This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
(Yes, and disciplinary remains mercifully)
(Yes, and um, I'm with you Derek, this star nonsense)
(Yes, yes)
(Now, which is it?)
(I am sure of it)
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
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
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here
(Yes, and um, I'm with you Derek, this star nonsense)
(Yes, yes)
(Now, which is it?)
(I am sure of it)
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
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
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by kehlankr, galaxiaad, bwheeler78, sharkycharming, JohnEightThirtyTwo, GrimTone, robodok, dimaqq, afloyd674, nasses321
Wish You Were Here Lyrics as written by Roger Waters David Gilmour
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song was written for Syd Barret. However, we all relate since we’ve all had someone special in our life that chose a different path. This is the way I would interpret it.
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
(Just because Syd chose a different path and because he thinks he knows what he’s doing doesn’t make it true or right… on the contrary the author of the song is telling him that he is wrong)
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil?
(When one is addicted to something they think they know better than everyone else. The author is trying to make Syd understand that what he’s doing is wrong, thus wants him to think twice about his life)
Do you think you can tell?
(And asks again… it’s like: are you sure you want to be doing this?)
And did they get you trade your heroes for ghosts?
(They: he’s referring to Syd’s inner voices that keep him straying… so, everything he believed earlier doesn’t stand anymore? (Syd’s beliefs that is))
Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cold breeze?
(Past experiences (good times) for new greater ones. However, the author says here that these will not be the same, what’s gone is gone)
Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange
(Again, points out to Syd that he wrongly believes that change is better than what he’s used to)
a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
(Asking if he’s exchanged something he could’ve got himself out of for a lifetime trap. In other words if it’s too late to turn back, and if the drugs have completely taken over his life)
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
(The author here gets nostalgic and wishes that Syd was there with him like the good old times)
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, running over the same old ground. What have we found?
(Two soul mates, the author and Syd, who went different ways. I believe that there are two fish bowls, each one trapped in their own, realising that they’re just going into circles)
The same old fears, wish you were here.
(All those years of experience and nothing is gained, back to square one… he wishes Syd was there with him to share that moment)
I truly enjoyed your comment on this...I was myself have love loved Floyd all my life and only 36yrs old....but did do a high school essay on Syd, I would give you two thumbs up if possible.
@fallen_flower <br /> He clearly writes "two lost souls swimming in A (singular) fish bowl". So this probably means that he is speaking about just one, not two fish bowls.
@fallen_flower I think you translation is a little too literal as Pink Floyd often used a full verse or sentence to say something quite simple. For example two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl... I take to mean two people in a generally unwinnable situation. I definitely agree that it is written about Syd, but I interpret the song to be a more general expression of emotion and questioning towards Syd and his situation, as most of the questions point back to the same simple question of why did you trade good for bad. The point is reinforced over and over to say I don't understand why you made that choice.
I think aside from the album's Syd theme, there's a more general meaning. One that struggled with with going through life and now see my own daughter fall into the same cycle. Having idealistic and maybe self centered ideals that tend to keep you in turmoil. I watch her try to contort reality into what she thinks is good, or what she wants at that time and inevitably sets herself back to a state of lesser understanding. Figuratively a lost soul swimming in a fish bowl.
@fallen_flower think you nailed it. Emphasize the hurtful yearning, the nostalgia. Breathes throughout the song.
@fallen_flower I couldn't have said it any better. Syd had a very troubling life. He had too many demons and they just destroyed him inside and out. Rock In Peace Syd.
@fallen_flower This is the BEST explanation ever. Good job..............<br />
@fallen_flower Thank you, kind stranger. This was beautiful. Love from India.
@fallen_flower <br /> <br /> shine on you crazy diamond was written for Barrett this one was about the delusionment and alienation the band felt after their success.
@fallen_flower I feel like this explanation leans a little too hard on the drug use and not enough the schizophrenia. With mental illness, drugs are often used to mask the illness; they're usually a symptom of it, so it kind of throws the issue of "bad choices" out the window, or at least minimizes it.<br /> That said, presuming the accuracy of your interpretation, I realize my issue may be less with you and more with Waters.
For me this song is (like much Floyd) about missed opportunities. Do you really think that right now you can tell the difference between something that will be good in the long run and something short term? Do you really think that you can tell what the difference is between this job and that one? Do you think that you really know if this girl will be better in 5 years, or that one.
Can you tell Heaven from Hell? Can you tell what will work out well from a nightmare? Blue skies from pain? Something "good" from something "bad"
And repeat (in a good way, I love the song)
What it says to me is that you can never tell, at least about your own life (your too close), what is good and what is bad. Look at all of history, the life story of every great artist, the history of every war. Things that seem great one second are just pain the next, and possibly more importantly, things that seem great now can be the undoing of everything.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions and often the road to enlightenment is paved with painful mistakes and lessons.
