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Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
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One of the few Floyd songs you’ll hear performed by buskers, Wish You Were Here started out as a Roger Waters poem in which he attempted to address his own conflicting personality traits of ardent humanist and avaricious rock
Pink Floyd
Song facts
ComposerGilmour/Waters
GenreRock
AlbumWish You Were Here
Year of Release1975
superstar. Taken from the highly acclaimed album Wish You Were Here, the music came from Dave Gilmour, who latched onto the elegiac quality of Waters’ lyric and fashioned a simple folky melody. The intro fades in from a car radio, as if the song was appearing from the airwaves, further accentuating the lyrical theme of dislocation and absence. Musically, the song reflects this in its constant pivot between an optimistic G Major and a downcast E Minor. The song fades out before this change can ever be fully resolved. Listeners with perfect hearing may just be able to discern a violin amongst the wind effects on the fade, performed by an un-credited Stephane Grappelli.


Other versions
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Nu-metal gurners Limp Bizkit performed a heartfelt cover to commemorate the dead of 9/11.

A simple yet massively powerful song...



Anthony Latchem


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Songwriting tips

Wish You Were Here is one of Roger Water's finest lyrics. Get more advice on writing lyrics.
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