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 we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
Can't see the video from work, but Pink Floyd's Wish You were Here is an ode to Syd Barrett, one of the early members of the band. He had some major drug problems and had to leave and David Gilmour replaced him.
In a broader sense it has been about detachment so I find it amusing when it stands in for long distance relationships, kinda like every breath you take playing at weddings until more people understood what it was. It's detachment due to trade offs that the person making the trade offs thought were good..and others around may disagree.
It is not about physical distance but being close yet detached as they had experienced with Syd who had been there but slowly drifting away due to all the drugs and stuff.
Coming back to the detachment, trade offs and value/worth of decisions? The albums cover art is very telling with 2 businessmen shaking hands while one is on fire.
I love the cover of that album.......I think I remember doing an essay on it sometime in high-school.
There are so many ideas that can be read into it.
e.g. deal with the devil, selling your soul, devil in capitalism, etc etc.