Wish You Were Here is for the most part taken up by the song Shine On You Crazy Diamond. A 26 minute tribute to former friend and bandmate Syd Barrett. It’s divided into nine parts, and split into two halves, one to begin the album, one to end it.  

Syd had taken too many drugs and went crazy so the band mourned the effective loss, and expressed it in the song. 

The result is a near masterpiece, filled with dense emotion and weaving atmospheres.

It starts with a synth playing long and ambient minor chords, setting a dramatic and solemn tone. With delicate synth and slide guitar soloing over it, the chords underneath have a stillness and gravity that really effectively set up the magnitude of the piece. 

In Part Two those chords fade out and the famous four notes (unofficially named “Syds Theme”) hit. They’re played in isolation a few times between tense pauses, before the band joins in.

This moment, to me, is a perfect representation for the theme of the song. The chord is ambiguous, as you’re not sure of its musical context. It ends on an “E” note, which is not part of the G minor scale. This makes those four notes dramatic but also mysterious. 

The starkness adds a sense of importance, like everyone should turn their heads toward it. It keeps playing, the drums build up and the band explodes into a “C” chord right as that final “E” note plays, revealing it as the major 3rd. It then gives the theme a direct and celebratory sound.

This sense of clarity and unison is the band reconnecting with Syd as they knew him, and paying him tribute. It really opens the piece up and it’s a great introduction of what is to come.

The sorrow continues with the synth and guitar soloing. There’s a really cool moment where the band stops and sustains, and you think vocals are gonna start. The lead guitar then just comes back in with heightened intensity, like it just wasn’t finished expressing its sadness. 

By the time the vocals finally do come, it feels rather revealing. As if you just saw someone cry for twenty minutes and they actually start talking.

The lyrics are about the man losing his way and his touch with reality, using similes and metaphors. When the vocals erupt in the “Shine on you crazy diamond” refrain it feels like a distraught, but accepting farewell. Like they’re ceremonially releasing this old friend they know will never come back. 

Syd’s theme then returns for Part Five, but this time transitioning to a subdued and jazzy sax solo. I think it represents Syd’s relatively neutral state of mind. It seems detached from the other parts in its mood, with a slight night club vibe to it. It feels a little out of place, but it’s a nice way to lightened the load after the heaviness of the first four parts.

The following song is Welcome to the Machine. It’s about the “Machine” that is the music industry. The pulsing synths do a good job at evoking a big and intimidating machine, but overall the song is too overblown. Coming after a truly harrowing tune about a beloved friend losing his mind, “greedy business men having too much control” seems like a relatively trivial subject matter to dramatize. 

I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but the loud acoustic strums and constant strained vocals just sound melodramatic. Gilmore and Waters’ sing together and they have a constant intensity that seems almost gothic when paired with the industrial synths. 

The synths do sound fantastic on a technical level (the whole album has top notch production), and the song takes you to a unique place. It’s just not a place I can care much about. The song would’ve probably worked better as an instrumental.

The next song, Have a Cigar, has a nice groovy instrumental, but I don’t like the vocals. Roy Harper is the singer and I’m not sure why he’s singing other than that he was recording in the same building as Pink Floyd, and they were friends. The singing doesn’t elevate the music at all. The sound once again is huge, and the synth riff is booming, but the vocals and lyrics fall short. 

The words are a mocking of the typical clueless music industry guy, who cares only of the bottom line. The jokey and sarcastic tone doesn’t fit with the big, commanding instrumental. There isn’t a coherent rhyme scheme and overall it just sounds kind of lazy. 

Roy Harper’s voice sounds pretty similar to Waters and Gilmore, further posing the question of why he’s singing it. I don’t know if the two band members would have made the song much better, but I think Waters would’ve more effectively conveyed the bitter attitude. 

The guitar solo at the end is the best part with David Gilmore at his most loose, just wailing over the cool rhythm. This song, again, would’ve probably worked better as an instrumental, at least for me.

Things get back on track as the “Syd” theme returns  with Wish You Were Here. The intro is a perfect metaphor of the meaning of the song. 

Far in the distance you hear the main guitar line play, and in front and center comes some lead guitar, playing sad, simple melodies over it. The sense of distance with the lead guitar being “here” and the accompaniment that it’s playing to being “far away”, really encompasses the title. 

The song itself is another tribute to Syd Barrett, but this time the strain is gone and it’s just a simple expression of sadness. Like some afternoon, he thought of him and had a momentary period of sorrow and introspection. 

The song has one of the most infectious and recognizable acoustic riffs out there, and is really poignant in its simplicity.

The album ends with Part Two of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This time, the synth and guitar soloing (Parts 6 and 8, with a verse in between) have a spacey and driving atmosphere. The waning and bending of the lead synth and slide guitar give a really cool sense of unease. It’s still high in emotion but not the blatant sadness it was before.

It all ends (Part 9) on a slow note, with the synth playing a whimpering solo. The instrumental just trudges along, giving it all an air of dejected acceptance. 

The major chord at the very end has a sweet optimism, like it just remembered that it’s making a tribute to the man, not just lamenting his loss.

Overall this is sort of an uneven album. Even though the two lesser songs only take up under a third of the record, it feels like it’s more. The decision to split Shine On You Crazy Diamond in two was a controversial one within the band, but because it was too long to fit on one side it had to be done. I think it would’ve been better had it been all together as a continuos and concise piece.

3.5/5