Listen to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" while watching "The Wizard Of Oz"

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[grundle]

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This is a simple legend to verify; first, buy Dark Side of the Moon. Its been suggested that you use the digitally remastered and repackaged Dark Side of the Moon with the solid prism / triangle on the cover rather than the hollow prism / triangle from the original cover of the album. Both covers by Storm Thorgerson / Hipgnosis®

Then, get The Wizard of Oz. Again, Its been suggested that you make sure to use the digitally remastered THX® 50th Anniversary edition.

Put the two together, and mush them all around, out comes an eerie relationship between the monumentous album and classic film.

Transitions between scenes are often perfectly timed with musical changes.

Turn the sound of the film all the way down, and turn the sound of the album up as high as you can stand.
It will probably take you a few tries to get the sync lined up just right so be patient. First load the Dark Side of the Moon CD into your CD player and hit PLAY (>) and then immediately hit PAUSE (II) so it is cued up and ready to roll. Be sure also to set your CD player to continuous replay. This in most CD players is done by hitting the "REPEAT" button twice. Hitting it once will usually repeat only the presently playing track so hit the button two (2) times and it will replay the CD over and over. The CD will play roughly two and a quarter times through the entire length of the movie.

Now start the video and fast forward past all the preview junk (about five minutes worth on the THX version) at the beginning and watch for the THX Digital logo to pop up. Now get the tape to the very beginning where the BLACK & WHITE MGM lion roars. After the BLACK &WHITE MGM Lion roars for the THIRD (3rd) time IMMEDIATELY hit the play button on the CD player.

The credits begin to roll, and the ambient noise that opens the album begins. You know the synchronicity will work if the music kicks in just as Produced by Mervyn Leroy pops up.

Now, we would suggest you stop reading here and experience it first. It is much more fun to watch it without knowing, ahead of time, what you are going to see. Otherwise, from here, we are going to take you on a step by step tour of the scenes and music as they occur.

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The coincidence eeirily begins when the album says, "... Look around ..." which prompts Dorothy to look around.
As the line "balanced on the biggest wave" from Breathe is uttered, Dorothy teeters on the rail of the pig-sty.
She then breaks into a trot just as the line "No one told you when to run" from Time is heard.
The chimes in Time go off at the appearance of Mrs Gulch (Wicked Witch of the West) on the bicycle and the chimes stop when she gets off the bike. "I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good ..."
"... Home, home again ..." as Professor Marvel tells Dorothy that she needs to go back home.
The Great Gig in the Sky begins as the tornado appears and lasts exactly the length of the storm. On the record, this song is the end of the first side of the album and ironically, as Dorothy slowly pushes open the door, the black and white portion of the film ends, Oz appears in brash color, and "cha-ching," Money begins exactly on cue.
The munchkins begin to dance to the tempo of Money.
Before the Wicked Witch appears in a cloud of smoke, dressed in her black dress, just as the word "Black" is uttered in Us and Them.
Then the scene changes as Dorothy leaves Munchkin Land at the same time that "Us and Them" changes to "Any Colour You Like" The Scarecrow starts dancing just as "The lunatic is on the grass" is heard.
"... And everyone you meet..." is uttered as Dorothy meets the Tin Woodsman.
And the album ends with a slowly beating heartbeat, which comes just as Dorothy bangs on the Tin Man's chest to see if he's got a heart.

Now, if you've set up your CD player to repeat, the coincidences continue from here. Unfortunately, due to replay speeds, it is more difficult to match the album to the movie. But here are a few of the scenes you might catch!

When "... and high you fly ..." is spoken during Breathe, the Wicked Witch stands on top of the house with her flying broom.
On the Run then presents "... Shorter of breath and one day closer to death..." as Dorothy and Cowardly Lion appear to be dead.
This time, Money plays while they are in the Emerald City - "Cha-Ching" is heard as the Wicked Witch writes "Surrender Dorothy" in the sky.
"... Down and out ..." has the flying monkeys swoop down to capture Dorothy, and then fly out of the woods with her in their hands.

Believe it or not, the CD replays for a 3rd time (about half way through) and the coincidences continue! But we'll stop here for now to let you find the rest on your own!
As you find them, be sure to let us know so we can include them here, just click to send an email.

Now, get the album, pick up the video and then go back to The Garden to catch up on more rumors, facts, and fictions!


