The Songs of Syd Barrett
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Syd Barrett, songwriter for legendary psych-rock band Pink Floyd, has long been considered a genius by music fans, but there are still many questions surrounding him.
Was his recreational use of LSD a factor in his decline? Why did he disappear from the music scene? What happened to Syd Barrett?
In this video, we'll be looking at what makes the songs of Syd Barrett so special, and what his music says about his state of mind.
What do you think makes the songs of Syd Barrett so special? Post a comment below and let me know which ones are your favourite, and why.
His regression to a childlike status, after shouting it to the world, after achieving all, is quite fascinating.
He hated the Industry, once he became familiar with it.
The certain sound he gave Pink Floyd, the childlike lyrics, his voice, and maybe the fact that the songs are less mainstream.
It is Obvious track
Brilliance
I think he was a great rythym guitarist with alien chord progressions and tones. The lyrics are whimsical. Very unselfconscious.
Syd's signoff of "Jugband Blues" will forever be one of the most haunting in music history.
What exactly is a yolk folks?
Agreed, it's incredibly sad but beautiful❤
A genius. John Peel once remarked, 'I just want to hear something I've never heard before." Syd provided that, in abundance. Truly unique songs in all respects. May they live on, through the generations...
He was one in a million, he's the reason Pink Floyd became who they are, even though he wasn't there
Not physically but his spirit is totally there
An extremely attractive, fascinating and talented individual. The mystery of what led to his decision to withdraw from society adds to the mystique. Though I think what he went through being ejected from his band and then seeing it take off to unbelievable heights would be very hard for most of us to take. As well as the feeling of betrayal from friends. And he came back in 1975, and they could have done more to make him feel welcome. He offered to play guitar at the Wish You Were Here session. Why would they not say yes Syd, please do! They wrote a song wishing that, and then he shows up--make him feel welcome! So one has to think they could have done more for him. Though who am into say, I wasn't there to fully understand the situation. And we know David Gilmore did at least help on his solo albums and get him the royalties.
The music and art he left us with is fascinating. So unique, and creative. Different than what had come before. And once the taste for it is acquired , something that has stuck with me.
People change over time, but he also had the most striking changes in physical appearance that I have ever seen. Over a year from 1967 to 1968, and then over the course of a decade as well.
It is said he didn't have any friends and was terribly lonely from the 1970s onward. It is unfortunate, as I am sure many of us would have liked to be friends with him had that been possible. But he did find contentment in his life with family and his art and gardening, so that is good to know. Perhaps shedding the Syd persona and leaving behind the pain of the past betrayal was the best way he could cope, and perhaps any of us may have done the same in his shoes.
Roger Keith Barrett, you'll never be forgotten by those of us who appreciate you and your work.
The condition he showed up to the sessions in 1975 was why they didn’t say hey Syd join in. No one even recognized him initially and supposedly Roger Waters started crying because of just how messed up Syd was at the time.
@@seanmccready9564roger waters was an ass and ousted syd from the band because he was a narcissist
Its sad how people do not and will not stand beside you when your ill , mentally or physically !
I think that would be a little harsh on his family and Pink Floyd members. Syd never wanted to be reminded of the band and comminucating with other band members would only worsen his condition
He didn't just write Jugband Blues for the album Saucerful of Secrets, but the other members of the band thought that his other songs were too dark...
Like Vegetable Man and
Scream Thy Last Scream !
These are fucking masterpieces, and Syd's solo albums were genius, even with his mental health declining... He invited us into his mind, he gave us insights to the madness and the genius !
I really think that Syd Barrett remains underrated, even if he's
'respected' for his contribution to music.
All I want to say is that I would like to see more people getting into the Syd Barrett rabbit hole🐰!
Yeah, he's overacted as an pop icon, but underrated about his real genius. A lot of people misinterpret the "bad voice" or the "average playing" on his solo work, but it was not a lack of skill, it's an interpretation, it was a way to convey his special POV to the audience. He was more a "graphic artist" than a musician, he thought about music like a "visual trip", I think he's why Pink Floyd became able to write and produce real "audio movies" (With the golden arc from Dark Side to The Wall).
