As a result, the title track became a summary of the entire recording process, a musical link between BarrettвЂ™s mental decline and Pink FloydвЂ™s crumbling work ethic. The recording sessions for Wish You Were Here were difficult, and Pink FloydвЂ™s four members rarely showed up to the studio at the same time. I donвЂ™t want to be at headquarters I donвЂ™t wanna be sitting in a hotel somewhere. вЂњItвЂ™s to encourage myself not to accept a lead role in a cage, but to go on demanding of myself that I keep auditioning for the walk-on part in the war, вЂcause thatвЂ™s where I want to be.

вЂњAll songs are encouraging me I guess I write them for me,вЂќ Waters explains during a new documentary, Pink Floyd: The Story Of Wish You Were Here. вЂњWish You Were HereвЂќ deals with that mental inability вЂ“ the refusal, even вЂ“ to engage with reality, and it served as much as a rallying for Waters as a sad tribute to BarrettвЂ™s better days. It pained Waters to see his friend so lost, so detached, so disengaged from the world around him. HeвЂ™d shaved his head, too, along with his eyebrows. When he made a surprise visit to Abbey Road on June 5, stumbling into the studio while engineer Brian Humphries tweaked the final mix of вЂњShine On You Crazy Diamond,вЂќ heвЂ™d put on so much weight that the others didnвЂ™t recognize him for several minutes. The second guitar is loud and blemish-free the first is just a ghost, a pale shadow of what it mustвЂ™ve sounded like when it was originally recorded.Д«y 1975, Syd Barrett had become a pale shadow of his former self, too. The sound crackles and pops, and when a second guitar swoops into the mix, the disparity between both parts is thrown into sharp relief. вЂњWish You Were HereвЂќ opens up with a distant chord progression from GilmourвЂ™s 12-string acoustic guitar, processed to sound as though itвЂ™s emanating from a car stereo. Tying the song cycle together are two compositions about Syd Barrett: the nine-part opus вЂњShine On You Crazy Diamond,вЂќ and the short, haunting title track.Д«ehind The Song: Pink Floyd, Have A Cigar The guys had become multi-millionaires in the wake of Dark SideвЂ™s success, but theyвЂ™d also become cash cows for a corporate label, and the camaraderie that once existed between them had grown strained.

Revolving around the central theme of absence, WatersвЂ™ lyrics illustrate the difference between the groupвЂ™s early years вЂ“ when Pink Floyd was a band of brothers, making music for a small but devoted audience вЂ“ and the present. Wish You Were Here, like the record that precedes it, is a concept album. Or maybe it was his absence вЂ“ the absence from Pink Floyd, from reality, from himself вЂ“ that resonated throughout those halls, echoing off the stucco walls like the sinister guitar riff from вЂњLucifer Sam.вЂќ It had a profound effect on Roger Waters and David Gilmour, who wound up dedicating much of the resulting album, including the title track, to their AWOL friend. Barrett seemed to have lost his spark for good.ДЇive months later, BarrettвЂ™s old bandmates could still feel his presence at Abbey Road. Peter Jenner, Pink FloydвЂ™s original manager, even convinced Barrett to book some studio time at Abbey Road in August 1974, but the sessions petered out after three fruitless days. His crippling addiction to LSD had forced him out of the band in 1968, and a pair of solo albums had done little to resurrect his career in the intervening years. Meanwhile, former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett was suffering a mental breakdown. Wish You Were Here was going to be tough. Recording a follow-up to Dark Side wasnвЂ™t going to be easy, especially with that album still clinging to the upper reaches of the Billboard charts, its success hanging over the band like a cloud. Pink Floyd cemented their new audience by touring heavily for three years, but the time had come to do something new. Their previous release, The Dark Side Of The Moon, had become one of the decadeвЂ™s biggest hits, transforming the cult musicians into mainstream art rockers. When Pink Floyd entered Abbey Road Studios during the first week of 1975 to begin work on their ninth album, Wish You Werethe guys were exhausted.

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