now that I think of it, they definitely could have fit some of the household objects between the songs where the small interludes are, even though i love those parts as is. or more stuff before welcome to the machine starts. i just think its such a fully formed and has the perfect direction as it and changing it in any way might have made it not work as well. that hard way track is very cool but in that form pales in comparison to anything on the album

cracks knuckles

to me the WYWH title track is honestly the best thing they ever did and one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard, even considering my taste both in general and with the Floyd's different eras and styles. It's one of those songs where even though it doesn't sum up the band perfectly, cements the legacy, or something like that its just so amazing and conjured from the aether that it transcends everything. i really love that its a perfect combo of Waters and Gilmour writing too. I think it still is still absolutely pink floyd sounding through and through because of the emotion even though its not something like SOYCD, echoes, earlier s*** etc.

As they continued into the 70s mostly starting with Dark Side imo (ik you love obscured by clouds though lol) i think an absolutely key part of the sound is the emotional resonance, which they never had before Meddle tbh. and the combination of that and the sort of distinct instrumental "beauty" they reached, i think you know what i mean. and this song is the absolute peak of that emotional expression even without being a more complex composition like SOYCD or Echoes. in terms of bands in their style/kinda similar ones i don't think anyone pulled off the expression of emotions using instrumentation. and i really do like waters lyrics on those style of songs on Dark Side and WYWH. Animals still has the emotional aspect in the instrumental parts but not the lyrics. which im fine with, its an interesting concept and well done imo even though its political). i used to kind of see it as "dad rock" because i recognized from hearing it on the radio etc. but i dont hear that at all anymore. idk, maybe just because i'm so used to the music of the time. the lyrics alone aren't nearly as beautiful to me without the delivery and surrounding parts of the song which perfectly suits them even though it is not really the lyrics that provides most of the emotion. Also, it contrasts perfectly in the context of the album like you said and that makes it even more powerful for me.

i think the radio excerpts begin the side B perfectly leading into the quiet acoustic part with that legendary riff (feels weird to call it that) coming in along with some remaining static. the weird noise made by someone at :43 even helps it out imo because it keeps it along the same lines as the beginning radio part, the quietness of the guitar, and the static in the background.

when the louder acoustic guitar part comes in, the melody is just perfect and the best part of it is how it leads into the post-intro part. the juxtaposition of the dynamics between that and the quiet intro just brings out the melody even more and the timbre of the acoustic guitar is so lovely and warm. once the main part finally materializes at 1:30 Gilmour's voice is just beautiful when he comes in with the way he says "so" alone. i'm not even a giant fan of Gilmour's vocals but his performance on this is just ridiculous somehow.

@Ithaka
cont.

when the drums finally, come the fill is so powerful and one of Mason's best even though its simple. i'm not sure how to really put this, but honestly one of the key aspects is the feeling of space between the fill and the actual "beat drop", the millisecond right after he says the word "tell" and the way the impact when the now-louder guitar part hits along with the piano. the way he sings the words kinda like "tra-a-ace" and "cha-a-ange" (idk how to put it) when changing the pitch is one of major parts of the emotion. the quiet pedal steel guitar in the right which almost sounds country-ish (!) supports it perfectly although its so subtle it took me a lot of listens to even appreciate/pay attention to it. the small piano parts that comes right after the "your heroes for ghosts" and "lead role in a cage" lyrics are beautiful and resolves the phrases really well.

when the beginning acoustic part comes in, now with drums and more instruments, especially Wright's synth, it provides a perfect transition and also a kind of respite before the real crux of the song starting at 3:14. when it comes in, notice it doesn't quite have as much tiny space between like when it was first introduced in the beginning, mostly caused by the difference in the drums. this only makes the chord change after "year after year" even more powerful because it has just a tiny bit of that "space" right before. Another import part that contributes to the impact is the subtle backing vocals, which are of course also heavenly. their place in the development of the song as well as the small difference with those vocals just makes it even better.
I don't think "space" is really the right way to put it; its like I'm taking a breath and finally exhaling right when the drums+guitar hit in a way that can't be done with the other parts. the way he says "found" next is the absolute best part of the vocals which again has that space/breath right before. I'm honestly not that moved/related to with the line "wish you were here" at this point in my life at least, but that just speaks to how much the music alone emotionally affects me.

I don't have as much to say about the instrumental outro following other than Wright's synth again combining perfectly with the guitars. and the wordless singing is very nice and a pretty unique element of the song. The way it fades out into the white noise part is basically the only thing I could imagine directly following the song. Imagine if the guitars faded out normally, then a next song immediately started; it would actually sound weird. and of course this is the perfect transition back into SOYCD.

