Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Song: Syd Barrett’s Dark Side

album cover "Wish You Were Here" .

Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here is often understood in the sense of “I wish you were here”, but in truth, this is a song about group members who have gone through many ups and downs together and then lost each other on the street. the pinnacle of fame.

Who is Wish You Were Here written about?

On June 5, 1975, the eve of Pink Floyd’s second US tour that year, David Gilmour married his first wife, Ginger. Also on this joyful day, the group completed the remix for Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Keep shining, crazy diamond; hide the name SYD), the song on the album will become a rock legend later. Wish You Were Here, written about Syd Barrett.

Barrett was the early leader of Pink Floyd after the group’s formation in 1965. He led the group until increasingly erratic behavior and the band had to continue without him.

Syd and Frisky the cat in 1964.
Syd and Frisky the cat in 1964.

While the remaining four members of Pink Floyd were concentrating on singing about their former leader, an unknown man walked in from somewhere. He was fat, bald, with a plastic bag in his hand. Roger Waters, the group’s later leader, has no idea who this is. Gilmour at the time thought it was an employee of EMI Records. And Richard Wright thought he was a friend of Waters. Nick Mason is also confused as to who has just appeared.

It was Syd Barrett, the leader they were reminiscing about in the song. When “horrified” realized this, several people burst into tears.

Barrett said he was here to help with the recording. But when he heard the Shine On You Crazy Diamond mix, there was no sign that he understood or cared. Barrett later also attended Gilmour’s wedding reception at the EMI canteen and left without saying goodbye. This was the last time the group saw Syd Barrett, until his death in 2006 from pancreatic cancer, that is 31 years later.

Regarding this separation, Mason recalled that Barrett’s stories were “disjointed and meaningless.” His body was sitting here with old friends, but his mind was far away.

What do they say at the beginning of “Wish you were here”?

The emptiness, the loss of a human being in our arms is evident in the Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.

The song opens with distant noises on the radio, then comes closer and closer is the 12-string acoustic guitar whispering and officially begins with a voice like a sigh close to the ear: “So, so is that you think you can recognize/Heaven from hell/Blue sky from pain?”.

Then followed the interrogations: “Did you trade / Heroes for ghosts / Ashes from the green trees / Heat for the cool wind? …Did you choose / Leave the war / To become the king of the jungle in an iron cage”?

And finally the wish: “I wish you were here/ We are just two lost souls/ Swimming in the fish tank/ Year after year/ Running through old places/ What do we find / Same old fears / I wish you were here”.

Gilmour and Waters co-wrote the song. The lyrics are, to most people, obviously about Barrett, who has left the group for a mysterious world of his own. However, in the documentary The Story Of Wish You Were Here, Waters said it was partly about him with the desire to free himself to come to real-life experiences. However, he later added that the matter would remain open.

On several other songs on the album of the same name, Waters also alludes to it not being Barrett, but a general image of people who choose to bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich in the face of life’s challenges. Domineering, self-talking is a habit of Waters.

The album cover "Wish You Were Here" is reminiscent of many rockers then's view of a burning life.
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here  is reminiscent of many rockers then’s view of a burning life.

Yet, no matter what Waters said, Gilmour realized that wherever and whenever he performed the song in tribute to Syd Barrett and that Wish You Were Here itself was just a simple chorus but ” Because of its resonance and emotional weight, it’s one of our best songs.”

Also, no one can deny that Pink Floyd is famous for building themed albums, and the Wish You Were Here album is about Barrett. From when he was a young man basking in the early days of Pink Floyd, to the scene of collapsing in a concert filled with audiences and gradually, disappeared from the group.

What happened to Syd Barrett after he left Pink Floyd?

Syd Barrett (second from right) takes a photo with the members of Pink Floyd
Syd Barrett (second from right) takes a photo with the members of Pink Floyd

After leaving Pink Floyd in 1968, Barrett disappeared for a year and then returned to a solo career. After two albums, he ended his music career and lived in his mother’s house in Cambridge since 1978. Here, he returned to his life before embarking on a musical adventure.

Barrett gradually disappeared from the public eye over the next decade as it was rumored that hallucinations had made him mentally unstable. The band later dedicated the song Shine on You Crazy Diamond to Barrett and also featured him on the album The Wall.

Barrett was first and foremost a painter. He was a student at the Cambridge School of Fine Arts when he joined Pink Floyd. Now, he is holding a brush instead of a guitar. He thoroughly studied painting and even wrote a book.

He lives a closed life, is somewhat skeptical of people, and does not want to talk about Pink Floyd. Papers, money, documentaries related to the group, he was very indifferent. Looks a lot like a disgruntled person?

However, with relatives around, Barrett is simply “a person full of love”. In the last week of Barrett’s life, as he was being brought home from the hospital, his sister asked him what he thought about God and life after death. “You know what,” he replied. “I never thought about it.”