FBG'S TOP 100 PINK FLOYD SONGS - #01 - Comfortably Numb from The Wall (1979) (1 Viewer)

[zamboni]

Yup - the best covers are almost always among the PF cover bands that spend countless effort at recreating the sound (Brit Floyd, Aussie Floyd, The Machine, etc.).

Here's the thing. The professional PF cover bands do a decent job sounding similar to the real enchilada. I've seen some of them and enjoyed their concerts. They are talented musicians, and the concerts provided a "this is what a PF concert would have looked and sounded like". Props to them for that. But the rest of the time, why on earth would I pick to listen to them? I would just play the actual PF tracks. Some of the newer bands or jam bands have some interesting takes on the originals, so I think I like those better than the PF cover bands just recreating the originals. Some of the covers have been epic fails and just plan terrible, but I can at least get a laugh from them.

Totally agree with the bolded for the most part. I go on occasion to see the live cover band shows to experience with other Floyd fans. Plus we missed out and so much of them live with their decades of squabbling that it’s the closest we can get in concert (with all due respect to David’s great solo tours).

 

[FatMax]

As One of These Days continued not to be listed in this countdown, my surprise grew. For whatever reason, I didn't think it would be as popular with PF fans as it obviously is. I had it at 12, and kinda assumed that I would be one of the higher votes for it. Boy was I wrong. I'm not even in the top half of voters for this song.

If someone uninitiated were to ask me what a good song was that sounded like Pink Floyd, there are only a handful that come close to doing them justice. OOTD is one of them. Just so Floyd. Nobody else had (or has) that sound.

 

[BassNBrew]

#12 - Echoes from Meddle (1971)

My rank: 2

Amazingly, the first time I heard this was in a live performance. DG's PF opened their set with this when I saw them on 9/19/87 (one of the last concerts at JFK Stadium in Philly, site of Live Aid, which was condemned a few months later). I did not have Meddle and given its length had never heard Echoes on the radio. But my friends and I deduced pretty quickly what this had to be. We didn't quite know what to make of it and nor did much of the rest of the crowd, which was probably why it was removed from the setlist a few shows later. Once I got Meddle, however, Echoes quickly became one of my favorites. It's an extremely inventive and evocative work, trying all kinds of experiments but never killing the momentum of the song while doing so. The vocal sections are gorgeous, the guitar work is sublime and the "funky section" that lasts from about 7:00 to about 11:30 is one of the most thrilling passages any band ever laid down. And the Pompeii version is AMAZING.

I'm a little surprised that one-third of us did not have this on our lists, but I get that the length can be intimidating for some.

Dean Ween of Ween would occasionally convene some of his friends to perform this at his hometown bar in suburban Philly. Here is one of those versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KryqdWzpRSg

Ask my partner....you're not getting 20 minutes of anything unless Neil Peart is involved.

Also the minute plus of pings at the beginning is too annoying.

 

[BassNBrew]

Pigs was my highest rated Animals song and the only one to make my list of 25. I am not as big of an Animals guy as most other Floyd fans...I know sacrilege.

Right there with you. If the Wall is trash, Animals is south of the pig manure farm on a day with the wind from the north.

 

[zamboni]

To each his own, but a few here may need to turn in their Pink Floyd man cards.

 

[PIK95]

My Tiers
1:Wish You Were Here>Animals>Dark Side
2>Meddle
3>Momentary Lapse>Division Bell>The Wall
4>Piper Gates
5>Most Everything Else
Tier awful>Final Cut

 

[DocHolliday]

As One of These Days continued not to be listed in this countdown, my surprise grew. For whatever reason, I didn't think it would be as popular with PF fans as it obviously is. I had it at 12, and kinda assumed that I would be one of the higher votes for it. Boy was I wrong. I'm not even in the top half of voters for this song.

If someone uninitiated were to ask me what a good song was that sounded like Pink Floyd, there are only a handful that come close to doing them justice. OOTD is one of them. Just so Floyd. Nobody else had (or has) that sound.

I ranked OOTD at 4 which was a little aggressive but something about the song has always really resonated with me. Of course, the heavy and galloping bass works well for this old metal head but I think it’s also the wonderful layering of the song. The various parts are pretty simple but they are layered perfectly with one another. There is enough space in the song to hear most of what is going on with each part even if there are 4 or 5 different things going on in the song at the time.

