Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

It seems as though all of your reasons for debunking this event are concerned with “well, what if THIS happened instead?” Sorry, but that is simply NOT ENOUGH to debunk this theory. You can’t just say that since you think you know of more obvious lyrics that SHOULD HAVE gone with certain scenes, it couldn’t possibly have been predetermined.

Obviously, Pink Floyd would not release an album whose lyrics were completely about Dorothy and Toto walking down a yellow brick road, or the music of which fits absolutely perfectly with the film in every case. This way, the mystery would be gone, and lawsuits would no doubt follow, not to mention it wouldn’t nearly as interesting if they just made an unsanctioned score to the film. Pink Floyd has always been a band of mystery, and this sort of non-blatantly-obvious event is exactly what the band has always been about. Also, they are a rock band and primarily were making a rock album. To match up every single lyrics and note just so The Straight Dope would be satisfied seems like a very tedious thing to do, especially when the few coincidences are so mindblowing and unexpected that it doesn’t really matter that not every second of the album goes with the movie. If every single note and lyric were in synch, the fun of discovery would be totally ruined, and there would have been no way for Pink Floyd to actually make an album, since every second of that album would have already been written for them.

Commenting on who engineered and produced what makes NO DIFFERENCE. You were not personally there to oversee the production, mixing and editing of The Dark Side of the Moon album, therefore, you do not know ANYTHING about its production, and for all you know, NONE of what you know about its production can be verified as fact. For all you know, I personally engineered that album, so now prove that I didn’t…??

I suppose many people would be sceptical, but only because people such as yourself need a big sign held up by the Tin Man saying “hey, Pink Floyd made an album you can synch with this movie” or David Gilmour to sing out “try synching this with the Wizard of Oz, it’ll be great” in the middle of ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’, but again, Pink Floyd is a band of mystery and subtlety, unlike your website, in which there’s no mystery in life, because you guys have reached the pinnacle of knowledge and intelligence and NOTHING surprises you guys, because you already know it all, right?

In conclusion, your debunking of this theory rests on the ludicrous assumption that every sound on the album SHOULD have some link to The Wizard of Oz, and that even if 99% of it DOES, you would point out that 1% does not, so it’s not possible. The Dark Side of the Moon is NOT a score or soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz, so you shouldn’t expect it all to go along with the movie. However, no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot deny the fact that there are SEVERAL instances in which music or lyrics coincide PERFECTLY for it to be coincidence. But then again, you have to actually try watching and listening to it to know for sure, but I bet you guys already know it doesn’t work without having to actually sit down and try it, right?

2

Reference is to Does the music in Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon coincide with the action of The Wizard of Oz?.

No, that is not true, as is abundantly clear from reading the article. This patent falsehood, however, is all of your argument, which can consequently be dismissed pretty easily.

3

Well, there ya go!

4

I realize that it makes people look really cool to quote one line and add something witty, clever and funny, and that makes you look smart, but if you leave the Fox News style of argument behind, you’ll find that after all is said and done, there are simply too many points at which everything synchs up perfectly, which NONE OF YOU can explain. So please leave the ‘look at how cool I am for writing one sentence’ type megalomania and talk about the facts, please.

5

Read what I quoted again and get back to me.

6

This is the last post I’ll make on this specific issue, since it’s become very clear that instead of addressing the facts, it’s cooler on this website to make fun of the person stating them. This is called an ad hominem attack and is usually employed when the person making the attack has absolutely no way of countering or responding to the claims made in the original argument. Again, it seems obvious that you cannot refute anything that I said and instead wish you search out sentences to try to discredit me and make you look clever. Deal with the facts, not in trying to frame the person presenting them in a way that makes them look weak.

Or, on the other hand:
Ok, you’re amazing, and I’m dumb. You’re so smart, I’m so stupid. Now explain how all those things synch up…?

Or just quote something here out of context and try to look cool again…

7

Thanks.

But I don’t think we really need to address anything here since DavidB’s staff report did a pretty decent job of it. To wit, virtually everybody connected with the album has denied any connection with the Wizard of Oz and you’ve demonstrated no inside knowledge which would give us any different insight. To quote your own words :

If you WERE there and were personally involved with the production and have some new knowledge of how it all got put together, fine. Otherwise, you’re just blowing smoke.

8

What I don’t understand is why enjoyment of Dark Side of the Rainbow has to be predicated on whether or not it was deliberate, or means anything. Why should it have to be? It’s a trippy thing to watch. For me, that’s enough.

9

If you’re still not convinced (and I’m guessing you’re not), go buy yourself one of those novelty laser disco-ball things, or download a kalideoscope-type program. Start it.

Now, on an unconnected device, play a song or movie that’s reasonably fast. Notice how amazingly well they sync up. Humans are great at noticing patterns, even when they don’t exist, and we’re phenomenal at counting the “hits” and ignoring the “misses.”

Any two sufficiently-random sources of input will appear to sync up – try it. If you can speed up or slow down one source, you can make the effect appear and disappear just by adjusting speed: slow inputs reduce the total number of “points of interest” and make the effect disappear. Crank the speed back up, and back it comes.

10

I guess I would be more interested in who “discovered” this, and under what circumstances…

11

“It seems as though all of your reasons for debunking this event are concerned with “well, what if THIS happened instead?” Sorry, but that is simply NOT ENOUGH to debunk this theory. You can’t just say that since you think you know of more obvious lyrics that SHOULD HAVE gone with certain scenes, it couldn’t possibly have been predetermined.”
I wasent aware that Dark Side of the Moons lyrics had anything to do with the Wizard of Oz. Although that movies so weird I guess you can argue that its a metaphor for anything. Dark Side of the Moons meaning is more clear though.

