Dark Side of the Rainbow

Although there exist several methods of synching the movie with the music, most sources recommend starting the album at the end of the lion's third and final roar. Apparently, this ensures that 1. producer Mervyn LeRoy's credit appears exactly as the first chord of Breathe is played.

2. "balanced on the biggest wave" is sung as Dorothy is balancing on the fence.

3. Dorothy falls from the fence during the transition from Breathe to the much darker On The Run.

4. Auntie Em’s speaking corresponds with a female voice in the music.

5. While singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Dorothy looks at the sky as airplanes can be heard in On The Run.

6. Bells and chimes from Time begin as Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West appears on her bicycle and dissipate as she slows down and gets off.

7. The words Past Present Future can be seen in Professor Marvel's wagon during Time.

8. Great Gig in the Sky begins as Dorothy is leaving Professor Marvel’s wagon.

9. A female voice can be heard saying "I'm not afraid of dying" as images of the tornado are shown.

10. The singing in Great Gig in the Sky becomes mellow as Dorothy is knocked unconscious by the shutter.

11. Dorothy opens the door as the first chaching! of Money is heard.

At this point, it should be noted that side one of original Dark Side of the Moon record album is exactly as long as the first black and white portion of the movie. The only time that silence occurs between tracks on Dark Side of the Moon is when the listener would have to switch to side two, between Great Gig in the Sky and Money, corresponding nicely to the black and white (Kansas) and color (Oz) portions of the movie.

12. Ballerina munchkins enter as "us, us, us..." is heard in Us and Them and three male munchkins enter as "me, me, me..." is heard.

13. The wicked witch appears as "black, black, black..." is heard and the shot changes to Dorothy in her blue dress as "blue, blue, blue..." is heard.

14. "and who knows which is which and who is who" is heard in Us and Them as both witches are in Munchkin land.

15. Brain Damage is heard as the scarecrow is singing If I Only Had a Brain. "the lunatic is on the grass"

16. A heartbeat is heard as Dorothy listens to the Tin Man’s chest.

The album ends here, but some say more connections can be found if the CD is set to repeat. The album begins and ends with a heartbeat, leading one to believe that the album was meant to be repeated like The Wall. Others claim that more connections can be found if Animals is started when Dark Side of the Moon ends and tracks 2 through 5 of Meddle are played after Animals (odd, because Meddle was recorded before both Dark Side of the Moon and Animals).

Sources:
http://www.ingsoc.com/waters/info/oz.html
http://www.dsom.com/features/oz_dsom.html

The main part of the synchronization, however, is not the general mood of the music generally fitting the general mood of the film, because as tim three says, that could happen anywhere.

The main synchronizations are the precise ones, such as the way each line in "Breathe" is almost a command to the people on screen. For example, as the line "Look around, choose your own ground" is heard, Dorothy is talking to her aunt and uncle, but then turns around and walks away. The lyrics then describe a daily routine of pointless labour, and during this Dorothy walks around the farm speaking to the farmhands as they do their work.

All of jonrc's mentioned syncs occur, and there are also countless more just like those.

Is this possible?

It's possible that Pink Floyd wrote the 42 minutes of Dark Side of the Moon to be a perfect soundtrack to the first 42 minutes of The Wizard of Oz, but surely the same 42 minutes of music couldn''t possible sync with the next 42 minutes of the film, because that would require the major events of the film to occur at regular intervals.

But here's the thing: during the first run-through of the album, there are plenty of notes and sounds that don't sync with anything. They just seem like part of the music. Those are the sounds which sync in the second run-through. (It's worth noting that some people claim to have found syncs in third and fourth run-thoughs, as the film is much longer than the album.)

3 of the names of the tracks seem to resemble the scenes of which they are played during:

4) "The Great Gig in the Sky" is played during the scene in which Dorothy's house flies through the air and whirls around in the tornado.

7) "Any Color You Like" is played in "Over the rainbow land", the part of the movie that's in colour.

8) "Brain Damage" is played as the brainless scarecrow sings "If I only had a Brain."

As for the theme of many of the songs:

2) "Breathe" is played in the farm (I explained before). "On the Run", an ugly song, is played over the beautiful "Somewhere over the Rainbow."

3) "Time" is about making your own decisions and doing something big with your life, which is played as Dorothy decides to run away, and bumps into a fortune teller who looks into the past and predicts the future.

4) "The Great Gig In the Sky" is the tornado, (as I explained before) and as Dorothy runs around with her mouth open, screaming, there is a lovely wailing on the song.

5) "Money" is played when Dorothy arrives in Munchkinland. Some say this theme is chosen because this film was the first in Technicolor, which made the quality of the colour better than anything before, and that many people came to the film simply because of the colour. 6) "Us and Them" is played with the Wicked Witch (the second half of the song) talking with the Good Witch and Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is on side of the arguement and Dorothy is on the other side with the Good Witch.

Again, there are many syncs between lyrics and actions, which can be seen in other write-ups and on the internet.

More Evidence:

-there is a triangle (just like the prism on the cover) hanging from a tree in the very beginning of the film. (Personally, I don't think much of this evidence.)

-On the original album cover, the front illustration was white light going through a prism and coming out refracted into colours. On the back, was the opposite illustration: coloured light going through the prism and coming out as white light. This is the sequence of the film: it starts in black and white, goes into colour, then goes back into black and white at the end.

-(I figured this out myself, so listen carefully, and awe at its brilliance!) This was the first film in Technicolor. I looked up Technicolor, it had reference to The Wizard of Oz as the first feature film it was used in, and said that the way it was done was by shining light through a prism and getting the three primary colours on the other side. This light was used to put the film into colour.

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This was discovered in 1997, and (apparently) was all over the news. When the members of the band were asked if this synchronization was deliberate, each person denied it except Roger Waters, who said no comment. In my opinion, there are three possibilities:

1) They were all in on it, but said different things to the press.

2) The sync is all one big fluke, but Roger Waters quite liked the idea, and thus did not dismiss the idea straight away, so some would still think the band were clever enough to pull this off.

3) Roger Waters, the man behind the album, did this behind the other members' backs.

This would be hard, I admit. Especially since Gilmour had his own room to do his solos. But I can't help fantasizing that the reason Gilmour and Waters have their eternal feud is because Waters bossed Gilmour around so much, telling him which beats to start and end his solos, insisting on certain effects in the background that seem to have no place in the music.

Just for fun, let's pretend this is the case: You're a member of Pink Floyd, you played the music Waters wrote for you during the recording sessions, you played it at countless concerts. Your band's record reached the top five best-selling records in history, and each year reaches the top 200. And then one day you hear some rumour about this sync, and you give it a go, and you realise that for 25 years you've been playing to the beat of The Wizard of Oz. You've been playing the perfect soundtrack. And you never knew.....

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Update 10th September 2001: All morning, I had an urge to listen to "The Great Gig in the Sky", as it is a kick-ass track. When I finally had a free moment, I popped it on and started reading my mail. Half way through the song, I heard a female voice mumble something. Although I had heard it before, I decided to rewind and hear it again. The voice says "I never said I was afraid of Dorothy". While operating the sync, this is heard precisely when the Wicked Witch of the East appears for the first time.

I had read somewhere that this can be heard on the live version found on "Pulse", but I figured that could just be the band claiming they really did sync the album on purpose, regardless of whether they actually did or not. But now my mind is made.

This is a way to watch The Wizard of Oz sychronized with Dark Side of the Moon.

Ok this is going to be really long. But here is a quick how-to, and a list of all the known sync ups between the Dark Side of the Moon CD and the Wizard of Oz movie. A discussion of this sync up is located here.

You are going to need a copy of the movie without commercials, (the video or dvd works best). Put in the cd, press play, then immediately press pause. Start the movie. After the Mgm Lion roars for the third time hit the play button on the CD player. It may take you several tries to get this right.

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1 The first indicator that everything is going right is the change from "Speak to Me" to "Breathe" which coincides exactly with the fade-in appearance of the name of producer Mervyn LeRoy.

2 "Leave, but don't leave me ..." Auntie Em appears to say "... Leave ..." to Dorothy and then Dorothy turns to leave looking a bit down in the mouth.