 

[Anarchy99]

#09 - Run Like Hell from The Wall (1979)

Appeared On: 24 ballots (out of 33 . . . 72.7%)
Total Points: 360 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 43.6%)
Top Rankers: @DocHolliday @BrutalPenguin @Pip's Invitation @PIK95 @Dr. Octopus @Grace Under Pressure
Highest Rankings: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4

Band Demo, Another Demo, Instrumental Demo, Restored Version, Single Version, Live Version, Film Version, Live Version, DG - 1984, DG - 1986, DSOT, Knebworth - 1990, Berlin - 1990, Pulse, DG - Pompeii, DG - Poland, RW - Milan - 2023

Live Performances: PF: 31, DG'S PF: 310, RW: 314, DG: 124

Covers: Kittie, Lexington Lab Band, Aussie Floyd, Iron Lung Corp, Glimmerglass Reggae Ensemble, Dweezil Zappa, Out Of Phase, Tin Electric, Disco Biscuits, Crippled Black Phoenix, Ravenstine, Dopapod, Metallica, The Machine, RanestRane

RLH was originally much longer, but it had to be cut down because of vinyl's time limits. Though the lyrics "You better run like Hell" appear several times in the liner notes, they're never heard in the song. The lyrics “… like hell” after each verse were dropped from the recording. These were never added back in or performed live. The studio version of the song features the only keyboard solo on the album.

More than any other song on The Wall, Run Like Hell was modified the most and significantly shortened. The original version of the song had music written by RW with the lyrics as on the album, but RW's music was scrapped in favor of DG's music during the recording of the band demos.

Run Like Hell is the last original composition written by both Gilmour and Waters, the last of such under the PF banner, and is the last composition ever recorded by all four members of the classic 70s-era Floyd lineup together.

In both his time with PF and for his solo shows. Waters gives a speech or section of dialogue as a lead in to the song which would always vary. He would sometimes introduce the song as Run Like F***, with RW and DG singing alternating lines in the verses, while Stan Farber, Jim Haas, Joe Chemay, and John Joyce singing the choruses.

Artist Gerald Scarf came up with the symbol of the two hammers crossed. When he was doing the animation for The Wall he wanted to have an army of hammers marching but couldn't figure out how to make a hammer "march." He then realized that two hammers together give the illusion of two legs, so he used that method in the animation and the "crossed hammer" symbol was born.

This section of The Wall and the subsequent film reflects the Night of Broken in 1938, which came during Hitler's order of terror. Nazis raided Jewish businesses and synagogues, attacked places of recreation and homes, and destroyed 7,500 business and 177 synagogues.

Once RW left the band, DG used the song to end all PF shows on the 1987 and 1994 tours, extending the introduction and giving the song the extended treatment as he had originally intended.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 12
UCR Ranking (out of 167 songs): 32
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 18
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 34
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 25
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 2

Vulture Ranking (12 out of 165 songs): A highly credible song, from the sharp guitar attack to, for once, an appropriate setting for Waters’s cartoony voice. This is a model assemblage sonically; who doesn’t get excited when the guitars get into gear? Jazz ace Lee Ritenour plays guitar on the track. And there’s some insane stuff going on in the electronics in the back. There are a lot of hard-rock classics from the late 1970s and early 1980s; hard to think of one that can touch the production schema here, possibly Waters and Ezrin’s finest moment. This is the climax to the movie, when Pink’s imaginary fascist boys go out and start roughing folks up.

UCR Ranking (32 out of 167 songs): Words by Waters, music by Gilmour: a worthwhile division of labor. This Wall radio staple carries a nasty assembly of threats paired with some of the most scintillating guitar work ever to be featured on a PF record. In this band’s hands, a four-on-the-floor beat isn’t an excuse to dance, but motivation to Run Like Hell.

Louder Ranking (18 out of 50 songs): With its addictive echo-chamber judder and slashes of crystalline guitar, The Wall’s second single was a rare moment for the radio jocks of 1980 to pounce on. More fool them: the accessibility of the music belied a lyric examining the troubled headspace of the concept album’s anti-hero, Pink, as he imagines himself a fascist dictator sending in the hammers. Run Like Hell might have sounded like Kristallnacht set to a disco beat, but this RW/DG song was one of the final flashes of creative synergy before the principals unraveled.

WMGK Ranking (34 out of 40 songs): One of the last songs on The Wall, it sees Pink, the rock star hallucinating about becoming a fascist leader and turning the audience at his concert into an angry mob. The segment in the film is incredibly disturbing. Musically, the song, like ABITW2 is influenced by some of the contemporary disco of the era.

Billboard Ranking (2 out of 50 songs): Not like it’s surprising that nobody ever thought to combine the strengths of Chic and Rush before PF, but the fact that Floyd did, and came up with The Wall‘s side-four highlight in the process, is forever one for the top of the band’s resume. It’s at least based in the steady thump of disco, but it’s still mostly led by its guitars, the galloping, chiming six-strings of DG. It might be the most anthemic chest-beater PF ever devised, but it’s also one of the group’s most unsettling, with dramatic tonal shifts before the explicitly fascistic Waters-as-Pink verses, and some of the singer’s most stomach-churning, guttural wails. Unlike Us and Them, it’s impossible to imagine any other band even attempting a song like RLH, but that just makes you grateful to have had such extended access to PF’s singular dementia.

Up next, the highest-ranked song without a #1 vote.

 

[PIK95]

The best song off the Wall IMO by alot. I am not shocked the other one is ranked higher by this crew, especially after the way the voting has gone so far.

 

[Anarchy99]

The best song off the Wall IMO by alot. I am not shocked the other one is ranked higher by this crew, especially after the way the voting has gone so far.

