I can't remember where I heard it first, but it was about the third time that someone told me that Pink Floyd's album; The Dark Side of the Moon "fits perfectly" with The film The Wizard of Oz that I decided to give it a shot. I already had The CD in my sparsely populated music collection. It was the second classic album I bought after Led Zeppelin II. My parents didn't own The Wizard of Oz so I borrowed it from my friend Tony who was interested in the results as well. I hit play on my CD player right at the third lion roar of the MGM logo as instructed...and nothing happened. If you're familiar with The record you'll remember that it starts with silence followed by a subtle heart beat that slowly fades in. It creeps up to a screaming crescendo that gives way to the first chord of "Breathe" after about 45 seconds. It was at this moment when the small text list of pre-credits faded away to reveal a much larger font that took up the whole screen: "Produced by MARVIN LeROY". I was hooked. The following forty two minutes played out as if every note, lyric, and tempo were carefully crafted to be the true soundtrack of the 1939 masterpiece. It delivered right up to the end where the tin man explains that he doesn't have a heart as the slow beating heart on the album escorts us out by fading into silence.
To experience it right you have to turn down the audio of the film so the album doesn't compete with the original soundtrack, but the synch is so good that if you were to hear what the characters were saying, a whole new world of serendipitous matches unveil them selves. You'll hear Dorothy open up to Toto before singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that she believes that "There must be somewhere she can get to that you can't get to by phone or train...possibly behind the moon". Remember that the cover of "Dark Side" is of course a Rainbow. Not only that, but a single beam of white light over black that once it hits the prism exits in full color, a picture perfect diagram of a timeline representation of the Wizard of Oz (The film starting in black and white then becoming full color). Flip it over and browse the track list and you'll find that even the names of the songs could double for scene headings. "The Great Gig in the Sky" for instance plays out during the tornado scene. "Brain Damage" is when the Scarecrow confesses to Dorothy his brain woes, and so on.
I could go on and on but the point is there is no end to the rabbit hole when you are looking for sychronicities in "The Dark Side of Oz" it just depends on how far you want to go and what you're willing to accept as a "match". I watched it about three times in a week and noticed more and more awesomeness with each pass. "Black and blue", sings Gilmore as the wicked witch appears on "black" then it cuts to Dorothy who's wearing blue of course. He continues to sing "Who knows which is which?" as Dorothy contemplates the two witches before her and the important choices she must make. I quickly decided that I was absolutely certain that the gentlemen of Pink Floyd were complete geniuses and not only made one of music's greatest accomplishments but carefully designed it to accompany Dorothy on her adventure.
After researching it on the still infant internet, I came across a message board (remember message boards?) that shattered my theory. It was a list of one hundred reasons why The Dark Side of Oz was pure coincidence. Once again, I was blown away. The list was very compelling including the fact that the VHS version is the only one that the synch worked with and that VHS tapes and VCRs didn't show up until years after they recorded Dark Side of the Moon. I thought about this deeply and wondered how such a staggering coincidence could have occurred and the odds of it happening to two of the greatest works of art in their respective mediums. It was very hard to watch The Dark Side of Oz again and convince myself that it was all a massive coincidence but in doing this I ended up appreciating it even more. I reached a few epiphanies about art, how the brain works, and the cosmology of life itself.
My conclusion is great art has a rhythm. There are mathematical universal truths in the cosmos and the art we make that withstands the test of time does so because it taps into these formulas that connect with everyone. That is why the scenes and song lengths are all almost exactly the same. The mood shifts mirror each other and the lyrics about life seem to be describing Dorothy's journey through hers. Victor Fleming also directed Gone With the Wind in the same year as he did Oz. I think it's safe to say that he was riding a wave of creativity and ambition that transcended through his body from the fabric of the universe. One could make a similar case for the groundbreaking album by Pink Floyd. Sure, in both cases there were many other people and factors involved but you can't argue that these artists were on the absolute top of their life's potential during the creation of these two works, and low and behold, they compliment each other. Take in the "rhythm of art" and combine it with human's penchant for recognizing patterns and viola! New art is made. Aside from simply counting the things that seem to synch together, the experience of watching the film with a different soundtrack drastically changes the movie and the music. New moments arise that weren't there before. Some scenes become strangely more emotional, some songs lyrics take on new meaning and so on.