@Ithaka cont.

the best moments and the parts i especially focus on every listen are that chord change before "how i wish", the way he sings "ground", and the way he sings "change" in the first verse.

still i think somehow everything that i mentioned doesn't explain how good the song is. it's one of those works that somehow has an x factor that brings everything in alignment. I've heard it many times, even some when i was a kid and didnt pay attention to it, and it only gets better the more i listen to it. i imagine this will continue as i get older and can relate to the lyrics more.

it's definitely one of the songs i've cried to the most. i honestly didn't quite realize how much i love it before writing this. didnt mean to write this much, i guess its actually one of my favorite songs oat

side note: something else that really gets me that isn't part of the song itself is going to youtube and reading people's comments about it. makes me cry every time reading how the people relate the songs to their loved ones (dying) and how much it resonates with them.

so in other words it hits a little harder for me than easy listening or dad rock etc

yeah that s*** is punchy

great writeup btw i appreciate this a lot, wish more people on this site would write/support stuff like this

thx ❤️

god damn that’s the most ithaka post ive ever read that isn’t by me

word to anyone reading us: I PROMISE RVI IS NOT AN ALT I AM NOT FAKING IT TO BOOST THIS THREAD PLS S AND THE MODS DO NOT BAN ME i still have weezer stuff to post

i love you rvi, thank you for restoring passionate conversations in music sxn with me

ngl ur posts moved me
here i was thinking for a while these threads wouldn’t be worth it, but you proved me wrong

any of my comments could never do justice or would be redondant as deep down despite me be all like yeah this start of roger or being a lil s*** like yeah it sounds classic rock big budget production not quirky enough (tbh by this comment i meant the production aspect really) f*** that im sucker for this song, and you nailed it by mentioning the collaboration of both roger and david, it IS the pinnacle of their talents making love, giving birth to the child that do define pf at its finest

looking back, for a second, wether it be musically, melodically, lyrically, you’re right, this song is pink floyd

maybe because in someway it’s not just an amazing song by both david and roger but also because it is a song ABOUT david and roger?

• How I wish, how I wish you were here
  We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl year after year
  Runnin' over the same old ground, what have we found?
  The same old fears, wish you were here*

that resonates loud...

you’re right, this is louder than any long infinite echoes or shine on, sure they’re great pieces, but they’re long, and sometimes something just short gets more to the point, a poignant point.

def a peak for gilmour, that’s why after that to me it’s just jarring for roger to take over so much... and again yeah all the guitar work, like i said, a breeze coming into your face... close ur eyes, you’re there... but you’re not really there - wish you were here.

oh okay
jk

sorry bro my short attention span limited me to only page 17

np

im used to it lol jk

jk.. yupppp yup

nah jk rvi is ktts queen

holy s*** fire read up there

i am very casual PF fan so its good to get some added knowledge about the band

where that energy for allans breakfast tho

The recording process must have been extremely tedious and frustrating. It’s so crazy to think they went from that to Wish you were here. If they’d have Carried on with that theme I could easily have seen a few songs pop up on our modern day ‘ambient’ playlists

yeah i can’t imagine how intense and frustrating it must’ve been, but bro doesn’t it pay off? those glasses sounds or whatever that comes in during the “chorus” of the hard way are SO F***ING AMAZING bruh that s*** was done in 1972??? sounds like some studio synth produced trick from the 00s wthh

just odd to me they didn’t even try to put some vocals on this song and put on something

feel like going back to that project n concept would’ve been a great idea after the final cut with all that war rock opera burn out

So ahead of their time, is there any chance any records from those sessions will see the light of day?

man they seem pretty reluctant on that when u track the history of it: all we got is the hard way and the shine on you glasses tracks put into the immersion boxset of dark side of the moon and wish you were here

so since those are the final box sets that covers all that era, this tells us that they either will never release anything else from it and this is it, OR they’re saving it to do a release all together for it separately

the same seems to be for the soundtrack they did for that racing documentary in 92 as there’s not a single trace to be found of it on the new “later years” boxset that supposedly covers the entire gilmour era, from “momentary lapse of reason” to “endless river”: so again either they wanna burry that s*** and it’s done, or they think it’s cult commercially potential enough that they holding on it to give it its own release

hard to tell and im afraid i dont know enough of how they work around that or any insiders that could give any indications if that will happen, best we can hope is some miracle leak like that bowie toy album did

but look at animals, still struggling with reissues so yeh there’s def ego problems in this band (just like really any other big bands, don’t even get me started on the beach boys legacy)

out of the after years stuff this podcast is nice especially this episode where they reflect more on storm thorgersons history of work on his covers for the band

nick a real one to have put together a show of only pf material pre dark side

sadly will we ever get a chance to see it now, maybe it’s too late for me
@RVI

yeah fr i wish i could have seen it

at least we got that video, good lord when was the last time roger sang that song before that show

My brother and I went backpacking in Joshua tree a few months back, we tripped out on shrooms and listened to dark side in the middle of the empty desert, most of it was at night under a full moon.

Legendary trip

BRO in the desert at night??? that sounds INSANE lifetime trip to listen to music

i would’ve played echoes i think for that

wait did u pick that bc of u2