Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd album) album closes with a reprise of "Shine On" and further instrumental excursions. "I had some criticisms of "Dark Side of the Moon"…" noted David Gilmour. "One or two of the vehicles carrying the ideas were not as strong as the ideas that they carried. I thought we should try and work harder on marrying the idea and the vehicle that carried it, so that they both had an equal magic… It's something I was personally pushing when we made "Wish You Were Here"." Alan Parsons, EMI staff engineer for Pink Floyd's previous studio album, "The Dark Side of the Moon",
Wish You Were Here (Avril Lavigne song) writing for "Rolling Stone" magazine, described "Wish You Were Here" as a "jangling power ballad". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic marked "Wish You Were Here" as a highlight of the album, "Goodbye Lullaby". Al Fox, an editor of BBC Music, said that the song is one of the tracks from the album where "Lavigne actually manages to communicate some real sentiment". He also commented that it is "an unassuming strum-along". Bill Lamb of the website About.com found "interesting arrangements and musical settings" in the song. While reviewing "Goodbye Lullaby", Robert Copsey of Digital Spy concluded that the main theme of