I also think that "Wish You Were Here" (the song) is an obvious explicit answer to "Dark Globe"... But I never see anybody mentioning Dark Globe while doing "WYWH analysis".
Syd was a genius, a complete artist, not "just" a musician. And most people don't get it. Although his early punk style might be also part of the "coolness" of being a mundane Syd Barrett influenced person.
@@garryiglesias4074 They don't make rock stars like they used to. Now all there is, is a bunch of tik tok crap.
Great to see Nick Mason playing Vegetable Man on his Saucerful tours. Growing as a teenager in the 1970s I would read of Vegetable Man and Scream Your Las Scream being licked in an EMI vault as they were too poor to release. It was great to see them eventually released and Nick Mason playing VM and speaking so lovingly of Syd. Roger Waters did a fantastic interview recently and talked candidly of Syd. It was so touching when he said they were in LA and while on the street by their record company Syd was so far gone that he thought they were in Lis Vegas. Waters said ‘they were so young’. And they really were. Syd shine so brightly for such a brief period of time. Like when Tyrell tells Roy in Blade Runner that he was not built to last as he is a ‘light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very very brightly’. Sums up what happened. So sad.
He was no genius! He was just as bad as frusciante when he went nuts and solo. Did Barrett dress up in women’s clothes like frusciante did?
Rob Chapmans book A Very Irregular Head is the best book you'll ever read about Syd .
7:08 BS. Syd had only just begun when he quit Pink Floyd. Don’t say unfortunately. Do not take one iota of a second off this man’s legend.
For me, a genius, he moved British pop forward, ultimately the music scene wasn’t for him and he recoiled into his art…
Yup his early paintings prove he was truly in another dimension of his own
Come on mate I think the Beatles did that hahahahah
imo Syd Floyd is an acquired taste but once it hits you it truly is great music. The word genius is overused but like artists who paint outside of the box I truly believe he was a musical genius
I agree.
But it’s a fine line between genius and insanity and quite often he straddled that fence.
I don't really care if he's crazy or how crazy he was or what antics he engaged in. I'd rather remember him for his music. Whatever the case, I think he's undeniably a genius and ahead of his time. Maybe those two things are the same.
The Floyds were lost for years after Syd. It took remembering Syd to get them back on track.
He was so incredibly authentic, I love him
He just has a way of combining words and tunes in a very unexpected and innovative way. Playful and twee, surreal and painfully honest.
I'm a sucker for syd barret and this is a great video on him. I've watched countless doccumenturys on syd barret and this is one of the best. Most of them is the same things but this made me learn even more about this guy and his songs.
Agree😊
First and foremost congratulations on an outstanding short documentary! So informative with perfect pace reflecting the the genius subject for which it was created. Liked and subscribed! Keep this content coming, why there aren't 1000's of likes is beyond reason. Though Syd's talents may be rock music's obscure little secret, which was further obviscated by the shear volume of his former bands success, I personally know that throughout my circle of peers his music lives on strongly. I still find myself listening to his work many times a year- almost monthly. He is gone but never forgotten 💔
I'm too a Syd's and Floyd high frequency listener, and evangelizer...
Not a day pass without I ask someone "Do you know about the good news ? Have you ever listen to Pink Floyd ?" :)
All I would like to say is Syd was and still is an inspiration, Thank's Syd 👍
Jugband Blues is still a tremendous piece of art. Well done Syd!
Of all the songs on Saucerful, why did they film Jugland? I think we should be grateful that someone had the vision to do it.
My Favourite Syd Songs are "Vegetable Man", "Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Jugband Blues" !
If he'd have managed to hold it together a bit longer those songs would have appeared on the Floyd's second album along with In the Beechwoods. Syd had loads of song for Floyd's second album.
You only have to listen to the songs he recorded in the aborted 1968 session he did with Peter Jenner.
That appeared on Opel.
