So I listened to the Pink Floyd song recently “Wish You Were Here”. It’s one that must be played VERY LOUD. So LOUD that there is no risk that you are not gonna hear what it says. But what does it say?! For years I have loved it because it just reaches very far inside me, I feel a strong sensation in the pit of my stomach, like I’m gonna cry hard. Oh and I do! I can’t even write about it without crying. Thing is, I don’t know why, there is something very mysterious about this one!
In the original album version, the song segues from the previous song as if a radio had been tuned away off 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. So clever.
It’s like nothing else I’ve heard, and while the lyrics cut deeply, it is a relatively short song. But it just stops me in my tracks. Something forces me to turn it up, and I wonder why it affects me so much. It’s a song that conjures for me emotionally, the meaning of the Portuguese word saudade, for which there is no word in the English language.
Yes I have “I Wish You Were Here” thoughts for lots of people, mainly my family and friends from back home, and for some people who have passed on, but it’s something more than that – it’s something else that I cannot visualise, or put my finger on. Makes me feel a little scared, and a little excited at the same time.
The lyrics are motivated by Roger Waters’ feelings of alienation from other people. (I can connect with that feeling, is that it?). Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. Clearly the lyrics are sad.
But it’s not depressing!! It’s a reminder.
What I really dig about this song, is that it’s another perfect example of life’s ‘bitter-sweet’. It is so beautifully and cleverly crafted that I am filled with admiration and positive, warm emotions when I hear it, but at the same time it makes me bawl and guts me!
Well … I think I’m very lucky and blessed to feel the range and depth of emotions that I do. Thank you Pink Floyd!
One of the lines bray “WE’RE LIKE TWO LOST SOULS SWIMMING IN A FISH BOWL, YEAR AFTER YEAR“.
We kind of all are, aren’t we. Thanks to social constructs. Which are good, but we just need to remember to question things.
I sat down to edit something in this original post “Day In Day Out”, a week after I published it. The original post contained the video movie at the top of this page, and the following text referring to it:
“Thanks again to the fabulous Conscious Club for bringing jewels like this to my attention …. I am confident this one will strike EVERYONE .”
As I began to edit it, the “Wish You Were Here” song came in to my mind. I then connected the Day In Day Out movie video post to this song … they speak the same message, the same sad realisation. The movie video however, makes me feel a little less overwhelmed! It points out clearly, that we could all fall into this fishbowl trap if we’re not careful! HERE!
But … it gives tips on how to save ourselves … it’s all in the mind … in the brain … in the consciousness .. in the choices we make. I invite you to watch it again even if you did so last week. It’s not something we should ever let dim in our minds.
And so a new post was born. Hope you like it!
Do YOU know this song? Cry-much? Or am I just off me rocker?!! (And no – they’re not mutually exclusive options!)
Hope you get the bitter-sweet, and enjoy this song as much as I do,
Love Li, xo
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A week after I posted this, I was walking in the tunnel at Central Station in Sydney. There was a guy throwing out a few tunes and strumming a guitar, I liked it as I walked past.
Then I thought, I should pass on my gratitude, so I turned around, and he started up a new number, as I fumbled for a few bucks to throw in his hat.
As I started to walk away, he seemed to decide to change his tune, he started strumming the chords to something familiar. It wasn’t was it? I had to walk really slowly as his intro was slow … eventually I stopped outside a luggage shop pretending to check out the merch … until I heard him bellow out the first few lines of ….. yeah …. Wish You Were Here!! I thought this was BRILLIANT! And weird! He changed the song he was playing to this one after I threw him some coin! Must be MY SONG!! Tunnel Tears!