Pink Floyd drummer calls one song ‘jewel in the crown’ of band’s back catalogue

Drummer Nick Mason believes one Pink Floyd song is the “jewel in the crown” of their discography.

The veteran performer says an alternative version of Wish You Were Here is the best Pink Floyd had to offer, once calling it the “jewel in the crown” of their backlog. It was not until decades after recording that the song was remastered and released, with this version of Wish You Were Here praised by fans as the definitive version. The track features jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli jamming with the group, adding a wildly new layer to the hit song. Fans have since shared their love for the song, with some calling it a “magnificent” piece of work, which makes Wish You Were Here “even more powerful” than it is on the original recording.

Four decades on from the recording and the alternative version was found and later released. Mason believed the Grappelli-featuring song had been recorded over, when actually it had been lost deep in the EMI archives. He said: “My understanding was that we’d had to record over it in order to put on other sections.”

Fans have been very complimentary of the song following its official release, with many saying the violin-featuring version of Wish You Were Here is the “best cut” of the song. The track has since been uploaded to YouTube, where one fan wrote: “That is magnificent. That violin gives the song even more a sense of sadness. That wailing, soulful violin is haunting and gives the song even more power.”

Another added: “I love the hall effect and the violin. In my honest opinion, this is the best cut of this song I’ve ever heard.” A third shared: “Why, oh WHY, didn’t they use this on the album? It almost brought me to tears. Such sweet playing.”

Other commenters suggested this was the “definitive version” of the song and that the Grappelli-featuring version is the superior one. A listener wrote: “Honestly, this is the definitive version of this song just because the guitar just sounds so magnificent, and the violin goes great as well. Of course, it is sort of a demo, but if I were in that studio in 1975, I would’ve went with this version and worked on it to make it a truly finished song.”

Another agreed, adding: “I don’t know if it’s the new mix and the reworked dynamics, but this version seems stronger than the ‘official’ album version; the form makes more sense, it’s less monotonous, it seems like happy nostalgia, a sort of saudade. It made me love the song again, it was one of my favourite songs in my teen years.”

A third shared: “For the life of me, I can’t understand why this wasn’t used for the album. It would have changed the feel, not that there’s anything wrong with it as it is. But this version is absolutely stunning! That’s probably the first time I’ve ever described something as stunning. Maybe the label had something to do with it.”

Mason remains “astonished” that the band never used the song, which was recorded amid the falling out of David Gilmour and Mason. The drummer shared: “It was a very difficult period, I have to say. All your childhood dreams had been sort of realised, and we had the biggest-selling records in the world and all the things you got into it for.

“The girls and the money and the fame and all that stuff, it was all… everything had sort of come our way and you had to reassess what you were in it for thereafter, and it was a pretty confusing and sort of empty time for a while.” Nevertheless, the group managed to pull it around and deliver one of their seminal records.

“It still astonishes me that we didn’t use it originally, didn’t realise what a wonderful thing it was,” he added while remembering the session with Grappelli. The performance is another example of the band’s impressive command of music.” You can listen to the Grappelli and Pink Floyd version of Wish You Were Here below.