Wish You Were Here

[threepeat]

This song has been haunting me since I heard it for the first time on "Rock Star - INXS." I know that it is a tribute to a member of Pink Floyd who passed away, but what does it mean? Is it about following your dream and going out in a blaze of glory? Or is it completely the opposite, talking about someone who risked all and is now gone without finding anything? Or something else?

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys 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 heros 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.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

 

[wolverine]

I know that it is a tribute to a member of Pink Floyd who passed away

Not quite. It's about Syd Barrett, Floyd's original singer/guitarist/songwriter, who went insane from too much drug consumption and was replaced by Gilmour (no, not Doug the hockey player). After Dark Side of the Moon made them huge stars, Barrett tried to rejoin the band but was rebuffed.

 

[JMBrowning]

Buy

Pink Floyd "The Wall"

Pink Floyd "The Dark Side of the Moon".

Pink Floyd "A Collection of Great Dance Songs".

and
Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb".

Smoke a big fat joint or two and listen to them all.

Everything will then make sense.

Been there, done that. Everything still made sense when I wasn't high

 

[JMBrowning]

Me too!

Pink Floyd should be a mandatory requirement in University. All the mysteries of the universe explained. When in doubt put on Pink Floyd.

Julia,

We gotta get together and do that and do each other!

 

[mexman]

Meanings behind floyd music

Unless one hears an interview from either Waters or Gilmour, the meanings of the songs by Pink Floyd, or why it was written are very tough to guess. These songs seem to mean whatever is going on in life right now, which is kinda strange cause right now for Darkside of the Moon is 30+ years old. I have owned that album on 8tr, cass, LP, and now cd, along with almost all Pink Floyd. It's read between the lines music for sure. Division Bell is no exception. This is one band I would like to see tour again, just once more guys, with or without Waters. Would be nice to see them all but real unsure that will happen. They are aging, they are extremely rich, they don't have much to do with each other away from the studio or stage, just one more guys!!! I would really like the kids to see these guys live. These guys very well may be the greatest band to ever exist.
----------------------------------------------
I've got thirteen channells of shit on the tv to choose from!
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Nick isn't well, he stayed back at the hotel
But they brought us along as a serogate band, we're gonna find out where u fans really stand
Are there any queers in the theatre tonite......................

The show must go ooo'ooooo'oooo'ooooooooooon!

 

[Gruss-ly]

Unless one hears an interview from either Waters or Gilmour, the meanings of the songs by Pink Floyd, or why it was written are very tough to guess. These songs seem to mean whatever is going on in life right now, which is kinda strange cause right now for Darkside of the Moon is 30+ years old. I have owned that album on 8tr, cass, LP, and now cd, along with almost all Pink Floyd. It's read between the lines music for sure. Division Bell is no exception. This is one band I would like to see tour again, just once more guys, with or without Waters. Would be nice to see them all but real unsure that will happen. They are aging, they are extremely rich, they don't have much to do with each other away from the studio or stage, just one more guys!!! I would really like the kids to see these guys live. These guys very well may be the greatest band to ever exist.

Innovative... way ahead of their time... brilliant technicians. I can listen to Gilmour's guitar solo on Comfortably Numb over and over again and the hair still goes up on the back of my neck and shivers down my spine. He just hits the exact right notes!

 

[JMBrowning]

ON the subject of bands ahead of their time...

I'd say Pink Floyd is at the top. Their style of music is hard to be classified. IMHO, they were alternative before alternative was the "IN" thing. Yet... I still feel that the most influential band in history is The Beatles.

And I'm a Floyd fan. Here's the lyrics of one of my top faves:

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

 

[mexman]

Innovative... way ahead of their time... brilliant technicians. I can listen to Gilmour's guitar solo on Comfortably Numb over and over again and the hair still goes up on the back of my neck and shivers down my spine. He just hits the exact right notes!

Hey Gruss, don't know whether you have the album Pulse or not, but the live version of the solo you love so much is about 3x as long and 3x as powerful as the original.
Can't remember the song on division bell but there is also one there where he does a steel gitar solo, wow there's some feel in that one too.

 

[talon139]

Just wait for the dvd

Mexman you do not know how right you are, the work that David did in that tour was incredible. The DVD is supposed to be released for Christmas and from what has been released on the net, we will not be dissapointed.

I have only been into Floyd for about the last 10 years or so, but find that their music, both pre and post Rodgers departure has some real substance and soul to it. The music nowadays is so canned and commercialized that i doubt if another Floyd came along that the studios would give them a chance.

Rodger does have a new album coming out and there are 2 songs posted to the net, both 8 or 10 minutes in length. You can really see the individual components that made up the band when they were together. Just listen to some of David's more current solo work. If that guy is not a 1930's blues man, I do not know who is. Still some of if not the best steel I have heard.

I still regard the concert they played here at Commonweath as one of the best I have ever heard.

Mother, do you think they’ll drop the bomb?
Mother, do you think they’ll like this song?
Mother, do you think they’ll try to break my balls?
Ooooowaa mother, should I build a wall?

Mother, should I run for president?
Mother, should I trust the government?
Mother, will they put me in the firing line?
Ooooowaa is it just a waste of time?

Hush, my baby. baby, don’t you cry.
Momma’s gonna make all of your nightmares come true.
Momma’s gonna put all of her fears into you.
Momma’s gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She won’t let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Momma’s gonna keep baby cozy and warm.