To put things in perspective, this song ranked 9th. It got A LOT fewer votes than that other song. And by A LOT, I mean almost half as many.

 

[FatMax]

Run Like Hell was my #23. I like it, but not as much as most apparently. It's a little funny to me, because I feel that Waters is at his best as a vocalist when he's shrieky and manic, and he has that in spades on RLH. It's also very interesting that it was based on Kristallnacht, but that makes perfect sense with all the other imagery equating Pink to Hitler in the film.

 

[zamboni]

The best song off the Wall IMO by alot. I am not shocked the other one is ranked higher by this crew, especially after the way the voting has gone so far.

To put things in perspective, this song ranked 9th. It got A LOT fewer votes than that other song. And by A LOT, I mean almost half as many.

RLH was probably yet another in my 20-song tie for #26.

 

[lardonastick]

1.
2. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (FBG #17)
3.
4. Money (FBG #19)
5.
6.
7. Echoes (FBG #12)
8.
9.
10. Have a Cigar (FBG #14)
11. Hey You (FBG #13)
12. Pigs (Three Different Ones) (FBG #11)
13. Sheep (FBG #20)
14. Run Like Hell (FBG #9)
15.
16.On the Run (FBG #40)
17. Fearless (FBG #21)
18.
19. Young Lust (FBG #24)
20. Mother (FBG #15)
21. Speak to Me/Breathe (FBG #18)
22.
23. One of These Days (FBG #10)
24. Learning to Fly (FBG #26)
25. Astronomy Domine (FBG #25)

 

[Anarchy99]

How many Top 5 songs people have left:

5 - 1
4 - 12
3 - 13
2 - 5
1 - 2

 

[Ghost Rider]

I had Run Like Hell 10th. Each version is great, from the original to the extended live one to the shortened one in the film. I love how the synth solo is placed under the 2nd verse in the film. That is so rad.

 

[DocHolliday]

The best song off the Wall IMO by alot. I am not shocked the other one is ranked higher by this crew, especially after the way the voting has gone so far.

This is my favorite PF song even though there are probably 4 or 5 songs that are knocking on the favorite door. It’s not a sophisticated spacey song that most PF fans enjoy about PF. It’s a driving rock song and I figured I would rank it higher than most but I enjoy when PF just rock it out. As usual Gilmours guitar work is outstanding with riding a couple of notes as the backdrop to much of the song.

 

[Tau837]

The remaining song not on my list just missed my cut. I waffled about including it instead of Learning to Fly and probably should have gone the other way with it.

Run Like Hell is the song I referenced here. In hindsight, I should have had it at #25.

Like everyone else, I have 8 songs not yet revealed:

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. Hey You - FBG 13
6. Echoes - FBG 12
7. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) - FBG 16
8. Speak To Me/Breathe - FBG 18
9. One of These Days - FBG 10
10. Pigs (Three Different Ones) - FBG 11
11. Mother - FBG 15
12. 
    
13. 
    
14. Sheep - FBG 20
15. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1) - 32T
16. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) - FBG 17
17. 
    
18. Goodbye Blue Sky - FBG 29
19. Sorrow - FBG 51
20. Nobody Home - FBG 36
21. 
    
22. Is There Anybody Out There? - FBG 38T
23. Pigs on the Wing (Parts 1 & 2) - FBG 30
24. Don't Leave Me Now - FBG 78T
25. Learning to Fly - FBG 26

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Maybe I need to give One Of These Days another listen, it’s not one that’s ever stuck with me but to be fair I’ve probably only heard it a handful of time

 

[Dan Lambskin]

That Kittie cover of Run Like Hell is one of my all time favorite covers. If you’re even the slightest fan of metal check it out, even if you aren’t it’s worth checking out

hate to say it but I like it better than the original

 

[Yo Mama]

Maybe I need to give One Of These Days another listen, it’s not one that’s ever stuck with me but to be fair I’ve probably only heard it a handful of time

I was super-duper high the first time I heard it. Hence, I had it #5 on my list.

(Although, I guess you could say that about 2/3 of my list, so who knows)

 

[Anarchy99]

#08 - Welcome To The Machine from Wish You Were Here (1975)

Appeared On: 29 ballots (out of 33 . . . 87.9%)
Total Points: 361 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 43.8%)
Top Rankers: @Yambag @BrutalPenguin @Desert_Power @Todem @BroncoFreak_2K3
Highest Rankings: 4, 5, 5

Demo #1, Demo #2, Vienna - 1977, Frankfurt - 1977, Philadelphia - 1987, Paris - 1989, DSOT, RW - 1984, RW - 2000, RW - 2016

Live Performances: PF: 55, DG'S PF: 196, RW: 340

Covers: Shadows Fall, Das Zeichen, Doug Pinnick, Queensryche, Beak, A Secret Death, Pinwheel, Katortz, Kassothga, Nameless, Finger Eleven

Originally called The Machine Song, WTTM features heavily processed synthesizers and acoustic guitars as well as a wide range of tape effects. RW: "Welcome to the Machine is about 'them and us,' and anyone who gets involved in the media process."

