A Complete Analysis of DSOTM

IHeartWaters · #1 11-30-2005, 11:38 PM

This is a complete addition from my last post "The Dark Side of Madness"
Whilst that essay consisted of 3 songs (Time, Money, Brain Damage), this essay is a complete analysis of Dark Side of the Moon lyrically, musically, and conceptually. I explain each song one at a time and at the end I give my interpretation of the album as a whole. I hope you take the time to read it because I assure you, it's well worth your time. I would appreciate feedback very much and I hope you enjoy it. Peace and Love.
-Johnny G

I’ve Been Mad For Years, Absolutely Years

In 1973, one of the most famous concept albums of all time was released: “The Dark Side of the Moon. The album was written and performed by Pink Floyd who are David Gilmour (Vocals, Guitar), Roger Waters (Bass, Vocals, Lyrics), Richard Wright (Piano, Keyboard, Organ, Vocals), and Nick Mason (Drums, Percussion). Before the writing process of the album, Roger Waters stated, “"I was getting strong urges to make extended pieces with segues between tracks and also to develop pieces where the songs have relationships. Echoes, which was one side of (the album) Meddle, was very much the father and mother of Dark Side of the Moon in that it had a lot of similar techniques.” This ingenious thought of connections and overall themes throughout an album sparked the beginning of the songwriting process of The Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” has many concepts and motifs throughout the entire album that are both lyrical and musical. This analysis of the album will in an understandable way explain the album as a whole.

Before even going in to the studio, Pink Floyd has been playing a handful of the songs on Dark Side on the stage. The called this compilation of songs “Eclipse”. The majority of the songs they played live were already on previous albums except for the songs in “Eclipse”. In the later part of 1972, they decided to take these series of songs, expand on them, and record them for their new album. The explanation of these songs for this purpose is better explained one at a time. To understand the album, one must look at them individually in the order to comprehend it as a whole.

To kick off the album, the first song was named “Speak to Me”. It was called this because their main producer, Alan Parsons, would always do a sound check by saying “Speak to me” into the microphone. For the first time listener, one only hears silence. After about ten seconds, a heartbeat effect made by a bass drum starts to slowly fade in. Then, Floyd’s road manager Chris Adamson faintly says, "I've been mad for fucking years, absolutely years". The first them of the album is introduced which in insanity. Ten more seconds into the song, the slow sound of a clock matches to the beat of the heartbeat. Shortly after, a faster clock along with the sounds of various cash registers matches again with the rhythm of the song. The song is really starting to build up. Then the noise of what sounds like a helicopter, made by a VCS3 synthesizer, fades in. Even more sounds are added with the voice of Peter Watts, late executive road manager, who begins to laugh; an evil sounding laugh. At this point, if you’ve turned up the speakers enough to hear the heartbeat in the beginning, it is incredibly loud an almost unbearable. One would either love it or want it to end as soon as possible. At last, you hear a women screaming as loud as she can as everything gets louder and louder until…

The first chord of the album is played going into the ever popular song “Breathe”. The simple progression of an E minor chord (also written as Em) to an A chord is played in a very slow and psychedelic fashion. The jam continues and after 8 measures, a lead slide guitar is introduced. Still without lyrics, they enter the very smooth chorus that changes the key of the song. It ends with 2 chords taken directly from a Miles Davis song that bring the song back into the verse progression. The lyrics finally start. “Breathe, breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care.” The lyrics for this song are very poetic and do not tell any story. The overall theme for this song is about being true to yourself and not living falsely. After the verse, the chorus enters again this time continuing with the lyrics. “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.” Now the listener gets the sense of the personality of Roger Waters who wrote all the lyrics for the album. The album has an overall dark theme and these lines indicate some of his views on life as a whole. The verse starts once again involving lyrics about the working class, “And when at last the work is done / Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.” The chorus enters for the final time and concludes with, “For long you live and high you fly /But only if you ride the tide /And balanced on the biggest wave /You race towards an early grave.” The next theme of death is introduced which one will see later on. Going back to the musical aspect of this song, the Em to A chord progression becomes a huge motif in throughout the album. An Em to A states that it is in the dorian scale. For those who don’t know music theory, this means that if you were to have a C major scale (all white notes on a piano), the root note of the song would not be C; it would be the next note in the scale which is a D. In this songs case, the song is in a D major scale but the root is on E (the next note in the scale over). Although of very little importance now, this motif is introduced 3 more times in the album.

