"Wish You Were Here"'s lyrics are shit

[Retinend]

So Gilmour sings, "to" Syd Barrett:

Did they ask you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts
Hot ashes for trees
Hot air for a cool breeze
Cold comfort for change
did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?


What is going on here? "Trade [good thing] for [bad thing]"? Like how Syd Barrett's working brain was "traded" for a broken brain? Let's go point by point:

good thing: heroes
bad thing: ghosts

ok

good thing: hot ashes
bad thing: trees

wat?

good thing: hot air
bad thing: cool breeze

I can accept that.

good thing: cold comfort
bad thing: change

...wat?

good thing: a walk on part in the war
bad thing: a lead role in a cage

OK it sounds like a great lyric on the face of it - you know, with "war" and "cage" and all that - but what does it actually mean? Syd Barrett's mind is like a cage that Syd Barrett has a lead role in? It's nonsensical to me. Is he the cage or is he in the cage? Even if we say something A-level like "schizophrenia is the cage that the real Syd is locked in", how does that compare to the other thing? A state of normalcy is like walking onto a battle field and getting shot (i.e. a "walk on part" in the war)? 

The lyrics are shit. Sorry.

[Lungpuddle]

I guess I agree. The lyrics to Octopus are worse for making sense and seem wilfully obscure, but I'm fascinated with how they were constructed and think they completely work. Pink Floyd could've learned a lot by listening to The Madcap Laughs.

I still like some of Wish You Were Here, to be honest, I feel it takes me on a harrowing journey up the Floyd's traumatic arsehole (Roger Waters).

[ersatz99]

I seem to remember a documentary where Waters says the war/cage thing was about seeking approval from his dad. He thought his dad would have been more proud of his boy joining the army as a grunt and doing something worthwhile like dying for his country than doing well in some poncey safe job.

I think it's a great song.

[shiftwork2]

It's probably as basic as Waters alternating hot and cold to make a sensory feel.  He later became much more bombastic of course but his lyrics were still more about visceral sensation than anything that would stand up to analysis.  Always quite liked Wish You Were Here.