For those of you not in the know, the "Dark Side of the Rainbow" theory is the phenomena which occurs when you play Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" in sync with a muted "The Wizard of Oz" movie. Floyd's music has always been somewhat linked with the stoner community, and apparently the "trippiness" of the "DSotR" theory is amplified even more so than by just listening to Pink Floyd by itself.
I wouldn't know, I'm not a stoner.
However, yesterday, I recruited Becky and together we dove into the "Dark Side of the Rainbow" theory to see if it held any water (without drugs, Becky and I are not stoners...haven't you been reading, I think I just said that a minute ago!!). I wanted to experience this with someone else, so I could bounce theories off of them, and get a general impression as to whether what I saw was a true sync, or just a stretch.
As the black and white lion on "The Wizard of Oz" roared for the third time, I unpaused "Dark Side of the Moon" and our journey began. At the beginning, I can't say I was exactly impressed. There were a few stretches...when the lyrics "balanced on the biggest wave" plays (from the song "Breathe"), Dorothy jumps up on the nearby fence and begins to walk across it like a balance beam...she falls as the song switches from "Breathe" to "On the Run" (which is actually kinda cool, because "Breathe" is a mellow song, and "On the Run" picks up intensity, which mirrors the scene a bit, because the farm hands rush to Dorothy's side when she falls making for a tense scene.)
Here, not even ten minutes into the movie, I turned to Becky and said, "So far, I'm not impressed." But then, things started to pick up. As the chimes began to ring at the beginning of the song "Time," Almira Gulch (the lady who is coming to take Toto away because he bit her) is seen riding on her bike...when the chimes stop, she dismounts her bike. The music is ominous, foretelling of great despair.
Numerous lines from the song seem to match also...especially when "no one told you when to run" plays as Dorothy is walking away from home with Toto, among others. Then, the solo of "Time" plays as the scene switches to Dorothy approaching Professor Marvel's travelling fortune telling wagon.
After a few more vague interpretations are made, Dorothy picks up her purse, and the song "The Great Gig In the Sky" begins. This is the main sequence of the whole experiment in my opinion. Dorothy walks away. Then, you can see the tornado coming as a man is saying "I am not afraid of dying."
The drums kick in...a tree is uprooted by the force of the wind.
A lady begins wailing on the song as the storm's intensity picks up...a door flies from it's hinges, furniture falls from the porch, Dorothy stomps on the storm door...then, as Dorothy seeks shelter in the house, the window flies off and hits her in the head coinciding with the easement of the lady's wailing...Dorothy begins dreaming.
The house is picked up in the tornado and spins as the music swirls. The music sounds like a dream...and as the tornado stops, so to does the music. Dorothy opens the door of the house and you hear the first cash register "cha-ching" of the song "Money." The film, at this exact point, turns from black and white, to color.
("Cha-ching, indeed!!)
The song plays on as the film shows the new Technicolor land of the Munchkins. Then, Glenda the good witch flies in, just as the song plays the sax solo on "Money." The song takes on a joyful connotation, as Dorothy and Glenda take in the scenery, and meet the Munchkins. Several little things mesh well...I'm still a little in awe of the whole tornado scene, so maybe I'm just in a euphoric mood, who knows. All I can say is I was thoroughly enjoying it.
The Munchkin montage continues through "Us and Them" (which coincides with the ballerinas from the Lullaby League and the fellows from the Lollypop Guild...us and them??) "Any Colour You Like" signifies a switch in scenes, as Dorothy begins her journey on the Yellow Brick Road.
Then she meets the Scarecrow as "Brain Damage" plays. I kid you not, "Brian Damage" comes on when she meets the Scarecrow, the one without a brain. Lots of talk about a lunatic in this song, as the Scarecrow bounces around, like a lunatic. Weird.
Not as weird as the next song. "Eclipse" is playing when the Scarecrow and Dorothy encounter the Tin Woodsman. The song fades with the sound of a heartbeat...yes, they are taping on the Tin Woodman's chest as this is playing. Very strange.
As per the instructions, we had the cd on repeat...and it opens with a heartbeat, too. The heartbeat thumps as the Tin Man sings, "If I Only had a Heart." A lot of things continued to match up, but I will skip ahead to some main things I noticed.
When "The Great Gig in the Sky" played the first time, I felt the anticipation of the impending tornado. The song is heavy at first, but almost feels dreamy (as Dorothy is dreaming). It feels mellow. The second time around, the song plays as the Wicked Witch of the West is releasing the flying monkeys. The song seems to bring a feeling less mellow, and more of despair.
The same thing happens with the song "Money." On first pass, it's whimsical and makes you feel awe as the colors flood the screen. The second pass makes the song feel heavy as it plays when the Witch spells out Surrender Dorothy in the sky and the hunt is on to capture Dorothy.
Unfortunately, I didn't know the lyrics to the songs and I couldn't really make a lot of correlations on that end, but I caught a few at the end of the movie. As the lyrics "The time is gone, the song is over" plays (from the song "Time", now playing for the third time) Dorothy's trip to Oz has ended. As the singer sing's "Home, home again" Dorothy is back home in Kansas. And we hear "to hear the softly spoken magic spell" as Dorothy chants "There's no place like home."
There are literally dozens of other things, both big and small that I didn't mention (I think I have said enough already). Some have to do with the lyrics, and some have to do with the changing moods of the film and the introduction of characters (or character's speeches) corresponding with the changing tempos of certain songs. Overall, I have to say it is quite an experience. While there were a lot of moments that didn't match at all, there were more than a few that did. And we just had to let our imagination control the rest.
(As a side note, I've read that instead of looping the CD, you can play other cd's once "Dark Side" ends, like Pink Floyd's Animals and Meddle. Anyone care to test these theories with me??)