The song grinds this message home. Then expresses loss in the titular line.
That loss seems to be for someone, but is equally for all the missed opportunities and chances. It is the loss of all the lives that could have been. All the dreams left unfulfilled. The chances not taken. Because we could not tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain. Because we could not see beyond the end of our (temporal) noses.
The final segment makes it all the more personal. A relationship that is not working. Two people, neither grasping their dreams, both plodding along in the same routines. Day after day, in the same old way, they bang their heads against the same barriers, never breaking through. Never quite telling that today's blue skies are eternities' pain. Never quite getting to the point where they have to break free or break down. Just bumping of the bowl year after year, running over the same ground.
So for me this is a song about the nature of humanity and it's limited capability to see it's own position in the world, or individually in their own life. It is about the lack of vision of most of man, the limited horizons and the pain that that causes.
And I know that I suffer from all those flaws, and that I am trapped in that position, and that is why I had to listen to this song tonight when I came home.
Many other Floyd songs express similar feelings to me, particularly Time which puts a ticking clock next to the weighing scales of wish you were here. Balance each decision, but don't run out of time.
I think I have failed on both counts. Ho humm, welcome to the machine.
Dude.... fuckin' aye, you just nailed the song. Hope things turn out better for you man.<br /> <br /> Peace.
Wow! Perhaps the most eloquently delivered analysis I've ever read. Well done, Sir.
Perfect.
Jarak, I joined this site so I could tell you how profound your interpretation is. I hope someday you come back to this thread and see what your words have meant. I knew, of course, that the song was about Roger's missing Syd, and I really liked the instrumental introduction. Dave was amazing playing it at Live8. But it never dawned on me that I was the "you" the song was referring to. Now it makes so much sense.
Great... just great
Wow, I just got an e-mail letting me know that someone had commented on my post. A post that I had no recollection of making on a site that if you had asked me yesterday I would have said I have never heard of. Having come here and read the post from me in the past, I have to say I like my style and still agree with what I said. I am just struggling with the strange situation of reading your own words as if for the first time.<br /> <br /> Thanks to all those who have commented, I am sure that there are times over the past 5 years (!) that I could have done with seeing those. <br /> <br /> As it stands at the moment I have put down my little black book, but still have a bag with a toothbrush and a comb in.
@Jarak This is the best explanation of the song, I feel my life as a set of missed opportunities,good or bad, and also you noticed a big truth..how can you know what to decide in certain situations and wonder if it is the right,correct decision. Like you, Time raises the same feelings in me...I'm thinking so much of this song lately...Thanx
@Jarak just thought I would ask if you still read the comments, and also if you found your blue skies, or if you only see the cold steel rail? God gave us dreams, so that we would want to make them a reality. The only thing most people never realize is that we can't fulfill those dreams without God's help. Unless we take the opposite path to get there, and then we end up empty and life is a shell with no substance filling us. <br />
@Jarak Yes, Loving someone that is out of reach. The dreams that will never be
@Jarak wow, in 2021 I read this and looked to my own life while eating cup noodles and hearing my son playing video game, while the baby is upstairs with my wife, that makes me think the good and bad my choices gave me, and how limited is my vision to try to see something about my life even in near future, and all options I put away. You said is so true. Peace.
@Jarak It's December 2023 and I signed up to thank you for this. And I might have something for you. The courage to see... is the courage to be.
Wish you were here refers to Syd Barrett, an original member of Pink Floyd, who's extremely exessive drug use caused him to leave the band and be replaced by David Gilmour. Barrett was considered the creative one behind early Floyd. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" is also a tribute to him, and the Wall is often refered to by some as his biography.
Definatly not a biography, but inspired in some part by him or in some part about him? without a doubt
Wish You Were Here the song and the whole album is a tribute to syd barrett. Not sure if the wall was a biography of syd barrett though
You are correct. The song (as well as "Shine On...") is definately a tribute to Syd Barrett. Personally I didn't care for early Floyd as much as the latter, and I prefer David Gilmour to Syd Barrett. (R.I.P. Syd).