If my theory had any footing then it must mean there are uncountable great film/album match-ups out there. I needed validation with other examples so I hopped on the net again and searched my trusty message boards for other films that people had discovered that go well with certain albums. As it turned out, there were a lot of them. Hundreds in fact. I needed to watch them, at least a few of them to see if the claims that they were just as good as The Oz/Floyd connection were true. The problem was this was before Youtube and internet piracy. I would have to buy these albums and rent the movies to see for myself. I was an anxious high schooler so I decided to try my family's own meager VHS collection with my 15 or so CDs I had at the time. If my theory was right then I should be able to find some decent synchronicities with what I already had. I spread them all out on my living room floor and looked for any two that seemed like they would make a good match. Almost immediately there was one that jumped out at me. It was Disney's Beauty and the Beast with The Cranberries' first album. Before I hit play I was picturing The Cranberries song "Dreams" along with Belle dancing in her little town and got pumped up. It took a few attempts but once I found the magic spot to start it, sure enough, almost every second of the album seemed to have been written for the movie. Once again songs ended as scenes ended, darker songs played during darker scenes, and very literal lyrical matches were plentiful. At one point late in the album, The Cranberries sing: "Sitting in an arm chair/my head between my hands" as Gaston plops in an armchair and thrusts his head between his hands.
I lost a lot of five dollar tournaments at friend's houses before I learned the secret to winning was not about being a good bluffer. It was about having a deep understanding of the odds. Furthermore, realizing that the odds change every single step of the game. Even where you're sitting at the table in comparison to who dealt the cards greatly changes the probability that you'll win the hand regardless of who might be bluffing. Once I memorized a few standard odds like; how often you will make a flush compared to a straight when you have four of five of the cards you need with two community cards left to go, then I started winning more hands. I didn't have to lie. If I had a better understanding of the odds and how they fluctuate than my opponents, I could beat them while never bluffing a single hand. Bluffing only becomes a serious factor when you're playing with a full table of people who are so good that you must assume that they all have calculators for brains and have memorized the exact mathematical probabilities of every scenario.
It wasn't long before I noticed that the skills I was learning playing poker, like the synchronicities, were applying themselves to other things in my life. Everything in life delivers results with the same probability principals as in poker. These are mathematical laws of the universe that cannot be changed. If I really want an apartment and I go to the open house and there's five other people there applying, I would think to myself; It takes about 20 minutes to apply, it's open for four hours a day for two days. That's roughly 120 applications. There's five people in the hand an they're all betting, with two aces showing. There's plenty of hands to go in this round. Odds are somebody's got the third ace, I should fold. I found myself considering multiple factors and the odds of each factor more carefully and accurately for almost everything I did. My conclusion is: it's fun to believe that you are master of your own destiny and can become anything you want, or make whatever you want happen if you put your complete focus on it. Although that's primarily true, there's always other factors to consider. life is like one giant game of Texas Hold 'em poker and you must take risks to win at it but not without patiently waiting for the odds to be in your favor and developing the skills to recognize when they're in your favor. Even with the odds on your side, you still might loose the hand, that's why you shouldn't play too many chips. You might even have to call someone's bluff once in a while but don't rely on it. Finally, don't forget to appreciate the beauty of the synchronicities along the way or it might just pass you by.
Here are three links to sychronicites I've taken the time to synch up already. I even cut in the audio of the films intermittently for the ultimate experience (and because I'm a giant geek of course).
The first two are the ones I mentioned in this piece already. I added the Wall to finish out the Wizard of Oz after trying every one of Pink Floyd's albums. I almost gave up, but then tried it with the second half (disc two) of The Wall instead of the first one and it matches quite well, but don't take my word for it, check it out below. The last one is a synch I came up with more recently that blends three Radiohead albums with Baz Lurman's Romeo and Juliet. Like Beauty, Beast, and The Cranberries, I had a hunch before I even hit play that this match would fit nicely.
The Dark Side of the Rainbow and Somewhere Over the Wall
vimeo.com/76237831 password: house
Beauty, Beast, and the Cranberries
vimeo.com/74027447 password: synch
Romeo, Juliet, and Radiohead
vimeo.com/74384777 pawword: synch
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