Us and them Lyrics - Pink Floyd

i wrote a book yet to be published about my fathers survival of the holocaust. about half of it is in his words as i recorded him telling me his story. the other half is in my words based on observations written in a journal that documents a roots trip he led me on a few years after the recording. i understand, having made my living in music, that songs mean different things to different people and it's what you get out of it. but as i was listening to the song in my car this morning for the gazillionth time, i saw the image of my father as a 17 year old, describing what he told me years later, having just arrived at a slave labor camp in warsaw, poland, mere days after his family was gassed at auschwitz. upon arriving at this labor camp, the group was made to stand in formation all day in the hot sun before being permitted to enter. no food or water was given and captives were relieving themselves and feinting where they stood. while this was happening, my father saw a german gaurd lovingly at play with his guard dog beyond the fence. the guard was nicely dressed in a fresh uniform, contrasting my fathers ragged issue. and then he watched the guard feed his dog. my father recounts how he felt at that moment, wishing he was the dog when he saw that happening - for he'd have been taken better care of and well fed had he been the dog instead. when able, i found the lyrics here, to confirm what i thought might be consistant throughout the song. if this story is made into a film, i hope with permission of the band, to be able to use it for this scene.

The song is about war and the reasons for it. The "hard to hear" spoken words in the background is something Rogers recorded. I once read a transcript and the guy was talking about how when someone is being really annoying and obnoxious and talking wont settle them down and sometimes you have to give them a.....pop? a smack? Either way it will be "short, sharp, shocked". He goes on to say that it, and I am paraphrasing here, "manners don't cost much" or something. Roger Waters stood outside the studio (Paul McCartney & Wings were recording there also) and he asked people a series of questions. One of them being "what is the most violent thing you have ever done"? Hence the reply "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time". I hope this helps..........BTW---Greatest Rock Album Ever!!!!!!! EVER!!

This is one of my favorite songs, ever. Its message is awesome, it has great lyrics, and it has amazing composition. Honestly, I was amazed the first time I heard this song. Only Time is a better Pink Floyd song, in my opinion. Thank you Pink Floyd for another masterpiece!

What's most interesting to me about Us and Them, and what's not included in the written lyrics, is the spoken word in the background of the recording. At times it is difficult to make out, but it seems to be an old soldier talking about the hand-to-hand combat techniques they were taught. I'd love to see a transcript of those words. Both of my grandfathers fought in "The Great War", and this song makes me think of them.

I think this song just talks against trying to label everything, against focusing more on the differences between people and between opinions instead on focusing on the similarities.
In the end we're all the same so there's no point in saying us and them, me and you... No one can tell if something's black or blue because there's just a whole wide spectra.
And they say that's the cause of many problems among humans. War is one of those, but not the only one.

Getting side or the term of "us" and "them" has been known as an important factor of "banal journalism". It refers to what dominant states are interested to publish in media as mainstream on the umbrella of nationalism to consist their nation as "us" and the enemy as "them". Banal journalism is hegemonic.

in my mind, it's really just a whole lot of sounds and chord progressions encompassed together to create something beautiful and enthralling. I don't think the band intended for everyone to have one specific view on what the song meant. It's whatever you make it to be and it's there so you can just be captivated by it and let it absorb you and feel the aura that they're projecting.

to all pink floyd fan ,, their songs is always about the good in humans are still there , and some times we do action that we had to do , in time of anger , time of disbelief, for the round and round part, there is not up and there is no down , only in human concept , :) but for real who knows where is up , out side of the earth i mean. any way , i just wish i was born in the 60's just to see them play live , the DVD and BR are not enough :(

All of Pink Floyd's Songs give you a great feeling such as Us & Them, but trust me these songs give you better feelings if you try to play it, or at least play one instrument included in it! then you'll be part of the song! If you haven't tried it yet, then do it, it feels great!

What still captures me about the song is the intro by Richard Wright on the organ. I still rewind that intro, because it's the most beautiful organ intro I've ever heard. Once it blends in with the rest of the song, your ride into sublime bliss begins. The lrics just make the song that much deeper.

i mean you can search up interviews with members from pf and hear what their meaning of the song was, but in the end its wut u take from the song, to be honest, ive took my own meanings from songs over time and in a good way, then i find out the song meant something completely different im just baffled. this song is about war? i thought us and them they were talking about aliens and intergalactic space battle! haha just joking, but really just use ur own head and take what u get from the music, thats what musics all about, what vibes and thoughts that run through YOUR mind after hearing the song.

I think the music that plays with the song is so contradicting and sarcastic compared to the lyrics of the song. listening to it with no lyrics and just the melody creates a sense of euphoria and happiness. but with the lyrics it creates a sense of segregation between humans. we are all the same, but some of us have more power than others. it's only the natural order of things. and as the normal working class suffers, the fat cats rake in all the money. as common soldiers are sent to die, the generals sit and watch as their conquest for more and more disposes their brothers. for the dumbest and most shallow reasons, we are all suffering. we are all dying. at least that piano sounds good...

today, after having this song in my life for all of its 34 years, that us and them could be a philosophy of human nature. Many times, on wide degree of levels and subject manner, humans take an us versus them approach and apply to their life. This can enable the building of bonds and relationships when people have little common ground between them. Maybe PF is just discussing this concept within the song, and in the end, me, you, and these other reviewers: are only round and round and round.

Lots of people say this, but I mean it. listen to the soul, the sound, the feel of the music. Resist your human nature, and the urge to figure it out and put a nice neat explanation for it. It's ok for you, but when you're on the internet, you can annoy people and then they associate that annoyance with the song and anything that might make a person like Pink Floyd less is EVIL. Not really, but I hope you catch m drift.

Is it not mainly about the distinction between those that have wealth and power and those that do not? The "haves" do whatever they can to keep what they've got, manipulating the "have nots" to fight for them, with the empty promise that if they do, then perhaps they also can join the ranks of the "have". Sad, since the lives of the "haves" are not necessarily much to aspire to yet still the "have nots" work on the behalf on the "haves", and sadder still since they through their actions they help perpetuate the system that keeps them under and that Roger Waters so clearly hates. Poor sods.