So, Side One ends. Things are about to get a lot simpler.

MONEY

Verse: Bminor Turnaround: F#minor - Eminor - Bminor

If Dark Side Of The Moon had been composed years later when the music would not have to be divided between Side One and Side Two of a vinyl long-player, then the probability is that Pink Floyd may have done something different here harmonically to smooth things over. G minor, the last chord heard at the end of Side One, is a world away from the B minor which opens the first track of Side Two. Nothing inherently wrong with that. Just that it clearly marks a division of sorts due to the limitations of the format for which it was recorded.

Anyway, just as “Great Gig In The Sky” constitutes a diversion from the main harmonic path, “Money” delays the return to the main road a little longer with its ‘blues in B minor’flavour. With regard to harmonic progression, there really isn’t much else to add to that. It’s a monster of a track. Rip-snorting guitar solos, thundering drums, great bassline… But, for the sake of this analysis, we can ‘fast forward’ to the end where something very significant happens….

US AND THEM

Main sequence: D - D6 - Dminor#7 - G/D
Bridge: Bminor - G - C

As described at the beginning of the article, this is a sublime moment on the album where we suddenly get taken ‘home’ harmonically with the arrival of chord I of D major.

Against the fading, retreating B minor of “Money”, Rick Wright superimposes the upper end of a suspended dominant seven without its keynote, A. Like a clearing of mist, the ‘home’ chord of D emerges. A truly magical transition and one which answers all questions asked by the use of harmony so far on the album. Here is the album’s chord I. And, as if to celebrate and make the most of it, the D remains at the foot of the texture throughout most of the song while the upper harmony notes change. The melancholy effect of the Dminor#7 chord enables Rick Wright and Dick Parry to add some delightful turns during their solo. For all its dynamism and power, the bridge sequence - B minor to G to C - is merely a sidestep. D is ‘home’ from here on and the end is in sight…