The last chord of the song “Breathe” ends where “On the Run”, the next song, begins. Many people, mainly non-Floyd fans, consider this song a weak point on the album. I disagree for many reasons. This song is more of a sound experimentation experience than a conventional song. Nigel Williamson, a friend of the Floyd, stated that in the song “There was some very very clever and highly listenable pieces of sonic experimentation.” ( DVD Time chapter Longfellow) The main melody of the song is composed of a series of 8 individual notes played at a very fast speed. The band used a new instrument at that time called a VCS3 synthesizer to play the majority of the parts in the song. Although this “sonic experimentation” is instrumental, this song still conveys a story and a theme. Along with the synthesizer, there are sound effects and noises added to make it sound more like a chase scene is a sci-fi movie. As the song continues on, the tension rises. There are sounds like running footsteps, a heart beating, a haunting laugh, a plane flying left to right (stereo), as well as a slew of others. The interpretation is that “On the Run” connects “Breathe” and the fourth track “Time”. The last line of “Breathe” is “You race towards an early grave” which metaphorically expresses that the character portrayed in this album is on the run. When the song comes close to the end and you feel you can not take this madness for one more second, an explosion hits and settles just like an atomic bomb. This man has stopped running and decides to take a look back at his life. This is where the next song begins.

The song “Time”, which appears track number four on the album, is beautifully dense lyrically and musically. The overall theme of this song is the interpretation that people have about this mysterious dimension. The song begins with a single clock ticking followed by an overbearingly loud noise of multiple clocks going off all at once. A single clock continues after the clocks fade away closely followed by guitar, bass, electric piano, and custom tuned drums. The chord progression continues very slowly for awhile until the verse kicks in. The lyrics flow in chronological order from being a young man to an old man. The first two lines, “Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day / You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way” show a person waiting to do something better with his life and wasting away the day doing nothing. The music is very rock and roll with all diatonic chord changes (stays in the same key). The verse is in a minor key with a F#m, A, E, F#m chord change. In this case, the minor chord progression doesn’t express sadness (which is usually associated with minor keys) but rather frustration and anger. For example, in the second verse, “So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking / Racing around to come up behind you again” this person is obviously trying to get back his lost life and is frustrated because time can not be taken back. When the chorus enters, the mood of the song changes in both the music and lyrics. The atmosphere changes from frustration and anger to sadness and depression. The main chord progression of D Major 7 to A Major 7 is a very sad and emotional chord progression and synchs up to the lyrics:
“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 one day you find ten years have got behind you / No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.”.
These words obviously show a man who did not know when to start life and when it was almost over, he realized what he had lost. The inspiration came from a revelation Roger Waters had while he was writing this song:
“I suddenly realized then that year that life was already happening... life wasn’t gonna start later... at any point you can grasp the reins and start guiding your own destiny...” ( DVD Time chapter Longfellow)
The song ends towards the end of his life and the overall mood is depressing. The sad atmosphere carries on to the last song on side one.

IHeartWaters · #2 11-30-2005, 11:40 PM

Death, introduced in the previous songs, is this song’s main motif. “The Great Gig in the Sky” is an immensely emotional song that can bring a grown man to tears. A slow piano progression begins the song with the same chord that ended “Time”, a B minor. As the movement progresses, a bass and a slide guitar enter complimenting the piano. At this point, the previous dorian scale motif enters for a second time. In “Breathe”, the progression was an Em to an A whilst in this song it is a Gm to a C. They are different chords but the order of the chords in the scale are exactly the same. From explaining this, some people could see how a band playing 2 chords for the main part of the song with no lyrics could be very boring. Originally, this is how Pink Floyd was originally going to have the song in the final mix. At some point, they all agreed that this song was missing something. The producer, Alan Parsons, knew a female vocalist named Clare Torry and asked if he could bring her in. They agreed and they brought her to the studio and in to a recording booth. The band told her to improvise while she sung and to think about death and terror. As soon as the drums hit, she sang scat through the whole song with a spine shaking aura. She came out of the booth very embarrassed while the band stood there in awe. Although there is singing on this song, it still is considered an instrumental. Clare Torry used her voice more as an instrument than as a poetic singer. A series of “Oooo”s and “Aaaa”s with an unmistakable range of pitches give you more goose bumps than any amount of lyrics would ever be able to do. When the song winds down, the organ, guitar, and the drums come to a halt leaving Clare singing with the just the bass and piano. It ends with a sad Gm chord which ends the first side of the album. The madness has just begun.

