Roger Waters shares the meaning behind Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon that people may miss

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An overarching meaning behind the Pink Floyd album, The Dark Side of the Moon, may have been missed by listeners, according to Roger Waters.

The message has been made clear by Waters, who in an interview given in 2003, suggested there was an overarching meaning that needed to be listened to. Waters would return to The Dark Side of the Moon in 2023 for a Redux version of the album, re-writing parts and re-arranging the instrumentals made famous by fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. Though his version of the album may be poorer, the Pink Floyd bassist and songwriter has shared there is a “natural history” to the album which he hopes audiences can still pick up on.

He said: “If there’s any central message, it’s this: this is not a rehearsal. As far as we know – and I know there are some Hindus that would disagree with this – you only get one shot, and you’ve got to make choices based on whatever moral, philosophical or political position you may adopt.

“You make the choices during your life, and those choices are influenced by political considerations and by money and by the dark side of all our natures. You get the chance to make the world a lighter or a darker place in some small way. 

“We all get the opportunity to transcend our tendencies to be self-involved and mean and greedy. We all make a small mark on the great painting of life.”

Though it may have been an obvious message to some, Waters wanted to make it clear the meaning of the album is about joining “the flow of the river of natural history,” and that the album calls on people to do the same.

He added: “If The Dark Side Of The Moon is anything, it’s an exhortation to join the flow of the river of natural history in a way that’s positive, and to embrace the positive and reject the negative, given that one might be able to identify with the things which seem to be a matter of great confusion to a lot of people.”

Waters’ praise of The Dark Side of the Moon has been a staple of his interviews in recent years, with the bassist remaining proud of the group’s work.

He suggested the album should have been the end of the road for the band too, with Waters saying they had “cracked it” with their 1974 release.

He shared: “But of course, The Dark Side Of The Moon finished Pink Floyd off once and for all. To be that successful is the aim of every group. And once you’ve cracked it, it’s all over. In hindsight, I think Pink Floyd was finished as long ago as that.”