Roger Waters, Richard Wright, David Gilmour, 1975.
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond"
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
Blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
Nobody knows where you are,
How near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers
And I’ll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And we’ll bask in the shadow
Of yesterday’s triumph,
And sail on the steel breeze.
Come on, you boy child,
You winner and loser.
Come on, you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
“Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” a nine part suite, was written as
a tribute to Syd Barrett, the former lead guitarist and composer
of most of Pink Floyd’s early work. The song appears on the 1975
Wish You Were Here album, dividing and bookending the album.
Barrett left the band in 1968, suffering from mental illness
exacerbated by his drug abuse.
Though “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” was written as a tribute to
a specific person, I find the lyrics of this magnificent poem/song
intriguing. I think most of us can relate these words to
someone we are close to, who once had such potential, was
gifted and special, yet sadly unable to cope with life’s trials
and tribulations, lapsing into an unreachable existence.
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond
.
These opening lines remind him that when he was young,
he was bright, gifted. The narrator wishes he could shine
again like that, but his eyes are now blank, hollow.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
Blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
.
These lines suggest that perhaps he was unable to
handle the success, which was “blown” to him at a young age.
Now, people laugh at his bizarre behavior. A “legend” who is no
longer respected, he is now a stranger, ever playing the victim.
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
.
These lines suggest that he had unrealistic expectations,
wanted something unachievable.
He was driven, “threatened” by his fears, yet fearful his
craziness would be “exposed.”
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
,
It wasn’t long before nobody wanted to be around him.
He raved and hallucinated. Yet, he is undeniably talented, a
“painter.” “Piper” refers to drugs smoked in a pipe, becoming
a “prisoner” of his habits. The narrator commands that he
“ shine” again.
Nobody knows where you are,
How near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers
And I’ll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
.
We come now to the most poignant lines of the song.
The speaker alludes to having lost him, begs him to shine
again; tells him the constant drama is making the speaker
crazy. He just has to change, shine the way he once did.
And we’ll bask in the shadow
Of yesterday’s triumph,
And sail on the steel breeze.
Come on, you boy child,
You winner and loser.
Come on, you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
.
.In the final lines of “SOYCD,” the narrator recalls the
good times they had, assures him that they can now “bask”
in their old success, “sail on the steel breeze.” The narrator
calls him “boy child,” alluding to their history together,
a history of both gains and losses. And the narrator
urges him once more to find the difference between
“truth and delusion, and shine!”
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” one of the most beloved
songs of the Progressive (Art) Rock genre, explores the
descent into addiction and insanity of the gifted and
talented, when what should be a bright future, goes dark.
YOU ARE READING
Rock Poetry Line by Line
PoetryIf the words are unimportant, all music would be instrumentals.
