It has been 38 years since this album was released.

Of course, I refer to Wish You Were Here. I’m a life long Floyd fan, and this is one of my favorite pieces by the band (along with The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon and Animals. Wow, way to go out on a limb there, dude)

The album is full of sadness, loss, absence. It’s about how the band was falling apart, about friends lost. Syd Barrett (founding member of Pink Floyd) stopped in the studio while they were working on ‘Shine On’ and nobody recognized him. He left without saying goodbye and they never saw him again (Syd passed away in 2006).

I spent hours and hours admiring the album when I first bought it (while listening, of course). Here is a cool breakdown of how the cover photo was made.

This album will always be with me, even if i don’t listen to it for a while. It’s woven into my psyche. I very much understand the falling out the band had and why Gilmour and Waters can barely speak to each other after all they have created. About how Syd must have felt walking into that studio where nobody recognized him. Welcome to the machine.

I have to share the title song, of course: