Us and Them

Us and Them is a song from English psychedelic / progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon. It was written by Richard Wright and Roger Waters and sung by David Gilmour (harmonies by Wright). It is 7 minutes, 51 seconds in length, making it the longest song on the album. It deals with ethnocentrism, conflict and the belief that a person's self is "always in the right" It is rather quiet in tone and dynamics and it has two saxophone solos in it, played by Dick Parry, one at the beginning and another towards the end of the song. The tune began life in 1969 when Rick Wright, who along with the rest of the band, were frustrated by Michelangelo Antonioni's directions to the band while scoring his 1970 film Zabriskie Point, came up with the basic chord sequence on the piano. Nearly 30 years later, on the DVD commentary track for American Beauty, Director Sam Mendes revealed that the final scene in the film was originally going to be set to "Us And Them", lip-synched by the main characters. It references an earlier scene in the movie where Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) says he had Dark Side on 8-track.

[Verse 1: David Gilmour & Richard Wright] Us (Us, us, us, us, us) and them (Them, them, them, them) And after all we're only ordinary men Me (Me, me, me, me, me) and you (You, you, you, you, you) God only knows it's not what we would choose to do "Forward" he cried from the rear And the front rank died The general sat and the lines on the map Moved from side to side [Verse 2: David Gilmour & Richard Wright] Black (Black, black, black, black) and blue (Blue, blue, blue, blue) And who knows which is which and who is who Up (Up, up, up, up, up) and down (Down, down, down, down) And in the end it's only round and round, and round "Haven't you heard it's a battle of words?" The poster bearer cried "Listen, son," said the man with the gun "There's room for you inside" [Interlude] I mean, they're not gonna kill ya So like, if you give 'em a quick short, sharp, shock They won't do it again Dig it? I mean he get off lightly 'Cause I would've given him a thrashing I only hit him once! It was only a difference of opinion But really, I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they, eh? [Saxophone Solo] [Verse 3: David Gilmour & Richard Wright] Down (Down, down, down, down) and out (Out, out, out, out) It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about With (With, with, with, with), without And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about? Out of the way, it's a busy day I've got things on my mind For want of the price of tea and a slice The old man died