"...The sound is lush and multi-layered while remaining clear and well-structured....a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement....the excellence of a superb performance..." (Rolling Stone 5/24/73)
"...although everything your punk rock elder brother
said was undeniably true, it doesn't take a great mental leap to achieve the mind-set of
the pot-smoking philosophy student and pronounce this album a super-sensory
classic..." (New Musical Express 3/20/93)
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON was a benchmark record, and is
one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. The
songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and
mood. For this project, Pink Floyd resurrected older and unfinished numbers, some of which
came from the multitude of soundtracks the band members had previously worked on. The film
Zabriskie Point, a study of American materialism from a foreigner's perspective
(director: Antognoni), provided "Us And Them" (originally titled "The
Violence Sequence"). Waters rewrote "Breathe" after its appearance on his
and avant-garde composer Ron Geesin's score for The Body, a surreal medical
documentary. The sound effects on
"On the Run", "Time" and especially "Money" (with sampled
sounds of clinking coins and cash registers turned into rhythmic accompaniment) are
impressive, especially when we remember that 1973 was before the advent of digital
recording techniques.
Further adding to the record's
mystique, barely audible spoken passages were sprinkled throughout - a result of hours
interviewing random Abbey Road occupants about their views on insanity, violence and
death. From the opening heart beat to those famous words, "There is no dark side of the moon really.
Matter of fact it's all dark",
Pink Floyd's tale from birth to death with all of life's problems in between is the best
story ever told. The opening scream of "Breath", the intensity of "On the
Run", the reaching for more "Time", the motherly figure in "The Great
Gig in the Sky", the epic battles between "Us and Them", the musical genius
of "Any Colour You Like", the insanity of "Brain Damage", and finally
the end of life with "Eclipse" make it worth listening to 1000 times. With this
phenomenal album Floyd must have struck a nerve: Dark Side remained on
Billboard's albums chart for an astounding fourteen years.
Return to the Albums index
Dark Side
Of The Moon(Instrumental)
"I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been
over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands..."
"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the
most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even
if you're not mad..."
Breathe
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
Run, run rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to start another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.
On the Run
(Instrumental)
"Live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me, HaHaHaaaaaa!"
Time
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
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
And then the one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
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
And shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desparation in the English way
The time is gone the song is over, thought I'd something more to say
Home, home again
I like to be there when UI can
When I come in cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
The Great Gig in the Sky
(Instrumental)
"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."
"I never said I was frightened of dying."
Money
Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and your O.K.
Money it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team
Money get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
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
Money it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away
"HuHuh! I was in the right!"
"Yes, absolutely in the right!"
"I certainly was in the right!"
"You was definitely in the right. That geezer was cruising for a bruising!"
"Yeah!"
"Why does anyone do anything?"
"I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!"
"I was just telling him, he couldn't get into number 2. He was asking
why he wasn't coming up on freely, after I was yelling and
screaming and telling him why he wasn't coming up on freely.
It came as a heavy blow, but we sorted the matter out"
Us and Them
Us and Them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died
And the General sat, and the lines on the map
moved from side to side
Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round and round
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
the poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside
Down and Out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny that's what the fightings all about
Get out of the way, it's a busy day
And I've got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died
Any Colour You Like
(Instrumental)
Brain Damage
The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's marvellous! HaHaHa!"
Eclipse
All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All that you feel
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All that you save
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy
beg, borrow or steal
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say
All that you eat
everyone you meet
All that you slight
everyone you fight
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."
Dark Side Of
The Moon at Amazon.com