From which side do you interpret Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here?"

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From which side do you interpret Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here?”:

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue sky’s 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 to 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.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.​

Lyrics powered by LyricFind
written by WATERS, ROGER/GILMOUR, DAVID JON
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Read more at lyrics.com/wish-you-were-here-lyrics-pink-floyd.html#uE0VJMDoZx70HuIM.99

OK, we have opposing sides:

Option A: / Option B:

Heaven / from Hell,
Blue skies / from pain.
Can you tell a green field / From a cold steel rail?
Trade Your heroes / for ghosts?
Trade Hot ashes / for trees?
Trade Hot air / for a cool breeze?
Trade Cold comfort / for change?
Did you exchange A walk on part in the war / For a lead role in a cage?

As a moderate conservative, I see Option A as Love of Others: the innocence, fire, and passion of romantic emotional and spiritual love. I see Option B as Love of Self and the addiction to shallow amusements, physical and chemical pleasure that are designed to reduce the population. What’s your interpretation?
 
ManOnFire said:
From which side do you interpret Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here?”:

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue sky’s 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 to 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.
And how we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.​

Lyrics powered by LyricFind
written by WATERS, ROGER/GILMOUR, DAVID JON
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Read more at lyrics.com/wish-you-were-here-lyrics-pink-floyd.html#uE0VJMDoZx70HuIM.99

OK, we have opposing sides:

Option A: / Option B:

Heaven / from Hell,
Blue skies / from pain.
Can you tell a green field / From a cold steel rail?
Trade Your heroes / for ghosts?
Trade Hot ashes / for trees?
Trade Hot air / for a cool breeze?
Trade Cold comfort / for change?
Did you exchange A walk on part in the war / For a lead role in a cage?

As a moderate conservative, I see Option A as Love of Others: the innocence, fire, and passion of romantic emotional and spiritual love. I see Option B as Love of Self and the addiction to shallow amusements, physical and chemical pleasure that are designed to reduce the population. What’s your interpretation?
Click to expand...
Option C:

From the soulful depths of someone residing in the Valley of Death who has lived through the pain, the fears, the ghosts and the lead roles in the cage called Hell and knows that the only way to the green fields, blues skies, heroism and smile of Heaven is through “Other” - a certain kind of Other, the You, who HASN’T “traded,” “exchanged” or in some other way “cashed in" Heaven for Hell. Wish You (Other) Were Here.

youtube.com/watch?v=3j8mr-gcgoI&feature=youtu.be
 
Option D.

Roger Water’s description of the tormented soul of original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, and the simple wish that the friend was there with them, in his old shape. When the song was written he was mentally gone into the shadows, but he lived to 2006.
 
Peter_Plato said:
Option C:

From the soulful depths of someone residing in the Valley of Death who has lived through the pain, the fears, the ghosts and the lead roles in the cage called Hell and knows that the only way to the green fields, blues skies, heroism and smile of Heaven is through “Other” - a certain kind of Other, the You, who HASN’T “traded,” “exchanged” or in some other way “cashed in" Heaven for Hell. Wish You (Other) Were Here.

youtube.com/watch?v=3j8mr-gcgoI&feature=youtu.be
Click to expand...
I want to make sure I understand you correctly. Are you saying you can only live the heavenly life vicariously through others? A human life starts out as Tabula Rasa. Why not start the heart and soul anew? The past is gone.
 
Catholic schools felt more like Option B at times. I originally interpreted the singer of the song as being a liberal agnostic who is chastising a friend who went from being a liberal agnostic into a religious conservative, re: voluntarily exchanging a “walk-on (voluntary, intentional) part in the war, for a lead role in a cage.” Most people regard religiosity as something that is not voluntary or intentional, but rather dependent on the luck of the family into which one is born.
 
ManOnFire said:
I want to make sure I understand you correctly. Are you saying you can only live the heavenly life vicariously through others? A human life starts out as Tabula Rasa. Why not start the heart and soul anew? The past is gone.
Click to expand...
Not quite. For the same reason God must be Trinity, love cannot be self-absorbed. The Heavenly life of Love is “Other” centered. Sartre thought Hell is others, Christianity disagrees and states that love (Heaven) is unquestionably others - however, the others must be capable of love for Heaven to obtain. “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
 
Peter_Plato said:
Not quite. For the same reason God must be Trinity, love cannot be self-absorbed. The Heavenly life of Love is “Other” centered. Sartre thought Hell is others, Christianity disagrees and states that love (Heaven) is unquestionably others - however, the others must be capable of love for Heaven to obtain. “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
Click to expand...
I would qualify your statement “the others must be capable of love (of others) for Heaven to obtain.”

So, you’re saying the author is having an internal conflict with himself regarding the duality of man? And/or the possibility living life according to the duality of the existence/ non-existence of God?
 
AtDawn said:
Option D.

Roger Water’s description of the tormented soul of original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, and the simple wish that the friend was there with them, in his old shape. When the song was written he was mentally gone into the shadows, but he lived to 2006.
Click to expand...
I choose Option D.

Such a sad and beautiful song…a song of loss and longing.
One of my favorites by Pink Floyd.
 
I agree with option D. The whole album is dedicated it Syd Barrett. The meaning is simply that they wish he was there as he was when he was healthy.
 
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