He didn't leave the band due to excessive drug use, they kicked him out because he lost his mind (exacerbated by drug use)
The Pink Floyd members have conferimed that this song and the whole album is a tribute to Sid Berrit who was kicked out of the band due to exessive drug use. he also showed up for the recording of this album but was bold and did not remember any of the pink floyd members which made them very sad and inspired them to do this song. Wish you were here is a song about how they wish the old Sid Berrit was still with them and in saying that they agknowlage that he has changed into a monster that is not the Sid they know and love. Therefore this song is about Sid's transformation to insanity in his mind. <br /> <br /> The first verse is about how Sid has lost the ability to differentiate between good and evil, like (heaven from hell or blue skies from pain). ultimately he has become numb and it is all the same to him.<br /> <br /> the second verse is about how Sid aloud the drugs to change him as a person. He exchanged all of the qualities that made up Sid for those suggested by the drugs. hence the phrase "DID YOU EXCHANGE?" "cold comfort for change." or the line: "a walk on part in a war for a lead role in a cage"refers to Sid choosing to battle with drugs over who controls his personality, he looses and gives up. Causing him to become a prisoner, and allowing the drugs to change him however they may.<br /> <br /> Third verse basally is the Pink Floyd members missing the old friend they used to know and they know that deep down they share "the same old fears" meaning that they still have a connection with him.<br /> <br /> This song makes scene to me because I had a battle with drugs over my personality and luckily I came out onto unlike Sid. This is a extremely meaningful song and once you understand the meaning I guarantee it will touch you in some way.
The Wall is Syd Barrett's biography? I thought it was Roger Waters' biography. At least it's way more about him than Syd.
@Ferthuko Syd was a schizoph<br /> <br /> <br />
As said by the living members of Pink Floyd in the movie/documentary specially about this album (The Story of Wish You Were Here (2012), this album IS NOT JUST about Syd Barrett, their former member, leader, composer, singer, guitar player. This album is also about, and criticises the phonographic industry. 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.
@LZIV If you examine the statement before the questions "So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain." I feel Waters is making a statement that Syd is so far gone that he doesn't even know where he is, then he goes on to taunt him with various questions asking <br /> Can you tell a green field<br /> From a cold steel rail?<br /> A smile from a veil?<br /> Do you think you can tell?<br /> <br /> Then he asks do you know what you have give up?<br /> Did they get you to trade<br /> Your heroes for ghosts?<br /> Hot ashes for trees?<br /> Hot air for a cool breeze?<br /> Cold comfort for change?<br /> And did you exchange<br /> A walk on part in the war<br /> For a lead role in a cage?<br /> <br /> Then he goes on to say how I wish you were here (mentally)<br /> I might be way off but that's the way it reads to me.<br />
I think the first part of this song refers to growing up, maturing, and knowing how to discern between things that often fool us when we're young. When we're young we sometimes misconstrue the most straightforward signs in our lives. Someone smiles at us and we think its a veil. A beautiful blue sky doesn't seemingly have an obvious connection to pain; but these are the connections we sometimes mistakingly make mentally. Growing out of this mindset is a sign of maturation or growth.
As for the second part of this song... it's like looking up to or at a person who is now in a different position. Trading "hot ashes for trees" and "hot air for a cool breeze" can be interpreted again as maturing, getting more in sync with the world as opposed to your own selfishness. Trading "cold comfort for change" is letting go of that which we are comfortable with/in (but nonetheless hurts us) in exchange for something new. This is the best part: "Did you exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead role in a cage"
Literally, "how I wish you were here" would mean the narrator wants that other person to be where the narrator now is. But given my interpretation of the first two verses, I'd like to (and am inclined to) think "how I wish you were here" is merely pointing out that the narrator would both him and the other person to be in the same place (probably not physically). Moreover, to be as accurate as I can get, that line can be taken as simply being a feeling of 'longing to be...' "two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, running over the same old ground... same old fears..." --just makes it known the similarity and connection between these two souls... how they're invariably tied together, thus, making it understood that "wishing you were here" isn't too far-fetched since they're already connected in some ways.
I think the cover art, a man on fire shaking hands with a man that's not on fire perfectly symbolizes this song.
I get the feeling that I'm overanalyzing -but I wouldn't have been able to make this interpretation had I not happened to think about something thats going on in my life while listening to it.
I am in love with this song and I have to say. This is one of the most insightful, clairvoyant and incredible interpretations that I have came across. I never even thought of it that way but it makes perfect sense. Thank you
It's an interesting interpretation and of course if that's the meaning it has for you then no one can argue with that. But it is well established that the song was actually written about Syd Barrett's decline due to mental illness and drug abuse, as has been described in other comments.
@john785 I think you have it backwards, it's more about being able to see past illusions (seeing that a smile may sometimes be a "veil" hiding something else), not about accepting comforting surface appearances. In the second verse, the narrator feels that as the subject has changed his values, he has lost something of himself in the process. The implication is that it is better to be playing a minor part in real life, than to give up your freedom for a meaningless "lead role" in a limited world.
