(written by Waters, Gilmour)
Lyrics:
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell
Blue skies 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 heroes 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
Roger Waters: "The music comes first and the lyrics are added, or music and lyrics come together. Only once have the lyrics been written down first — Wish You Were Here. But this is unusual; it hasn't happened before. Just lyrics on a piece of paper, several couplets and pairs of words. That was kind of shelved, then came Have a Cigar." [Miles]

This author, at least, certainly couldn't hear the violin no matter how hard he listened.

Roger: "In a way it's a schizophrenic song. It's directed at my other half, if you like, the battling elements within myself. There's the bit that's concerned with other people, the bit that one applauds in oneself, then there's the grasping avaricious, selfish little kid who wants to get his hands on the sweets and have them all. The song slips in and out of both personae, so the bit that always wants to win is feeling upset and plaintively saying to the other side, wish you were here." [Dallas 112]
TRACK LISTING

Welcome to the Machine
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)
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