The Early Demo of 'Us and Them' and How It Became a Dark Side Centerpiece

The early 1972 demo of “Us and Them” — then still called “The Violence Sequence” — was a slower, more drowsy piece with different chord changes than the album version. It originally featured a repeated Am-Fmaj7-G pattern instead of the familiar Dm7-G-Cmaj7-Fmaj7 progression, and the tempo dragged so much that the band nearly cut it from The Dark Side of the Moon sessions entirely.

What saved it was a structural rethink during the album’s mixing. Rick Wright reworked the piano voicings, Roger Waters sharpened the lyrical contrasts between war and domestic life, and David Gilmour’s solo grew from a hesitant sketch into that soaring, single-note melody. The gospel-style backing vocals from Clare Torry’s legendary improvisation didn’t come until 1973, but even before that, the band had slowed it down one more time to let the spaces breathe. The demo’s original lugubrious feel became the track’s signature tension.