wish you were here

Wish you were here is one the most important songs in the history. Maybe is this simple and really accessible combination of melody and lyrics that often introduce to the work of one of the most complex music band. The progressive side of a great band like Pink Floyd can be sometime hard to understand and can scare a lot of people. But the easiness of Wish you were here, and the way in which almost everybody can relate with this softly wording, is a great way to start a big journey inside the world of a big piece of history like the music of the Pink Floyd.

.  Syd Barret 

The song is dedicated to Syd Barret, and was based on a poem that Roger Waters wrote about Syd Barrett’s fall from reality.

For me, it is definitely about "selling out" and giving up your dreams - about people who, gradually, gave up their ideals and forgot who they truly are, because they couldn't make the difference between true and false values, while trying to be successful in life, and they ended up in a self - made "cage". It is about not being able to tell between what is real and what is just a pretty imagination that is actually malicous and bad for you. It is like a well known truth that the devil isn't red and ugly,with a long tale and sharp teeth - he is usually wrapped in something nice, sweet and unbelievably attractive that promises you all the fun and all the happiness you can imagine....until it destroys you. You brought to this world as a free man, as an innocent child, able to see people who they really are, but, eventually, as the years go by, and your apetite for wealth and security goes stronger, you go under influence of media and "mainstream" opinion , and you start to give up your

"I did it my way" philosophy, you abandon everything that is too different from general behaviour and accepted opinion, in order to fit in, to live in comfort: " did they get you to change your heroes for ghosts? .....cold comfort for change...DID YOU EXCHANGE A WALK ON PART IN A WAR FOR A LEAD ROLE IN A CAGE ? ". Did you exchange an opportunity to fight for your ideals, to take "a part in a war" , for a better position at work, a bigger car, popularity and fame ? Because, that kind of matrix world has thousands of rules, takes your individuality and orders you how to look, how to eat, how to have fun, how to have sex !

So , when you, eventually, come to the point that you have all those things you wanted so bad, that you have your "heaven", your " blue skies" and your green field", suddenly, you can't realise why you are not as happy as you thougt you would be, and you can't tell anymore if your heaven is actually hell, and your blue skies are actually pain.... and you wish that the person you once were is back. You miss the free man you once were, the free man you killed, and all that is left from a rebel you once were, is a silent fish, swimming in a cage made of glass...everybody is looking at you, you are the star - the beautiful exotic fish, your bowl is luxurious and the glass is the best glass money can buy, but you are completely exposed, your every move is detected,under shiny lights you have no privacy.... AND THERE IS NO HOPE FOR ESCAPE.

I keep these lyrics on my wall, to remind me, every morning,not to make that mistake.