Dark Side of the Rainbow

I have been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd lately and was thinking about the time in college when I watched The Wizard of Oz synced up with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.  It’s a mix between being one of the coolest thing’s I’ve seen and heard and borderline creepy.  Did they do it on purpose?  Were they really that messed up on drugs that they did it by accident?  Is it just plain coincidence?  The band consistently denies the movie being purposly synced with the album but either way it apparantly has happened before with their album The Wall matching up with Alice In Wonderland so it must be on purpose but they may just not have realized they were watching these movies while recording in studio.  Whichever way you slice it, it’s really interesting to watch it synced and I’ll show you why.

What you need to do in order to have it synced perfectly is play the album once the lion on the MGM logo finishes it’s second roar.  The album will play through 2 times till the movie ends so you will need to pause the movie the second the album goes through once.  Here are some great references of matches between the film and the album starting with the album covering having a rainbow on it which is the theme in the movie.  Starting with tracking one “Speak To Me/Breathe” this is how the movie matches up with just one example per song even though there are dozens for each song.

Speak To Me/Breathe

At the end of “Breathe”, Dorothy does a balancing act on the fence. She extends her arms as though she is trying to fly when you hear “How you fly.” She maintains her balance during the line “balanced on the biggest wave,” but falls at the end of the song after the line “race towards an early grave.” This could apply to Judy Garland, who died in 1969 at the age of 47.

On The Run

“On the Run,” an instrumental track with a considerably different mood and tempo, begins as Dorothy falls off the fence. One of the great mysteries of the film is how Dorothy falls into a pigpen and emerges with a clean dress

Time

Alarm bells ring as Miss Gulch, who appears as the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz, enters riding her bicycle.

The Great Gig In The Sky

The song ends as Dorothy opens the door to her room and approaches the front door of the house. On the original LP, “The Great Gig in the Sky” is the last song on side 1. This song concludes at the same time as the film switches from black-and-white to color. In other words, side 1 of Dark Side of the Moon is the same length as the first black-and-white portion of The Wizard of Oz.  Also The Great Gig In The Sky could be referenced to the house spinning in the sky during this scene.

Money

The sound effects that open “Money” begin when Dorothy opens the front door and the movie shifts from black-and-white to Technicolor

Us And Them

The Wicked Witch of the West, who is wearing a black dress, is on camera when you hear “Black, black, black”. (29:11) Then Dorothy, who is wearing a blue dress, is on screen when you hear “Blue, blue, blue”.

Any Colour You Like

“Any Colour You Like” begins as Dorothy, walking along the yellow brick road, reaches the edge of the munchkin village

Brain Damage

“Brain Damage” begins as the Scarecrow begins to dance and continues as the Scarecrow sings “If I Only Had a Brain”.

Eclipse

“Eclipse,” the last song on the album, concludes with the sound of a heartbeat. You hear this sound as Dorothy puts her hand to the Tin Woodsman’s chest.

*References given by the website www.turnmeondeadman.com

P.S.  Sorry for the lack of blogs but I have been extremely busy in my personal life the passed few days.  It will not happen again!!