It is my opinion that "Us and Them" is the most poignant song about war ever written.
Us and Them
(Waters, Wright)
Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's noz 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.
But in the end it's only 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.
"I mean, they're not gunna kill ya, so if you give 'em a quick short,
sharp, shock, they won't do it again. Dig it? I mean he get off
lightly, 'cos I would've given him a thrashing - I only hit him once!
It was only a difference of opinion, but really...I mean good manners
don't cost nothing do they, eh?"
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 the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MRM
Losing his father and seeing what wreckage that left behind, and then finding out what a screwup Anzio was, and that his father probably didn't have to die, wore heavilly on Waters. He wrote a song about it that as far as I know doesn't appear on any album indexes, but I think is a hidden track on one of the albums that came right after Dark Side of the Moon, maybe Wish You Were Here. The song describes how his father's regiment was ordered to stay behind to cover the withdrawal of other units and that there were no survivors. It ends with "And that's how the High Command took Daddy from me."
|