username July 9th, 2005 07:52PM  

It might sound crazy, but this song really sounds like it's told from the perspective of someone who works in a mental hospital. Finally after all the years as an employee the person goes nuts themself. "Got to keep the looners on the path..."

This song also mentions none other than Syd Barret. "...if the band you're in starts playing different tunes..." Syd Barret would often go onstage and play a completely different song than the rest of the members were playing. It was rumored that his friends laced his coffee with LSD and that's what drove him crazy.

"You raise the blade... You make the change... You rearrange me 'till I'm sane..." is obviously in reference to lobotomies.

anonymous September 23rd, 2005 05:22AM  

This song is actualy called Brain Damage. It is about him going crazy.

inpeace November 27th, 2005 03:16PM  

There isn't a song called dark side of the moon, the song that your comments are made on is actually called "brain damage" which I think is about Syd Barret going crazy and going crazy in general.

Wintermut3 January 4th, 2006 05:11PM  

This song is most likely about going insane/being insane.

The previous poster is correct as well, the song itself is titled "Brain Damage", "Dark Side of the Moon" is the album it's off of.

There's a political side to it as well (just as there is to most of Pink Floyd's work) On the surface level it's about insanity, but the 'secondary' meaning may well refer to the hysterical US claim that the Soviets were testing massive-yield nuclear bombs on the 'dark side of the moon', the side facing away from the earth, where they couldn't be detected by NATO spy satilites.

On that level it's a metaphor for how, well, basically insane the governments had gotten, claiming James Bond movie like plots by the soviets to justify massive spending on space programs and science fiction-esque gadgets.

A LOT of PF's work has double-meanings related to the cold war and international politics, including The Wall (obviously) and Dark Side of the Moon.

That's one of the things I've always loved about Floyd, the songs make sense on the most surface level, have a deeper, psychological meaning, and often have 3rd and 4th 'layers' of symbolism buried even deeper.

anonymous November 18th, 2007 08:35PM  

There's a number of different interpretation possible:
1. Syd Barret, suicide, drug use, insanity - these actually all seem to be only parts of the bigger picture of the song, examples of the themes of the songs of this album
2. politics and media hype: on the grass, folded face, the paperboy brings more - the lunatics are everyone else, especially the most "important" people (like politicians) - not the singers or listeners - the band is trying to get across the fascist corruption and insanity that results from superficial, incessant fighting that occurs every minute of every day; this is a theme that is also seen in the wall; this is a reflection of themes of the song “money”
3. Living in reality - how can someone label reality as real? there is an element of pyrrhonic philosophy here - no one can be certain of anything in this world; "there is no dark side of the moon - as a matter of fact its all dark" - the only thing that can really be trusted is yourself, everything else is shrouded in shadow and uncertainty – this belief creates a chasm between the narrator of the album and the people who do not understand him – a conclusion drawn from the song “Us and Them”. Further, who can say what is real life? not to be afraid of death means you must expect something beyond death - a spiritual journey to follow, if you will, after our death - this theme links to "great gig in the sky" because by the end of the song, the gentle and somewhat shaky vocals crescendo into a repeated version of the emotional wail in the former song

by the end of the song, the speaker is so overwhelmed by these revelations that he simply laughs; he has gone "insane" by everyone else's standards, but we see him as being enlightened - we might even be jealous of what he has come to understand, regardless of the price his soul has faced, the absolution and tragedy, and yet salvation, of which can be seen in the following song of "eclipse". Whether or not the speaker has died does not matter (and it is very probable that his insanity carried him over the edge - not to suicide, but to the point where his physical reality can not handle the intensity of his spiritual and mental accomplishment), for we can see he has finally acheived stability by the rhythmic heartbeat with which the song concludes.

anonymous March 26th, 2008 10:34PM  

Ok I've listened to this song a lot. I've watched the video a few times also enough to get an idea of whats up. In the music video It starts out in a mental Institution. The camera is placed at the angle of which the perception is from the " patient's" eyes. I'm thinking metaphorically here so bare with me. Also in the hall is a line of big Surgeons or Surgeon aids. Eventually at the end of the hall way is the Operation room with the flashing emergency sign. This would be easier to understand if the camera were to point backwards and see who/what was following behind. Now the hallway and perception metaphorically represents Seeing what is to come, you know it is going to come, but you do nothing to fight it. The big surgeons to the left and right would prevent you from wanting to fight the road ahead because they are probably bigger and stronger. The surgeons represent the people that stop us from doing what we want and keep them on the same path. You can consider them Government or just simply your conscious.

Around the middle of the movie you start seeing people laughing. This of course represents people of the time going mad ( insane if you will) with power.

At around the transition from brain damage to eclipse in the movie you see people walking down a sidewalk. Notice anything in it? The people are all walking in the same direction. All of them trying to fit in. So they don't stick out. Now there is a scene after that where if you look closely someone is walking backwards. I just noticed that and believe it has something to do with the people who don't want to blend in. The people who want to be their own person. Notice there's only one walking in the opposite direction. The Minority.
Occasionally you see the eye which is just something to tell for seeing what is going on. The eclipse that pops up in the video is an example of when power gets limited. no mater how hard the power tries to make everyone do the same thing there is always an abnormality(i.e the eclipse)

I had an explanation for the explosions but I forgot it. Sorry. Hope this helps

element4lifex8 May 20th, 2008 01:33PM  

Well, I can't believe that no one added the fact that this song can be so closely related to using LSD too many times. When he talks about the lunatics in the hall, he specifically says that "the paper" holds their folded faces to the floor. Well, acid is commonly dropped on small pieces of paper called blotted paper, and sometimes referred to merely as paper. When he says that everyday the paper boy brings more, he could be referring to a dealer. But he could also be talking about the media and that the news in the papers is causing this brain damage, and bad news in the papers continues to show up everyday.

