Songfacts®:

• Hall wrote this song about a real encounter he had while walking by himself in New Orleans, Louisiana, during a day-long break from a tour. His shirt had the word "wish" in big letters across his chest. A man called out to him, "Hey, Wish Man, what's your wish?" Hall looked over to see a homeless man on a bench. The man asked him again what his wish would be. Hall couldn't think of an answer, so he turned the question back on the homeless man. The homeless man responded that his wish would be that he'd never run out of whiskey. He then told Hall to close his eyes and embrace the moment, because the moment is all any of us ever has.
  
  The experience left a deep impression on Hall. A year or two later he remembered the man and the encounter, and the song "Wish Man" "popped out" of him.