 

[wolverine]

This is one band I would like to see tour again, just once more guys, with or without Waters. Would be nice to see them all but real unsure that will happen. They are aging, they are extremely rich, they don't have much to do with each other away from the studio or stage, just one more guys!!! I would really like the kids to see these guys live.

Did you watch their performance during the Live 8 show in London?

 

[S.G. Gibson]

David Gilmour is the most over-rated and boring guitarist in popular music.

 

[FuZzYknUckLeS]

The Wall has to be one of the all-time greatest albums of all time. To pull off a theme album is hard enough. To make it a double album...
I've been a Floyd fan since Dark Side Of The Moon was released. That album turned me on to them, pulled me in, and got me hooked. I've owned them all since. Played Animals to death. After the band split ways following The Final Cut, I thought they were dead. Gilmour revived the old feeling with "Learning To Fly" on the Momentary Lapse Of Reason album that followed. That song is up there with the classics and shows that they never lost it, and also how much of an influence Gilmour had on the bands music, considering Roger Waters had no hand in that album.

As for S.G. Gibson's comment: Pink Floyd has never been 'popular music'.

 

[S.G. Gibson]

Ok Fuzzy, let me put it this way. David Gilmour is the most over-rated and boring guitarist.

 

[mexman]

Couple reply's

Wolvie, no I didnt see it, I was at the lake and it wasn't on one of he two channels we get there!! I would suspect it may not have been the best, cause of the timing and such but I don't know. How was it? You see it?

SG Gibson, if you play,thats what you play. Gilmour plays a strat with emg's.
SG players generally are not into the same kind of music as strat players. Gilmour maybe isn't a jump around the stage player on his strat, or play overly tough stuff. Matter of fact most pink floyd music is relatively easy to play, but that does not take away the fact that it is some of the most creative writing ever. Dark side of the moon spent 14 consecutive years in the top 100 selling albums. Pretty impressive numbers even if you're over rated and boring. And thats just one album!

 

[S.G. Gibson]

SG players generally are not into the same kind of music as strat players.

Both Hendrix and Clapton played SG's and Strats. Santana is known for being very melodic and tone driven and he played SGs. As far as I know David Gilmour couldn't have used EMGs to record any of their famous albums because EMG didn't exist yet. Besides EMGs are known as a metal pick-up although they are used elsewhere.

I know I am not going to convince Pink Floyd fans that David Gilmour sucks but that's my opinion.

 

[CARGO1]

I have been a Pink Floyd fan my whole life. Everytime a new chapter in my life unfolds it seems Pink Floyd has had a song for me to rely upon. This is the song from that I have been playing over and over in my Cd player for weeks now. I am not sure why, not even sure if it fits what changes are happening in my life. From the Division bell track 10.

Lost for words

I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralyzed
I thought that everything else would just wait

While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night

To martyr yourself to caution
Is not going to help at all
Because there'll be no safety in numbers
When the Right One walks out of the door


Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
Stuck in a world of isolation
While the ivy grows over the door

So I open my doors to my enemies
And I ask could we wipe the slate clean
But they tell me please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win

 

[mexman]

OK so he can't play!!!

Next time your in chapter's pick up the encyclopedia of musicians and check out the David Gilmour section. You may just be a little surprized at who has used him as the guitarist when recording an album. It is a very long list. Sure has an impressive list for the most overrated and boring guitarist.

The other artists you mention are sensation guitar players as well, nobody is arguing that fact.

 

[wolverine]

Wolvie, no I didnt see it, I was at the lake and it wasn't on one of he two channels we get there!! I would suspect it may not have been the best, cause of the timing and such but I don't know. How was it? You see it?

First off, I should mention that I'm not a big Floyd fan - I have The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon which are mandatory for any CD collection - but they were the reason why I watched the Live 8 shows.

Their performance was good. They played two or three songs from Dark Side. Waters seemed at ease and all were smiles - good to see, considering the past bad blood between him and the rest of the band. Keep in mind that he's already stated that he still has no desire to return to Pink Floyd despite burying the hatchet with them.

 

[sexaholic]

If you ever get a chance to see them in concert,man don't miss it for nothing.Saw them in 1987 at B.C. Place stadium.Best concert I had ever been to in my life!Hope they one day decide to tour again!Recommend watching their video concerts and dvd's of them as well.I love the song young lust!

 

[noneasgood]

If you ever get a chance to see them in concert,man don't miss it for nothing.Saw them in 1987 at B.C. Place stadium.Best concert I had ever been to in my life!Hope they one day decide to tour again!Recommend watching their video concerts and dvd's of them as well.I love the song young lust!

I saw that concert as well. It's actually the only concert I ever paid a scalper for tickets. But I have this philosophy that if you're going to a concert get great seats or don't waste your time.

Whether Gilmour's a great guitar player or not is irrelevant. Fact is they've had some of the most innovative music I've ever heard. I actually remember watching The Wall in the theatre when it first came out.

For some reason the words to Comfortably Numb get to me.

Hello,
Is there anybody in there
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home
Come on now
I hear you're feeling down
I can ease your pain
And get you on your feet again
Relax
I'll need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts

There is no pain, you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb

O.K.
Just a little pin prick
There'll be no more aaaaaaaah!
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go.

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
And I have become
Comfortably numb.