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So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue sky's from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
Heaven from Hell,
Blue sky's from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by kehlankr
Track duration: 05:17
"Wish You Were Here" as written by Roger/gilmour Waters
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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So, I think it is a song about loss and mourning that loss even if it is psychological in nature. At least, that is what that song has always meant for me. Loss and mourning and wishing someone hadn't "gone away."
"How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here."
It's like everything is the same but it's not really. Everything is different, but in such a subtle fashion that you sense a bit of the other person/people and the way they were, but they aren't. You talk about the same things, you do the same things, you fear the same things, but at some point either you or they or both stepped out. But, it's comfortable and uncomfortable. Hence, the line "How I wish, how I wish you were here..." but they aren't, and they won't be. You can get as nostalgic as you want about the way it once was, but it won't ever be that way again.
Then again, I may have it all wrong. Maybe I should be wishing I was here since I stepped out of my "normal" life about 12 years ago :) It could be about oneself, too,I suppose, and wishing that things wouldn't change. Who knows? It's Pink Floyd....
The critic to the phonographic industry is notorious by the cover of the album (2 persons making a deal and one of them gets burned) and the songs "Welcome to the machine" and "Have a Cigar". The song "Shine on you crazy diamond" both parts (opening and closing of the album) are dedicated to Syd Barrett, and it's obvious by the lyrics ("Remember when you were young"; "Nobody knows where you are"; "Come on you painter" (his job before pink floyd)).
About that song, Wish You Were Here what they say is that they play the song thinking about Syd, and they can't to it of other way, although this song is not like "Shine On", it's not specifically about Syd.
Roger (the writer of the lyrics) says: "Can you free yourself enough to be able to experience the reality of life as it goes on before and with you, and as you go on as part of it. Or not? Because if you can't you stand on square on, until you die. It might sound like bullshit but that's what the song is about.
All the songs are encouraging me, I imagine that I write them for me, it's to encourage myself not to accept a lead role in a cage, but to go on demanding to myself that I keep auditioning for a walk on part in the war, because that's where I want to be. I want to be in the trenchers, I don't want to be in the headquarters or sitting in a hotel somewhere, I want to be... Engaged... Probably, I might say, in a way that my father would approve of.
David Gilmour says: "Shine on is the one specifically about Syd, wish you were here as a broader remit".
I hope I've helped with the interpretations.
If you can, watch this documentary because it's really good and well done.
"How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here." Basically what he's saying here is that he's trying to come to terms with life. Every year he tries to connect with Syd or himself, and he can't get anywhere since they are running over the same old ground.. there's nothing new. I think the whole song is basically just saying the obvious.. that they love Syd and wish he was with them, but he can't be and they known it. All the comparisons are opposites.. heaven/hell ashes/trees cool comfort/hot air heros/.ghosts etc.. Basically the band is on one side, and Syd's on the other, and they are asking him why and wanting him to be like he used to be before he went insane. The worst part is that it's not like insane people choose to be insane.. the descent into madness is sad for all parties..
Because I have just a moment for comments right now, I will comment on just these lines from this GREAT song:
"And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?"
This is asking if the person (himself, as you will see below) skipped the war draft
and went to jail - The "cage" being jail.
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
This is a person in the present talking to his past-self. He is expressing the dire wish that his "old self" were here. Things have not changed in his life. He has not made the progress and is not where he thought he would be at, at this late stage in his life. He is expressing a desire to be younger again and to have a second chance.
it doesn't judge...it describes, it asks....and the harrowing, poised questions that are asked of syd, are the very issues that roger knows he is coping with in his own way...but he doesn't sink like syd did.
i say, any literary references are all well and good, but the JUICE of this song is love and regret, and missing someone who has slipped away.
you all might wanna listen to radiohead & sparklehorse's version of this. it is gorgeous.
So here is the great revelation....
If you have ever been to a concert, you are likely sitting either on a steel rail, or a green field. Is the music diffrent? The whole point of the song is the old cliche, "the grass is greener on the other side". Do you really want a "walk on part" and live your "life in a cage" of paparatzi and fame? Or actually make a diffrence in the real world doing something useful?