Credit: Far Out / Roger Tillberg / Alamy
Sat 22 August 2026 17:09, UK
Some lyrics, no matter your age, have a way of sticking with you. Long before I understood the greatness of Pink Floyd, or what Dark Side Of The Moon would offer me as a listening experience, I knew the melody to ‘Wish You Were Here’.
And not only did I know the melody, but the lyrics “we’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl” were imprinted in my mind. Even in my youth, I knew they were onto something.
Undoubtedly, some of the finest lyrics ever penned, it perfectly depicted the transient nature of life. There’s something deeply tragic about the confines of a fishbowl that are compounded by it being a home for lost souls, and somehow in that swift sentence, Roger Waters stuck a stake in the varied hearts of all the song’s listeners. And David Gilmour’s plaintive guitar rammed it home.
But when you dial in a little closer, the lyric can become somewhat of a metaphor for the band’s two leaders, Gilmour and Waters. Forged together by higher creative powers to create one of music’s most iconic albums of all time in 1973’s Dark Side Of The Moon, they were adrift and yet deeply connected.
Prior to that, the pair toiled away through the pile of jigsaw pieces left by Syd Barrett’s imposed departure, desperately trying to find what fit, and in Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother, they were almost there, despite the former being a record Gilmour would rather forget.
Credit: Alamy
It was greatness packaged in some sort of incoherence, lightly hinting towards the clunkiness of their creative synergy. But finally, Waters and Gilmour, along with Richard Wright and Nick Mason, clicked into gear to the sound of psychedelic heaven. It truly was an example of how warring forces can coalesce to create greatness.
But ultimately, for Gilmour and Waters, it was unsustainable. The world they had created soon shrank to the size of a goldfish bowl, and their souls no longer linked. Their partnership fizzled out to the sound of one last hit, as Gilmour explained, ”I think things like ‘Comfortably Numb’ were the last embers of mine and Roger’s ability to work collaboratively together.”
Waters eventually left the band, thinking the remaining members would follow suit, but they continued on, much to Waters’ dismay, and so a messy and lengthy legal case followed, hammering the remaining nails in the coffin of their relationship. Ever since those days, Gilmour has never been shy to criticise Waters and publicly exclaim the impossibility of them ever being amicable again.
So when Gilmour attended a Q&A and was asked what song he thought hosted Waters’ finest lyrics, he was quick to make what would be one last subtle jibe by picking a song that was never officially released until 2015, under a retrospective First Recordings EP. “Gosh, let me have a think about that,” Gilmour mused, before suggesting, “How about a song called ‘Walk With Me Sydney?’”
In most circumstances, the pick of a deep cut would be high praise. Usually, it’s an artist’s most overlooked work that they treasure. But Gilmour knows Waters better than that, and knows the pride he took in Pink Floyd’s grandest compositions, most particularly The Wall.
And so it’s hard to take highlighting a song that has been consigned to the bins of history as nothing more than a subtle jibe at Waters’ ego. Especially considering that they mostly consist of “Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, roll with me, Sydney” a few too many times over, and Waters manages to rhyme “meningitis” with “peritonitis” in what must be a musical first.
However, while you must respect Gilmour’s gamesmanship, there are those of us who look back at the profound impact of those golden goldfish bowl lines and see that ‘Walk With Me Sydney’ as another sorry that things all too often go awry in life.
The full lyrics to ‘Walk With Me Sydney’:
“Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, walk with me, Sydney
I’d love to, love to, love to, baby, you know
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, walk with me, Sydney
I’d love to, love to, love to, love to, love to
Walk with me, Sydney, it’s a dark night
Come on, come on, hold me tight
Well, I’d love to, love to, love to, but I got
Flat feet, fallen arches
Baggy knees and a broken frame
Meningitis, peritonitis
DTs and a washed-out brain
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, roll with me, Sydney
I’d love to, love to, love to, baby, you know
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, roll with me, Sydney
I’d love to, love to, love to, love to, love to
Roll with me, Sydney, it’s a dark night
Roll me, roll me, roll me high
Well, I’d love to, love to, love to, but I got
Flat feet, fallen arches
Baggy knees and a broken frame
Meningitis, peritonitis
DTs and a washed-out brain
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, walk with me, Sydney
I’d love to, love to, love to, baby you know
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, walk with me, Sydney
I’d love to, love to, love to, love to, love to
Walk with me, Sydney, it’s a dark night
Come on, come on, and hold me tight
Well, I’d love to, love to, love to, but I got
Flat feet, fallen arches
Baggy knees and a broken frame
Meningitis, peritonitis
DTs and a washed-out brain”.
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