3 Right after the words "... Look around ..." Dorothy looks around.

4 "... Smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry ..." Two men above (Cowardly Lion and Tin Woodsman) are smiling and the man below (Scarecrow) is crying. This one is sort of not on time but worth the mention.

5 "... All you touch ..." Dorothy touches the man (Cowardly Lion) holding a bucket on his arm. Note: "All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be" Dorothy's life will only really be all she touches and all she sees in her Kansas home because Oz exists only in her pretty little head.

6 "... When at last the work is done ..." the man (Scarecrow) hits his finger with the hammer (to the beat of the drum no less) and is done with his work.

7 Right after "... Dig that hole ..." the farm hand (Scarecrow) points to the ground as if telling Dorothy to dig a hole.

8 "... Balanced on the biggest wave ..." Dorothy is balancing herself on the fence.

9 "... Race towards an early grave." is said at the moment just before Dorothy falls off the fence rail. "... Down in the pig-pen sayin' 'keep on diggin' ..." Lyrics from "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" by Roger Waters on the "Animals" CD

10 Song shifts from "Breathe" to "On the Run" at the same time (actually just slightly before) Dorothy falls off the fence. Note: At the moment Dorothy falls off the fence rail and the switch to "On the Run" occurs, the music in that song has an allure of danger as it matches to the mood of the scene and emotion of the other characters as they are concerned with Dorothy's well being and it matches the scene very well.

11 Auntie Em shows up and starts talking exactly at the same time as the woman's voice begins talking during "On the Run". I wonder if anyone knows just what the heck that female voice is saying on the album. It sort of sounds like the overhead voice in an airport to me. I also wonder what kind of cookies Auntie Em has on that plate? "I've got a clan of ginger-bread man. Here a man, there a man, lot's of ginger bread, man. Take a couple of you wish. They're on the dish ..." (Syd Barrett with Pink Floyd from "Bike")

12 During the "On the Run" sequence as Dorothy is singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", the effects sound sort of like helicopters and airplanes are flying overhead & Dorothy's gaze seems to follow one across the screen.

13 At the end of "On the Run" it looks like Toto is laughing at Dorothy.

14 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 ..." (Syd Barrett with Pink Floyd from "Bike")

15 At the first bass chord of "Time" the scene changes to inside Auntie Em's house -- really cool!

16 Dorothy and the rest of the cast appear to move and react to the rhythm and mood in particular of the music.

17 "... You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way ..." Seems to describe the kind of frittered away life that the old maid /witch, Mrs Gulch has if getting rid of poor little Toto is what it takes to make her day.

18 "Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town", This is said just a little before Toto jumps out of the basket and onto the ground where he kicks off to go back to Dorothy in his hometown. So it's not exact but worth the mention.

19 "... Waiting for someone or something to show you the way ..." Toto pops up in the window (perhaps to show Dorothy the way?).

20 "... Tired of lying in the sunshine ..." as Toto is lying on the bed with the sun shining in on his wittle fuzzy body.

21 "... You are young and life is long ..." a reference to Dorothy's youth?

22 "... and there is time to kill today ..." There certainly is time to kill and Dorothy will be present at the death of not one but two people (witches).

23 "... Ten years have got behind you ..." You see Dorothy's back. (Hence, you are behind Dorothy).

24 "... No one told you when to run ..." Dorothy is running away from home.

25 Guitar solo in "Time" begins as scene changes (It's so cool when that happens).

26 During the guitar solo of "Time" the words "Past, Present and Future" are seen on the sign of Professor Marvel.

27 "And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking; Racing around to come up behind you again!" First think about this: "Time is a predator which stalks us all our lives." --Star Trek: Generations . . . Now take a look above the door mantle as Dorothy enters Professor Marvel's wagon. What do we see but a skull . . . a reminder of time and the shortness thereof indeed. Kinda funky eh?

28"... to come up behind you again ..." as Professor Marvel is coming up behind Dorothy.

29 "... But you're older ..." referring to Professor Marvel's old age?