The recording of the album was the most difficult piece of work the group has ever done. At this point in time, both Roger's and Nick's marriages were coming to an unhappy conclusion. This created an atmosphere of extreme despondency when the band went into the studio. NM: "I really did find the time in the studio extremely horrible — not because of what was going on in the band but what was going on outside the studio. And PF being the band that they are, that meant it went on for 9 months. We were all rather badly mentally ill. When we were putting that one together we were all completely exhausted. My alarming despondency manifested itself in a complete rigor mortis. I didn't quite have to be carried about, but I wasn't interested. I couldn't get myself to sort out the drumming, and that of course drove everyone else even crazier."

DG on the recording process: "The only time we've ever used tape speed to help us with vocals was on one line of the Machine song. It was a line I just couldn't reach so we dropped the tape down half a semitone and then dropped the line in on the track. The track is very much a made-up-in-the-studio thing which was all built up with a repeat echo used so that each 'boom' is followed by an echo repeat to give the throb. You don't start off with a regular concept of group structure or anything, and there's no backing track either. Really, it is just a studio proposition where we're using tape for its own ends -- a form of collage using sound. It's very hard to get a full synthesizer tone down on tape. If you listen to them before and after they've been recorded, you'll notice that you've lost a lot. And although I like the sound of a synthesizer through an amp, you still lose something that way as well. Eventually what we decided to do was to use D.I. on synthesizer because that way you don't increase your losses and the final result sounds very much like a synthesizer through a stage amp.

This song features a very rare music video only played during concerts. It features a particularly visceral depiction featuring corpses, rats, death, and waves of blood drawn by hand. Gerald Scarfe created the powerfully disturbing video (it was a backdrop film for when the band played the track on its 1977 In The Flesh tour), which displays a giant mechanical beast somewhere between triceratops and armadillo lumbering across an apocalyptic city-scape. Emaciated rats leap around corpse-laden steel girders, gleaming industrial smokestacks crack and ooze blood, and a tower grows out of this desert, transforms into a screaming monster and decapitates an unsuspecting man. His head then very slowly decays to a damaged skull. Finally, an ocean of blood washes away this wasteland, and the waves turn into thousands of hands waving in rhythm to the music (much like people at a rock concert). Despite being pulled at by the bloody masses, one building survives and, synchronizing with the sound effects at the end of the song, flies up and away, high above the clouds to where it fits snugly into a hole inside a gargantuan floating ovoid structure.

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 4
UCR Ranking (out of 167 songs): 20
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 15
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 4
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 19
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 35

Vulture Ranking (4 out of 165 songs): Talk about musique concrète — the slabs of sound here are massive; this is one of the greatest sci-fi rock songs of all time. The words track the childhood of what seems to be a rock star in the making with ominous results. The mix of the high electronics and prominent acoustic guitar sets up a tension; you wait for the vocals to come and buttress the acoustic instrument. Instead, they are a mechanical scream. (It’s another one of DG’s most amazing vocal performances.) One of the great parts of the PF story is how RW became everything he’d written about. He acted out his bildungsroman even as he wrote it. He fired Wright, whom he’d known since he was a teen. He fell out with Hipgnosis, the design firm that had done the album covers since Saucerful of Secrets. Finally, he divorced himself from the people who’d made everything he’d wanted to do possible, often despite his, Waters’s, best efforts to sabotage it all. Why, it’s almost as if he were building a wall around himself, becoming the machine he once railed against. That, Ms. Morissette, is what you call ironic.

UCR Ranking (20 out of 167 songs): Studio shenanigans at their finest. Whether RW’s song is about the “machine” of the music industry or a dystopian, machine-ruled society, the track’s human/mechanical dichotomy is personified by Gilmour. Not only do his warm-blooded acoustic guitars strum amidst invasive and bloodless synthesizers, his lead vocal is treated to sound like an emotionless, robotic overlord – a ghost in the machine. Machine squeezes gallons of unease from its terse lyrics while making the most out of every tick, buzz, thump and hum. The layers of sound are so skillfully realized, it’s like the song was recorded in 3D.

Louder Ranking (15 out of 50 songs): As if to reinforce its theme of the music industry as a corporate behemoth that prizes financial reward over creative expression, WTTM is built around the relentless synth pulse then decorated with DG’s acoustic guitar patterns. RW, who also brings a bank of tape effects, wrote the song as a commentary on PF’s own disaffection with aspects of the business. The narrative deals with the routine manipulation of a rock-star wannabe by the powers that be It’s a strikingly powerful song, made all the more compelling by time signatures that refuse to stay still for too long. “With a number like that you don’t start off with a regular concept of group structure,” explained DG, who called the track “a form of collage using sound”.

WMGK Ranking (4 out of 40 songs): A condemnation of the music industry (like Have A Cigar) but it could apply to the business of the arts in general. It surely describes a lot of kids who are smart, but didn’t fit in to a rigid school system (a theme Waters revisited in The Wall). But even when you “make it,” the realization that “we told you what to dream” rings as sad and true.

