Wish You Were Here is an album by Pink Floyd, recorded at Abbey Road Studios between January 1975 and July 1975 released on September 15, 1975 (see 1975 in music).
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The album is largely a tribute to former band member Syd Barrett, whose mental illness and erratic behavior made it impossible for him to effectively contribute to the band after the album A Saucerful of Secrets. Originally, the album was to consist of three songs that the band had been playing live over the previous two years: "Shine On", "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta be Crazy". "Shine On" was preserved as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", Roger Waters decided to drop the other two, which later became "Dogs" and "Sheep" on the Animals album. In their place, Waters wrote new material that documented the band's current condition (the title track) and caricatured the negative aspects of the record business ("Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar").
Coincidentally, Barrett himself actually turned up at the studio in the middle of a recording session of the backing vocals for "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" on 5 June 1975 which was also the day guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour married his first wife Ginger. Across the corridors of Abbey Road floated "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and there he was, in person. He arrived unannounced, looking bald and fat, and had put on so much weight that some of the band did not recognize him at first. Others were close to tears; Waters later confided that he cried. Barrett asked at one point if there was anything he could do and that he was available if needed. He later appeared at Gilmour's wedding reception where some mistook him for a member of the Hare Krishna religion. He hadn't been seen by the band in five years, and wasn't seen again after that point.
It was the last Pink Floyd album which would see a writing credit for Rick Wright until The Division Bell in 1994.
Wish You Were Here was originally released on Columbia Records in the US. It was digitally remastered and released in 1994 in the UK as a CD on the EMI label, and in 1997 by Columbia for the rest of the world. The album was subsequently re-released in 2000 for its 25th anniversary, on the Capitol Records label in the US, and on the EMI label for the rest of the world.
Wish You Were Here will be re-released as a dual-layered Super Audio Compact Disc in fall 2005 to commemorate the album's thirtieth anniversary. This was done in 2003 as the group's previous album, Dark Side of the Moon, was re-mastered in the SACD format.
Wish You Were Here peaked at #1 on Billboard's USA Pop Albums chart and has sold over six million copies to date in the US and was certified Gold on September 17, 1975 in the US and as Sextuple Platinum in the US on May 16, 1997 by the R.I.A.A. and has sold altogether worldwide 13 million copies.
On the track Wish You Were Here, you hear a coughing noise, which is supposedly the sign that David Gilmour had quit smoking, which he did quit while recording this record.
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Wish You Were Here the 34th greatest album of all time.
In 2003, Rolling Stone named it #209 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. True to critically prescient form, this happened twenty-eight years after the magazine initially panned and trashed the recording. Quoting reviewer Ben Edmonds from the November 6, 1975 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, "Passion is everything of which Pink Floyd is devoid."
Extended Concept and Full Analysis
The first track of Wish you Were Here, Shine on you crazy Diamond, demonstrates the beginning of the end of Syd Barrett. As the lyrics go, “Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun." it brings us into Syd's childhood of how bright and intelligent he was. "Shine On you Crazy Diamond!" is the phrase that is repeated often during the song depicts of how he should shine like he did when you was young and had a better life. "Now there`s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky." depicts how he now acts and looks at thing in a new way, due to his paranoia and schizophrenia. "You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom" depicts on how young he was when he entered the music business and had an influence on his sanity (among other things). "Come on you target for far away laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr and SHINE!" shows how many personalities Syd had because of his problem, and to pull through and shine. "You reached for the secret too soon, and cried for the moon" shows again on how soon he entered the business, yet also says how good of a job he did. "Threatened by shadows at night and exposed to the light" shows how he hallucinated and it began to show during the concerts when he refused to play. "Well you wore out your welcome, with random precision" shows how because of what he did was destroying the shows in what they figured might be a mean way he wore out his welcome. "Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner and SHINE!" shows the same thing as the other part just like it however the names are a lot more precise. You raver sow of his paranoia. You seer of vision shows his schizophrenia. You painter shows of his hobby of painting (even it may have started AFTER the album that I do not know.). You piper means either his drug addiction (which heighten his disorders) or Piper at the gates of Dawn, which was the first album. And lastly the prisoner was how he was a prisoner to all these things (except painting). Also "Shine on You crazy Diamond" has the initials SYD.