The next song involves a concept that is easier to understand and see. The song “Money” is obviously about becoming famous and making lots of money. Sounds effects kick off this song just like the last one. It opens with 7 different sounds of cash registers moving left and right through the stereo.
“...originally recorded at an antique shop for a demonstration tape showcasing the quadraphonic sound that...was then being hyped to consumers as the heir apparent to stereo”. (Pg. 175 Schaffner)
The lead bass line follows the timing of the sounds with a bluesy feel and tone. The guitar then follows the bass line until the entire band explodes in to the mix. Like the majority of this album, the mood of this song isn’t positive at all. It truly shows the greedy, hypocritical, and evil side of money. For example, in the lyrics, “New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I'll buy me a football team.” and “I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set / And I think I need a Lear jet.” it really shows the side of money where possessions are all that matter. The more selfish side is expressed when Gilmour sings, Money, get back. / I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack” and “Money, it's a crime. / Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.”. The overall sarcastic tone that is taken with the lyrics only could be put to an awkward 7/4 time signature (7 beats to a measure) in a blues like mood. Since the song is upbeat and awkward to dance to (not an even beat), you can tell the perspective they are writing from is from the man who eventually goes mad. The song concludes with the words, “Money, so they say / Is the root of all evil today / But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're giving none away”. At this point of the album, the concepts of death, lost time, and selfish greed have entered this man’s head. All these motifs so far are about one person’s relationship to objects or concepts like time and dying. The next song expresses a point about all people.

“Us and Them” is a jazzy yet haunting song musically and lyrically. The overall theme of this song is the relationship between people, mainly with fighting and war. Roger Waters, the lyricist for the album, says, “The lyrics are so direct and linear. Those fundamental issues of whether or not the human race is capable of being humane.” For example, in the lyrics
“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.” it talks in defense of ordinary people and asking the question if we really have control over everything we do. Human nature versus personal motives are very different and this song makes that clear. The verse for the song has a very jazzy, slow, and smooth mood to it while the chord progression does something very unique. Instead of the bass changing notes with the chords, it stays on a solid D note. The rest of the band plays a progression consisting of four different chords. First, a D chord to an E chord which maintains a relaxing progression. Then, a F major flat 5 (F Mb5) enters and sends an eerie and unsettling shiver down your back while soon resolving to a G chord. Without that one unnerving chord in the movement, this song wouldn’t have too much to offer. The lyrics dealing with fighting and war such as “Down and out / It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about. / With, without. / And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?” really compliment the highly original chord progression. The chorus moves in to the relative minor scale, B minor scale, of the D major scale which the verse is in. It is a widely used technique for many musicians and is usually looked at as a cheesy method of songwriting. Somehow, the Floyd make it work using a choir of four female vocalist, guitar, bass, organ, piano, drums, and vocal harmonies with the lyrics done by Gilmour and Wright. It is a musical explosion to say the least. The message Rogers was trying to convey was that sometimes people don’t know what “the fighting’s all about” whether it be with words or guns. Are “Me and You” and “Us and Them” all that different or do we make it seem different? The primal urge of fighting and violence may be our only flaw in our everyday lives such as the dissonant F Mb5 chord in the middle of the verse.

Time to get funky. This song is definitely no where near as deep as any of the previous songs. So far we have encountered death, loss of time, greed, and violence. This song leads the listener in to a more uplifting and happy state of mind. The song “Any Colour You Like” (yes, colour is spelled with a “u” for this song) is an extremely psychedelic jam song that is yet again another instrumental. Most importantly, this is the third and final reoccurrence of the dorian scale chord progression. In this case, it is a Dm chord to a G chord. The most important part about the dorian scale motif is the versatility of how it works with each song. “Breathe” was the first occurrence of this chord progression and this song set a relaxed and soothing feeling. Second, “The Great Gig in the Sky” had a very melancholy mood that still brings me to tears. Lastly, “Any Colour You Like” has an extremely uplifting and energetic style with a great groove. Notice all three songs had the same “2 chord” to “5 chord” progression but each evoked varied emotions. The song continues with a series of solos from Wright on the VCS3 synthesizer and Gilmour on the guitar. The end of the song has a quick series of chord changes that leads directly in to the song of madness.