Songs like Clowns and Jugglers could have been used on their second album. It would have been better than the disappointing 'Saucerful of Secrets' led by Waters for sure.
nice unusual pick 👏
Or a sick man but I love that
A question, but somewhere you can hear the songs ´´Vegetable man´´ and ´´Scream thy last scream´´ with good song, because they really sond bad
This is a well done video!. Syd is and will forever be a fascinating and truly talented artist who has made a profoundly enormous impact on music. He refused to be defined and made to comply with the soul-sucking rules of the music industry. Good for him.
Very nice tribute, the Syd period of Floyd is as important to me as the rest of Floyd. His solo stuff has so much unusual great music also. He is one of my few favorite all time heros in music!
The answer to what happened with Syd isn’t ‘It was acid,’ or ‘It was the relentless boredom of playing the same fucking songs over and over every night whilst touring.’ It was a little bit of everything. Touring, drugs, a natural emotional sensitivity, perhaps a bit of burgeoning depression… all of these things, together.
Yes. Syd was creative, a natural artist. No artist want to keep painting the same picture again and again, over and over.
But the lure of success and pressure from producers, then they didn't like his last songs , vegetable man, scream thy last scream, too much with all the other stuff going on, he didn't know what to do in the end, and how do you leave the band you started, too much.
Those last songs were brilliant
Excellent piece! Why are his songs amazing? Completely unique, inventive and somehow both musically and lyrically grab you with an emotional impact. And I’m not even English!
I love Sid. A Genius. Piper at the gates of dawn is my favorite album.
My favorite Floyd albums are the earliest ones.
One of mine
Gotta agree mate a musical genius
Yes, the real Floyd !
It’s my fav Pink Floyd album and definitely in my top albums of all time. Love it.
Very handsome man
Poorly researched essay, trotting out all the well-rehearsed myths about Barrett, while disregarding cogent facts that contradict the dominant narrative predominantly spun by Roger Waters (whose current mental state appears to be as much a cause for concern as his bandmate's ever was).
Lots of pretty pictures of Syd, though, so not a complete basket case.
well said..roger waters mental health issues have always been a concern
yes dear.
Love Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Syd not only wrote and composed very unique songs, but he had a unique style of guitar playing. He could play a series of random notes very fast and make it fit right in with the rhythm and sound grest. He also had a great singing voice. It's a shame they dismissed him from Floyd instead of getting him help and letting him stay. We probably wouldn't have great bodies of work like Dark Side, The Wall, etc, but who knows what masterpieces we'd have instead.
Baby lemonade is my favourite Syd song
The Madcap Laughs was butchered by the production, and by Gilmour's absurd decision to include false starts on some songs as well as the painfully unlistenable "If it's in you". Looks like a sabotage.
It has amazing songs throughout and fine playing by the Soft Machine guys on some of them (as well as Rick Wright whom I think plays piano on Love You and organ on Long Gone), and Syd still paints with electric guitar overdubbed tracks like in Octopus.
The second album Barrett was better produced although the songs were a notch less good than Madcap's, except for Dominoes which is his best solo song joint with Octopus
Bravo! very well made. I somehow missed this video up until this morning. Many of the vids made about Syd are lazily written and vapid.
I appreciate that you don't make too many assumptions, but instead offer the proper questions.
As a Syd admirer who has been somewhat haunted by Syd's story since I discovered him in my late 20s, I think the truth is caught in the thick of it.
He was definitely a highly sensitive person who himself proclaimed of having a "very irregular head". But there is also no doubt in my mind that he suffered a severe reaction to whatever substance he ingested sometime around spring/summer of '67.
My reasons for this belief you ask?
For starters, there is plenty of evidence that shows he was a very articulate, sharp fella for at least the first half of 1967. There are interviews (both in print and on film) where you can see he is fully together.
THEN
Rick Wright explains that he went missing for a few days during a busy time in the Floyd's schedule (approx May-June). He remained missing until he was found on a Sunday (I believe it was Pete Jenner who found him). Rick said he saw an immediate change in Syd from that moment forward. His eyes looked different, and his mood was very unsteady from that weekend onward.
