Wish You Were Here: Lament For The Fallen

After the success of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (The album with the rainbow triangle), the band started to reflect on their musical career. Pink Floyd’s history is longer than most, with about eight albums and almost a decade of songwriting and performing under their belt when they finally hit the big leagues. The band looked back on all they had done, and they knew something was missing. Their founding member and good friend Syd Barrett. Syd was dropped from the band some seven years earlier due to increasingly sporadic behavior brought on by abuse of LSD and potential schizophrenia. And so, as a tribute to their old bandmate, they began a tribute to Syd Barrett's memory, the final product being Wish You Were Here.

The first drafts of production began in January of 1975, and the tribute to Syd Barret’s memory became all the more impactful when that memory stepped out of the past and into the studio. It had been a while since anyone had heard from Syd, though David Gilmour (singer and lead guitarist) kept an eye on Syd from time to time. By the time most of Wish You Were Here was finished, on June 5th, right before production was to end, Syd arrived at the studio Pink Floyd was recording at. He had gone completely bald, shaved his eyebrows, and gained a substantial amount of weight. He was a sporadic, faded shadow of his old self. David Gilmour and Roger Waters actually broke down into tears when they realized who he was. Syd left soon after, and the band began their final stretch of recording and editing.

This information is critical to understanding Wish You Were Here and its themes. The fundamental basics of the album are a culmination of Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking come up in the music scene, how the music industry toxically chews up and spits out bands with little care for the artists, and the psychological toll that stardom takes on people. Wish You Were Here is only five songs, and yet still manages to be 45 minutes long. The bulk of the album is the closest thing I can imagine to getting high, with the songs “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-5” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9” are the first and last songs on the album. The sound features Pink Floyd’s signature psychedelic floatiness with a sense of melancholy and camaraderie with a simple 4 note beat that is reminiscent of Syd’s early career. This lament carries on into “Welcome To The Machine”, a song about the cookie-cutter aspect of bands and being told the what, how, and why of your music to become an efficient money-making band, just a cog in the machine. “Have a Cigar” emphasizes less on the music industry and more on rich executives and producers.

The anti-music industry theme runs through Wish You Were Here’s middle third. Pink Floyd actually had an interview where a producer said, “The band is just fantastic; by the way, which one’s Pink?” Someone who cares only about the money and not enough to learn who is even in the band.  This frustration at the music industry and greedy producers is nothing new for Pink Floyd, but they really let their feelings rip here.

And the most important and well-known song of Wish You Were Here is the album’s namesake. The song “Wish You Were Here” is a melancholic but somehow nostalgic and hopeful lament on one’s continuous disconnection from beauty, creativity, and passion in exchange for fame, money, and success. I cannot stress enough how beautiful this song is; you simply have to experience it. Wish You Were Here is more than just a criticism of the music industry or an album about loss. Wish You Were Here is a tragedy, the story of Syd Barrett and the story of Pink Floyd. An incredible album that definitely deserves a listen, even if it is overshadowed by The Dark Side of The Moon and The Wall. Please give this album a listen.