IHeartWaters · #3 11-30-2005, 11:41 PM

The song “Brain Damage” introduces a new but very important theme to the album which is madness. The opening words of all the verses are “The lunatic is on the grass...The lunatic is in the hall...The lunatic is in my head...” At this point of the man’s life, he has reached the point of madness. The unique use of dominant 7 chords adds a sense of madness to the song since the use of these types of chords are so rare. The modulating synthesizer keys adds even more insanity to the mix. As the verse continues on, an unnerving diminished chord holds out until the more traditional chorus comes in. The beautiful major chord progression enters and Waters sings, “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 forebodings too / I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.” The chorus for this song is one of the first positive messages in the album. This shows that even if you are losing your mind and going mad, there is always someone in the same boat you are in to help you out. At one point of the song, the man becomes so insane that he becomes schizophrenic, “You lock the door / And throw away the key / There's someone in my head but it's not me.” The way the tone of the song works matches the lyrics so well. Both the concept of the lyrics and the chord changes are equally unusual. Even after a couple years of listening to this album, this song always makes me feel strange just like a love song makes you feel emotional.

The glorious finale of Dark Side, named “Eclipse”, seamlessly transitions from “Brain Damage” as if they were the same song. As a side note, when they play “Brain Damage” on the radio is it always followed up by “Eclipse” because they work so well together. After an open measure following the ending D chord from the previous song, an organ solo bursts in to the headphones following a D chord, D chord over a C bass note, to a B flat chord, and finally an A chord. There are not any separate parts to this song like a verse or a chorus. The same chord progression burns through the whole movement. The lyrics for this song represent more of a list of thoughts and things you do unlike the rest of the lyrics for this album. For example, the song begins with the words “All that you touch / and all that you see / and all that you taste / all you feel” From looking at all the word on this song, each set of four lines depicts a certain theme or motif that is throughout the album. These first four lines stated above represent the song “Breathe” showing you to live your life in an authentic way comparing human senses to feelings. The song also covers greed (all that you buy, beg, borrow or steal), love, hatred, people you meet (all that you slight / and everyone you fight), time lost (all that is now / and all that is gone / and that’s to come), and death. The atmosphere this song creates is very heroic and uplifting. Unlike the song “Time” where this man looks back at his life in general, “Eclipse” is a very specific and interpretive look on everything he has done. Although I have mentioned this one specific man throughout this writing, this man could be anyone. He represents the common man who goes through the trials of everyday life. Citing to just one man as opposed to society puts the message of the album in perspective. As the song continues to build up and the intensity rises, the album ends on a dissonant statement. The ending lyrics are “and everything under the sun is in tune / but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.” An interpretation of this could be that nothing is ever in tune and might never be, but there is always hope. Every person is not perfect and every society is not perfect. Although a dark message is expressed in the lyrics, the last chord is a D major. A happy chord mixed in with a dark message. Maybe that message is not so dark after all.

In conclusion, Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” has many concepts and motifs throughout the entire album that are both lyrical and musical. This album is more than a music record by any means. A concept and an overall message were intended in the making of the record with every single song. The majority of albums by musicians nowadays consist of single songs with a single and individual message. A song begins, ends, and then a new song begins. This album was written during a very dark time where people were not especially happy. The relationship between the album and the common man made the concept of Dark Side a personal and relevant connection to a wide group of people. Everyone has problems in life whether it consists of being untrue to yourself, running away from your life, realizing lost time, fear of death, greed, violence or hatred, or going mad. Everyone goes through similar life hardships so why not go through them together?

TimeLessMachine · #4 12-01-2005, 04:17 PM

I hope you won't mind a few grammatical suggestions along with my reaction. These are only suggestions, not criticisms. Whether or not you choose to do anything with them is up to you.

I think the last sentence of the first paragraph might read better with commas inserted here: "This analysis of the album will, in an understandable way, explain the album as a whole.

I think that you may have meant the first word of the 2nd sentence of the 2nd paragraph to be "They." "They called this compilation of songs “Eclipse”."

There is a sentence in the middle of the 3rd paragraph that I think you may have meant to say: "The first theme of the album is introduced which in insanity."

I appreciate your insights on the lyrics and explanations of the significance of the different musical patterns. I have only a limited knowledge of musical theory. I also really appreciated your analysis of "Time", one of my favorite songs. I have only read part one of your essay so far. I'll make some more comments as I get time to read the other sections... unless you find them annoying.

hoan_rulz · #5 12-01-2005, 05:58 PM

wow.. its great. a really good point of view.
I really love Dark Side of the Moon, it was my first Pink Floyd album, like the introduction. I can pass hours and hours listening to it and dont get bored, ive heard it million of times. And it means a lot to me personally, and though its not exactly happy, it makes me feel like no other thing can. Not for nothing is my favourite album.

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A Complete Analysis of DSOTM

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