Hello... Can anyone please tell me the meaning and concept of the Pink Floyd's song "us and them"? Us and them And after all we're only ordinary men Me, and you God only knows it's not what we woul

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Hello... Can anyone please tell me the meaning and concept of the Pink Floyd's song "us and them"? Us and them And after all we're only ordinary men Me, and you God only knows it's not what we would choose to do Forward he cried from the rear And the front rank died and the General sat, and the lines on the map Moved from side to side Black and blue And who knows which is which and who is who Up and Down And in the end it's only round and round and round Haven't you heard it's a battle of words The poster bearer cried Listen son, said the man with the gun There's room for you inside Down and Out It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about With, without And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about Out of the way, it's a busy day I've got things on my mind For want of the price of tea and a slice The old man died

Dec 5, 2012 8:49 AM

Answers · 4

There's lots of detail in wikipedia pages: Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon and Down & Out, but here's my interpretation: Pink Floyd's music contained many concepts, relevant here are the ones "Exploitaion and Oppression" and "Alienation, War and Insanity". Roger Water's father had died in action in the 1939-1945 war and the lyrics refer to the cost of that war, and wars in general. The expression 'us and them' refers to the sociology concept of Ingroups and Outgroups. Here there are two examples: the front line soldier who is sacrificed while the officer class (the General) sits back and looks at maps. Then there is the old soldier (assumed) begging for a cup of tea and bread from the passing busy commuter. (Inequality of sciety). He dies of neglect and starvation. 'Us and Them' is also often used in discussions of class. Us being the working class/proletariat (ordinary men) and them being the ruling class. This is another concept common in Pink Floyd's music. Round and round and .... may refer to shots from a gun, insanity, or a round in music (ok it's all three). I could carry on line by line, but you don't want it totally dissected, do you?

December 5, 2012

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