“Money” became one of Pink Floyd’s most-performed live numbers. Different versions can be enjoyed on A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981), Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988), Pulse (1995), Roger Waters’s In the Flesh (2000), and Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (2001).
The Return of the Questionnaire
In keeping with the process that loomed so large over the recording of The Dark Side of the Moon, in the coda to this song (from 5:55), various people can be heard giving their answers to Roger Waters’s questions. Examples include Peter Watts: Ha! Ha! I was in the right!; Patricia Watts: I was definitely in the right. That geezer was cruisin’ for a bruisin’; Gerry O’Driscoll: Why does anyone do anything?; Henry McCullough (guitarist with Paul McCartney’s Wings): I don’t know, I was really drunk at the time!; and the most garrulous of all, roadie Chris Adamson: I was just telling him, he was in… he couldn’t get into number two. He was asking why he wasn’t coming up on freely eleven, so after, I yelling and screaming and telling him why he wasn’t coming up on freely eleven…
Production
Tearing paper (left)—uni-selector (right)—coins (right)—uni-selector (left)—coins on a string (right)—coins (left)—cash register (right): these are the sounds that make up the famous “Money” loop… Rarely has a sound clip consisting of some seven elements achieved such renown! The song begins with the sound of a cash register opening, out of which someone takes some change. The loop then begins and carries on playing until after the music has started. The idea came from Roger Waters, who was looking for the best way of illustrating in sound the lyrics he had written. “I had a two-track studio at home with a Revox recorder,” he recalls. “[…] My first wife [Judy Trim] was a potter and she had a big industrial food mixer for mixing up clay. I threw handfuls of coins and wads of torn-up paper into it.”82 In the studio, however, this all had to be redone in order to improve the sound quality and precision. Alan Parsons remembers taking a whole day over this: “Each sound had its own loop which we had to measure, using a ruler, to keep in time.”82 Nick Mason contributed by drilling holes in coins and threading them onto a string: “They gave one sound on the loop of seven,”5 he explains. Some of the sounds, including torn paper and coins thrown directly onto the studio floor, were recorded specially, while the uni-selector (a switching device used in telephony) and the cash register were taken from the EMI sound library.
The first session took place in Studio Two on June 6 and was devoted to making the “Money” loop. This was a complex procedure, not least because the various sounds were recorded not on quarter-inch tape, but on one-inch tape, with each of the different effects on a separate track. (It was originally thought that a quadraphonic version would be made.) The next day, this loop served as a click track from which the group took its timing, at least during the first few bars. The four members of Pink Floyd recorded a live take, each of them playing his instrument at the same time. Waters is on his Fender Precision, playing one of the most famous riffs in the whole of rock music—in 7/4 time, pretty well unheard of on the rock scene! Wright is on his Wurlitzer, coloring his various solos with wah-wah pedal (right-hand channel), and Gilmour (according to Waters) is on his “Black Strat,” playing a rhythm part with very pronounced tremolo (presumably using the Valley People Kepex or Hi-Fli processor), but it is more likely that he contributes a funky, slightly distorted rhythm guitar (in the left-hand channel) during this session. Finally, Mason lays down a superb groove for his bandmates on his Premier kit. Waters would quite rightly observe that “One of the ways you can tell that it was done live as a band is that the tempo changes so much from the beginning to the end. It speeds up fantastically.”82
After the overdubbing of toms in the middle section (from 3:48) it was time for Gilmour’s three different guitar solos. But information is lacking on the exact recording dates: the guitarist may have recorded one or all three during this same session or spread them out over the two subsequent sessions in October and November and the start of 1973. What is surely beyond dispute, however, is that they are some of the most successful of all his solos. The first begins at 3:05. Gilmour plays his “Black Strat” with Fuzz Face distortion, creating a floating sound similar to that on “Time,” and further colored by the Binson Echorec and strong reverb. His playing is highly inspired and also extremely powerful, not least as a result of ADT doubling. At 3:48 he then moves into his second solo, this time very dry, without reverb or delay, which he plays on his Fender (in the left-hand channel). His phrases are short and edgy, and the tension is palpable. Mason and Waters support him with a very fast rhythm that is almost jazz-rock in feel. We then come to the third and last solo, recorded using the same effects as the first, with ample reverb, but this time played by Gilmour on his Lewis twenty-four-fret, on which higher notes can be reached than on the Strat. He double-tracks himself, and once again the results are outstanding. “I just wanted to make a dramatic effect with the three solos,”29 Gilmour explains. He also reveals that it was from Elton John that he took the idea of alternating a reverb-drenched sound with a very dry sound.
