Wish You Were Here

"Wish You Were Here EP"
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album PULSE
B-side	Coming Back to Life (live), Keep Talking (live)
Released	July 20, 1995
Format	CD
Recorded	September 20 (Rome); October 13 and 20 (Earls Court, London), 1994
Genre	Progressive rock
Label	Capitol Records (US) EMI (UK)
Writer(s)	Waters, Gilmour
Producer	James Guthrie, David Gilmour
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"High Hopes" (1994) "Wish You Were Here" EP (1995)

"Wish You Were Here" is the title track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. The song's lyrics encompass writer Roger Waters' feelings of alienation from other people. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. The main riff came to David Gilmour at home^{[citation needed]} while playing on an acoustic guitar, and it became something which he continued to play in-between takes at Abbey Road Studios where it caught the attention of Roger Waters. They collaborated to complete the song, as Waters had already written some lyrics. In 2004, the song was ranked #316 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

As of December 3rd 2009, the song has over 24 million views in YouTube. ^[1]

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 (including a radio play and one playing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony), and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning. The radio was recorded from Gilmour's car radio.^[2] Gilmour performed the intro on a twelve-string guitar, processed to sound like it was playing through an old transistor radio, and then overdubbed a fuller-sounding acoustic guitar solo. This passage was mixed to sound as though the guitarist was sitting in a room, playing along with the radio; it also contains a whine that slowly changes pitch—emulating the heterodyne between two drifting AM radio signals.

The intro riff is repeated several times and reprised when Gilmour plays further solos with scat singing accompaniment. At the end of the recorded song, the final solo crossfades with wind sound effects (reminiscent of "One of These Days" from the 1971 album Meddle), and finally segues into the second section of the multi-part suite "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".

The song borrows the imagery of a "steel rail" from Syd Barrett's solo song, "If It's In You," from The Madcap Laughs album.

It is said that the sound of David Gilmour coughing on the intro to the track made him stop smoking.^{[citation needed]}

Other versions

"Wish You Were Here" later appeared as the 5th track on A Collection of Great Dance Songs (with the radio intro following the end of a heavily edited Shine On You Crazy Diamond) and as the 23rd track on the Echoes compilation (with the radio intro following "Arnold Layne", and at the end crossfading with "Jugband Blues").

A live recording included in the 1995 live album P*U*L*S*E was issued as a single/EP. As of 2006, this is the last single released by Pink Floyd to date (although promos of Echoes, The Wall Live and "Money" (2003 edit for the 30th Anniversary Issue of The Dark Side of the Moon) have been released).

"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 whilst Snowy White played a 12-string Ovation acoustic guitar. At some of these shows (all of the US shows, notably), 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 Rick Wright would perform an extended piano coda as the wind effects played. When Pink Floyd were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame^[3], Gilmour and Wright (Mason was in the audience) performed the song with the assistance of their presenter Billy Corgan on rhythm guitar. In 2004, Waters and Eric Clapton performed the song at the Tsunami Aid concert, and in 2005's Live 8, Waters rejoined his former bandmates (albeit for this one-off show) in London to perform it, along with 3 other classic Pink Floyd songs.

Cover versions

"Wish You Were Here"
Single by Wyclef Jean
from the album The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book
Released	December 3, 2001 (UK)
Format	CD single
Recorded	2000
Genre	Rap
Length	4:06
Label	Columbia Records
Writer(s)	David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, Wyclef Jean
Producer	Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean singles chronology "Perfect Gentleman" (2001) "Wish You Were Here" (2001) "Two Wrongs" (2002)

This article may contain excessive, poor or irrelevant examples. You can improve the article by adding more descriptive text. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (November 2009)

The song proved to be a popular choice of cover for artists including Sparklehorse (in collaboration with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke), Dream Theater,^[4] The Flaming Lips, Velvet Revolver, Wyclef Jean^[5] (who overlaid a rap about Pink Floyd, and so claimed a co-writing credit), Catherine Wheel, Rasputina, Ana Torroja, Bob Forrest, Miracle Legion, the Lovehammers, Widespread Panic, Irish rock-band Aslan, Circa Survive, Dan Andriano (of the Alkaline Trio), Angra (Brazilian metal band), Rodrigo y Gabriela and Europe, all of whom have recorded or performed live versions of the song.

Marillion played their Marillion Mix version of the song during their Marillion 2003 Weekend, which can be found as an easter egg in the DVD box set also named Wish You Were Here.

Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst and Wes Borland, and the Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik gave a performance of "Wish You Were Here" (previously unrecorded by them) for the America: A Tribute to Heroes television event following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. New lyrics for the song had been written for the occasion.

Grindcore band Brutal Truth covered the song as Wish you were here... now go away and released it on the Japanese version of Need to Control.

Pascale Picard, a Canadian rock group from Quebec City, has done a cover of "Wish you were here." It appears on the Pink Floyd Redux A New Music Experience album.^[6]

The 2007 song, "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" by Manic Street Preachers contains the line "Trade your heroes in for ghosts", in reference to a similar line in "Wish You Were Here".

A reggae version of this song was recorded by Alpha Blondy on his 2007 album "Jah Victory".

Circa Survive recorded an acoustic version of the song in 2008 for an AOL session.

Personnel

• Roger Waters - Fender bass guitar, tape effects
• David Gilmour - 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitar, tape effects, lead and backing vocals
• Richard Wright - Steinway piano, Mini-Moog Synthesizers
• Nick Mason - drums, tape effects
• Stephane Grappelli - violin (There is a brief piece of violin playing at the end of the track which was subsequently all but drowned out by the addition of the wind effects, although if you listen closely or turn the volume up louder, starting at the 5:21 mark, the barely-audible violin can be heard. Violinist Stephane Grappelli was recording in a downstairs studio, and Gilmour had suggested that there be a little "country fiddle" at the end of the song. Grappelli duly obliged, although because his contribution is barely audible, the band decided not to credit him for it in the sleevenotes. According to Waters, he received the agreed fee of £300, however.)^[7]

Recorded between January and July 1975 at Abbey Road Studios, London.

Quotes

References