"And disciplinary remains mercifully"
"Yes and um, I’m with you, Derek, this star nonsense"
"Yes, yes"
"Now which is it?"
"I am sure of it"
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 1]
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell? Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?
[Verse 2]
Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change? Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year
Running over the same old ground, what have we found?
The same old fears, wish you were here
About
“Wish You Were Here” is the title track on Pink Floyd’s 1975 album. The song’s lyrics encompass writer Roger Waters‘ feelings of alienation from other people, drawing particular inspiration from his old friend Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd who left the band due to mental health issues. The song forms part of a concept album focusing on absence and disenchantment with the music industry. The song “Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-9)” was already an homage to Syd, while this one also grieves his absence. The other two songs on the album (“Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar”) express the band’s newfound distaste for the pressures of the music industry, pressures that they feel helped cause Syd to crack, thus tying the album together as a coherent piece. David Gilmour and Roger Waters collaborated to write the music.
This was a rare case of the Pink Floyd primary songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour mutually collaborating on a song – they rarely wrote together. Gilmour had the opening riff written and was playing it in the studio at a fast pace when Roger Waters heard it and asked him to play it slower. The song built from there, with the pair writing the music for the chorus and verses together, and Waters adding the lyrics.
The song reflected the feeling of the band while they were recording the album. Waters felt they were not putting a full effort into the recording sessions.
When this song starts, it sounds like it is coming from an AM radio somewhere in the distance. It represents the distance between the listener and the music.
At 42 seconds, you can also hear Richard Wright cough. When he heard the song later, it inspired him to quit smoking.
While not a single upon release, it earned this status with a version recorded on the live album Pulse, where the cover depicted two lost souls staring into fish bowls.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Per keyboardist Rick Wright about Syd Barrett showing up in the studio while they were recording the song –
He stood up and said, ‘Right, when do I put my guitar on?’ And of course, he didn’t have a guitar with him. And we said, ‘Sorry, Syd, the guitar’s all done.’
- 2.Lucifer Sam
- 4.Flaming
- 8.The Gnome
- 9.Chapter 24
- 10.The Scarecrow
- 11.Bike
- 13.Remember a Day
- 15.Corporal Clegg
- 17.See-Saw
- 18.Jugband Blues
- 19.Cirrus Minor
- 20.The Nile Song
- 21.Crying Song
- 22.Up The Khyber
- 24.Cymbaline
- 25.Party Sequence
- 26.Main Theme
- 27.Ibiza Bar
- 28.More Blues
- 29.Quicksilver
- 30.A Spanish Piece
- 31.Dramatic Theme
- 36.Sysyphus
- 39.The Narrow Way
- 42.If
- 43.Summer ’68
- 44.Fat Old Sun
- 48.Fearless
- 49.San Tropez
- 50.Seamus
- 51.Echoes
- 53.When You’re In
- 54.Burning Bridges
- 57.Mudmen
- 58.Childhood’s End
- 59.Free Four
- 60.Stay
- 62.Speak to Me
- 64.On the Run
- 65.Time
- 67.Money
- 68.Us and Them
- 70.Brain Damage
- 71.Eclipse
- 74.Have a Cigar
- 75.Wish You Were Here
- 78.Dogs
- 80.Sheep
- 82.In the Flesh?
- 83.The Thin Ice
- 87.Mother
- 88.Goodbye Blue Sky
- 89.Empty Spaces
- 90.Young Lust
- 91.One of My Turns
- 95.Hey You
- 97.Nobody Home
- 98.Vera
- 100.Comfortably Numb
- 101.The Show Must Go On
- 103.Run Like Hell
- 105.Stop
- 106.The Trial
- 107.Outside the Wall
- 108.The Post War Dream
- 109.Your Possible Pasts
- 110.One of the Few
- 112.The Hero’s Return
- 113.The Gunner’s Dream
- 114.Paranoid Eyes
- 117.Southampton Dock
- 118.The Final Cut
- 119.Not Now John
- 121.Signs of Life
- 122.Learning to Fly
- 123.The Dogs of War
- 124.One Slip
- 125.On the Turning Away
- 126.Yet Another Movie
- 127.Round and Around
- 129.Terminal Frost
- 131.Sorrow
- 132.Cluster One
- 134.Poles Apart
- 135.Marooned
- 138.Take It Back
- 139.Coming Back to Life
- 140.Keep Talking
- 141.Lost for Words
- 142.High Hopes