It’s just a song. That’s what some people say when they hear the slow, jazzy saxophone intro of the sixth track on The Dark Side of the Moon. But then Roger Waters starts whispering about lines on a map, and suddenly, you aren't just listening to a prog-rock record from 1973 anymore. You’re staring into the heart of why humans can’t seem to get along. The Us and Them lyrics are deceptively simple. Honestly, that’s their superpower. They don't use big, academic words to describe war or poverty. They use "black and blue" and "up and down." It’s basic. It’s primal. And in a world that feels more divided by the second, these words feel less like a relic of the seventies and more like a mirror held up to our current social media feeds.
The song almost didn't happen, or at least not in this way. Richard Wright, the band’s keyboardist, actually wrote the melody on piano years earlier for the film Zabriskie Point. The director, Michelangelo Antonioni, famously rejected it because it was "too sad." He was right. It is sad. But it’s a specific kind of sadness—the kind that comes from realizing that most of our conflicts are based on arbitrary distinctions. When we look at the Us and Them lyrics, we aren't just looking at poetry; we're looking at a psychological breakdown of "othering."
The Simple Geometry of Conflict
Roger Waters has always had a knack for taking massive, terrifying concepts and shrinking them down to size. In this track, he uses binary opposites to show how ridiculous our divisions are. Black and blue. Up and down. And, of course, us and them. The first verse hits the ground running with the image of a general sitting at a table. He’s got his maps spread out, and he’s moving people around like chess pieces. "And the general sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side."
This isn't just about World War II or Vietnam. It’s about the detachment of power. The people dying on the front lines aren't "people" to the man in the chair; they are just "the blue" or "the red." This is where the Us and Them lyrics get really uncomfortable. They force us to acknowledge that the "enemy" is usually just someone who was told to stand on the other side of a line that someone else drew.
Most people focus on the war aspect, but the song shifts gears pretty quickly. It moves from the battlefield to the street. There’s a moment where a "man with a gun" is mentioned, and it’s followed by a verse about a "wanting" man. This is about the divide between the haves and the have-nots. The lyrics describe a scene where someone is looking for a place to stay or something to eat, and the "man with the gun" doesn't just ignore him—he actively pushes him away. It’s the same "us versus them" mentality, just applied to class instead of country.
Why the Saxophone Matters as Much as the Words
You can't talk about these lyrics without talking about Dick Parry’s saxophone. It’s the breath between the sentences. When Waters sings about "God only knows it's not what we would choose to do," the sax wails in a way that feels like a heavy sigh. It’s the sound of resignation.
Music critics often point out that the song’s structure is jazz-influenced, which provides a weirdly relaxed backdrop for such heavy themes. This contrast is intentional. The music is beautiful, almost hypnotic, which mirrors how easily we slip into these divisive mindsets. We don't usually wake up and decide to hate a group of people. It’s a slow drift. It’s a comfortable melody that we've been hearing our whole lives.
The "Ordinary Men" Connection
If you’ve ever read Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men, the Us and Them lyrics might strike a specific chord. That book looks at how regular people—not monsters, just average guys—ended up participating in some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. The song captures that same terrifying normalcy. "With, without / And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?"
It’s a shrug. A cosmic "oh well."
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Waters isn't painting the villains as mustache-twirling monsters. He’s painting them as people who are just following the logic of the system they live in. If you are "up" and I am "down," then the logic dictates we are at odds. It’s the rejection of this logic that makes the song so enduring. It asks us to look past the "blue" and the "black" and see the person.
Modern Resonance: More Than Just Boomer Rock
It’s easy to dismiss Pink Floyd as "dad rock" or something you only listen to when you're testing out a new pair of expensive headphones. But look at the world right now. Look at how we talk to each other on the internet. We have perfected the art of "Us and Them."
The lyrics mention how "the poster bearer with the flickering light" can’t get the attention of the people passing by. It’s about being ignored. It’s about being invisible. In 2026, we are more "connected" than ever, yet we are masters at filtering out anything that doesn't belong to our "Us." We use algorithms to make sure we never have to hear from a "Them."
The Us and Them lyrics predict this siloed existence. They suggest that as long as we define ourselves by who we are not, we are doomed to keep moving those lines on the map.
What People Get Wrong About the Meaning
Some fans think the song is purely anti-war. While that’s a huge part of it, it’s also deeply personal. It’s about the walls we build in our own lives. It’s about the person you walk past on the street and don't look at because they look "different" or "scary."
There’s a specific line: "And after all, we're only ordinary men."
This is the most important line in the whole track. It’s the bridge. It’s the equalizer. It says that the general, the soldier, the beggar, and the billionaire are all cut from the same cloth. We all bleed. We all want to be seen. When we lose sight of that "ordinary" nature, that’s when the "Us and Them" dynamic takes over and everything starts to fall apart.
A Technical Look at the Writing
The rhyme scheme is simple, which is why it works.
- 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
It feels like a nursery rhyme. It’s the kind of logic a child could understand, which makes the fact that adults can't seem to figure it out even more tragic. The repetition of the word "and" at the start of lines creates a sense of exhaustion. It’s one thing after another. This happened, and then this happened, and then we fought, and then we died. It’s the relentless march of history.
How to Truly "Hear" the Song Today
If you want to get the most out of these lyrics, you have to stop treating them like background music. Put on a good pair of headphones. Close your eyes. Don't look at your phone.
Listen to the way the voices are layered. There’s a lot of echo, a lot of space. This reflects the distance between people. When the "wanting man" speaks, his voice sounds small and far away. That’s intentional. It’s how he feels in the world.
Think about your own "Thems." Who are the people you’ve decided are the "others"? The song doesn't tell you to like them. It doesn't even tell you to agree with them. It just asks you to recognize that they are, in fact, "ordinary men" (and women).
Practical Next Steps for the Curious Listener:
- Listen to the "Live at Pompeii" or "Pulse" versions. The live energy adds a layer of desperation to the lyrics that the studio version sometimes masks with its polished production.
- Read the liner notes. If you can find an old vinyl copy, look at the art. The prism on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon is about white light breaking into different colors—a perfect metaphor for how we take a singular human experience and shatter it into competing factions.
- Cross-reference with "The Bravery of Being Out of Range." This is a later Roger Waters solo track. It tackles similar themes but with much more anger. It shows how his perspective on "Us and Them" evolved from sadness to a more pointed, political fury.
- Watch the "Us + Them" concert film. Released a few years ago, this film uses modern imagery (drones, protest footage) to show just how relevant these 1973 lyrics still are in the 21st century.
The song doesn't offer a happy ending. It doesn't say that one day we'll all hold hands and the lines on the map will vanish. Instead, it serves as a warning. It tells us that the "Us and Them" trap is always there, waiting for us to fall into it. The only way out is to keep reminding ourselves of that "ordinary man" line. It’s a lot of work. It’s tiring. But as the song suggests, the alternative is just more lines on the map and more people "falling for the words" of the generals.