A rare alternate take on the title track from Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here featuring violinist Stephane Grappelli, previously thought to be gone forever, finally appeared on an Immersion reissue of the 1975 album — and Nick Mason still can’t get over the fact that this version wasn’t used instead.
“I think that was the jewel in that particular crown,” Mason tells Sonic Reality. “It was something that I assumed had been lost forever. I thought we’d recorded over it. Actually what was fantastic was that it still exists.”
Mason says the collaboration grew out of happenstance, with Grappelli working in an adjacent studio. He said the jazz legend simply stopped by to pay his respects, “and someone had the gumption to say: ‘Would you like to play?'”
Grappelli rose to fame with Django Reinhardt in the 1930s-era Quintette du Hot Club de France, before passing away in 1997 — long before his work on “Wish You Were Here” saw wide release. “I can’t imagine why we didn’t use it at the time,” Mason adds. “It’s lovely, I think.”
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VERY…. very cool. Love every second of this. Now I have to go get the whole damned thing!!
#houseofmanycolors