The Four-Note Piano Line That Nearly Got Cut from 'Us and Them'

That descending four-note piano phrase at the heart of “Us and Them” was actually written by Rick Wright for a completely different project. The band originally tried to sell it to director Michelangelo Antonioni for Zabriskie Point under the title “The Violent Sequence”—ironic, since it’s anything but violent. Antonioni passed, and the piece sat around until The Dark Side of the Moon sessions.

During mixing, the band seriously considered dropping the track. They felt its slow, ballad-like vibe disrupted the album’s flow, and without a strong instrumental hook it sounded unfinished. Then engineer Alan Parsons suggested bringing in session saxophonist Dick Parry, who had played with them before. Parry laid down that haunting solo in maybe two takes, and suddenly the song became the album’s emotional centerpiece. Without that saxophone, “Us and Them” would have likely ended up on the cutting-room floor.