This suggests that Syd sadly experienced a devastatingly bad trip as a result of a toxic chemical of sorts.
Now, here's where many of the LSD lovers tell me that acid cannot cause brain damage no matter how much you take.
To this I say BULL!
I personally know people who changed for the worse as a result of too much trippin'. It does happen, and there are plenty of examples of this.
Exactly why or how, I don't claim to know. But I know with certainty that powerful acid can take you for a ride that leaves you somewhere different from where you launched.
Having said that, like in most things, there is more to the story.
Syd had a tremendous amount of pressure on him at that time. I won't bother going into the details, but let's sum it up in saying that Pink Floyd's rise to prominence was very fast and gained them lots of attention. Many eyes were on Syd to sustain a level of creativity and production.
Now let's remember that Syd was barely out of his teens in 1967 (he turned 21 in summer of '67).
Ask yourself what you were doing when you were 20?
Syd's confidence was far from bulletproof. His letters to girlfriends at that time are littered with insecurities in his voice and guitar playing. He himself once remarked that the figurative doors he had opened in music were done so "with cheap keys".
He was in a fragile state overall.
The combination of pressure, vulnerability, instability, and powerful drugs ultimately overwhelmed him to a point where he had a mental breakdown. Mental breakdowns can be highly destructive, changing the way your brain operates, fracturing your thoughts.
Instead of seeking help and taking time to recover, Syd instead blazed forward with even more chemicals to his brain, more pressure to produce followup hits was lumped on, criticism from everyone ranging from music critics to fans to his own bandmates kept swirling, etc.
By the end of '67 the damage was done.
Syd's brain was permanently affected by the trauma of it all.
The dizzying heights and altitude of stardom was too much for a young man who was ill equipped for it all.
The Prince of Psychedelia was sacrificed on the altar.
Throughout 1968, Syd regressed. He was shell-shocked, lost in the woods.
By the time he emerged throughout '69 and put out Madcap and Barrett in 1970, his mind was rewired.
As much as I cherish his solo work, you are only getting fleeting glimpses of his genius. His mood was so unstable that he would not speak coherently at times, he would go silent for hours on end. He referred to conversation as "superfluous".
Dark Globe was written quickly during the recording sessions of Madcap. In my opinion, it is one of his most personal, most beautiful, most haunting, and most painful songs.
"With eskimo chain,
I tattooed my brain all the way
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all"
These lyrics reveal that he knew what was happening to him, he was all too aware actually.
He was in trouble, he had self-inflicted damage to his brain ("I tattooed my brain all the way").
The only thing he didn't realize as he sang those words into a microphone in front of Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour was that he would indeed be missed.
RIP Roger Keith Barrett
- Nick D, Aug '23
This is a great post and fits my own thoughts exactly. Perhaps he was mildly bipolar and the LSD was too much for someone with that condition, but difficult to buy the schizophrenia talk given his interview on the BBC show with Mr. “Why Does It Have to be So Loud.” I would suggest that the episode that led to his break happened in the final weekend of July, not earlier. That was when he had to be dragged to the final Top of the Pops session on a Friday, then refused to perform on the radio show the following Saturday morning, and then was basically incoherent at UFO that night. But all that was also proceeded by weeks of heavy LSD usage. No doubt though, that May-July period of 67 was the time that undid him.
I got into Floyd when Animals was out. Worked my way back through to Piper then to Barretts solos. Gotta say some of it was rough to digest. But in all of that discovered some absolute GEMS. Dominoes for one.
It's a trip to think that the best band ever to me would not have been the same without his departure.
Was he a genius? Not sure. I just love what he left us.
Thanks for the video!
I love his solo albums - they're not perfect, but they have a unique atmosphere.
Nice documentary.
I grew up in Cambridge, was hugely influenced by the early Pink Floyd, the first two albums, then later by Dark Side and others.
