"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part composition by the English rock band Pink Floyd for their 1975 album Wish You Were Here. It was mostly written by David Gilmour and Richard Wright with lyrics by Roger Waters, and first performed on Pink Floyd's 1974 French tour. The song is written about the Pink Floyd founder member Syd Barrett, who left in 1968 following mental health problems.
Background The song originated in a riff composed by guitarist David Gilmour and developed by Gilmour, bassist Roger Waters and keyboardist Richard Wright. It was conceived and written as a tribute to Pink Floyd founder member Syd Barrett.
Barrett was eased out of the band in 1968 because of his substance abuse and deteriorating mental health which impaired his ability to integrate with the other band members in creating and performing music. He was replaced by his former school friend Gilmour, who had initially been brought in as second guitarist. The remaining members of the band felt guilty about having removed him, but although they admired Barrett's creativity they were concerned about his severe mental decline, and felt it had been necessary. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" was first performed on Pink Floyd's 1974 French tour and was recorded for their 1975 concept album Wish You Were Here. The track was originally intended to be a side-long composition, like "Atom Heart Mother" and "Echoes", but was ultimately split into two parts and used to bookend the album, with other newly composed material acting as a bridge. The split reflected the "fractured self" which the band members had to witness guitarist Syd Barrett struggling with. The song mentioned themes of stardom, drug addiction and misuse while in the search of purpose and truth, and psychotic behaviour.
The originally planned one-side edit of the song was eventually restored and remixed by James Guthrie in 2025 for the 50th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here, marking the first time a complete version of all nine parts combined had been officially released.
Recording Bassist Roger Waters commented, as the sessions were underway, that "at times the group was there only physically. Our bodies were there, but our minds and feelings somewhere else." Eventually an idea was raised to split the song in two, Parts I–V and Parts VI–IX.
According to Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, Pink Floyd recorded a satisfactory take of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" but because of a new mixing console which was installed at Abbey Road Studios, it needed to be re-recorded as excessive 'bleed' from other instruments could be heard on the drum tracks. As explained by Gilmour,
On part 3, a piano part seems to have been added to the final mix, making it absent from multitrack masters. That part was re-recorded at British Grove Studios by Wright during the multi-channel mix used for the album Immersion Edition and the SACD release.
Nick Mason said:
The song was the first started and the last recorded for the album. On 24 February, a sequence that was titled "Wine Glasses" was overdubbed onto part 1 of the song, named after the use of wine glasses to record it. The sequence was recorded on 5 January 1971 and was originally intended to be a part of a series of musical experiments titled "Nothings".
Barrett's studio visit
On 5 June 1975, Barrett, by this point heavyset, with a completely shaved head and eyebrows, wandered into the studio where the band were recording. They did not recognise him for some time because of his drastically changed appearance, but when they eventually realised who the withdrawn man in the corner was, Roger Waters became so distressed about Barrett's appearance that he was reduced to tears. Someone asked to play the suite again for Barrett and he said a second playback was not needed when they had just heard it. When asked what he thought of the song, Barrett said it sounded a "bit old". He subsequently slipped away during celebrations for Gilmour's wedding to Ginger Hasenbein, which took place later that day. Gilmour confirmed this story, although he could not recall which composition they were working on when Barrett showed up. Mason has also stated that he is not certain whether "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was the piece being recorded when Barrett was there.
The episode is related by Wright as follows:
According to Aubrey Powell (designer at the studio Hipgnosis, which produced Pink Floyd's album covers), Barrett had visited the Hipgnosis office earlier that day and asked where the band was recording. It was Powell who directed Barrett to the Abbey Road session.
Composition
As neither the original 1975 vinyl release nor the CD re-release delineate the various parts precisely, the make-up of the parts below is based on a comparison of the recorded timings with the identifications in the published sheet music.
The song is in the key of G natural minor (Aeolian) scale, but with hints of the G Dorian mode with the inclusion of the E (raised sixth) note in various parts throughout, most prominently in the four-note theme in Part II. Gilmour's solos are largely blues-inspired, with a few notes hinting the inclusion of the G melodic minor scale.
Parts I–V Part I (Wright, Gilmour; from 0:00 to 3:54) There are no lyrics in Part I. The instrumental begins with a fade-in of a G minor chord created with a wine glass harp and an ARP Solina string synthesizer (recycled from an earlier project known as Household Objects). This is followed by Wright's Minimoog passage which lead into a lengthy, bluesy guitar solo played by Gilmour on a Fender Stratocaster (neck pickup) using a heavily compressed sound and reverb. Part I ends with the synthesizer chord fading into the background.
Part II (Gilmour, Wright; from 3:54 to 6:27) begins with a four-note theme (B♭, F, G [below the B♭], E), known informally as "Syd's theme", repeated throughout much of the entire section. This theme leads the harmony to C major (in comparison to the use of C minor in Part I). Mason starts his drumming and Waters his bass playing after the fourth playing of the four-note theme, which is the point where the riffs get into a fixed tempo, in time. The chord leads back to G minor (as from Part I), followed by E♭ major and D major back to a coda from G minor. This part includes another solo by Gilmour.
