What movies sync perfectly with Pink Floyd albums?
Music is filled with bizarre moments of chance. Random songs flow into one another despite not being connected in the slightest, artists who have never met write tracks with the same chord sequence, and the same lyrics for different songs are accidentally written. Despite the above, one of the most famous and strangest coincidences throughout the artistic world is the bizarre syncopation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz.
For those who aren’t aware, the phenomenon is that Pink Floyd’s album, The Dark Side of the Moon, syncs up perfectly with The Wizard of Oz. A lot of people will try and tell you it’s a theory, but there is nothing theoretical about it. The two pieces line up in a truly astonishing way, to the extent that many people once thought Pink Floyd wrote the album to sync up with the film on purpose.
Some of the stand-out moments include the tornado scene, which lines up with the song ‘Great Gig In The Sky’. The wordless wailing accompanies Dorothy as she is lost in a storm, and her house is dragged out of the ground and into the clouds. The song ends as soon as she lands, and when the colour of Oz permeates the screen, the upbeat nature of ‘Money’ comes in.
David Gilmour was once asked about the way they lined up and whether or not it was planned. He confirmed it was a total coincidence but laughed at how well they seemed to syncopate with one another. “We listened to it, Polly and I, years ago,” he said, “There was no planning that out. I only heard it years later.”
Gilmour explained how to get the most out of the syncopation. “On the third roar of the MGM lion, you put the needle [of the record player] on for the beginning of Dark Side, and there’s these strange synchronicities that happen,” he said, “Well, now people have done the chord work, and added it on YouTube […] You can watch. It’s kind of amazing, and there are these strange coincidences – I’ll call them coincidences.”
It turns out that the Wizard of Oz isn’t the only thing that some of Pink Floyd’s music lines up with. Because of the connection, fans have become obsessed with discovering what films, TV shows and other pieces of art some of their music line up with. It’s an interesting list to look over, as albums line up with more movies than you would expect.
For instance, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn syncs up perfectly with The War of the Worlds. This was discovered in 2003 when it was found that if you start the CD at the beginning of the movie when the screen reads “A Paramount Picture”. People need to repeat the CD until the end of the movie, but it does sync up well. Additionally, More lines up with the classic Ben Hur, as well as the other biblical picture, The Ten Commandments.
If you ever thought that Pink Floyd might have done the Wizard of Oz synchronisation on purpose, just consider the massive number of films with which their albums align. This many coincidences are simply not possible.
Movies that Pink Floyd’s music syncs up with:
- The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) with The War of the Worlds (1952)
- A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) with The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- More (1969) with The Ten Commandments (1956)
- More (1969) with Ben-Hur (1959)
- Ummagumma – Studio Album (1969) with Gigi (1958)
- Atom Heart Mother (1970) with Doctor Zhivago (1965)
- Relics (1971) with The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine (1968)
- Meddle (1971) with Gone with the Wind (1939)
- Obscured by Clouds (1972) with A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Obscured by Clouds (1972) with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
- Ummagumma (1969, 1973), Atom Heart Mother (1970), and Meddle (1971) with 2001 – A Space Odyssey (1968)
- The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) with The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- Wish You Were Here (1975) with It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- Wish You Were Here (1975) with Westworld (1973)
- Animals (1977) with Casablanca (1943)
- Animals (1977) with Animal Farm (1954)
- Animals (1977) with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)
- The WALL (1979) with Alice in Wonderland (1951, animated Disney classic)
- The WALL (1979) with Apocalypse Now (1979)
- A Collection of Great Dance Songs (1981) with Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- The Final Cut (1983) with The Longest Day (1962)
- Works (1983) with Fantasia (1940, original uncut version)
- A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) with Sayonara (1957)
- A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) with From Here to Eternity (1953)
- Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) with Dune (1984)
- Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) with Highlander (1986)
- Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) with Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
- The Division Bell (1994) with The Sound of Music (1965)
- The Division Bell (1994) with Planet of the Apes (1967)
