Us and Them - One of Roger Waters best lyrics

They lyrics to Us and Them must be regarded as some of the finest that Roger Waters ever wrote, and the song one of the finest Pink Floyd ever recorded. Particularly impressive is Waters use of opposites (a technique frequently used by James Joyce and Vladimir Nabokov, though I am doubtful that’s where Waters took his inspiration from), Us-Them, Me-You, Forward-Rear, Up-Down.

The stand out stanza for me is the first, it deals with a subject very close to Waters heart, namely war. As left wing writer Waters sympathies are always with the ‘ordinary men’ who are the pawns sent to die on the front line. Waters is not partisan, he is very clear that both sides suffer, the use of the word ‘we’ in that stanza links together the ordinary soldiers on both sides of the conflict. The emotive words ‘God only knows’ emphasise the horrors of war suffered by people who are ‘only ordinary men‘.

Of course this song, like all songs, is meant to be heard (not read), and the way the music swells up into the second stanza (chorus) gives the song its emotional power. 'Forward he cried from the rear' (use of opposites) is followed by 'and the front rank died' , the third and fourth lines contrast the death of the ‘front rank’ ordinary soldiers with the General who sits in a room away from the fighting viewing a map that’s moving lines is at the expense of the lives of ’front rank’ soldiers.

The song is based on a chord progression created by Rick Wright, played on guitar by Dave Gilmour who also did the singing, with the words being written by Roger Waters. It is also a fine example of what Pink Floyd were capable of when they worked together as a group.

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, as 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