Pink Floyd

Released: March 1, 1973

Songwriter: Roger Waters Richard Wright

Producer: Pink Floyd

[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 got 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

Pink Floyd was a British rock band who managed to carve a path for progressive and psychedelic music in a way that was uniquely fascinating at the time and has remained equally momentous in the modern age. The name “Pink Floyd” came from two blues musicians that founding member Syd Barrett idolized—Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

The band was formed in 1965 London by Barrett (guitars, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass), and Richard Wright (keyboards). Sometime after releasing their debut album, 1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the group saw the addition of a second singer-guitarist, David Gilmour. This acted largely as a means of replacing Barrett, who was forced to leave in 1968 for mental health reasons, resulting in Waters taking over as the main vocalist.

The band broke into the mainstream with 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, an album that became one of the best-selling and most influential records in music history. Their follow-up efforts, 1975’s Wish You Were Here and 1977’s Animals, also sold well. However, the band started to see some in-fighting while making their next album, a rock opera about how Waters felt frustrated and detached from his audience. Waters seemingly became extremely controlling, firing Wright over disputes about touring and his contributions to the album. The result, 1979’s The Wall, became the best-selling double album of all time. It spawned iconic songs such as the #1 hit, “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2,” and the melodic “Comfortably Numb.”

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