I've never been big into classic rock. I can safely say that I refrain from listening to it almost always. But, tonight, on my drive home from rehearsal I flipped on the ole FM, and tuned into 93.1 XRT, and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" was playing. I always associated bands like Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, and Led Zeppelin with a certain sort of person. The kids in high school who listened to those bands (and a slew of others, ranging from MOE to Dave Matthews Band) were all exactly the same — wannabees in tie-dye t-shirts, frayed jeans or baggy khakis, and the desire to live out That 70s Show in 2000. I imagined their fathers, stuck in jobs they disliked — but too good to leave because of the money and the need to support a family on the North Shore — having a pivotal moment of man-to-man-ness where father bends down on one knee with his son beside him, blows dust off a record, and then proceeds to play it, trying to gain some semblance of the man he hoped he'd be.
I typecast this crowd like nobodies business. I'm guessing now my hippy-slacker schoolmates all work in insurance or banking, and of course do karaoke every now and again, always picking from the same 5 songs, which inevitably include Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days."
For now though, I'll revel in the fact that this song is actually quite good. It's brutal honesty made me feel sad and human.
"Wish You Were Here"
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys 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 heros 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.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here
