Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd album) Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd album) Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on 12 September 1975 in the United Kingdom by Harvest Records and a day later in the United States by Columbia Records, their first American release for the label. Based on material Pink Floyd composed while performing in Europe, "Wish You Were Here" was recorded over numerous sessions at Abbey Road Studios in London. Two songs criticise the music business, another expresses alienation, and the multi-part composition "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd album) into the lyrics for "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", a tribute to Syd Barrett, whose mental breakdown had forced him to leave the group seven years earlier. Barrett is fondly recalled with lines such as "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun" and "You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon". "Wish You Were Here" is also a critique of the music business. "Shine On" crosses seamlessly into "Welcome to the Machine", a song that begins with an opening door (described by Waters as a symbol of musical discovery and progress betrayed by