With the sad news that the great Syd Barrett died peacefully a couple of days ago, everyone seems to be going overboard with the Shine On You Crazy Diamond references, which is why I thought I’d remind folks that Roger Waters wrote more than just the one song for Syd.
Wish You Were Here
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 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.
I always liked the Dave Gilmour written one about him…
“Poles Apart”
Did you know…it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you’d never lose that light in your eyes
Hey you…did you realize what you’d become
And did you see that it wasn’t only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes
The rain fell slow, down on all the roofs of uncertainty
I thought of you and the years and all the sadness fell away from me
And did you know…
I never thought that you’d lose the light in your eyes
Hmm. Is there anyone out there, in the wide world of blogging, that isn’t a PF fan, especially early years?
That’s actually always the song I think of when I think of Crazy Diamond, my memory for lyrics is terrible, so I think through the chorus, then it becomes Wish You Were Here in my head. No idea why…