Last October, when Roger Waters brought his “This Is Not a Drill” tour through Austin, Texas, he also took the time to record a nearly three-hour appearance on the podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” During the episode, Rogan said he had to ask Waters — the former lead lyricist, bassist and co-lead vocalist for Pink Floyd — about the synchronicity that arises from watching “The Wizard of Oz” while listening to “The Dark Side of the Moon.”This phenomenon is sometimes called “The Dark Side of the Rainbow”: If you start the album at just the right time, the music and lyrics uncannily align with the movie’s visuals.
Some coincidences are lyrical, as when Dorothy runs away from home at the line “No one told you when to run.” Some are tonal, as when the tornado sequence seems practically choreographed to Clare Torry’s wordless vocals in “The Great Gig in the Sky” — rising to a frenzy as the twister rolls in and then shifting to dreaminess just as Dorothy is knocked unconscious.
Charlie Savage, who wrote the first article about the phenomenon as a summer intern at The Journal Gazette in his hometown, Fort Wayne, Ind., looks back at the discovery he made known when he was 19.
◆ ◆ ◆Written and narrated by Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Persons:
Roger Waters, Joe Rogan, Rogan, Waters, Pink Floyd —, Oz, Dorothy, Clare Torry’s, “, Charlie Savage, ◆, Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Organizations:
The, Gazette
Locations:
Austin , Texas, Fort Wayne, Ind