30 "... Or half a page of scribbled lines ..." referring to perhaps the photo that Professor Marvel sneaks out of Dorothy's basket? Ok so it's not scribbled lines, but it's a page.

31 "... Hanging on in quiet desperation ..." as Dorothy quietly and desperately listens to the words of Professor Marvel.

32 "... Home, home again ..." as Professor Marvel tells Dorothy that she needs to go back home.

33 "... Hear the softly spoken magic spell ..." as Dorothy is leaving the "magic" wagon of Professor Marvel.

34 Song changes to "The Great Gig In the Sky" the moment Dorothy reaches down and grabs her bag. This begins what is probably my favourite scene in the whole synch with the tornado and all.

35 (voice says) "... And I am not frightened of dying ..." as the tornado heads towards a house.

36 The drums kick in as a tree is uprooted by the winds of the tornado. Note : Right after the tree is uprooted, the singer begins her operatic style wailing which keeps time with the mood and intensity of the tornado scene. Nifty rhythm synchs are seen during this piece such as the door flying off its hinges and the piece of furniture or appliance falling over on the porch as Dorothy enters the house, etc.

37 After Dorothy gets bonked on the head with the window Claire Torrey's wailing calms down and Dorothy begins dreaming. Note: The song playing during the entire tornado scene and especially while the house is up in the air via the tornado is "The Great Gig in the Sky". Get it?

38 The "cha-ching !" of "Money" is heard as Dorothy steps out into colourful, and wealthy looking Muchkin Land. Money would be associated with colour and better living as is apparent to Dorothy.

39 "New car, caviar, four star daydream; I think I'll buy me a football team" Now granted that what an Englishman like Roger would call "football" is what we in the States call "soccer" but bear with me a second and notice that the yellow brick road bears a striking resemblamce to the spiraling helmet symbol of the Ram's (Los Angeles, Anaheim or St Louis depending on what time you are in).

40 "Don't give me that do-goody-good bullshit." as Glenda the (do-goody) good witch comes a-floating like an angel in her big bubble.

41 "... I think I need a Lear Jet ..." as Glenda appears from the bubble. Maybe she'd prefer a jet over traveling in a bubble? "Big Bubbles . . . No Troubles." (Hubba-Bubba Bubblegum) Note : The way Glenda is holding her wand it looks like she's playing electric air guitar during Dave's solo. (Just for a second ... sort of)

42 "... Share it, fairly ..." As one of the Munchkins shares some flowers with Dorothy.

43 During the beginning of "Us and Them" it sounds like funeral parlour music and the Munchkin Coroner shows the Certificate of Death.

44 At the beginning of "Us and Them" voices of assorted people talking can be heard and at times it appears that the Munchkin officials are the ones doing the talking.

45 During "Us and Them" the ballerinas from the Lullabye League enter to "Us ... Us .... Us ...".

46 The fellows from the Lollypop Guild kick and jerk their little dance to the rhythm of the music.

47 "Forward he cried ..." It looks like the Munchkins all shout "Forward!" to Dorothy.

48 "... and the lines on the map moved from side to side ..." as the munchkins move to two separate sides at the appearance of the Wicked Witch.

49 "Black and blue ..." as it shows the witch who is wearing black , and "blue" when it shows Dorothy who is wearing blue.

50 "... And who knows which is which ..." (Witch is Witch ... or ... Which is Witch)?

51 "... Up and Down ..." On "up", the Wicked Witch of the West is holding her broomstick up high and on "down" she lowers it down.

52 Also on "down", the Wicked Witch of the West is bending down to retrieve the ruby slippers from her dead sister's now curling and retreating feet.

53 "Haven't you heard? It's a battle of words ..." as Glenda is whispering in Dorothy's ear and then returns to her battle of words with the Wicked Witch.

54 "... And in the end it's only 'round and 'round..." As Glenda points to Dorothy's feet which are now turning 'round.

55 Then it says "... and 'round ..." as there is yet another shot of the ruby slippers.

56 "... said the man with the gun ..." as the Wicked Witch points her long finger at Dorothy in the shape of a gun!

57 "Down and out ... " as Glenda leaves in her bubble (she's out of here).