Track two; Welcome to the Machine begins with a very mechanical sound. It depicts the entrance of Syd into the music business. "Welcome my son, welcome to the machine" states of how he (the manager) tries to emulate a paternal figure (which is impossible because he is a machine) and that he is welcomed to the machine. What is the MACHINE? The machine is the music business that molds great artists into a soulless compound of singles and platinum hits. The machine changes you into a mindless sellout and uses you as a means of profit. "Where have you been, it`s all right we know where you`ve been!" shows how the manager tries to get to know Syd but ends up creating a story all by himself that he thinks will sell the image. "You`ve been in the pipeline filling in time, provided with toys and scouting for boys" is how he stayed underground then used his knowledge to form a band. "You bought a guitar to punish your ma. You didn`t like school and you know you`re nobody`s fool" show how the manager tries to push the punk image because it`s "cool". "What did you dream? It`s all right we told you what to dream" shows how the manager now tries to alter his future image also to make him look "cool" and "popular". "You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar" shows the future as the manager pumps him full of encouragement. "He always ate at the steak bar, he loved to ride in his jaguar" shows how the manager thinks how successful the business will make him, when in reality it will be the manager who will make all the money. The Machine, what a terrible place.
Track three, Have a Cigar shows how after the first album really succeeded the manager wanted more and more success (and money). "Come on here dear boy have a cigar, you`re going to go far." The term 'have a cigar' (which also became the songs title) depicts how the success came in. The cigar is a symbol. Rich men don`t smoke cigarettes, they are more powerful than that so they need a cigar. It`s stronger, bolder and is big and powerful. "Fly high, you`re never gonna die" shows how the manager is pumping him up continuously with metaphors to show him all of the success that he shall bring (to the manager). "You`re gonna make it if you try, they`re gonna love you" is another way to pump him up, however without the use of metaphors and he is pretty much flat out telling him, WORK HARD OR YOU WILL SUCK. Which is technically true however, the manager is only giving the positives that gives Syd the belief that he release anything or any type of music and people will love it (including the Madcap Laughs album, god help us). "Well I’ve always had a deep respect I mean that most sincerely" shows the managers attempt to get on the bands good side and attempt to be more liked in a somewhat pathetic attempt to suck up to him. Next is probably my favorite part of the whole album "The band is just fantastic that is really what I think, oh by the way which ones Pink". What is really strange is that the question was actually asked that question by the manager in the earlier days. The manager attempts to claim that he likes the music however he doesn`t get the message. Pink Floyd is not about being popular or having a front man, it`s about the lyrics, the music and the incredible lights and laser shows. "And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it riding the gravy train" which is the repeated phrase of the song which brings all of the pillars of success into one phrase 'riding the gravy train'. "Were just knocked out, have you heard about the sell-out You gotta get an album out you owe it to the people, we`re so happy we can hardly count" shows how the manager is flipping out over all of the album and singles sales. He is happier than the entire band combined, namely because he made money. Thus, he doesn`t care about sales. "Everybody else is just green, have you seen the charts" shows how the manager is more concerted about the popularity of the song than of the song itself. "It`s a hell of a start, it could be made into a monster if we all pull together as a team" sows how the manager is trying to push his way into the music and if he has his way, the band shall be transformed into a commercial band. We call that riding the gravy train.