By the way at the end of Dark Side of the Moon, after you hear "There is no dark side of the moon really. As a matter of fact it's all dark ..." you can faintly hear some music playing. Strangely enough it's an orchestral version of The Beatles' Ticket to Ride. Both Pink Floyd and The Beatles recorded at Abbey Roads Studios and they, at times, contributed to each other in one fashion or another; certainly, at times tapes would have been erased and reused. Anyone know why they chose Ticket to Ride?

These Rumor are so popular that it is purported that album sales and video rentals significantly jumped as the story circulated. For more fun links, check out Yahoo! where even their popular "Ask Yahoo!" Q&A forum has been pulled into this legend!

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[FreeTally]

Are there really??

Yes, I remember when this was a "big" story back in the mid 1990's. I thought this was common knowledge among anyone who was a casual surfer of the net or a Pink Floyd listener.

[Leto]

Umma Gumma by Pink Floyd always worked well with any Godzilla movie.

[Darth Sidious]

I don't know. Between the lady and me, we agreed something was deliberate about it. But I'm hard pressed envisioning the members of Pink Floyd sitting around the studio thinking aloud "hey, we should sync our next album to The Wizard of Oz..."

[Wolfie]

I always thought it was cool that "The Wall" starts with the spoken words "...I came in" and ends with "Isn't this where...". (Ahh, to be young and have nothing better to do, again).

[FreeTally]

It would have been nearly impossible to do so, and they would have probably lacked equpiment needed to do it back in, what, 1975?

Also, to write lyrics and music about Roger Water's drift into insanity, that also intentionally matched up with the entire Wizard of Oz film(remember, you can keep playing the CD a 2nd and 3rd time and it looks like it all "lines up") would be the most amazing feat ever accomplished, IMHO. To have words and music "line up" with two to three different parts of the movie would be impossible.

[Billthedrill]

It is a great trick, and it does work - I tried it a few years ago when first I heard about it.

Only one thing worries me - somebody had to do this for the first time.

[socal_parrot]

Try watching "Das Boot" and listening to N'Sync's "Celebrity". It's uncanny.

[KansasGirl]

It is not about Roger Water's drift into insanity but Syd Barrett's, the founder of Pink Floyd. He was an acid freak and drove himself insane. Some people believe he was schizophrenic. Wish You Were Here (Crazy Diamond, specifically) and The Wall were also written about Syd Barrett.

[FreeTally]

Everyone: Try turning the volume down on almost any movie, and put a CD in the deck. You will find that you will think many things "fit" to the music. This is actually a good experiment to show how the mind works!

Another good experiment is to do the Pink Floyd-Wizard of Oz trick, and honestly make note of the things that don't "fit". The mind is an interesting thing!

[Wolfie]

The Synchronicity Archive, from my link above, has a bunch of 'em. Animals and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Wish You Were Here and Blade Runner, for example. Apparently Mr. Floyd loved his cinema!

[FreeTally]

It is not about Roger Water's drift into insanity but Syd Barrett's, the founder of Pink Floyd.

Doh! What the heck was I thinking. Of course, I meant Syd, Roger was still in the band. Duh!

[ProudEagle]

Watch "Titanic" where Leo DiCaprio is frozen in the water hanging onto a floating door, and listen to the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA.

ROFL

[Hoosier Patriot]

Apparently Mr. Floyd loved his cinema!

LOL "Oh by the way, which ones Pink"?

[el_chupacabra]

. . . my girlfriend'sfiancee's apartment . . .

I hope this was a typo. Otherwise, I have a few follow-up questions.

[KansasGirl]

I was thinkin' the same thing but didn't say anything...

[GoreIsLove]

DSOTM is from 1973, and you can see some of the recording of the album in the film "Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii"

[Reaganwuzthebest]

If I had the time I'd do it, but I'm still too busy playing these old Beatle records backwards looking for clues that prove Paul McCartney is dead. Besides, there's no money in it, and too much at once is likely to cause brain damage.

[Still Using Air]

Hahaha.... good one, Laz'. Works for me, too.

[freedom9]

I got up a couple minutes ago and made a coffee, lit a smoke, turned my monitor on and clicked winamp for some tunes.
It randomly picked the dark Side of the Moon Album.
By the time I scrolled to this post the chimes were happening.

(Are you the wizard?)

[sheltonmac]

"Somebody has way too much time on his hands."

No, somebody has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on his hands!