Dark Side of Oz revisited.

I loves me some Pink Floyd and for a guy who has never smoked pot that is saying something. There was a time where I would listen to Dark Side of the Moon once a day. One of my all time favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. I remember in my childhood that this movie only came on once a year and every year I couldn’t wait to see it again.

Move forward to the late 1990’s/early 2000’s and there was a rumor going around that maintained Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was written as a soundtrack for The Wizard of Oz. You were to begin the cd after the name of the director's name fades from the screen and let the magic unfold.

A group of the Gunrunners and friends decided to try it out. It was pretty freaky. You will never look at the Wizard of Oz the same way again. I know there is no way that Dark Side was written to be played with Oz and you could probably play any cd with Oz and see some freaky stuff, but this just seems to be so right.

I stumbled across this today on USA Today’s Pop Candy and it is a few scenes from the wizard of Oz synced up with Dark Side. Get ready to freak out. Like in video one, the movie cuts to a scene of Dorothy balancing on the top of the fence as David Gilmour sings “balanced on the biggest wave.” Then Dorothy falls off the fence into the hog pen as Gilmour sings “race towards an early grave.” Then the music changes to one that is more ominous as the farm worker races to rescue her.

My favorite part is video two, as Dorothy’s house has landed in Oz and as she opens the door, you hear the cash registers that signal the beginning of Money. Dorothy then walks out into Oz as the classic bassline begins. It gives me goose bumps every time.

Video three takes place during the song Us and Them and begins with the wicked witch appearing and just as the movie cuts to her you hear the lyrics, “black, black,” then when the lyrics “and blue” are sung, the movie cuts to Dorothy. You also have the lyrics, “and who knows which is which” as the wicked witch approaches Dorothy and the good witch.

In video four, things aren’t as freaky, but you get to hear one of the greatest endings of an album ever. This is another song that gives me chills. The song is called Eclipse and Dorothy and Scarecrow find and oil up the Tin Man. As the song ends you can hear a heart beat and as you hear the heart beat, Dorothy pounds on the Tin Man’s chest. As I said, not as freaky as the first three but just to hear the song is great.

So there you go. I am sure most of you have heard about this, but never have tried it so this should give you an idea of what goes on during this experiment. You will also be able to find more clips like this on YouTube. And if you do try this at home, be sure to get the lyrics for Dark Side’s songs and watch how the words in the songs describe what is going on onscreen, as well as search for iron clad directions to make things go right. I'm gonna go home and find Dark Side and get stoned to the bejesus belts.

Enjoy!!!!