I told you, i was trouble.

An in-depth blog post on my favorite album of all time was long overdue. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is still to this day arguably the best album ever made. I’d highly recommend listening to this album if you haven’t already, but if musical masterpieces aren’t really your thing, this is not the album for you. I constantly come across articles that explain how the album was made, but hardly any on analyzing the album’s meanings song by song. That is what I have challenged myself to do today. 

“Speak to Me”

Speak to Me is not a song you’ll hear at a music festival. There aren’t really any lyrics, as it mainly consists of random clips of conversations and various sound effects. When I took the time to really listen to the song, I started to understand its deeper meaning. In the 65 second song you hear the heartbeat sound effect used in “Eclipse”, the clock ticking heard in “Time”, the manic laughter of Peter Watts used in “Brain Damage”, the cash register in “Money”, the helicopter noise in “On the Run”, and vocalist Clare Tony’s scream in “The Great Gig in the Sky” towards the end of the song. Once the screaming stops, the song leads into “Breathe”. So what do all these noises communicate? I feel it gives a very dramatic summary of what themes and sounds the album contains. In this song particular, the theme of insanity is very prominent, as it’s quite the stressful song to listen to.

“Breathe (In the Air)”

Breathe is one of the prettier songs in this album. After the psychotic screams in the intro, it eases into a slow-paced rich guitar medley with David Gilmour’s blues-based chords and solos. Aside from the beautiful instrumentals, the lyrics are what really makes the song worth knowing. The song is full of mixed themes. The beginning tells you to relax and live life, as it’s the only life you get. Then it tells you to get a job and focus on that instead of the beauties of life. It warns you that work is a never-ending cycle. Later some of the lines expose our materialistic society convincing us we are happy when really we’re chained to a vicious cycle of consumerism. One of my favorite lyrics in the song is “All you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be” as it really enforces one of the harsher realities of life.

“On the Run”

This is the second song in the album that uses sound effects and voice clips as it’s structure. The song gives the setting of a man running late for his flight and trying desperately to make it. There isn’t a lot I really have to say about this song, but it definitely adds to the albums exposure of how messed up adulthood is by showing how stressful it is.

“Time”

Time opens with extremely loud clips of different types of clocks ringing. Once all the clocks stop, there is a slow and deep guitar solo along with a fast-paced drum solo in the background. The song describes what time has to do with the tough transition from youth to adulthood. When we’re young we think we have all the time in the world. We don’t realize how quickly time passes by until we’re out of time and full of regret. You wasted your life trying to be comfortable, rather than living the crazy fun life you dreamed of when you were young. And now that you want to live that life, it’s too late. You’re out of time and luck. The song seems to be a great depiction of a rock ‘n’ roll midlife crisis. 

“The Great Gig in the Sky”

This song is a lyrical Interpretation of death, sorrow, happiness, joy, and pain, all at the same time. It opens with a man saying “ 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-If you can hear this whispering you are dying“. Deep, I know. The rest of the song is Clare Tony’s emotional and powerful vocals growing more and more with the music, till the piano slows and her voice calms. I feel this represents the angry and fearful feeling felt toward death escalation until finally, it’s accepted.

“Money”

Money is one of my all-time favorite Pink Floyd songs. This is a fun rock/jazz song with a catchy bass riff and iconic guitar solo but, like every other song on this album, it’s got a much deeper meaning. When you first take a look at the lyrics, you may think “Wow, Pink Floyd sure did love being millionaires”. That’s exactly what Waters wanted you to think when he wrote the song. When Gilmour sang “Money, it’s a hit. Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit”, it exposed the arrogance of the upper class. You don’t have to be filthy rich to associate yourself with some of the songs lyrics, as everyone has had some connection to greed. The overall theme of this song is how we evolve in our relationship with money.

“Us and Them”

The conversation closing Money then leads into the calming musical introduction of Us and Them. Most people think the songs only theme is war. I’d argue that it’s not about war so much as it is about the tendency of humans to fight with each other. Not just on the battlefield, but in everyday situations. In an interview Waters discusses a bit of the meaning behind Us and Them: that we are constantly fighting each other and separating ourselves into an “us vs. them” mentality. The point is that we unnecessarily divide ourselves based on every little thing, concentrate on our differences, and forget to think about all the ways we’re all in this thing together. So, yes, on a small scale, it’s about war, but it’s more about human nature in general. Not just the political idea of one country against another, but the very simple idea of one human against another. The powerful background vocals and sax solos communicate the importance of the theme of the song.

“Any Colour You Like”

This song is beautiful, but I haven’t quite discovered it’s meaning yet. There are no lyrics for me to analyze in this song. The only thing I can really comment on in the song is the fact that I feel like I’m on an insane psychedelic acid trip. 

“Brain Damage”

This song describes a man’s final descent into insanity. The whole album itself poses the question “Can everyday life make you go insane?”. The themes expressed in Time, Money, Us and Them, and so on all lead up to this when this normal person finally goes insane from his normal life. Finally, at the end of the song, you hear that manic laugh again. The lunatic really is in this guys head. I’d also like to add that some would argue this album was based on what Syd Barrett was going through with drug addiction. Wish You Were Here was without a doubt an ode to Syd, but I think the deep meanings this album presents are beyond Pink Floyd’s co-founder.

“Eclipse”

The final song in The Dark Side of the Moon is Eclipse. There are infinite themes and metaphors you can obtain from this song. Here’s how I see it. It’s saying that everything in the universe is in perfect harmony and balance. It is only us humans that are messed up. The moon represents the chaos and madness of our minds that eclipses the god-giving light of the sun. That’s why Dark Side of the Moon is really the dark side of human nature, as it blinds us, but it’s also what makes us unique. As the last lines show, there is no dark side of the moon, it’s all dark. It’s only the sun that makes it bright. So in fact, everyone is crazy, and that is our purpose.