"Wish You Were Here" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, released as the title track of their 1975 album of the same name.
The song is popular on classic rock radio stations and remains a staple of Pink Floyd's discography.
[7][8] In the original album version, the song segues from "Have a Cigar" as if a radio had been tuned away from one station, through several others (including a radio play and one playing the opening of the finale of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony), and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning.
As the acoustic part becomes more complex, the "radio broadcast" fades away and Gilmour's voice enters, while the rest of the band joins in.
[10] The intro riff is repeated several times before Gilmour plays further solos with scat singing accompaniment.
However, on the documentary The Story of Wish You Were Here, Gilmour and Waters separately describe the original concept that differs from this interpretation.
According to Waters it was decided that it would be insulting to credit Grappelli in the sleeve notes for something so inaudible, although he did receive the agreed-upon fee.
[15][16][17] In the introduction, Gilmour can be heard drinking, coughing, and breathing heavily before the main guitar begins.
[22] "Wish You Were Here" appeared as the fifth track on A Collection of Great Dance Songs in 1981 (with the radio intro following the end of a heavily edited "Shine On You Crazy Diamond") and as the 23rd track on the Echoes compilation[23] in 2001 (with the radio intro following "Arnold Layne", and at the end crossfading with "Jugband Blues").
"Wish You Were Here" served as the fourth and final single from Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean's second studio album, The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book (2001).
It was released on 26 November 2001, peaking at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart and reaching the top 50 in Germany, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland.