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The Beatles and Pink Floyd were two of the world’s biggest bands in the 1960s and 1970s. And they hardly crossed paths while both bands were active, even though Floyd recorded their debut next door to The Beatles. Pink Floyd cut Paul McCartney’s contribution to their legendary 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, but The Beatles’ music made a surprise and nearly-hidden cameo on the record.

Paul McCartney (from left), John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison of The Beatles circa 1964; Pink Floyd's Rick Wright, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and David Gilmour in Japan in 1972.
(l-r) Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison of The Beatles; Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and David Gilmour | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

Pink Floyd cut Paul McCartney’s contribution to ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’

The Dark Side of the Moon features several voice cameos. Pink Floyd asked various Abbey Road Studios employees and others to answer questions (some simple, some existential) and included their responses on the album.

But not Paul’s. 

While many of the others took the assignment seriously, the former Beatle used it as a chance to perform. His joking or half-serious answers missed the mark. They weren’t what Pink Floyd needed, so they didn’t use Paul’s contributions. Macca didn’t make it on the record, but The Beatles have a cameo on The Dark Side of the Moon.

The Beatles’ music shows up in a hard-to-hear cameo on ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’

One of the voices on The Dark Side of the Moon belongs to Abbey Road Studios doorman Gerry O’Driscoll, according to Rolling Stone. Whether it was O’Driscoll or the person recording him, someone left a door open while documenting his responses. 

That’s how the world got a Beatles cameo on Dark Side.

O’Driscoll says, “There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark,” over the fading heartbeat thumps of album closer “Eclipse.” Between the heartbeats, fans can hear faint orchestral music. According to Rolling Stones, it’s a different version of The Beatles song “Ticket to Ride.”

Beatles producer recorded an instrumental, orchestral version of “Ticket to Ride,” and that’s the version (an unofficial cut lives on YouTube) that appears on The Dark Side of the Moon (for those with their headphones on and the volume turned all the way up). 

It took a slight error and a different version of the song, but The Beatles’ music made a cameo appearance on a seminal album that outsold any Fab Four records.

Pink Floyd members crossed paths with The Beatles over the years

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Before Pink Floyd asked Paul to contribute to The Dark Side of the Moon, and before The Beatles heard their music make a surprise cameo on the record, the two bands crossed paths a few times.

Both groups recorded at Abbey Road in 1967. The Fab Four worked on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as Floyd cut its debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Floyd bassist Roger Waters had a regrettable encounter with John — regrettable because neither was on their best behavior. That one and only meeting with The Beatles legend didn’t sully Waters’ opinion. He later gave John high praise as a songwriter.

Paul and Floyd guitarist David Gilmour collaborated several times after Dark Side. Gilmour played on the 1979 Wings album Back to the Egg. He played on the song “We Got Married” on Macca’s 1989 Flowers in the Dirt record, and Gilmour was a rare bright spot on Paul’s disastrous project Give My Regards to Broad Street.

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