Billboard Ranking (35 out of 50 songs): Not necessarily the easiest song in the PF catalog to defend, particularly against those who view the band as nothing more than pandering fare for 14-year-olds who think they’re the first person to compare high school to a fascist regime. Yeah, but those sonics - where else are you gonna hear bass that throbs like muscle pain, acoustic chords where every individual note stabs like an icicle to the back, or synths that shoot off like laser fireworks in the post-Skynet sky? A compelling case that sometimes, we all gotta engage with that inner easily-mind-blown teen and do a little anti-machine raging.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

This one just missed my Top 25…nothing bad to say about it but kind of surprised how high it’s ranked

Would like to see that video mentioned in the writeup, is it available anywhere?

That said I do love a great video to go along with a song, TOOL is one of the best at this IMO, the visuals really enhance the live experience with them

 

[Anarchy99]

Would like to see that video mentioned in the writeup, is it available anywhere?

The YouTube link is in the write up, but it requires age verification to view it.

 

[FatMax]

My #25 song .... Welcome to the Machine, IMO, is for me, the worst song on WYWH. But that's hardly an insult. It's like driving the slowest F1 car. It'll still blow the doors off of pretty much everything on the road. I think what detracts for me slightly is Gimours vocal - it's a bit monotone and robotic, although that is absolutely by design and fits great with the song. Just doesn't resonate as well with me personally.

 

[Mt. Man]

Queensryche version?
Oh, right, from Take Cover. Not the worst thing on that album by far, but certainly not the complete package. At least it's an unique take, right?

Just 7 songs left, and 4 from my top 5 remain!

 

[Ghost Rider]

I had Welcome to the Machine at 22. Great song for sure. Not one I always want to hear, but it's always great when I do, and it's really awesome to crank on the big home stereo.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

#11 - Pigs (Three Different Ones) from Animals (1977)

My rank: 23

It's as far down on my list as it is because I don't care for the pig-snort sound effects or some of Waters' wailing, but otherwise this is just as much of an achievement as the other two big ones from Animals. And yes, the guitar solos are to die for. There is, gasp, even some Beatles-like melodicism going on in the "You're nearly a good laugh/Almost a joker" part and the corresponding moments in the subsequent verses. Oh -- and indeed, I always thought "Hey you, Whitehouse" was about Richard Nixon or something like that.

#10 - One Of These Days from Meddle (1971)

My rank: 7

I included this in my 1971 countdown. Here is what I said there:

38. One of These Days -- Pink Floyd (from Meddle)

Pink Floyd had put out some pretty awesome instrumentals in their four years' worth of work up to 1971, but One of These Days took things a step further. The bass rumbles, organ stabs and wind sound effects at the beginning convey a sense of an oncoming hurricane (or, if you've been watching Stranger Things recently, a supernatural entity), and then David Gilmour comes in with some gnarly slide guitar and, after a percolating break punctuated by a distorted voice (Nick Mason's only "lead vocal" on a Floyd record*), all hell breaks loose. If Gilmour wasn't given his due as a guitar hero before this, he certainly was afterward.

* - not quite true, as noted earlier in this thread

#09 - Run Like Hell from The Wall (1979)

My rank: 3

I don't think this is the BEST Floyd track, as I have two ranked ahead of it, but I do think it is the MOST EXCITING Floyd track. If ABITW2 is Floyd's version of mainstream disco, this is Floyd's version of underground disco -- it's menacing and mechanical and rocks the hell out, but still makes you want to move. (Hopefully it does not make you want to goose step, as Pink would have you do at this point in the Wall storyline.) The use of echoplex on the bass, the chugging almost Nile Rodgers-like guitar lines, the inventive use of percussion and the freaky synth solo all make this a track that has no parallels in the Floyd sound, and thus one I never get tired of.

"Once RW left the band, DG used the song to end all PF shows on the 1987 and 1994 tours"

Not quite true. In the first 12 shows of 1987, including the one I attended, RLH was the first of two encore songs, with SOYCD parts I-V following it. Then SOYCD I-V replaced Echoes as the show opener, RLH replaced SOYCD I-V as the show closer, and One Slip replaced RLH as the first encore song.

#08 - Welcome To The Machine from Wish You Were Here (1975)

My rank: 13

Another song that doesn't really have a parallel in the Floyd sound. I don't think I could take a whole album of acoustic guitar/synth arrangements, but all 7 minutes of this are captivating. And the music is perfect for the narrative full of disillusion and dystopia.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I have 5 songs on my list yet to be revealed. Which two of the top 7 did I leave off? Stay tuned.