58 "... But there's a lot of it about ..." Oyvey! There certainly seems to be a lot of coming and going in the Land of Oz with the house and the Wicked Witch going under the house and the other Wicked Witch coming and going and the good witch coming and gong .

59 "...With ... Without ..." Dorothy starts on the Yellow Brick Road with Toto in her arms and then puts him down and he is walking beside her but without her. And afterall at least twice in the film Toto is what the fighting's all about.

60 "... Get out of the way, it's a busy day, I've got things on my mind ..." as Dorothy passes through the Munchkins and leaves Munchkin Land.

61 Scene changes at the same time that "Us and Them" changes to "Any Colour You Like"

62 "... The lunatic is on the grass ..." The Scarecrow isn't on the grass but he is made of grass and he is certainly dancing around like a lunatic. Note: The song Brain Damage is playing as the Scarecrow is singing If I Only Had a Brain.

63 "... Got to keep the loonies on the path ..." Dorothy and Scarecrow are the "loonies" on the Yellow Brick Road (path).

64 "... You raise the blade ..." as the Toucan in the tree raises his bill which resembles the blade of a knife.

65 "... There's someone in my head but it's not me ..." The Appletrees have someone inside who makes them move around and look alive.

66 "... Thunder in your ear ..." as the Appletrees are thundering in Dorothy's ear for snatching an apple.

67 "... And everyone you meet..." As Dorothy meets yet another interesting character in this Land of Oz, the Tin Woodsman.

68 "... all that you touch and all that you see ..." Once again Dorothy is holding a man's arm at the word "touch" as it was at the beginning of the movie (see #5) but then she and Scarecrow look up to "see" the oil can which is something that Tinman would like a "taste" of in order to "feel" better.

69 Dorothy listens for a heartbeat (or lack of one) in the Tin Woodsman's chest as the heartbeat goes on to the end of the album. Note : When the CD starts back with the heartbeat, the Tin Woodsman is singing "If I Only Had a Heart' still in keeping with the idea of the heartbeat.

Second Play-Through of CD

70 At the transition from "Speak to Me" to "Breathe" the Tin Woodsman gets his leg straightened out and begins dancing -- dancing to the music.

71 "... and high you fly ..." As the Wicked Witch stands on top of the house with her flying broom.

72 "... Run, rabbit , run ..." as the Wicked Witch throws a fireball at Scarecrow.

73 During the second playthrough of "On the Run" it works out pretty well with the Cowardly Lion scene in several instances which lose something in the translation so you will have to see them for yourself.

74 "... And there is time to kill today ..." as the Wicked Witch seeks to kill Dorothy with the deadly Poppies.

75 "... Shorter of breath and one day closer to death..." as Dorothy and Cowardly Lion appear to be dead.

76 During this segment the little cries from Clair Torrey seem to go along with the sad hopelesness that Scarecrow is experiencing with Dorothy and Cowardly Lion asleep or dead in the Poppys.

77 "... Home, home again ..." As Tin Woodsman is once at home in being frozen in his rusted state from the snow just as he was when Dorothy found him in the first place.

78 "Far away across the field ..." As the "Fearless Foursome" are in a poppy field and can see the Emerald City across it.

79 "...Calls the faithful to their knees ..." as Scarecrow falls to his knee upon exiting the poppy field.

80 "...To hear the softly spoken magic spell." Right after the magic spell is breathed by Glenda which has awakened Dorothy and Cowardly Lion from their deadly slumber.

81 "Cha - ching !" when the message "Surrender Dorothy" is seen in the sky written in the Wicked Witch's smoke.

82 "Money" is playing while in the Emerald City -- a reference to the colour of money (American money at least) and to the higher standard of living (once again as in Munchkinland) than that Dorothy is accustomed.

83 "Black and blue ..." The Wizard is seen in the midst of the smoke and in this instance the smoke appears blue.

84 "... round and round ..." as we read the sign pointing to the home of the Wicked Witch that says "If I were you I'd turn back". Maybe they should turn 'round (?).

85 "Listen son, said the man with the gun ..." Scarecrow is carrying a gun.

