It is a jazz song. Honestly, if you strip away the lore and the laser shows, Us and Them by Pink Floyd is basically a lounge act that got very, very lucky. It’s almost eight minutes of Rick Wright’s haunting piano chords, Dick Parry’s smoky saxophone, and a message about war that feels uncomfortably relevant in 2026.
Most people think of The Dark Side of the Moon as a Roger Waters masterpiece. While Waters wrote the lyrics, the soul of the track belongs to the band’s quietest member.
The Rejection That Saved the Song
Back in 1969, Rick Wright wrote a beautiful, somber instrumental on the piano. He called it "The Violent Sequence." It was intended for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point.
Antonioni hated it.
He told the band it was "too sad" and sounded like church music. He wanted something more aggressive, like "Careful with That Axe, Eugene." So, the band shelved it. It sat in a drawer for years until they started piecing together the "Eclipse" suite, which eventually became the most famous album in rock history.
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Us and Them: The Meaning Behind the Echoes
The lyrics are sparse. Roger Waters has always been a fan of efficiency when it comes to poetry. He breaks the human experience down into simple binaries: Black and Blue. Up and Down. Us and Them.
The Three Pillars of the Lyrics
- War: The first verse is about the front lines. Generals sitting in the back, moving lines on a map, while "the front rank died." It’s a cynical look at how the people in charge don't have to face the consequences of their decisions.
- Prejudice: The second verse dives into civil liberties and racism. Waters uses the "Black and Blue" line to show how arbitrary these divisions are. Who knows which is which?
- Poverty: The final verse is the most heartbreaking. It’s about passing a homeless man (a "tramp") on the street and looking the other way because you’re too busy. "For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."
The song uses a unique, jazz-influenced chord progression—specifically moving from Dsus2 to D minor major 7. That D minor major 7 is a rarity in 70s rock. It creates that "floating" feeling you get when you listen through headphones.
The Secret Ingredient: Dick Parry
You can’t talk about Us and Them without talking about the saxophone. David Gilmour brought in his old friend Dick Parry to play on the track. Parry wasn't a "rock" guy. He was a session musician from the Cambridge scene.
His solo isn't flashy. It doesn't shred. It’s "breathy."
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It mirrors the vocal delivery of Gilmour and Wright. If you listen closely to the 2023 remaster, you can hear the mechanical clicks of the saxophone keys. It’s those tiny, human imperfections that make the studio recording feel alive.
Why It Still Works in 2026
We live in a world of silos. Social media algorithms have essentially turned the entire planet into an "Us and Them" experiment. We’re more connected than ever, yet the "lines on the map" have just moved to our digital feeds.
The song was a staple of Roger Waters' massive Us + Them tour (2017-2018), where he used state-of-the-art projection technology to highlight modern refugee crises and political division. It’s a bit ironic. A song about the "senseless nature of war" written by 20-somethings in 1972 is now the anthem for a world that still hasn't figured out how to share the "tea and a slice."
Practical Insights for the Modern Listener
If you want to experience the track the way it was intended, follow these steps:
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- Ditch the MP3: Find a high-fidelity FLAC file or a well-pressed vinyl. The dynamic range in the "Forward he cried" section is huge. Compressed audio kills the impact.
- Listen for the Voices: The spoken word snippets are the band's roadies and friends. The guy talking about a "short, sharp shock" is Roger "The Hat" Manifold. He’s talking about a road rage incident, not the war.
- The Transition: Don’t just play the song on shuffle. It has to follow "Money" and lead into "Any Colour You Like." The crossfade is where the magic is.
Pink Floyd didn't write this to be a hit. In fact, it was the second single from the album and didn't perform nearly as well as "Money." But history has a funny way of picking the winners. Today, it stands as the emotional core of the album. It’s the moment where the "madness" Waters was writing about finally makes sense.
To truly understand the legacy, check out the Live at Wembley 1974 recording. It’s raw, slightly faster, and shows a band that was still surprised by their own success.
Next Steps for Your Collection
To get the most out of this era of Pink Floyd, your next move should be tracking down a copy of the Live at Pompeii film. It features footage of the band in the studio at Abbey Road specifically working on the "Us and Them" piano parts. Seeing Rick Wright’s hands move across those keys provides a level of context that the studio album alone can't give you.