Other guitar passages were also added, notably during the second solo, in which a second distorted rhythm guitar replaces Wright’s Wurlitzer (on the right). Another guitar, this time clear-toned, doubles the bass in the two last lines of each verse (also on the right). Toward the end of the song, in the coda, Gilmour then improvises on guitar, singing scat-type answers to each of his guitar phrases (from 6:09). Chris Thomas would later claim to have contributed to the production of “Money,” encouraging Gilmour to add numerous guitar parts, and it may well have been the engineer who came up with the inspired idea of getting Gilmour to double Waters’s bass riff an octave higher in order to boost the impact of the riff and give it some extra bite.
On June 8, new Wurlitzer, piano, and drum overdubs were recorded. Glenn Povey reveals that the session notes also list a trombone part as having been recorded that day. On October 27 Dick Parry came to the studio and recorded a superb saxophone part. David Gilmour explains this choice of instrumentalist: “Pink Floyd were so insular in some ways, thinking about it. We didn’t know anyone; we really didn’t know how to get hold of a sax player.”45 He therefore asked his old pal, who delivers a rhythm ’n’ blues–style improvisation with an absolutely extraordinary rasping sonority. For a first, the solo is a triumph. It seems that in addition to “bathroom-style” reverb, the sound of Parry’s instrument was also subjected to the same frequency translator used for the backing vocals on “Time.”
Last but not least, “Money” also owes a large part of its success to David Gilmour’s excellent voice with its rock timbre. He recorded this part in relatively few takes and double-tracks his singing, as he would start to do on a more regular basis from this point on.
The phrase Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today may be an allusion to the following passage in the New Testament (First Epistle of Saint Paul to Timothy, chapter 6, verse 10): “For the love of money is the root of all evil…”
For Pink Floyd Addicts
The word bullshit can be heard on the original version of “Money.” The record company then deleted it for the subsequent pressing. Known as the “Bull Blank,” collectors go to great lengths to get hold of this censored version.
In the light of Capitol’s refusal to license the song for inclusion on the album A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981), “Money” was rerecorded, mainly by David Gilmour, although the differences are significant.
Us And Them
Roger Waters, Richard Wright / 7:49
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, vocal harmonies, electric rhythm guitar
Rick Wright: keyboards, vocal harmonies
Roger Waters: bass
Nick Mason: drums
Dick Parry: tenor saxophone
Lesley Duncan, Doris Troy, Barry St. John, Liza Strike: backing vocals
Roger “The Hat” Manifold: voice
Recorded
> Abbey Road Studios, London: June 1, 2, 16, 20, October 11–12, 16–17, 27, 1972; January 19, 30–31, February 2, 6, 1973 (Studios Two and Three, Room Four)
Technical Team
Producer: Pink Floyd
Sound Engineers: Alan Parsons, Chris Thomas
Assistant Sound Engineer: Peter James
Genesis
“Us and Them” was born out of the ashes, one might say, of “The Violence Sequence,” a subtle, romantic melody on the piano that Rick Wright composed for the Zabriskie Point soundtrack. Rejected by Michelangelo Antonioni on the basis that it was “too sad” and made him think of church,45 the piece resurfaced during The Dark Side of the Moon sessions. Rick Wright recalls playing it to the others in the studio one day and that they liked it. He remembers Waters then going into another room to start working on the lyrics.83
What the bassist came up with was a set of direct, linear lyrics about “those fundamental issues of whether or not the human race is capable of being humane.”83 He suggests an answer to his own question by setting the beginning of his tale in wartime, and specifically during the First World War with its catalog of horrors. “The first verse is about going to war, how in the front line we don’t get much chance to communicate with each another, because someone else has decided that we shouldn’t,” explains Waters in an interview. “I was always taken with those stories of ‘the First Christmas’ in 1914, when [the soldiers] all wandered out into no-man’s land, had a cigarette, shook hands and then carried on the next day.”82
There is no hidden message behind the Us and them, the Me and you. The soldiers on both sides of the battlefield are ordinary men. They are fighting against their own will on the orders of the military hierarchy, which in turn obeys the government. Forward he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died… The songwriter is addressing all the little people, the minions, those who submit, victims of a deliberately destructive behavior, the simple pawns in a game of chess over which they have no control. The ultimate battle is one the general alone is waging, with little interest in those he is sending to the slaughterhouse.
In the second and third verses, Roger Waters widens his field of vision: “The second verse is about civil liberties, racism and colour prejudice. The last verse is about passing a tramp in the street and not helping.”82 Are we to make a connection between the war veteran and the beggar? One thing is grimly certain: lacking the wherewithal to buy a cup of tea and something to drink, the old man dies.
