Jul 132002
 

I was listening to Wish You Were Here for probably the 457th time the other day when I suddenly realized I didn’t understand it. I quote, for late arrivals from Venus:

So, do you think you can tell
Heaven from hell,
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

I follow so far. But the Floyd continues:

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

Charting this up, we have:

Trade-in
heroes
hot ashes
hot air
cold comfort
walk-on part in the war
New Item
ghosts
trees
cool breeze
change
lead role in a cage

How come I understood this the first 456 times?