The famous title track Wish you were Here, is the climax of the story. Syd has left the band because of the disorders. All the things have built on him. The pressures of writing singles, the control by the manager and the drugs have heightened his schizophrenia and paranoia to the point where he left the band. He turns on the radio to hear a song played by Pink Floyd and decides to join in with his acoustic guitar. The voices seem to reach out to Syd. "So, so you think you can tell heaven form hell, blue skies from pain" Heaven was when the band was simple and unmaterialistic, hell is the machine of singles and record deals where Syd entered with innocence, not knowing the pain and has left the innocent blue skies that is childhood, for a shot at petty success. "Can you tell a green field form a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil, do you think you can tell?" The green field is again a metaphor for childhood and the cold steel rail would be the machine. What he thought was the companies 'smile' to show emotion and feeling to show their understanding of what the music was about, was really just a veil that covered a grin the says "We need more money". "And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?" The heroes are the parental figures in Syd`s life and they were turned to just faint memories as Syd left them behind almost like they were just ghosts. "Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for the cool breeze?" shows the change for Syd`s environment by the music, for better or for worse. "Cold comfort for change?" shows how the comforting past has now been changed. "And did you exchange, a walk on role in the war, for a lead role in a cage?" Show how his foolish changes finally took him for worse, as he now must live in a prison to his disorders. "How I wish, How I wish you were here." shows how the band misses him so much (duh). "We`re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year" shows how they are like lost souls, they both don`t know what they are doing anymore and they are in a sort of cage or 'fishbowl'. One is a prisoner to his disorders and one is a prisoner to the music business. "Running over the same old ground, what have we found the same old fears" shows how they continue to do the same things (run over the same ground) and they realized the have the same fears, the music business, drugs but most of all never seeing each other ever again. "Wish You Were here" and then we fade out into the wind as it picks us up back into Shine on You crazy Diamond.
Shine on You crazy Diamond PART TWO is the final track and the end to the story. There is no happy story, the lyrics only spin about the speculation of what could have happened and the music is the darker kind of a deep jazz riff. Until it goes back to its humble roots and we hear the old Shine On tune as well as a new verse. "Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far" shows how he is now a recluse, never to be seen and is never understood. "Pile on many more layers, and I`ll be joining you there" the layers are sanity and if Syd were to ever receive more sanity then he would rejoin the band and the friendship. "And we`ll bask in the shadow of yesterdays triumph" shows the speculation of what may of happened as well as that they can look back on the years laughing and having a ball. "Come on you boy-child, you winner and loser, Come on you miner for truth and delusion and SHINE!" He was still a young man at the time of his downfall so he was a boy-child. He`s a winner and loser because of his hit and miss tactics to release hit singles. He was mining as in searching for the truth yet he found delusion (schizophrenia). And then the song last a bit longer in instrumental as Syd slowly becomes a memory.
Track listing
- "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-5" (Gilmour/Waters/Wright) - 13:34
- "Welcome to the Machine" (Waters) - 7:31
- "Have A Cigar" (Waters) - 5:08
- "Wish You Were Here" (Gilmour/Waters) - 5:34
- "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 6-9" (Gilmour/Waters/Wright) - 12:31
Various re-issues will simply list both "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"s as "Part 1" and "Part 2", respectively.
Personnel
- Roger Waters – Bass guitar, VCS3, Vocals
- David Gilmour – Guitars, Vocals, VCS3, Lap Steel
- Nick Mason – Drums, Percussion, Tape Effects
- Richard Wright – Keyboards, Vocals, VCS3
- Dick Parry – Saxophone on "Shine on You Crazy Diamond"
- Roy Harper – Vocals on "Have a Cigar"
- Venetta Field – Background vocals
- Carlena Williams – Background vocals
plus
- Brian Humphries – Engineer
- Peter Christopherson – Design Assistant (see Hipgnosis)
- Peter James – Engineer, Assistant Engineer
- Hipgnosis – Design, Photography
- Storm Thorgerson – Re-design
- Phil Taylor – Additional Photography(Remaster)
- Jill Furmanovsky – Additional Photography(Remaster)
- George Hardie – Illustrations
- Richard Manning – Design Assistant
- Howard Bartrop – Design Assistant
- Jeff Smith – Design Assistant
Singles
- "Have a Cigar"/"Welcome To the Machine" - Columbia 3-10248; released November 15, 1975
- "Wish you were here"
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Pop Albums | 1 |
External link