Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd song)


"Wish You Were Here" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It was released as the title track of their 1975 album Wish You Were Here. David Gilmour and Roger Waters collaborated to write the music, and Gilmour sang the lead vocal.
In 2011, the song was ranked No. 324 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Composition

In the original album version, the song segues from "Have a Cigar" as if a radio had been tuned away from one station, through several others, and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning. The radio was recorded from Gilmour's car radio. He performed the intro on a twelve-string guitar, processed to sound like it was playing through an AM radio, and then overdubbed a fuller-sounding acoustic guitar solo. This passage was mixed to sound as though a guitarist were listening to the radio and playing along. As the acoustic part becomes more complex, the 'radio broadcast' fades away and Gilmour's voice enters, while the rest of the band joins in.
The intro riff is repeated several times before Gilmour plays further solos with scat singing accompaniment. A third verse follows, featuring an increasingly expressive vocal from Gilmour and audible backing vocals. At the end of the recorded song, the final solo crossfades with wind sound effects, and finally segues into the second section of the multi-part suite "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
Lyrically, the song is often considered to be a direct tribute to Syd Barrett. However, on the documentary The Story of Wish You Were Here, Gilmour and Waters separately describe the original concept that differs from this interpretation. Waters, who mainly wrote the lyrics complementing Gilmour's initial riff idea and subsequent joint composition, describes the lyrics as being directed at himself, as his lyrics often are. Being present in one's own life and freeing one's self in order to truly experience life is a main topic in this song. Gilmour, on the other hand, recognizes that he does not ever perform the song without remembering Syd Barrett. Waters later adds that the song is nevertheless open to interpretation.
Both David Gilmour and Roger Waters have praised the song as one of Pink Floyd's finest. Roger Waters has noted that the collaboration between himself and David Gilmour on the song was "... really good. All bits of it are really, really good. I'm very happy about it." David Gilmour has playfully called "Wish You Were Here" "a very simple country song" and stated that "because of its resonance and the emotional weight it carries, it is one of our best songs."

Recording

"Wish You Were Here" was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, as part of the sessions for the entire album.
A noted part of the song was a planned contribution by Stéphane Grappelli. A jazz violinist popular at the time and well known for his collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin, both violinists were recording in a downstairs studio at Abbey Road at the time. Gilmour had suggested that there be a little "country fiddle" at the end of the song and invited them to participate. Grappelli duly obliged on arranging a session fee of £300, equivalent to £ in. Ultimately during mixing it was decided to almost remove his contribution, although it can just be heard around 5:21. According to Waters it was decided that it would be insulting to credit Grappelli in the sleeve notes for something so inaudible, although he did receive the agreed-upon fee.
As part of the Why Pink Floyd...? campaign, the Experience and Immersion versions of the Wish You Were Here album include an alternative version of the song where Grappelli's part is heard in the instrumental break after the second verse and throughout the third verse before a considerably extended outro. Other less obvious differences are audible, for example at the section leading into the second verse.
The master tape of the original recording includes guitar solos that were not used in the final mix.

Live performances

"Wish You Were Here" made its stage debut on the band's 1977 tour, which featured a performance of the entire album at every show. It was not played live by the band for nearly ten years after this, yet became a concert staple after its reappearance in 1987, and was performed at nearly all subsequent Pink Floyd concerts. In the original 1977 concert performances, Gilmour would play his Fender Stratocaster instead of acoustic guitar, while Snowy White played a twelve-string Ovation acoustic guitar. At these shows, Nick Mason tuned an actual transistor radio on stage to a local radio station, seguing into the pre-recorded part from the album to start the song and Richard Wright would perform an extended piano coda as the wind effects played. A live version is included on Pulse. When Pink Floyd were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Gilmour and Wright performed the song with the assistance of their presenter Billy Corgan on rhythm guitar.
Gilmour has made the song a part of most of his tours, and included a live version on his Live in Gdansk album.
In 2005, Waters and Eric Clapton performed the song at the Tsunami Aid concert, and in 2005's Live 8, Waters rejoined his former bandmates in London to perform it, along with four other classic Pink Floyd songs. Waters sung half the verses during Live 8, while in the original version Gilmour did all the vocals.
On 13 December 2014 David Gilmour was a guest performer at a concert by the Bombay Bicycle Club at Earls Court Arena, their concert being the final event ever to take place there before its demolition. Band member Jamie MacColl introduced Gilmour, saying; "This man gave me my first guitar and was one of the first people to play this venue and by my count has played here more than 27 times." Gilmour then played with the band on their song "Rinse Me Down" before a performance of "Wish You Were Here".
Miley Cyrus, accompanied by Andrew Watt on acoustic guitar, performed a cover version of the song as part of Saturday Night Live at Home, broadcast on April 25, 2020.

Other recorded versions by Pink Floyd

"Wish You Were Here" appeared as the fifth track on A Collection of Great Dance Songs in 1981 and as the 23rd track on the compilation in 2001.
A live recording included on the 1995 live album Pulse was issued as a single/EP. Its intro replicates the sound of the original, semi-ambient intro. The cover of the EP features two men whose faces are distorted by fish bowls, referring to the line "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year".
The Experience edition of Wish You Were Here from the 2011 Why Pink Floyd...? re-release campaign includes a version of "Wish You Were Here" featuring Stéphane Grappelli on violin much more prominently. The recording of Grappelli, which Nick Mason had thought he might have recorded over in subsequent sessions for "Wish You Were Here", was uncovered in the EMI vaults during re-mastering work for the Why Pink Floyd...? campaign. Mason discussed the alternative version on the BBC Radio 4 Front Row programme, and revealed that Yehudi Menuhin, who was recording with Grappelli in Abbey Road's Studio Two, was also invited to play on "Wish You Were Here" but declined, as he was not as comfortable as Grappelli at improvising.

Personnel

Chart Peak
position
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Germany 67
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Certifications

Wish You Were Here (Live)

"Wish You Were Here " is a live recording of Pink Floyd's title track off their ninth studio album Wish You Were Here, recorded by the band for their third live album, Pulse. "Wish You Were Here " was released as a single on 20 July 1995 in the United Kingdom and Europe, notably the very last single released by the band until October 2014.

Track listing

Charts

Release history

Wyclef Jean version

"Wish You Were Here" served as the fourth and final single from Wyclef Jean's second studio album, . It was released in December 2001, peaking at #28 on the UK Singles Chart.
;UK CD single
  1. "Wish You Were Here" – 4:04
  2. "No Woman, No Cry" – 4:33
  3. "911" – 4:23
  4. "Wish You Were Here" – 4:25
;UK cassette
  1. "Wish You Were Here" – 4:25
  2. "Perfect Gentleman" – 3:59