Part III (Wright, Gilmour; from 6:27 to 8:41) begins with a Minimoog solo by Wright accompanied by a less complex variation of Mason's drums from Part II. This part includes Gilmour's third guitar solo, in the G natural minor scale, and ends with a fade into Part IV. When performed on the Animals tour, Gilmour added distortion to the guitar for this solo. This solo is often dropped in live performances while the rest of part III is still played—notably on Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse.
Part IV (Gilmour, Wright, Waters; from 8:41 to 11:08) Waters sings his lyrics, with Gilmour, Wright and backing vocalists Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams on harmonies.
Part V (Gilmour, Waters, Wright; from 11:08 to 13:33) Part IV is followed by two guitars repeating an arpeggio variation on the main theme for about a minute with the theme of Part II. A baritone saxophone overlays the sounds, played by Dick Parry. The saxophone changes from a baritone to a tenor saxophone, as a time signature switch from to creates the feeling that the tempo doubles up. The sax solo is accompanied by a Solina string synthesizer keyboard sound. A machine-like hum fades in with musique concrète and segues into "Welcome to the Machine". On later pressings starting with the UK Quad Mix Part V was credited to Waters when on the first pressing and actuality it was written by Gilmour, Wright and Waters (on the first UK/European vinyl and on the label of the 180 Gram Vinyl album Part V is credited to Gilmour, Wright and Waters). The misprint of Waters writing solo has been left on all future CD pressings and inner sleeves of the reissued vinyl.
Parts VI–IX Part VI (Gilmour, Wright; from 0:00 to 4:36) begins with a howling wind from the preceding song "Wish You Were Here". in 5 second intervals, two bass notes are played, increasing in volume each time. As the wind fades away, Gilmour comes in on the bass guitar with a continuing riff pattern. Waters adds another bass. Then Wright comes in playing a Solina String Ensemble Synthesizer, and after a few measures, several rhythm guitar parts (Gilmour played the power chord rhythm part using his black Fender Stratocaster before switching to lap steel guitar for the solo in live performances from 1974 to 1977. Snowy White performed the rhythm guitar parts on this track on the band's 1977 In the Flesh Tour) and drums come in, as well as a Minimoog to play the opening solo. At the two-minute mark, Wright's Minimoog and Gilmour's lap steel guitar play notes in unison before Gilmour performs a lap steel guitar solo (the lap steel had open G tuning with the high D string tuned to E) with some counterpointing from Wright's synthesizers. It lasts for about three minutes (four when played on the band's In the Flesh Tour) and Gilmour played each section an octave higher than the previous one. The highest note he hit on the lap steel and slide solo was a B♭6, followed by a reprise of the guitar solo from Part IV (which was played by Wright on synthesizer on the 1975 tour and White on guitar on Pink Floyd's 1977 tour so Gilmour could switch back to his Fender Stratocaster). The song then switches time signatures to (found in Parts II–V), giving the appearance of a slower tempo and reintroducing the vocals.
Part VII (Gilmour, Wright, Waters; from 4:36 to 6:05) contains the vocals, in a similar vein to Part IV though half the length, before segueing into Part VIII. Waters again sings the lead vocals with Gilmour, Wright, Fields and Williams providing backing vocals.
Part VIII (Wright, Gilmour, Waters; from 6:05 to 9:03) brings in Waters to play a second electric guitar for a high-noted sound riff while Gilmour plays the arpeggio riff that bridges Parts VII and VIII. A solid progression of funk in plays for about two minutes before very slowly fading out as a single sustained keyboard note fades in around the nine-minute mark. Throughout this section, Wright's keyboards dominate, with the use of a Minimoog synthesizer, and a Hohner Clavinet. Originally the section clocked in at 8 minutes before it was edited down to three minutes on the final version (the unedited Part 8 without the electric piano and Minimoog overdubs surfaced on a bootleg called The Extraction Tapes). When performed on the "In the Flesh" tour in 1977, the section would be extended to between 5 and 10 minutes as it would feature guitar solos from Gilmour (which would vary from funky power chords to a proper solo as the Animals tour progressed) and Snowy White. In addition to their guitar solos, there was also occasional trading of leads from Gilmour and White instead of the keyboard sounds as heard on the record.
Part IX (Wright, from 9:03 to 12:24) is played in time. Gilmour described Part IX as "a slow funeral march... the parting musical eulogy to Syd". Again, Wright's keyboards dominate, with little guitar input from Gilmour. Mason's drums play for much of this part, and the keyboards play for the final minute before fading out. The final notes are a fragment of the melody of "See Emily Play" (at 12:07), one of Barrett's signature Pink Floyd songs. This was the final solo writing credit Wright would receive in Pink Floyd during his lifetime, as well as his last writing credit of any kind until The Division Bell in 1994.
In December 2025, a 50th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here was released. This edition includes a newly remixed version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (Parts I–IX), presented as a single continuous track for the first time, mixed by James Guthrie.
Live performances