I had some similar experiences, and then in late '79 actually met Syd on one of his fleeting visits to a local psych clinic, Adrian House.
He had an acoustic guitar with him but I didn't hear him play it.
I luv "Mathilda Mother".
Seriously?
@giorgioladd8720 Of course seriously. I was working there at the time. He didn't stay long....I wish now I'd got into conversation with him but the moment was lost. Adrian House was a part of Fulbourn Psychiatric hospital just outside Cambridge, where Syd's mother lived.
He was my younger years...and shines bright. Musical genius that still is an enigma. Thank you.
Lovingly and tastefully done. Bravo. The algorithm brought me.
A unique genre. No-one quite like him
Syd wasn't only taking acid but a lot of mandrax which is another name for Quaaludes . This drug will make a person appear catatonic and totally vegetative.
Are you sure about the mandrake I was a user of it as well and acid
Love everything he did. Barrett (album) is a masterpiece. Wined and Dined is one of my favorite.
I love that one too.
Apples and Oranges is underrated...as are the (then) unreleased Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream.
A genius songwriter...
A genius period !!!
I'm sorry, I don't have the words...
A true poet. A genius.
But you could also say: "A bleeding heart and an Artist"...
"YOU HAVE NO WORDS"
-octopus
That was Syd's job.
@@willtricks9432 ... to find the words ?
@@johnmichaelpatrick369 I think so, He was a great wordsmith. I can't explain how but hr did.
Piper at the Gates of Dawn will always be one of Pink Floyd's best albums, if not their best.
Sorry, no way
@@guy4462
I agree with you. Good album diferent of other but best Pink Floyds album. No way. DSOTM , Meddle, Ummagumma live album. Wish you were here, Animals all Floyds albums is beter then first and second albums. Divison bells ,PULSE and Davids On an island. I love Floyds. And vinyl.
I have all Floyds albums on vinyl and mp3, comp and touchphone.
I am 62y and plays guitars 53y. When I got Dark side of the Moon for Christmas, I put the big headphones and the legal under the Christmas tree and looked at the lights, I thought I was floating in space.1 and 2 albums they do not cause such a feeling.And at the Floyd Animals tour concert in Munich in Olimpia Halle.
Unforgetablle!!!
Magnifficent!!
The best in what way? Production quality? Probably not. Creativity? I think a case could be argued there. But I'd disagree it's the best in every way. Production quality alone takes that away. And that's not to knock the excellent effort by all involved or how adorable it is BECAUSE the production quality isn't the best. No, that's just recognizing the genius of Alan Parsons, for example. And whomever it was produced WYWH. And The Wall, ofc. They were just better, technically speaking anyway I don't think anyone can deny that.
@TechniTouDromouArtoftheRoad
He said dead metal lover, heavy lover, shred lover! You are🤓 bored of Pink Floyd? Patient!🥸
@@doktormcnasty
The Wall! The best albums is Animals, TDSOTM. Wish you.... and Meddle. The Wall is
the reverie of a sick public hater.
Long live, Syd! His music is eternal!
long live syd
u f o club
Syd was wonderfully unique, but ran out of things to say musically. His reputation seems to grow the further from his passing we get. You could put all his great stuff on one album - but what an album.
I would put his song Feel forward as one of his greatest songs also..it's never mentioned, but it's up there with Dark Globe as for being so heartfelt.
A great song, one that took me decades to sort out the lyrics
"Folly grew, a deicide in a dell..."
and apparently "Nocturne de blonde" is a reference to a painting.
Finishing with bells ringing over the suicide of the song's subject, a young woman,, an angel, a daughter.
I'd add Late Night a haunting song still gives me chills
there are some people who come into this world with the purpose of providing the rest of the world with something the rest of the world cannot do or create itself. Syd is one of those!
To make up the name PINK FLOYD is genius! His song Bob Dylan Blues is pure genius also! It is as if before Syd Barrett left the group, a part of his soul went into Roger Waters. They have very similar voices and vision. Its as if Barrett was still helping Roger create the great future albums of Pink Floyd.
