Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd): the story of a legendary, and most personal for Pink Floyd, album...
Содержание
Roger Waters on Wish You Were Here: "This album is an intimate story about me, about us, about Sid..."
Despite the difficulties accompanying the work on Wish You Were Here, the album is a worthy addition to the discography of the British band. It allowed the emotions, and the madness of each of the band members to finally be heard....
Album history
The concept, lyrics and even the basic melodies belong to Roger Waters. The album is based on the tragic fate of Sid Barrett, one of the founders of the psychedelic band. It is to him that Waters turns in his work, tormented by the burden of endless guilt... In fact - he banished Barrett from the band. Categorical initially, he would later say:
"...Without Sid, we wouldn't be a band. But we wouldn't have been able to move forward with him either! I've been trying to figure out myself, my feelings for a long time... If Dark Side Of The Moon is about madness in general, then this album is an intimate story about me, about us, about Syd...".
Making an album: lyrics and melody
The album opens with a legendary composition that probably needs no introduction... Shine On You Crazy Diamond celebrates Barrett's madness, his creative apotheosis, and at the same time mourns his departure into himself....
The mournful hypnotic riff at the very beginning of the song was the result of a lot of trial and error as the musicians searched for fresh ideas....
The unique synthesiser "influx" was the band's second studio breakthrough. As there were no samplers or digital equipment yet, the musicians had to do a trick: they had to superimpose two synthesisers on each other. Thus, the effect of a whole orchestra was created...
In the text, Waters tried to reflect as accurately as possible his attitude to Syd, his creativity and madness... As time went on, he began to realise the tragic and destructive nature of immersing himself... He was consumed by guilt, because it was he who insisted on Barrett's expulsion from the band... Roger had always been interested in success. And when it came, along with it came the realisation that everything in this life has to be paid for....
Gilmore was also having remorse:
"...Syd makes me very sad... For years I saw him as a threat, but it turned out that he was our creative centre... He was an important part of Pink Floyd, it was with him that we recorded our first material! He was the epitome of absolute alienation... And I understand him, because sometimes that's the only thing that helps you to endure all this darkness that is called modern life...".
The eponymous Wish You Were Here, whose lyrics were written before the musical accompaniment (a rarity for Roger), is also worthy of attention. In it, Waters reflects on the contradiction of the "two halves" of his schizoid personality. On the one hand - he felt he was a do-gooder who cared about the good of the people around him. But on the other, he recognises himself as an arrogant egoist.....
With the phrase "I wish you were here," Roger appeals to the better side of himself. At the same time, it serves as a sadness-filled appeal to Sid....
Pink Floyd Memories and Album Achievements
The musicians later recalled working on Wish You Were Here as a rather difficult time for each of them... At that time it seemed that the moment of their irrevocable break-up was still very far away! But time had its own way.
Wish You Were Here became a golden classic both in Pink Floyd's career and in the world of rock music in general! The record became not only influential for the world culture, but also the most favourite, in many respects - intimate for the band members themselves... Many people tried to unravel the secret - why this particular Pink Floyd album turned out to be so luxurious? Perhaps it's the sincerity of the lyrics. After all, Waters put into each of them his own soul, emotions and experiences of the musicians of the band as a whole... Each of them was sad about Sid in his own way, and that's a fact. But there is another version. Perhaps, Wish You Were Here simply became the last album in the history of the band, when working on which everyone was still one united team...
