David Gilmour was a guest at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night (November 7), where the legendary Pink Floyd singer-guitarist was asked by the late-night host about the long-held theory about the album The dark side of the moon and the movie The Wizard of Oz.
Thanks to the “Dark Side of the Rainbow” theory first widely published in a 1995 article by Charles Savage in Fort Wayne Journal Gazetteit is believed that if you start The dark side of the moon at the exact moment the MGM lion roars at the beginning of The Wizard of Ozthe music syncs almost perfectly with the scenes of the classic film.
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It has led some to believe that Pink Floyd deliberately recorded the 1973 album to synchronize with the 1939 film, a question Fallon asked Gilmour during his appearance on The Tonight Show.
“Well, of course it was,” Gilmour said at first, before revealing that he and his wife, Polly Samson, have tried it. “We listened to it, Polly and I, years ago,” the rock icon continued, before Fallon asked again if the band deliberately planned it, to which Gilmour replied, “No. I didn’t hear about it until years later.”
Gilmour then added, “Somebody said you put the needle on … and at the third roar of the MGM lion, you put the needle on at the beginning of Dark side and there are these strange synchronicities that happen.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer went on to admit, “There are these weird coincidences.”
Fallon then joked that if fans might play Gilmour’s new solo album, Luck and Strangewhile watching the new movie Evilthe same kind of synchronicities would happen, to which Gilmour exclaimed, “Who knows?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Gilmour addressed whether his famous cough in the song “Wish You Were Here” prompted him to quit smoking. He also discussed his early days as a male model.
David Gilmour wraps up a five-night stand at New York City’s Madison Square Garden with two more shows on Saturday (November 9) and Sunday (November 10). Pick up tickets here.
The full interview with Fallon can be seen below, while his performance of his solo single “Dark and Velvet Nights” on The Tonight Show can be seen here.
