David Gilmour Weighs in on Dark Side of the Moon and Wizard of Oz Theory

David Gilmour was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night (November 7th), where the legendary Pink Floyd singer-guitarist was asked by the late-night host about the long-running theory involving 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 publicized in a 1995 article by Charles Savage in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, it is believed that if you start Dark Side of the Moon at the exact moment the MGM lion roars at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz, the music syncs nearly perfectly with the scenes in the classic film.

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That has led some people to think that Pink Floyd intentionally recorded the 1973 album to sync with the 1939 movie, a question Fallon asked Gilmour during his appearance on The Tonight Show.

“Well, of course it was,” quipped Gilmour at first, before revealing that he and his wife, Polly Samson, have tried it out. “We listened to it, Polly and I, years ago,” continued the rock icon, before Fallon asked again if the band purposely planned it, to which Gilmour responded, “No. I only heard about that years later.”

Gilmour then added, “Someone said you put the needle on … and on the third roar of the MGM lion, you put the needle on for the beginning of Dark Side and there’s these strange synchronicities that happen.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer went on to admit, “There are these strange coincidences.”

Fallon then joked that maybe if fans play Gilmour’s new solo album, Luck and Strange, while they watch the new movie Wicked, the 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” led him to quit smoking. He also discussed his early days as a male model.

David Gilmour finishes up a five-night stand at New York City’s Madison Square Garden with two more shows on Saturday (November 9th) and Sunday (November 10th). 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.