PINK FLOYD - "Us and Them"

Pink Floyd
"Us and Them"
Single B-side / A-side: "Time"
Album: The Dark Side of the Moon
Released: 4 February 1974
Writers: Richard Wright / Roger Waters
Label: Harvest

"Us and Them" is a song by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd on their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and was released as the second single from The Dark Side of the Moon in the US.The music was written by Richard Wright and lyrics by Roger Waters and it is sung by David Gilmour, with harmonies by Wright. The song is 7 minutes, 51 seconds in length, making it the longest on the album. The song is one of Pink Floyd's first uses of female backup singers. They brought in Liza Strike, Leslie Duncan and Doris Troy to sing harmonies. Troy had a hit on her own with "Just One Look." Along with "Money," this was one of 2 songs on the album to use a sax, which was played by Dick Parry. The engineer for the album was Alan Parsons, who also worked on The Beatles' Abbey Road album.

Pink Floyd Us And Them USA Promo 7" vinyl single
(Courtesy of Harvest)

(Pink Floyd - "Us and Them" (LP version, 1974)

Richard Wright wrote a song known as "The Violent Sequence" while the band was working for the score of Zabriskie Point. Then the song was reworked into "Us and Them". "The Violent Sequence" remained unreleased until it was included on a 2011 boxed set of "The Dark Side of the Moon", where it was named "Us and Them (Richard Wright Demo)".

"Us and Them" is rather quiet in tone and dynamics, with prominent jazz influence, although the choruses are louder than the verses. It has two saxophone solos in it, one at the beginning and another towards the end of the song. Richard Wright introduces the song with harmonies on his Hammond organ, and put a piano chordal backing and short piano solo afterwards on the arrangement. The tune was originally written on the piano by Wright for the film Zabriskie Point in 1969 and was titled "The Violent Sequence". In its original demo form it was instrumental, featuring only piano and bass. Director Michelangelo Antonioni rejected it on the grounds that it was too unlike material such as "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", which was the style of music he wanted to use. As Roger Waters recalls it in impersonation, Antonioni's response was: "It's beautiful, but is it too sad, you know? It makes me think of church". The song was shelved until The Dark Side of the Moon, where Waters put some lyrics to it.

In the middle, there is a break during which roadie Roger "The Hat" Manifold speaks (during the recording of the album a number of interviews were laid down, including with Paul and Linda McCartney who were recording in the same studio).

It was also re-released on the 2001 best of album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, where it is the seventh track of the second disc. The ending of the song was edited in this version, with the vocals from the last measure treated with heavy delay, and the music track muted entirely, to avoid the seamless transition to "Any Colour You Like" that occurs on The Dark Side of the Moon.

The following quotation takes place before the second saxophone solo (it is one of two spoken parts by the then band roadie Roger "The Hat" Manifold): "Well I mean, they're gonna kill ya, so like, if you give 'em a quick sh...short, sharp shock, they don't do it again. Dig it? I mean he got off light, 'cause I coulda given 'im a thrashin' but I only hit him once. It's only the difference between right and wrong innit? I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they, eh?"

Pink Floyd - "Us and Them (music video)

Pink Floyd - "Us and Them" (live 1994)

"...'Us and Them' is a unique anti-war song for the time, because it it presented throught the eyes of soldier. He doesn't understand his orders, doesn't particularly want to carry them out, but end the end does so because it is his 'duty'..." (Progarchives, review by 1800iareyay)

Pink Floyd 1974
(Photo courtesy of Daily Mail / EMI)

Pink Floyd on stage (Wembley , Empire Pool, London, 16  November ,1974)

Line-up / Musicians:
David Gilmour – electric guitars, lead vocals (verses), harmony vocals (choruses)
Richard Wright – Hammond organ, piano, harmony vocals (choruses)
Roger Waters – bass, fuzz bass, backing vocals
Nick Mason – drums
With:
Dick Parry - tenor saxophone
Lesley Duncan - backing vocals
Doris Troy - backing vocals
Barry St. John - backing vocals
Liza Strike - backing vocals

Links / Review:
Pink Floyd official site: Pink Floyd Studio Album, Pink Floyd Music
Wikipedia: Us and Them (Song) 
Progarchives: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Songfacts: Us and Them by Pink Floyd