interrobang has given us an in-depth look at just
about every possible Pink Floyd synchronization possible. But wait,
there's more! My dad and I discovered this one by accident a few years
ago after first trying the famous Dark Side of the Moon-Wizard of Oz sync. While it's not quite as phenomenal as its more famous counterparts, syncing up The Wall and Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho leads to some neat coincidences and one sequence you have to see to believe.
(Previously noded as Mother, did it need to be so high?, purged and cleaned up, then resubmitted in its rightful place.)
The Wall and Psycho:
Play:
- Start
the album three seconds into the Paramount logo before the film. Just
as in Dark Side of the Rainbow, there's an easy way to determine
whether the sync has worked: if the Psycho credits start with the first
jarring note of "In the Flesh?" you're on your way to some trippy fun.
Syncs:
- In the Flesh?
- The
credits begin almost exactly as the song begins. The credits' stylized
lines move on, across and off the screen in time to the music.
- The
lyric "If you want to find out what's behind these cold
eyes/you'll just have to blow your way through this disguse" fits the
film's plot and ending quite well.
- Another Brick in the Wall, part I
- Sam
talks to Marion about having to pay off his late
father's debts as this song about the narrator's father's death in
World War I plays.
- Goodbye Blue Sky
- The
lyrics "Did you ever wonder that we'd have to run for shelter as the
promise of a brave new world all fell beneath a clear blue sky?" are
heard as Marion plans to run away after stealing $40,000 from her
workplace.
- One of My Turns
- Marion
approaches her suitcase, sitting on the bed, as we hear "Run to the
bedroom, in the suitcase on the left you'll find my favourite
axe."
- Another Brick in the Wall, part III
- Marion
drives through a heavy rainstorm after having stolen the money, and
imagines what the people she's leaving behind are saying about
her. Her situation nicely fits the lyrics "I don't need no arms around
me/and I don't need no drugs to calm me/I have seen the writing on the
wall/don't think I need anything at all."
- Goodbye Cruel World
- Marion arrives at the Bates Motel, where she will -- unbenknownst to her -- be killed while taking a shower.
The
second half of the sync depends almost entirely on how quickly one's CD
player switches from disc one to disc two. But if it's like mine,
you'll be entranced and amazed by the following:
- Is There Anybody Out There?
- Norman and Marion have a bonding session during this song about alienation.
- Nobody Home
- The
highlight of the sync, in my humble opinion.
Watching a woman get hacked to death in the shower with a piano-driven
ballad in the background may well be even more unsettling than Bernard
Herrman's original shrieking string score.
- One of the single
greatest sync moments of all time -- right up there with the cash
register sound as Dorothy opens the door and discovers the land of
Oz: the shot of the drain dissolving into the closeup shot of
Marion's eye at "I've got wild, staring eyes."
- Vera
- "What has become of you?" as Norman runs out of the bathroom in disgust after discovering Marion's corpse.
- Bring the Boys Back Home
- Norman
drags the body out of the bathroom in time with the military rhythms
of the music, giving it an eerie funeral march kind of feel.
- In the Flesh
- Arbosgast
questions various motel owners as Pink questions his audience on a
variety of inappropriate topics.
- Norman sits on his porch, bathed in light at the lyric "That one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me."
- The Trial
- Arbogast opens his car door at the sound of a cell being unlocked.
- He also climbs the stairs, where he is awaited by a knife-wielding Mrs. Bates, to the lyric "Come to mother, baby."
Concepts
- Overbearing
mother, ahoy! While it's arguably a more blatant plot point in the
film, the album also tells the story of a young boy who, having lost
his father in the war, is overprotected -- one could almost say
smothered -- by his mother, who fears losing him too. There seems to
be a direct correlation between the two works here; Norman Bates's
father died when he was very young and he became a little too close to
his mother as a result.
- Both The Wall and Psycho
deal with the theme of running away from one's problems -- either
literally, as in Marion's case, or more figuratively with the use of
drugs -- with tragic results. Marion runs away from her mundane life in
the hopes of marrying Sam, only to end up dead. Pink tries to escape
his problems in typical rock star
fashion and ultimately has a breakdown.
- The Nobody
Home sequence seriously has to be seen to be believed. When we first
did the sync, my dad and I figured this would be one of the songs that
went by without any syncs or coincidences we'd come to expect from
other matchups. We
were wrong.