Understanding Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here

I'd like to say thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Go to Squarespace.com/Polyphonic for 10% off your new website What's the cost of Fame? This question is at the center of one of my favorite albums ever. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Released as the follow-up to their legendary Dark Side of the Moon, the album holds a strange place in their catalog. The band wrote it while struggling with the realities of Fame They had trouble finding inspiration and they were barely even look each other in the eye in the studio. The result was a melancholic album that was one part lament for their fallen comrade Sid Barrett and one part vitriolic takedown of the industry that they blame for their strife. Let's take a closer look To understand wish you were here We need to know the story of Syd Barrett. Barrett was Pink Floyd's original guitarist and vocalist but in the late 1960s his heavy LSD use started to take its toll. Barrett's started to behave erratically and unpredictably. Nowadays, a lot of people think that he suffered from schizophrenia. Despite Barrett's deep ties to Pink Floyd, the band eventually had to replace him when he became more and more disconnected with reality. The group brought in David Gilmour to replace Barrett's guitar and soon Barrett was out of the band entirely. In the subsequent years his mental state deteriorated farther And he dropped off the map for a period Syd Barrett's tragic demise became the inspiration for wish you were here's focal point shine on you crazy diamond Split into two tracks and nine sections shine on Bookends wish you were here the song is built out from a four note guitar theme that Roger Waters thought sounded like the lingering ghost of Syd Mary One day while Pink Floyd were working on shine on that ghost appeared to them in the studio as They were laying down the track a large bald dazed Syd Barrett paid the band a visit Members of Pink Floyd talked about it in the story of wish you were here. I mean I didn't recognize and there was him But it was them pretty Pretty affecting really I mean Roger and Dave cried She was a great loss and and you know the Imagining what he would have gone on to do is Speculating on that if you like his his He could have become So great after visiting for a little bit Barrett slipped away and was never seen in public again Syd Barrett died in 2006 at the age of 60 Shine on you crazy diamond serves as a way for the band to search for their lost friend For two songs the total almost half an hour together. It's got pretty sparse lyrics in those lyrics We can find one line that connects the song to the rest of the album Pink Floyd think that stardom is at least partially responsible for Barrett's collapse It's well-known that the music industry will chew up and spit out creative individuals And the band explore that theme throughout the middle of the album welcome to the machine is sung from the perspective of a music industry Professional talking to a creative without caring who the artist really is the label will sell them with this manufactured cliched biography Like school now you know In the second verse Pink Floyd sing about the manufacturer of destiny of wrong stars The song is full of ominous imposing music and mechanical sound effects it reflects the cold in human nature of the industry the song closes on the sound of an industry party full of posturing without any real human connection The next song is just as vitriolic towards the music industry. It's also sung from the perspective of a music industry Executive this time the executive is selling Pink Floyd on the money and success But he doesn't even take time to learn who the band members are That's a reference to real interactions that the band had with executives Who frequently pushed numbers and chart success on them without actually caring about the musical aspirations the album's packaging reflects these jaded themes to look at the front cover which features a Business deal being done with one side literally getting burned on the back of the album. We see a faceless businessman in a desert reflecting the barren in human nature of industry executives in Pink Floyd's eyes David Gilmour told red beard that the band was in a state of disillusionment during this album Everything had sort of come our way, and you had to reassess what you were in it for thereafter And it was a pretty confusing and sort of empty time for a while This comes out in the album's title track, which ties the coldness of the industry to the loss of Syd Barrett Can you tell a green field? The con still ran a smile for the van Do you think you can change Wish you were here can be seen as a clear lament to Barrett wishing He was with the band and wishing he had his mental faculties But at the same time it's a reflection of the band's own feelings they were disconnected Uninspired they didn't feel like they were present in a lot of ways the band draws comparisons Between the deterioration of their own relationships and that of Barrett's mental state throughout the album Just as Barrett's mental illness had him losing grip on his own humanity The industry pressures were causing Pink Floyd to lose grip on their humanity wish you were here is a heartbreaking snapshot of Pink Floyd's own state in time And I think it's a testament to the band that in a time where they were disconnected and bitter They were able to create something so incredibly emotional and human You like to imagine that it would have made Syd Barrett proud I'd like to thank Squarespace for sponsoring this video Squarespace is an all-in-one platform where you can use designer templates to build your own website Whether it's a new business a creative pursuit or a personal portfolio Squarespace can help you build your website to your vision They've got award-winning 24/7 customer service online store capabilities and simple domain hosting and transferring I'm a big fan of Squarespace And I've actually used them to build my personal portfolio site so I can promise you it's a really fun intuitive platform So head on over to squarespace.com slash Polyphonic to show them that I sent you with that code You'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain think it dream. 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Channel: undefined

Views: 1,774,876

Rating: 4.950726 out of 5

Keywords: polyphonic, music, video essay, pink floyd, wish you were here, syd barrett, roger waters, david gilmour, shine on you crazy diamond, shine on, dark side of the moon, animals, have a cigar, welcome to the machine, floyd, pink, nick mason, richard wright, rick wright, syd, barrett, crazy diamond

Id: kJC-cFKP770

Length: 8min 24sec (504 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 09 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/KnottaBiggins]

Yup, that's exactly what it's about.

Here's the odd thing. I'm sometimes a bit slow to pick up on hidden meanings, not usually but sometimes. I never picked up on this:

.

Shine on

You

Crazy diamond

SYD

[u/geekyspacegirl420]

Very interesting insight!!

Just FYI that today we are shorter of breath and one day closer to death

[u/Lumba]

It feels a little condenscending to boil the whole album down to "industry angst". Sure, this video's claims are lyrically supported, but man, there is so much more to the album than just rebellion against the music executives. The average person without the background knowledge of Syd Barrett would say that "Wish You Were Here" connects to that longing within all of us who miss somebody. And they wouldn't be wrong at all. Great music like this serves many interpretations, even sometimes beyond the artists' intention.

The lyrics in "Wish You Were Here" and "Welcome to the Machine" about the music industry could just as easily be applied to the spirit-crushing tendencies of life in general, and I believe that was an intended connection that the band drew. "Have a Cigar" is quite obviously setting the tone for the "price of fame" theme, but I'd prefer to think of that as a vehicle for telling the rest of the story rather than the end-all-be-all, "this is what it's all about." As one of their greatest, deepest, and most complex albums, there are so many more themes to touch on - within the lyrics and on a greater level, within the sounds.

[u/Rakajj]

Thanks for posting OP.

[u/ArZeus]

Kinda ironic how the album went on and made the music executives a bunch of money. They had no problem marketing stuff that was against them as long as it got them cash.

Really good video, OP. Thanks for sharing :)

[u/Rakajj]

Thanks for posting OP.

[u/FelixAtagong]

Great essay, pity about the publicity at the end...

[u/GroovingPict]

He makes some nice points, but he's also blatantly wrong on some points, like how they were distant and cold to eachother when working on it in the studio: on the contrary, Rick remembered it as his fondest album as it was the last album where they really worked together as a group.