1.
2. Echoes (FBG #12)
3. Run Like Hell (FBG #9)
4.
5.
6. Shine on You Crazy Diamond parts VI-IX (FBG #16)
7. One of These Days (FBG #10)
8. Sheep (FBG #20)
9.
10. Money (FBG #19)
11. The Nile Song (FBG T#71)
12. Ibiza Bar (FBG #70)
13. Welcome to the Machine (FBG #8)
14. The Gold It's in the... (FBG #75)
15. Any Colour You Like (FBG #28)
16. Interstellar Overdrive (FBG T#38)
17. High Hopes (FBG #27)
18. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (FBG #50)
19. Fearless (FBG #21)
20. Cymbaline (FBG T#55)
21.
22. See Emily Play (FBG T#31)
23. Pigs (Three Different Ones) (FBG #11)
24. One of My Turns (FBG T#34)
25. Summer '68 (FBG #62)

 

[Anarchy99]

#07 - Us And Them from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)

Appeared On: 26 ballots (out of 33 . . . 78.8%)
Total Points: 403 points (out of 825 possible points . . . 48.8%)
Top Rankers: @Mt. Man @DocHolliday @Ghost Rider @Pip's Invitation Friend of @PIK95 @Desert_Power
Highest Rankings: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4

Early Mix, Alternate Version, Studio Outtake, Extended Version, Chicago - 1972, Boston - 1973, London - 1974, Hamilton - 1975, New York - 1977, DSOT, Pulse, DG - 2016, RW - 2018

Live Performances: PF: 55, DG'S PF: 196, RW: 340

Covers: Jeff Scott Soto, Joseph William Morgan, Anne Bisson, Rusty Shipp, Dream Theater, Liquid Blue, Between The Buried And Me, Phish, Sarah Slean, Misery Signals

The second most performed PF song with over 1,200 combined performances. The song was originally recorded as The Violence Sequence for the Zabriskie Point Soundtrack in 1969, but as a piano instrumental and was performed live that way 7 times in 1970. The film's director opted not to use the song as it was "beautiful but too sad" and made him think of church. A few years later, PF started to assemble material for DSOTM and Wright was still kicking around the song's chord progression in his brain. The song ended up underscoring a different sort of conflict: warfare, prejudice and inequality as depicted in lyrics written by Waters. The band worked on the song, now called Us and Them, adding a new musical section and words that paid heed to the forces that prevent human beings from connecting.

Waters wrote the lyrics, describing the senseless nature of war and the ignorance of modern-day humans who have been taken over by consumerism and materialism. RW: "The first verse is about going to war, how on the front line we don’t get much chance to communicate with one another, because someone else has decided that we shouldn’t. The second verse is about civil liberties, racism, and prejudice. The last verse is about passing a tramp in the street and not helping."

“We needed a middle-eight. I came up with the chords for that,” Wright said. “It’s very flowing and sweet if you look at the verse, then there’s the contrast, this big, harder chorus. With the lyrics about the war and the general sitting back – it worked so well.” Wright and Waters were so pleased with Us and Them that the deceptively serene song became the first one recorded for the album.

When the song was recorded, Rick Wright played the song's jazz-influenced grand piano to what he thought was the rest of the band playing in the next studio. In fact they weren't present, and it was a playback of a recording made earlier. What started as a prank became, according to Alan Parsons, "one of the best things Rick ever did."

DG sang the lead part, his voice processed with an echo effect to enhance the dichotomy of certain lines. Wright’s vocals come in to harmonize in the crescendo of the choruses, as do the voices of Doris Troy, Leslie Duncan, Liza Strike and Barry St. John, who sang backup on the album. “All our vocals are perfectly balanced on Us and Them,” DG said. “I did I don’t know how many harmony vocals, then the girls on top. It’s really great, really uplifting. You can move one element a fraction and the whole thing falls to pieces.”

Dave's friend **** Parry played sax and delivered two solos, each breathy and moody, in stark contrast to his other assignment on DSOTM. Just before his second solo, listeners hear yet one of the album’s spoken-word snippets, with roadie Roger “The Hat” Manifold holding forth on the theme of violence (“So if you give ’em a quick short, sharp, shock, they won’t do it again”). PF's record company was originally hesitant to release the track because it was felt that the signature melody line was extremely depressing.

Wright and Waters, the song’s co-writers who would so often find themselves at odds in the post-Dark Side era, would eventually look back fondly on Us and Them. Even in the years in which they were not talking to one another, they each considered their collaboration a highlight, if not the all-out centerpiece, of PF most legendary album. “It’s a great example of the music and the lyrics combining to create emotion,” Wright said in 2003. A few years earlier, Waters had offered, “The whole idea, the political idea of humanism and whether it could or should have any effect on any of us, that’s what the record is about really – conflict, our failure to connect with one another.”

Talking about Wright's compositions, RW said: "He would write odd bits. He secreted them away and put them on those solo albums he made and were never heard. He never shared them. It was unbelievably stupid. I never understood why he did that. I'm sure there were two or three decent chord sequences. If he'd given them to me, I would have been very, very happy to make something with them."