86 "... Down and out ..." the flying monkeys swoop down to capture Dorothy, and then fly out of the woods with her in their hands.

87 "... With ... without ..." Dorothy is with the flying monkeys, but Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow are without Dorothy. . . And who'll deny she's what the fighting's all about?

88 "... You raise the blade ... You make the change..." as the blade of the Lance is raised by Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodsman after they have changed into the uniforms of the three unlucky witch's guardsmen.

89 "... All that you hate and all you mistrust ..." during which the face of the wicked witch is seen. Certainly a mistrustful face if ever there was one.

90 "... And everyone you fight ..." as Tin Woodsman drops the chandelier on the Guardsmen.

Third Play-Through of CD

91 (voice says) ..."Live for today, gone tomorrow ..." as the Wizard hands Tin Woodsman his clockwork heart, and then we hear a strange noise that sounds like a rusted metal hinge. Perhaps a prophetic utterance of Tin Woodsman's ultimate demise?

92 Just as Glenda appears in her bubble the lyrics to the song "Time" are sung. It's not necessarily a thematic synchronicity but rather a dramatic one with no hidden meaning.

93 "... Waiting for someone or something to show you the way ..." Glenda is there to show Dorothy the way back home.

94 "... Home, home again ..." after Dorothy has awakened back in her home in Kansas.

95 "... Calls the faithful to their knees ..." as Auntie Em comes to Dorothy with water and is on bent knee.

96 "... To hear the softly spoken magic spell." and then Dorothy speaks the magic spell that brought her back home which is "There's no place like home".

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The above list has been passed around via email, and is hosted on several websites, (with several different variations). I have corrected spelling errors, and have removed some of the more stupid comments.

It should also be noted that on the second play of the Album, while the four characters are in the field with the City of Oz in the background the words "far away, across the field" are sung. Dorothy falls down to the music. When they wake up and walk to Oz, they walk to the beat. Dorothy knocks on the door to the beat. The horse and the characters in the city of Oz are all moving to the beat. A music change occurs as they begin to walk down the big hallway. When in the Wizard's room, the fire shoots up to the music. The Lion jumps out of the window to "down, down." The Wicked Witch "dances" to the music in the scene with Dorothy. The chimes heard at the beginning with the mean Witch on the bike are now accentuated by the cheering crowd in the hot-air balloon scene. Dorothy clicks her heels to the beat of the hi-hat.

Also, in "Home, Home Again" The words "and in the end, we're only ordinary men" are sung when the three actors who play the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man are talking to Dorothy. There is another music change just as the credits stop rolling.

Other evident themes include the cover of the album, which has a rainbow prism. The black and white light hits the prism and turns to color. On the original album, the prism on the back side of the album goes from color to black and white, just like the movie.
The eye on the cover of Pulse which has a full performance of DSOTM, has the bike, Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Witch imbedded in it.

The Dark Side of the Rainbow and Dark Side of Oz are common names for the Pink Floyd Synchronization phenomena that occurs when Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album is played simultaneously with the movie The Wizard of Oz.

Members of Pink Floyd have repeatedly denied rumors that this was done on purpose, but a cult following of the synchronicity maintains that the two go together a little too well to believe that it was all a coincidence.

A couple of things will determine how your Dark Side of the Rainbow experience goes. You will need to decide where to start the cd. The most commonly accepted theory is the Third Roar Theory, where the music is started at the third roar of the MGM Lion. There are other theories on when to start the cd, including using the Lion's other two roars, or the Fade to Black theory, where you wait until the Lion has faded from the screen to start the music.

Second, since the cd is only around 40 minutes long, there is some debate about what to do once the album is over. The most widely recognized way to handle this is to keep repeating the album until the movie is over (easily handled with a cd player with a repeat button). Other suggestions are to follow Dark Side of the Moon with Pink Floyd's Animals, followed by Pink Floyd's Meddle, tracks 2-5. Or to play Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here as a followup to Dark Side of the Moon.

Some other places where the synchronicity is readily apparent (spoilers for those of you who are planning on doing this but haven't yet) can be found at Pink Floyd Synchronization phenomena.