Wish You Were Here
Posted in daily
Tags :Hard to believe, but Wish You Were Here, my favourite Pink Floyd album has just turned 50.
This is probably the album I most listened to on headphones as a teenager and young adult. It flew me to unspoken and deep places, opening my mind, lighting my nights and painting my dreams. I knew all the lyrics by heart, every riff, sound effect and transition. I also new the album cover art inside out. Covers were an important part of the album, on par with the music.
The cover art was amazing.
Remembering that time, Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell said:
“[…] I remember turning around to Storm and saying, how are we going to set a man on fire? Because there was no digital way of doing it in those days. He said, Po, you’re just going to have to do it for real. That was it.”
The image symbolizes insincerity, absence, and the idea of being “burned” by human relationships—particularly in the music industry. The burning man represents the risk and pain involved in genuine connection, while the calm handshake suggests superficial or transactional interaction.
The cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, continuing Pink Floyd’s theme of visual metaphors rather than literal imagery. The original vinyl release was wrapped in black shrink-wrap with a sticker, reinforcing the idea of absence before revealing the image.
The story of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell at Hipgnosis is told in Squaring the Circle - well worth watching if you enjoy the album cover art of the 1970’s (official trailer).
50th anniversary edition
The remastered version contains many unreleased gems:
Previously unheard early demo recording of ‘Welcome to the Machine’ originally titled ‘The Machine Song’, ‘The Machine Song (Roger’s demo),’ the first home demo of the song that Roger Waters originally brought to the band, a previously unheard instrumental mix of the track ‘Wish You Were Here’ showcasing David Gilmour’s pedal steel guitar, and for the first time, a complete ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9)’ that joins together the two halves of the song, newly mixed in stereo by James Guthrie.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s album Wish You Were Here, the poet, Simon Armitage, wrote an epic poem about the record:
Dear Pink Floyd — a poem written and performed by Simon Armitage.
“Wish You Were Here” figures in my top 5 albums of all times. Alongside with another album that turned 50 this year: “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” remastered and released by Peter Gabriel.
Live on, you crazy diamond #wywh50
Elsewhere
- Wish You Were Here – the original album
- Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here 50th anniversary news release
- Pink Floyd Announce Wish You Were Here 50 – Sony Music
- Simon, you crazy diamond: Armitage poem marks 50 years of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here – The Guardian
- Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) – The Guardian
