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Visual analysis of “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd
The picture of the cover is that of two men shaking hands. On one side of the image, a thin stripe coloured white features, and there is also a small metal object segmented into four. Besides, the small metal object is also on fire. The album cover features no artist’s name, showing that the artist wished to remain anonymous. The fact that one man is on fire and shakes the hand of the other symbolizes the uncaring and greedy nature of the music industry. In the cover album, ‘being burned’ meant failure to receive royalty wages from the recording label in slang. The title, ‘wish you were here’ brings in a meaning that there are need and sense of protection from the recording companies which seems heartless. The picture’s theme, in general, is the expression of personal feelings of the band towards the lives they lived in terms of careers and emotions
The social context of the album cover is the criticisms of the music industry. The artist wrote the album cover as a tribute to the album’s founder member, Syd Barret. The founding member left the earlier with mental illnesses taking the better part of him. The lyrics, ‘Shine On’ lead to ‘Welcome To The Machine’, a song with an opening door as the beginning. Water is used to bring out symbolism concerning the progress and the discovery of music facing betrayal from the greedy music industry. Another song, ‘Have a Cigar’ criticizes the record industry by repeating a series of clichés in the lyrics. The next song, ‘Wish You Were Here’ has a relationship with the condition that Barrette leaving the group and the character of the ‘dichotomous of water’ battle with idealism and compassion.
The band in this album cover is faceless, making it more remarkable. There is difficulty in differentiating Roger Waters and Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Richard Wright, the artists in the album. However, the visuals that accompany their music are of great significance which shows that the team is present and doing well. The album also features about twenty-five minutes of extra footage. The footage includes the solo performance of Gilmour of ‘Wish you were here’. It also consists of the part where guitarist plays the guitar on the song, ‘Shine on you crazy diamond’.
The favourite thing about the album is the image and how it describes the life of artists in the cruel music industry. The visuals in the album include the cover image, guitar sounds, and vocals. In the album, there are also riffs, which are repetitive and catchy. The songs in the album are melodious, have steady beats, and are full of contagious energy. These visuals show that the style used all through the album is “rock”.
The cover image, which features two men shaking hands while one is on fire, goes with the songs in the album. The image brings in a meditation of absence and loss. The songs, “have a cigar’, “Welcome to the machine”, “Wish you were here” and “Shine on you crazy diamond”, for example, represents a farewell which was sad since the band could never be the same again after losing Barrette to mental illness.
I chose the album since it is outstanding among all other albums of Pink Floyd in that its cover image and the title symbolizes real-life experiences in the music industry. The image describes the struggles that musicians go through in the industry due to the failure to receive their royalty wages as one would imagine. The topic, on the other hand, relates to the struggles that come with accepting reality after losing a loved one. The image and the subject of the album, therefore, stand out to me.