“Obviously, Pink Floyd would not release an album whose lyrics were completely about Dorothy and Toto walking down a yellow brick road, or the music of which fits absolutely perfectly with the film in every case. This way, the mystery would be gone, and lawsuits would no doubt follow”
If they wanted to, Pink Floyd could of gotten a license for the Wizard of Oz.

“Pink Floyd has always been a band of mystery.”
Ide expect such a thing as an album and unrelated movie syncing up to be more of a Syd Barrett idea. Flying pigs, bitching about modern life and nonsense song titles is more of Roger Waters style.

“Commenting on who engineered and produced what makes NO DIFFERENCE. You were not personally there to oversee the production, mixing and editing of The Dark Side of the Moon album, therefore, you do not know ANYTHING about its production, and for all you know”
Were you there?

“I suppose many people would be sceptical, but only because people such as yourself need a big sign held up by the Tin Man saying “hey, Pink Floyd made an album you can synch with this movie” or David Gilmour to sing out “try synching this with the Wizard of Oz, it’ll be great” in the middle of ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’, but again,”
David Gilmour didnt sing on Great Gig in the Sky.

“In conclusion, your debunking of this theory rests on the ludicrous assumption that every sound on the album SHOULD have some link to The Wizard of Oz, and that even if 99% of it DOES, you would point out that 1% does not, so it’s not possible.”
Eh ide say you got that backwards. %1 syncs up and 99% does not.

“But then again, you have to actually try watching and listening to it to know for sure, but I bet you guys already know it doesn’t work without having to actually sit down and try it, right?”
A trippy, spacy album along with a colorful childrens movie. Sounds like a fun thing to do when I get some acid.

And what proof do you have that Dark Side of the Moon and the Wizard of Oz syncs up anyway? You keep saying there are numerous times when the movie and music sync up perfectly but when?

And you bitch about us atacking the arguer but not the argument (ad hominem), yet you do the same thing to us.

12

B’bye now. :smiley:

13

Nice movie you made though.

14

Your initial post was absolutely contrary to fact. Your rejoinder is still contrary to fact, and resorts to obscene personal insults, to boot.

Produce an argument, or go away.

15

You’ve set the bar pretty low to prove that it was deliberate: all you ask is that it came from Pink Floyd and that there are a few neat coincidences.

Tell me, did you ever consider any other albums for Wizard of Oz syncronicity? Or, for that matter, any other movies for “Dark Side of the Moon” syncronicity?

I name you an album that came out the same year: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, by Elton John. If The Wizard of Oz has long had a following among gay men, I nominate this album as being the most probable one for strange Oz matchups. It’s oodles more probable than an album by Pink Floyd that has nothing at all to do with Wizard, thematically or running time or otherwise.

You might also care to explain to the audience at home how Pink Floyd managed, in 1973, to create their perfect syncronization to a movie that hadn’t been released on VHS format until 1980, and syncronized using CD auto-repeat format, which wasn’t available at the time either.

If anything I would expect the strange syncronicity to match up to the 8-track played alongside the TV version, because that’s what was available at the time. After all, given the “start on the third-roar” precision, if they’d cut even 12 frames out of the movie — that’s half a second, and it wouldn’t be unusual for a film degraded by fifty years of age and wear for one or two edits to need to be cleaned up — the whole thing would fall apart.

If I owned a copy of The Wizard of Oz, I’d put it on and count how many coincidences there are in other albums, but frankly the conspiracy-laden froth that this whole thing was a secret master plan by Floyd is just too stupid to waste my time on. Just accept it for what it is: a good way to spend a Saturday night with a VCR, a CD, and a bong.

16

Sorry for the double post: I forgot something.

After you’re done explaining the technology gap, would you mind elaborating on how a deep, dark conspiracy of extremely clever but modest men, who devised a scheme to syncronize the most popular album of all time with the most popular movie of all time and then not admit to it and not tell anybody they were doing it, how this conspiracy fell apart because some dude happened to discover it by complete accident?

I mean, if you’re unwilling to consider the power of blatant coincidence in the syncronicity of the movie, how do you mentally reconcile that with the complete coincidence that somebody happened to find out the secret?

17

I’ve been reading the Complete Calvin & Hobbes and this sounds exactly like one of Calvin’s arguments. :slight_smile:

18

Can you actually point out the ad hominem that you were referring to here? I read again the three responses you had gotten, and didn’t see any. I saw posts that were dismissive of your argument, but no ad-homs.

Since you didn’t bring any facts, only an argument from incredulity, how do you expect us to argue against it? It’s you who needs to present facts, evidence, data, but you have none. The evidence that you will have to overcome is that the people who made the album deny any relation.

Far more plausible, but still incorrect, is the idea that The Wizard of Oz is an allegory of the monetarist political debates around the turn of the century.

19

You have got to be kidding me? Talk about joining dots that don’t need to be joined. As someone said earlier, hey, it’s a trippy thing to do one night on a Saturday night, but man, this is just one small step away from the Manson family reading stuff into “The White Album” that didn’t need to be read into.

20

On a related note, try synchronising Echoes with 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Setup, What to look for and, if you can’t be bothered, a 25 minute video.