Wish You Were Here Lyrics

[The Piper]

Shine on you crazy diamond (part 1)

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the cross fire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger,
you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter,
you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

---

Welcome to the machine

Welcome, my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been? It's all right, we know where you've been.
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,
provided with toys and 'Scouting for Boys'.
You bought a guitar to punish your ma,
and you didn't like school, and you know you're nobody's fool,
so welcome to the machine.

Welcome, my son, welcome to the machine.
What did you dream? It's all right, we told you what to dream.
You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar,
he always ate in the Steak Bar, he loved to drive in his Jaguar.
So welcome to the machine.

---

Have a cigar

Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar. You're gonna go far,
fly high, you're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try;
they're gonna love you.
Well I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.
The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.
Oh by the way, which one's Pink?
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy,
we call it Riding the Gravy Train.

We're just knocked out, we heard about the sell out.
You gotta get an album out, you owe it to the people.
We're so happy we can hardly count.
Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?
It's a hell of a start, it could be made into a monster
if we all pull together as a team.
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy,
we call it Riding the Gravy Train.

---

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 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.

---

Shine on you crazy diamond (part 2)

Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph,
and sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser,
come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!

[The Piper]

• Album information (from Discography)