Pink Floyd: another new edition of "The dark side of the moon"

The parable of “Us and them”

In their career i Pink Floyd in addition to the albums they also composed some soundtracks. In 1970 the English band was commissioned to provide the soundtrack for the film Michelangelo Antonioni ‘Zabriskie Point’.

So, for about a month i Pink Floyd they stayed in a luxury hotel in Rome and here they began writing music for the film. In the end only part of what they composed was used for the film. One of the songs not considered suitable for the feature film was “The Violent Sequence”a composition written by the group’s keyboardist

Richard Wright.

Wright’s original composition can be heard in the 2003 film, Pink Floyd: The Making of ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, here the musician who passed away in 2008 recalls the moment the song was born and the enthusiasm it generated within the group: “In that moment. I think everyone thought, ‘This is really cool.'”

THE
Pink Floyd
they were convinced it was a good song, but
Michelangelo Antonioni
he didn’t think the same way. These are the words of the Italian director in memory of
Roger Waters
: “It’s beautiful, but it’s too sad. It makes me think of church.” The drummer of the band
Nick Mason
he has his own idea about this: “He was desperate to be in control. So even if we did the right thing and it was perfect, he couldn’t bear to accept it because it wasn’t a choice.”

So,
“The Violent Sequence”
was not part of the film. But since throwing away a good idea is never a great idea, the song was used in another capacity three years later with a new name:
“Us and Them”
. This was the first song on which, in 1973, i
Pink Floyd
they worked at Abbey Road Studios in London during the album’s recording sessions

“The Dark Side of the Moon”
(
read the review here
).

“Us and Them”
it is the song, at eight minutes, longest of
“The Dark Side of the Moon”
and is signed by Wright and Waters, who contributed the lyrics. Perhaps the new version didn’t sound as sad as Wright’s original, but Waters’ words still evoked images of conflict, as he explained
Roger Waters
at Classic Rock in 2022: “The first verse is about going to war, how on the front lines we don’t have much of a chance to communicate, because someone else decided we shouldn’t. The second verse is about civil liberties, racism and racial prejudices. The last verse is about passing a tramp on the street and not helping him.”