 

[Anarchy99]

Vulture Ranking (out of 165 songs): 27
UCR Ranking (out of 167 songs): 18
Louder Ranking (out of 50 songs): 8
WMGK Ranking (out of 40 songs): 20
Ranker Ranking (out of 132 songs): 4
Billboard Ranking (out of 50 songs): 3

Vulture Ranking (27 out of 165 songs): Let’s note to begin than this song goes on too long. That said, it’s a very pretty song that does its job well on this terrific record. RW found a melody for it and a set of lyrics that is a standout on the record, a closely controlled series of ironies, travesties, and dichotomies marking the dead-end days of the early ’70s, as the memories of Kent State, the Weathermen, Cambodia, Altamont, and the psychedelic dreams of the ‘60s all sat soaking in the not-yet-discarded metaphorical bong-water resting on a generation’s crummy coffee table. Sung passionately by DG, it’s an authentic protest song that raises questions on both sides, marking a place and a time like few other songs. PF always prided itself on its group vocal stylings; the choruses here are the apogee of all that, and funny how most of it (leaving aside the higher volume on the chorus) could be used as elevator music; it’s a quirky triumph. Wright released a couple of uninteresting solo albums, but stayed with Mason and Gilmour through the 2 post-RW albums (and the lucrative accompanying tours) and supported DG on his tours as well. He died in ’06 of lung cancer. The song A Boat Lies Waiting, off Rattle That Lock, is a touching tribute to him — one of DG’s best later solo songs.

UCR Ranking (18 out of 167 songs): There might not be a more gorgeous sound on a PF record than when Gilmour’s and Wright’s voices converge on Dark Side’s jazzy ballad. It’s not a roar. It’s not a gasp. It’s just this beautiful exhalation, like they opened their mouths in tandem and this dream of a voice was the result of combining their vocal cords. On a smart song about conflict, it’s a good example of teamwork.

Louder Ranking (8 out of 50 songs): Clearly a song often heard by Radiohead, it does that deceptive thing of starting off sounding like nothing much at all. But as it starts to take shape, it suddenly starts to show off its vast range of colors. Sax solos, lovely lingering piano fills, big choruses, crazy little talking additions. It actually feels quite seductive, which isn’t a word you’d normally associate with Floyd. "Rick wrote the chord sequence for Us And Them and I used it as a vehicle," says Waters. **** Parry, an old friend of the band’s from Cambridge, overdubbed a sax solo on the song, and a quartet of female session vocalists were brought in to embellish it. "They weren’t very friendly," said singer Lesley Duncan looking back. "They were cold, rather clinical. They didn’t emanate any kind of warmth… They just said what they wanted and we did it… There were no smiles. We were all quite relieved to get out."

WMGK Ranking (20 out of 40 songs): DSOTM is an album with great flow: many of the songs just bleed into the next one. Us And Them starts out with an anti-war message, decrying that the people making the decisions aren’t usually the ones who suffer from them. The song then seems to visit a civil rights protest. By the end of the song, the narrator seems to be too busy to help a homeless man in his time of need.

Billboard Ranking (3 out of 50 songs): Dark Side’s crown jewel, a slow-burning sway built around a softly flaring DG riff and radiant Hammond organ from Wright. It’s a Floyd song for sure, with militaristic lyrics, a surging chorus and a tough-talking roadie spoken-word sample, but it stands out because it’s one of the few Floyd songs you could picture being recorded by a whole range of artists. Maybe it’s the What’s Going On?-worthy sax that shows up at all the right moments, or the universality of the opening lines, but the song connects on a level that’s closer to soul than prog, giving Dark Side a beating heart to go with its overactive brain.

 

[Anarchy99]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

 

[zamboni]

Us and Them was #7 for me, so I was spot on with the group overall. Just a captivating piece of music - the sax and the harmonies are heavenly. Fits so well in the DSOTM sequence as it builds into the big finish of Colour/Damage/Eclipse.

 

[zamboni]

I love the foundation of making Us and Them in the Pompeii film, surrounded by some interaction among the boys. Nick is really high maintenance about pie.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

 

[Ghost Rider]

Us and Them is one of the greatest songs of all time by anyone. I ranked it 3rd. It is a perfect song, any way you slice it. Are there six songs better than this by the band? Nope.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

#07 - Us And Them from The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)

My rank: 4

The length does not bother me -- hey, I ranked Echoes at #2. This is one of the most moving pieces of music recorded in the last 100 years. (I'm guessing Vulture guy doesn't care for Beethoven either.) It evokes strong emotions every time I hear it, which is a whole bunch. "Forward, he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died" may be one of the saddest lyrics ever waxed. Everything about this is constructed perfectly -- the vocals, the piano, the sax, the spoken-word interludes. It's another good one to play if someone asks you "what does Pink Floyd sound like?"

 

[Mt. Man]

*sees Vulture comment about being too long. Checks out extended version first*. Though admittedly that version is "cheating" a bit by including Brain Damage/Eclipse.

Anyway, followers of the Dummies threads may not be too surprised to see "Us and Them" as my #1, considering I put the song as #5 overall on the UK list. It's a strange realization to have part of an album best played as one there, but I obviously simply love this song in ways than I can't adequately describe. The sax actually does strong work here. But I think it's the harmonies that hit me hardest. That and the middle section which has grabbed me every single time.

