You Make A Grown Man Cry



I have been a long time fan of Pink Floyd. Their balance of spooky, dreary insanity (Roger Waters, and to a degree, Syd Barrett) with glimmers of hope (Dave Gilmour) always moved me, as did their sense of space. I also liked the fact that they could get sort of funky in that classic rock kind of way. So you can imagine that I was glued to the TV for their Live8 reunion on Saturday. This was something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime - the end of acrimony, the burying of the hatchet between the members, Dave and Roger singing the songs as they were originally intended. Hell, I paid good money to see the fake Floyd twice, and here was the real thing. The house was full of kids yelling when their set began, and I slowly inched the volume up. By the time that they were starting the third song, Wish You Were Here, the house had magically grown quiet - the kids had gone outside to splash in the kiddy pool, and I was alone. Surround sound on? Check. Volume up? Check. Bit of a buzz? Check. Beer? Check. And then the strums of their guitars, the two of them singing those old familiar lyrics, the dedication to Syd Barrett, or any number of other reasons moved me to actually shed a tear. It was really a joyous thing, one of those few moments where the love of the music overwhelms you, and it was awesome. It also made my wife laughingly point her finger at me and call me "old man!", but that's OK, because it was pretty funny and true. Anyway, I know you can probably get this song in a bunch of different places now, but you won't get that goofy story to accompany it. Enjoy the mighty Pink Floyd, live at the equally big Live8 concert, singing Wish You Were Here.