Wish You Were Here (1975 song)
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| Wish You Were Here | ||
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| LP, and Compact Disk single by Pink Floyd | ||
| From the album Wish You Were Here | ||
| Released | September 15 1975. | |
| Recorded | Unknown | |
| Genre | Classic Rock | |
| Length | 5 min, 40 sec (5 min, 24 sec on Echoes) | |
| Record label | Columbia Records | |
| Producer | Roger Waters, David Gilmour | |
| Wish You Were Here track listing | ||
| Have A Cigar (03) | Wish You Were Here (04) | Shine On You Crazy Diamond (05) |
"Wish You Were Here" is the title track to Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. The song encompasses the band's feelings of alienation from each other, and their own selves, as well as their disillusionment with music. Like the entire album, it also refers to some extent to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett. The guitar riff came to David Gilmour while in Abbey Road Studios playing with his acoustic guitar. Roger Waters was so moved by the riff that he wrote the lyrics right there on the spot.
The song segues from "Have A Cigar" as the former song disappears as if a radio has been tuned away from one station, through several others, and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning. David Gilmour and Roger Waters bring the song in on processed twelve-string guitars, leading into an acoustic guitar solo part by Gilmour. It continues with a riff that is repeated a few times throughout the song. Gilmour plays a short solo in the middle. At the end, the song tails off to a wind sound effect (reminiscent of the one at the end of "One of These Days" on their 1971 album Meddle), as it transitions to the second section of the multi-part suite "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
The song later appeared as the 10th track on disk 2 of the compilation CD Echoes, with the radio tune intro seguing from the end of "Arnold Layne", and its end it seguing to "Jugband Blues".
During the opening solo, in the 26th second, a small cough can be heard. The cough was due to David Gilmour's then-smoking habits. After he heard the playback during mixing, he quit smoking for good but the cough was left in as a sort of reminder. The song was edited to sound as though a man was sitting in a room, playing guitar along with a transistor radio.
External links
- Lyrics to Wish You Were Here (It is the 4th song in the list) (http://www.pinkfloydonline.com/lyrics/wywh.html)
- Tabs/Chords to Wish You Were Here (http://www.pinkfloydonline.com/tab_wish_you_were_here.html)