 

[zamboni]

Another great Us & Them cover that I didn't see listed was from The Return To The Dark Side of the Moon tribute.

John Wetton on vocals along with Scott Page, Dweezil Zappa, Tony Kaye, Pat Mastelotto, Jimmy Haslip, Bob Kulick, and Michael Sherwood

Us and Them

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesUs and Them · John Wetton · Scott Page · Dweezil ZappaReturn to the Dark Side of the Moon: a Tribute to Pink Fl...

www.youtube.com

 

[PIK95]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. The song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is similar to my thoughts. It’s not something I want to just hear on its own, but if I listen through the whole album I’ll listen to it. I respect it as a song but I still find myself thinking …get to Brain Damage!

 

[zamboni]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. Thar song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

New to Floyd?

 

[PIK95]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. Thar song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

New to Floyd?

They have plenty of non depressing stuff where I can avoid these when needed.

 

[zamboni]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. Thar song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

New to Floyd?

They have plenty of non depressing stuff where I can avoid these when needed.

Fair enough, I see U&T more as introspective than depressing.

 

[PIK95]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. Thar song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

New to Floyd?

They have plenty of non depressing stuff where I can avoid these when needed.

Fair enough, I see U&T more as introspective than depressing.

Us and Them should have a warning on the bottle (label).

"If you believe that you or someone you know may be suffering from depression, there are a few signs that can help validate your concerns. Playing US and Them on repeat is one of them. Immediately contact your doctor if you or someone you know has fallen down this rabbit hole."

 

[zamboni]

Sometimes I like those first-time reaction videos - even if they're often contrived - and had to check it out for U&T. Love the reactions by this couple.

I'm jealous that they got to hear it for the first time. I really should have ranked this even higher than #7 - it's so powerful.

 

[PIK95]

Sometimes I like those first-time reaction videos - even if they're often contrived - and had to check it out for U&T. Love the reactions by this couple.

I'm jealous that they got to hear it for the first time. I really should have ranked this even higher than #7 - it's so powerful.

I like it. Great tune for sure.

 

[simey]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. Thar song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

New to Floyd?

They have plenty of non depressing stuff where I can avoid these when needed.

Fair enough, I see U&T more as introspective than depressing.

I don't find it depressing, either. Musically, I think it is one of their prettiest songs, and Richard Wright did a great job composing it. The backup singers are a nice addition to the song, and Gilmour's vocals are soothing. Lyrically, isn't it just more of Waters' thoughts on war? It definitely isn't a song that will give you a natural shot of adrenaline, but to me it is a calming pretty piece of music.

 

[zamboni]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

This is me exactly. Thar song is extremely depressing, and I can only take it occasionally. Welcome to the Machine is similar in that regard. Yet I still love both. I had US and Them at seventeen myself.

New to Floyd?

They have plenty of non depressing stuff where I can avoid these when needed.

Fair enough, I see U&T more as introspective than depressing.

I don't find it depressing, either. Musically, I think it is one of their prettiest songs, and Richard Wright did a great job composing it. The backup singers are a nice addition to the song, and Gilmour's vocals are soothing. Lyrically, isn't it is just more of Waters' thoughts on war? It definitely isn't a song that will give you a natural shot of adrenaline, but to me it is a calming pretty piece of music.

One of my very favorite parts is the up (up, up, up) and down (down, down, down)

 

[Anarchy99]

Us and Them is one of the greatest songs of all time by anyone. I ranked it 3rd. It is a perfect song, any way you slice it. Are there six songs better than this by the band? Nope.

Depending on the day, I may think there are six songs better than UAT just on DSOTM (which isn't close to my favorite Floyd album). Like I posted earlier, I like it every year or two, but the rest of the time it's just a random song to me.

I am not convinced it's an etched in stone Top 10 Floyd song . . . half the outside rankers said yes, the other half said no. I think if we polled 1,000 Floyd fans to name their Top 6 PF songs, maybe 1/4 might include Us & Them. Using our group as a sample, we had 6 of 33 people rank it in the Top 6 (18%). Happy for those that revere it and think it is one of the best songs of the last 50 years. But for me, I wouldn't put it in that category.

 

[Yambag]

Us And Them is a song that I sit down every couple of years and think, "Man, what a richly textured, layered, beautiful, masterpiece of a song!" I mean, really, really listening and absorbing the song and thinking how incredible it truly is. Then for another two years, I will skip over it every time and think it's too long, too slow, and doesn't fill my need for harder rocking PF. I didn't vote for it, but if the day I put my list together was the day I was into it, it would have been Top 5.

Same with me, hence my lower rating the day I did my list. Sometimes I feel it is too repetitive and will skip it. However, both times seeing them live, I was enthralled by it.

 

[zamboni]

Us and Them is one of the greatest songs of all time by anyone. I ranked it 3rd. It is a perfect song, any way you slice it.

I'm awestruck that they started a blank sheet of music paper and ended up with this.