@john785 I have been thinking of this song in a similar way since I started listening to it. The top 4 comments made me rethink my interpretation but its so relieving to read your version. Now I can say I'm not the only one with such a perspective.
The greatest thing about music is that it is totally up for individual interpretation. Just because the songwriter had some specifics in mind doesn't mean everyone else will see it that way. However the person takes it makes it special and unique for them. Screw everyone else, scholars and "experts" included. This my initial (and possibly last) diatribe on this site.
I have always thought this song was about two people after a break up, two people who still love each other but have been living for many years apart. They shared dreams and ideals in life. The one who calls out wants to know where the other person is, is she still the same, or has she sold out to the world. After so many years apart to achieve each their own dreams, he realizes that feelings haven't changed, the same problems exist, and he wishes to be with her. I think this song is about soulmates who get together but than part to do other things, but never forget eachother, and realize later on that nothing else matters, they should be together again. It's a song of loneliness, but it is a song that tells how nothing really matters but being with the person you belong with...Is my idea of the song too cheesy?
i so hope this is what this song means
@mrwriter Ummm, Syd Barret did not leave Pink Floyd due to having dropped too much acid; he left due to mental troubles and increasingly erratic behaviour that has been attributed to either schizophrenia or Bipolar disorder. To chalk it up to his having done too much acid certainly does not pay tribute to one of the founding members of what became an amazing band.
@Johnnyrose They had to take someones soul
@Johnnyrose They had to take someones soul
This song definitely is not about syd or relationships or drugs IMO. Both roger and dave have mentioned it clearly that the theme of this album is absence. Dave, in his interview, has claimed that after the success of DSOTM the band were confused as to whether they were musicians or businessmen. They felt some sort of absence during WYWH period.
@mayankuniyal It is a good as an interpretation as any other. Pink Floyd is not easily picked apart as one would in a poetry class.
I have always thought the song Wish You Were Here was about how people in relationships (whatever kind: marriages, friendships, bandmates, partnerships,etc.) change over time, and their values/principles change with them. People in relationships don't always change in compatible ways, and I think the song is about grieving the loss of a husband/wife, a good friend, anyone with whom you've had a close relationship who has changed in such a way that they are not the person you fell in love with, made friends with, started a project with, and you miss the "old" them. Henceforth, the title "Wish You Were Here." A person does not have to physically be gone to be gone. It is possible to change to a degree that you really are not the same person you once were. However, you stay in that relationship because it is comfortable all the while wishing that it could be as it once was.
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."
I am replying to myself......hence the name "ADDGirl." I just wanted to add that the last part of the song is what makes me think of loss and change (either physical or mental)<br /> <br /> "How I wish, how I wish you were here.<br /> We're just two lost souls<br /> Swimming in a fish bowl<br /> Year after year,<br /> Running over the same old ground.<br /> And how we found <br /> The same old fears.<br /> Wish you were here."<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> 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....<br /> <br /> <br />
@ADDGirl When I first listened to the song I interpreted it as a outlook on your own life. The chances we don't take, the dreams we don't fulfill. The "cold comfort" we are familiar with that stops us from reaching out and taking risks that may have been better for us. <br /> <br /> But after recently losing my closest friend, i've fallen into the painful nostalgia. I came back to this song and I find my interpretation of it has changed all together. You have explained it perfectly!!
@ADDGirl I am sorry to hear of your friend. I am currently dealing with something similar. A very good and close friend of about 30 years is dying and has become very depressed. He used to be the life of the party, but he is no longer. I do miss him a great deal; I just try to remember how he used to be and sometimes I do cry over the "loss" of one of my best friends. "Wish You Were Here" has always had the effect of making me think about the past and how different the present is. It has always made me really think. The whole album makes me think about change and loss and trying to get through it the best you can. <br /> <br /> Again. I am sorry to hear of your friend. It's hard to lose people you love.<br /> <br /> Namaste, <br /> ADDgirl
@ADDGirl
@ADDGirl
It's my opinion that "Wish You Were Here" is sort of a sarcastic remark. You know, like those people that go on vacation to Bermuda and send a postcard back saying "Wish you were here". So he's in this miserable place and "hey wanna' join us?"
Also you can take it another way. If you look at the cover of the album titled "Wish You Were Here", you see a man on fire shaking hands with a man not on fire. You could take that as a "misery loves company" sort of thing. Let me catch you on fire so you can relate to my pain.
Your second interpretation seems to fit better than the first, seems like he's trying to say, "wish you were here" as in, I want you to know what it's like. In the first part of the song he says, "So you think you can tell heaven from hell..." and so its as if the other person thinks he knows pain and pleasure and he's trying to tell him to experience it in his shoes and then he would know.