Other interpretations have mentioned about the decline of America and so on due to the media. But when he also says, "There's someone in my head, but its not me." Well this sounds like brain damage commonly incurred by using LSD too many times, because using acid stimulates the same nerves in the brain that are commonly overproductive in the brains of people who have schizophrenia. Which is why a person who uses this drug too much could have the feeling that there's someone in their head that is not them, because of this second personality they have created by causeing a schism in their personality due to excessive drug use.

PAJOFLOYD July 27th, 2008 08:56PM  

Of course its well known that Pink Floyd guys used plenty of hard drugs such as acid... It's normal thant that in every song you notice some links to drug use or drug damages...but guys which is fun with Pink Floyd is to see the interpretation DEEPER than drugs and Often you'll see that you can find 3-4-5 different meanings to their songs lyrics.

Peace

anonymous August 5th, 2008 05:53AM  

This song is about aliens and BS that the governments been doing behind our back. "LUNARS" looners.

anonymous August 30th, 2008 03:41PM  

Ok the song is self is called brain damage.....either they are talking about a person mentally insane...or Syd Berret when he went nuts for taking a shot glass of LSD with Jerry Garcia...look it up that's how he went crazy.....an as for the moron that was saying the wizard of oz an dark side of the moon sync an its crazy.....yes they do sync but its not that amazing....lets see wizard of oz came out in the mid 40's an the album came out in 72 or 73......THEY DID IT ON PURPOSE....Pink Floyd is amazing an syd was awesome an dark side of the moon is my fav album by them...besides meddle...peace love an acid

shaolin37th September 8th, 2008 06:38PM  

This brilliant song I consider the HEART of Dark Side of the Moon is in reference to the late great lost soul, Syd Barrett. Roger Waters himself has stated that the insanity-themed lyrics are based on former Pink Floyd founder and frontman Syd Barrett's mental instability, with the line "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" indicating that Waters felt that he related to Barrett in terms of mental idiosyncrasies. The song's line "And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes..." speaks to Barrett's behaviour towards the end of his memborship with the band due to drug/mental problems. You see it's well documented that Syd would play a different song than the rest of the band while performing on stage due to his drug induced state.
On a side note, organist and synthesist Richard Wright stated that Brain Damage was the album's "weakest link" do to the fact that it was "overly simple." Roger Waters effectively forced Wright out of the band due to his cocaine addiction during The Wall creation. Waters has played Brain Damage in every live performance or solo tour since 1984.

BankWalker November 16th, 2008 10:59AM  

I suggest you watch the DVD the making of Dark Side of the Moon.

Roger Waters tells you specifically that he wrote the song for/about Syd.

anonymous February 10th, 2009 10:12PM  

The song is about the breakthrough from the falseness and the unified society that humanity is forced to endure by the government and other higher forces to the reality and clarity that the true vision of the world is.
As it says in Eclipse, there is no dark side of the moon, they are both dark. Higher authority and governing powers are the sun in this metaphor, they choose to light up only one side of the moon (or the earth in this symbolism) and its reality and only enforce its power on one side. It makes this one side look the way it wants and alters it as it pleases, to make it look the way they think it should.
The dark side is the same as the lit one, it just lacks this authority. The laws are put around the edges, to keep people from crossing over to the dark side, where governments not only do not, but cannot enforce control. And in the event of an eclipse, the government power is gone, and people can see their side and see the other side as the same, theirs to do what they will with.
To understand this, read the earlier explaination about the grassy park and the sign. I think that "the lunatic is on the grass" is talking about a guy who has finally cracked it, has gotten over to the dark side, and no one else understands this living without governing authority, and so calls him a lunatic. "There's someone in my head but it's not me" is talking about how the government has effected everyone's mind to thinking that the lit side is the only side of the moon and that the other should not be ventured to, and in fact, is nonexistent.
This song is called "Brain Damage" because learning this truth hurts, it is metal trauma. As they say, ignorance is bliss. And like Plato states in his "Allegory of the Cave" (a great short story, I highly reccomend it), the truth is harder to accept than the lie, and it is very painful. If you are forced to hold your gaze long enough on the truth, you can no longer see the lie, but you will be hurt forever. His brain is now damaged, hence, the title of the song.
Also, this is why the album is entitled "dark side of the moon", because it's all dark, all the same, it is just what others make it that alter it. If you see the truth, see the other side, go in to dark, you are actually enlightened. It is very paradoxical but very deep. I love this song, and this whole album.

anonymous March 4th, 2009 06:28PM  

I think it's quite clearly sung from the perspective of the crazy person, trying to keep a grip on their sanity, keeping the loonies (or perhaps their own problems) on the path, in line, but they can't, the loonies on the grass suggesting a lack of control. The remembering daisy chains and laughs, maybe being a goal, keep the loonies in line, straighten your head out and return to those days, to the good times. And obviously, the line at the end "If the band you're in starts playing different tunes" is a typical sort of crazy line, obviously being about Syd's documented behaviour, playing something different, but from his perspective, he's not playing the wrong tune, they are. The idea that the crazy person is the one that's sane and vice versa.

anonymous March 15th, 2009 08:26PM  

Id say the main meaning about this song was syd. "the lunatic is in my head" "you raise the blade, you make the change" obviously a labotomy referance "theres somebody in my head but its not me" - he was a paranoid schizophrenic known for hearing voices! "and if the band youre playing with start playting different tunes" -hed play a different tune on stage to the rest of the song but im pretty sure thered be other meanings too

harwi394 April 12th, 2009 11:09AM  

Take acid. Listen to this song. The meaning will reveal itself to you. It truly is a phenomenal experience.