic is in the hall.” Music: “And if there is no room upon the hill” Music: “The lunatic is in my head/You raise the blade, you make the change, you re-arrange me ‘til I’m
sane Music: “You lock the door and throw away the key” Music: “And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes/I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” “ECLIPSE” Music: All that you love/all that you hate/all you distrust Music: All that you love, all that you hate, all you distrust Music: “All you destroy” Music: “All that you slight/and everyone you fight” Music: (Spoken lyric): “There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark.” THIRD TIME THROUGH THE RECORD “SPEAK TO ME/BREATHE” Music: Maniacal laughing Music: “Breathe, breathe in the air/Don’t be afraid to care/Leave but don’t leave me” “ON THE RUN” “TIME” Music: Rhythmic percussion solo that sounds like a clock ticking Music: “Waiting for someone or something to show you the way” Music: Wailing guitar solo Music: “The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older” Music: “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way” Music: “Home, home again/I like to be here when I can” “GREAT GIG IN THE SKY”
Is the synchronicity between “dark side of the Moon” and “the Wizard of Oz”?The synchronicity between “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The WIzard Of Oz”- coincidence or not? Also known as Dark Side of Oz or or The Wizard of Floyd – refers to the pairing of the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon with the visual portion of The Wizard of Oz.
Is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon connected to Wizard of Oz?Members of Pink Floyd have denied any intent to connect the album to the film. In August 1995, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette published an article by Charles Savage suggesting that readers watch the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz while listening to the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon.
Is dark side of the Rainbow in Wizard of Oz?Dark Side of the Rainbow – also known as Dark Side of Oz or The Wizard of Floyd – refers to the pairing of the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This produces moments where the film and the album appear to correspond.
Was 'dark side of the Moon' intentional?Never mind that everyone who worked on "Dark Side of the Moon" has categorically denied that any of it was intentional. Producer Alan Parsons laughed at the whole thing, pointing out the mind-boggling difficulty of the task, especially given that videotapes weren't available in 1972.
Is Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon A coincidence?Drummer Nick Mason told MTV in 1997, "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz. It was all based on The Sound of Music." The Dark Side of the Moon audio engineer Alan Parsons also denied any connection, saying the band had no means of playing video tapes in the studio at the time of recording.
What happens when you play Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon?Apparently, when you watch "The Wizard of Oz" with the sound off and listen to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" at the same time, you'll start to notice all kinds of mind-blowing coincidences. Songs and scenes often start at the same time and some of the song lyrics seem to echo what's happening on the screen.
What happens if you play Dark Side of the Moon backwards?Orator. If you play Dark Side of the Moon backwards, it totally syncs up with this. We did not make that up.
What does the rainbow in Pink Floyd mean?Fans discuss how the white beam of light passing through the triangle represents the start of life, and the rainbow beam represents all the paths and influences one may take during their lifetime. The continuation of the design on the back is said to represent the cyclical nature of life.
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