At 5:05 we hear a short monologue from the roadie Roger “The Hat” Manifold, taken from a conversation led by Roger Waters, as the cards previously used for the questionnaire had by now been lost. In response to the question “When did you last hit someone?” Manifold tells the story of an altercation he had just had with a motorist who had unwisely opened the door of his vehicle at the moment the roadie was overtaking him. Faced with this display of arrogance, Roger “The Hat” lost his cool: I mean, they’re gonna kill ya, so like, if you give ’em a quick short, sharp, shock, they don’t do it again, dig it? I mean he got off light, ’cos I could’ve given ’im a real thrashing—I only ’it ’im once! It was only a difference of opinion, but really… I mean good manners don’t cost nothing, do they? Eh? 40
“Us and Them” is the longest song on The Dark Side of the Moon. It was chosen as the A-side of the second single to be taken from the album, but only reached numbers 72 and 85 in the US and Canada respectively. It can also be found on the live albums Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse as well as on the compilation Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.
Production
When the Floyd started work on Rick Wright’s instrumental, the piece already possessed a clearly defined verse–chorus structure. However, the group’s musical contributions would sublimate it into one of the album’s totemic songs. Its working title was “Eclipse Part 3.” After getting the base track down on June 1 and adding various guitar, keyboard, voice, and bass overdubs, Waters, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason then rerecorded it on June 16.
The track begins with wonderful pads played by Rick Wright on the Hammond RT-3 organ. Their warm sound is colored by a Leslie speaker. The group then joins him in a floating accompaniment, with David Gilmour playing arpeggios on his “Black Strat,” presumably plugged into his Uni-Vibe, Nick Mason delivering a light, aqueous beat, and Roger Waters playing a bass line with a hypnotic rhythm. Waters would add more bass overdubs in October, including, most likely, the distorted bass in the refrains. Following the intro, Dick Parry enters with his first saxophone solo. His sound is soft and his phrasing redolent of Stan Getz, but in fact, Gilmour suggested that he could play like Gerry Mulligan on Gandharva, an album released in 1971 by the electronic–New Age duo Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause. The first session was held on October 16 and the second on October 27, the same day that Parry recorded his solo for “Money.” When Gilmour launches into the first verse with his lead vocal, the intensity increases. Not only is his (double-tracked) voice sublime, the first and third syllables of each verse have an absolutely incredible echo. Alan Parsons would later explain that of all the effects on the album, this had been the most difficult to get right. In order to achieve it, the engineer required a remarkable degree of ingenuity. He used a modified eight-track 3M M23 to record the initial signal on every other track and then send it back to the console with the required delay. Needless to say the reality was far more complicated than this makes it sound, and one can only admire Parsons for achieving this feat of technical wizardry! It is also interesting to note that combined with the floating, almost meditative mood of the piece, this emphatically spacey echo gives the notes a room to breathe that is worthy of Miles Davis. This is how the song is put together, Roger Waters would very aptly comment.83
The mood changes with the start of the first refrain. Gilmour ramps up the tension with distorted guitar passages, as does Waters on bass. Rick Wright harmonizes with Gilmour’s vocal, and both are supported by the terrific backing vocals of Lesley Duncan, Doris Troy, Barry St. John, and Liza Strike, recorded on June 20. After the second refrain, Wright delivers a superb piano solo, presumably in conditions identical to those filmed by Adrian Maben for his documentary Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. This solo is full of feeling and serves to demonstrate just how great a musician Rick Wright was. It is also over this passage that Roger “The Hat” Manifold adds a touch of both realism and surrealism to Waters’s excellent lyrics (from 5:05). A second solo by Dick Parry follows, this one more tense and bluesy. After the final verse and refrain, “Us and Them” segues into “Any Colour You Like” by means of a cross-fade done on February 6.
This magnificent ballad combines the talents of Rick Wright and Roger Waters to marvelous effect and underlines the power of these four outstanding musicians. We should not forget the technical team, however, who helped to make “Us and Them” one of the highlights of the Floyd catalog.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
It was thanks to Doris Troy, who had released a single on Apple—the Beatles’ label—in 1970 (“Ain’t That Cute,” produced by George Harrison), that Liza Strike and Barry St. John were given the opportunity to join her as backing vocalists on John Lennon’s “Power to the People” in 1971.
IN YOUR HEADPHONES
Although echo is systematically applied to the first and third lines of each verse, the third line of the last verse has none on its second word, without (6:57).
COVERS
The Flaming Lips have recorded a highly successful version of “Us and Them.” Also worth mentioning are versions by the German singer Nena (Cover Me, 2007), Mary Fahl (From the Dark Side of the Moon, 2011), and Gov’t Mule (Dark Side of the Mule, 2014).
Any Colour You Like
David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright / 3:26
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric rhythm and lead guitar, scat
Rick Wright: Minimoog, VCS3, organ
Roger Waters: bass
Nick Mason: drums
&nb
sp; Recorded
Abbey Road Studios, London: June 17 and November 1, 1972; January 31 and February 6, 1973 (Studio Two, Room Four)
Technical Team
Producer: Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd All the Songs Page 41