3 Pink Floyd Tracks You Wish You Could Hear for the First Time, Celebrating ‘Wish You Were Here’ at 50

After countless spins of an iconic album, it’s hard to remember what it felt like the first time you heard it. Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here 50 years ago, and multiple tracks from the album remain staples on classic rock radio. Some tracks get played so much, you might become (comfortably) numb to the genius of the work.

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However, the music and many of its themes continue to resonate with new generations of listeners hearing Pink Floyd for the first time. Imagine discovering these three tracks from Wish You Were Here all over again.

“Wish You Were Here”

By 1975, Pink Floyd’s former leader, Syd Barrett, had long disappeared into mental decline. Over a guitar riff created by David Gilmour, Roger Waters wrote lyrics about absence and loss. Barrett’s mental illness created a wall between him and the outside world. The sad poetry in the words reflects the despair of losing a friend. Though Barrett was still alive then, it became impossible to communicate with him. Yet, Barrett’s disappearance ultimately led to Pink Floyd’s many masterpieces.

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year.

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Pts. 6–9)

When Barrett visited the studio in 1975, he was unrecognizable. He appeared with a shaved head and shaved eyebrows, overweight and withdrawn. Richard Wright said Barrett happened to arrive as the band recorded vocals for “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, the multi-part song written about Barrett. Amid Wright’s swirling synths, you can’t help but think of the chaos and tumult swirling inside one’s failing mind. The intro feels like an abyss. Somewhat calm, then followed by a screeching jam.

Nobody knows where you are,
How near or how far.

“Have A Cigar”

Waters’s critique of the music business is the album’s most straightforward rock tune. It features Roy Harper on lead vocals, delivering the lines in a cynical sneer. (An alternate version featuring Waters and Gilmour on vocals appears on With You Were Here 50.)

Following Gilmour’s guitar solo, the track shrinks into the sound of a minuscule transistor radio. Is it a metaphor for commercial radio shrinking the ambitions of a progressive rock band? Or the flattening of culture by consumerism?

“Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?”

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