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 to 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 you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
-Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
From the opening line to the closing sentiment, Pink Floyd's melancholy ballad "Wish You Were Here" focuses the mind's eye inward, peering into the oft unsavory human soul. Drawing on their growing cynicism of the music industry and the heart wrenching deterioration of former band mate and founding member Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd explores the human condition by questioning our ability to discern what is real and what is simply an illusion. More importantly, we are confronted with the world's propensity to push for the easy but empty life instead of difficult but worthwhile pursuits. Culminating with the realization that we can be moving fast while getting nowhere, the plea is made for a return to sound principles and likewise, the company of those who have never left.
Answering the questions posed in "Wish You Were Here" becomes an introspective exercise where one can learn a great deal about themselves. Can you really separate what is good from evil? We are constantly told our wars are noble, that torture is good and a few hundred thousand dead women and children is an acceptable price to pay for 'democracy'. The 'experts' pontificate about how billions of dollars must flow from our already lightened check books to the coffers of a few entities 'too big to fail' all so they can keep their failed business model afloat and reap millions in rewards. And the politicians repeatedly take more and more control over our lives in an effort to save us from ourselves. Do you think you can tell the lies from the truth?
We have seen that again and again, people prefer the tranquility of servitude to the animated contest of freedom. That most are willing to trade essential liberty for temporary security. That being spoon fed from the TV is easier than thinking critically about our lot.
And we all know that things aren't right and we want a better life, but we refuse to acknowledge that what we've been doing year after year, decade after decade, is not working. That if we can just get the right people in Washington, things will change. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Every few years we buy into the ludicrous notion that this time will be different; that our party or pol will make life better. Thinking objectively over the course a your lifetime, what have you found?
Have things gotten better or worse? Do you have more freedoms or less? Does your money gain or lose value? Is the world safer or more dangerous? The answers are abundantly clear, but we try to justify in our own minds something else that will allow us to maintain our long held beliefs. Some have begun to shed the ideology of the past, and indeed it can be lonely, difficult and downright unpleasant experience. But breaking from the norm is liberating and fulfilling.
I wish you here.
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 to 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 you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
-Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
From the opening line to the closing sentiment, Pink Floyd's melancholy ballad "Wish You Were Here" focuses the mind's eye inward, peering into the oft unsavory human soul. Drawing on their growing cynicism of the music industry and the heart wrenching deterioration of former band mate and founding member Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd explores the human condition by questioning our ability to discern what is real and what is simply an illusion. More importantly, we are confronted with the world's propensity to push for the easy but empty life instead of difficult but worthwhile pursuits. Culminating with the realization that we can be moving fast while getting nowhere, the plea is made for a return to sound principles and likewise, the company of those who have never left.
Answering the questions posed in "Wish You Were Here" becomes an introspective exercise where one can learn a great deal about themselves. Can you really separate what is good from evil? We are constantly told our wars are noble, that torture is good and a few hundred thousand dead women and children is an acceptable price to pay for 'democracy'. The 'experts' pontificate about how billions of dollars must flow from our already lightened check books to the coffers of a few entities 'too big to fail' all so they can keep their failed business model afloat and reap millions in rewards. And the politicians repeatedly take more and more control over our lives in an effort to save us from ourselves. Do you think you can tell the lies from the truth?
We have seen that again and again, people prefer the tranquility of servitude to the animated contest of freedom. That most are willing to trade essential liberty for temporary security. That being spoon fed from the TV is easier than thinking critically about our lot.
And we all know that things aren't right and we want a better life, but we refuse to acknowledge that what we've been doing year after year, decade after decade, is not working. That if we can just get the right people in Washington, things will change. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Every few years we buy into the ludicrous notion that this time will be different; that our party or pol will make life better. Thinking objectively over the course a your lifetime, what have you found?
Have things gotten better or worse? Do you have more freedoms or less? Does your money gain or lose value? Is the world safer or more dangerous? The answers are abundantly clear, but we try to justify in our own minds something else that will allow us to maintain our long held beliefs. Some have begun to shed the ideology of the past, and indeed it can be lonely, difficult and downright unpleasant experience. But breaking from the norm is liberating and fulfilling.
I wish you here.
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