Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” is a record about absence. It came out in 1975, made as both a tribute to founding member Barrett and a pointed attack on the music business that helped push him out. Five tracks, 44 minutes, and not a wasted second.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1–5
The album opens with a long, quiet build, 13 minutes and 31 seconds of guitar and synthesizer before a single word arrives. This is the direct address to Barrett, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. It plays like an open tribute to a lost friend, one whose troubles had only stayed beneath the surface of the band’s earlier work.
Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar
Next comes “Welcome to the Machine,” 7 minutes and 27 seconds of cold synth textures aimed at the record industry that used up Barrett and moved on. “Have a Cigar,” at 5:08, turns the attack outward, its words pointed at executives who cannot tell the band members apart. Both tracks work as a pair, one turned toward feeling, one turned toward anger.
Wish You Were Here
The title track runs 5 minutes and 40 seconds and sits at the center of the record. Plain guitar carries a bare, direct voice, and together they turn loss into something you could say out loud to a friend. It remains the song most people know from this album, and it earns that place.
This is the shortest, simplest track here, and the strongest.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6–9
The album closes where it began, with the second half of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” running 12 minutes and 23 seconds. Guitar and another instrument trade lines before the sound falls away, closing the story on Barrett without ever settling it. Pitchfork gave the record a perfect score, and this ending is a big part of why that judgment holds up.
The Running Order
| # | Track | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1–5 | 13:31 |
| 2 | Welcome to the Machine | 7:27 |
| 3 | Have a Cigar | 5:08 |
| 4 | Wish You Were Here | 5:40 |
| 5 | Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6–9 | 12:23 |
The Hard Numbers
- Artist: Pink Floyd
- Year: 1975
- Total time: 44 minutes
- Tracks: 5
- Pitchfork score: 10.0/10
Pitchfork gave the album a perfect 10.0 out of 10. Taken alongside the record’s tribute to Barrett and its attack on the industry around him, that score points to a band working at the edge of what a rock group could do in the ’70s. This is a band using its biggest platform to grieve a friend and turn on the hand that fed them, and doing both without a single weak track.
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1–513:31
- Welcome to the Machine7:27
- Have a Cigar5:08
- Wish You Were Here5:40
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6–912:23
