Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) was a 1982 New Wave song by A Flock of Seagulls, appearing as the opening performance on their second album Listen. Its wistful, bleak lyrics on separation are built on a driving rhythm backed by a heavy Wall of Sound-styled layer of synthesizer padding.
In contrast to the band's 1982 hit "I Ran", which was largely a United States hit, "Wishing" song peaked strongly in Great Britain and in Canada where it reached the Top 10, but only reached #26 on the U.S. Billboard charts in summer 1983.
In a celebration of early electronic music, digital radio station BBC 6 Music compiled a chart of its listeners' favourite synthesizer riffs in November 2006. Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) came second in the list to the Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army single Are 'Friends' Electric?.