And also Roger Waters wrote songs around/about/timeless Syd melodies until he left Pink Floyd. Still talking up Syd even at the Final Cut. and on..to day. Not only is there 3 good syd floyd recordings but also his own solo and rare recordings. Magic. Never should have broke up so soon.
Barrett can't have been very happy with his old band using his plight for song material, esp after forcing him to sign his rights away before the release of Dark Side.
100 percent agree. What impact did this have on his exhausted and fragile state?? And being fetishized as a crazy lunatic genius still as a young man….and it continued on….at least he got the royalties!
SYD BARRET a SHADED BEAUTY; a WASTED MIND (from drugs); a TRUE GENIUS who left a precious legacy to the whole world: PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC. Barret writes some songs of that genre, never heard before, in his own hand and anticipates the BEATLES by a year who will churn out the famous Set. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the year 1967: this fact says a lot about the innate qualities of SYD BARRET. Unfortunately his lucidity on a musical level lasted only a few years, otherwise today HE would undoubtedly be on the PODIUM OF THE BEST musicians in the world: SYD will still have a VERY important place in many hearts of people of all ages FOREVER ...! !! 💔✌ ❤
Curious how every musician (that we like) is suddenly a “genius”. And, if everyone is a “Genius” then no one is a “genius”. The word “genius”, much like “hero”, is overused and increasingly meaningless. I like the idea of Syd Barrett…almost a mythological figure in music history, but I doubt he was a “genius” of any kind.
What I think he was, what I think was the source of his appeal was his amazing good looks and quiet nature. There’s a reason we still talk about Barrett and try real hard to forget all about the hideous Roger Waters.
Early Floyd remains among my favorite music ever, listened to Piper yesterday. Wish he cd have kept it together & made more great music w his friend David on guitar. Set the controls............
The drugs won’t have helped obviously, but I’m a believer that unfortunately syd was just never mature or secure enough to live life as an adult. Perhaps mental illness even prior to the pink Floyd years.
The combination of strong drugs and fragile mentality. A talent lost..
Thank you for this documentary about Syd. I still get amazed by his music and art.
i love Piper at the Gates of Dawn...........and Syd's role in it. wb
I love the song ´´Lucifer Sam´´
Although LSD can open Doors to your mind, you must have a mouse to plug the holes, and that's so much more important today than Yesterday. Just saying. ✌️🌍🌎 and RIP. 🙏
Pink Floyd and the Beatles have been England's best ambassadors. Without this music of both groups the world would be poorer. Greetings from Germany.
See Emily Play couldn't be more perfect for the time. Arnold Layne was clever and brave. My fav is Lucifer Sam. Syd's girlfriend's cat freaking him out. Syd was clever and funny and well...things happen. Such a shame.
For an innovator, inspiration, and story teller he must know being at the center requires a standard. I think that is what he did not like.
I was disappointed with the departure of Syd from the band. I bought all of his solo albums and hoped that one day he would return to the Floyd. Strange things happen to bands when the money starts rolling in. Syd was by far THE coolest member and the most charismatic of Pink Floyd, which is why he was so special. Commercial success isn't everything.
Are you implying that when Syd was no longer able to be a functioning member of the band Roger and David sold out for the money? Because they created stuff that wasn't being, or would never be, done by any other band. So I'm not sure that your implication is correct. If I have understood it.
@@raywalsh9152 You forgot Nick mason and Richard Wright. There were no implications.
Syd was such a genius, his story is so depressing.
My dog foot foot makes alittle more sense now.🤣👍
Dark Globe is one of the finest recordings of all time. It embodies everything music and art should.
There are bootlegs of Apple Studio rough drafts, just Syd & guitar, which did not make the solo albums. These are also mind-blowingly brilliant and worth pursuing a listen. Pity you did not reveal a bit of these here😢. Syd had some tough psychological blows before the London drug scene, like his father dying unexpectedly. Also, like many painters he may have been suffering heavy metal poisoning. Watching home movies from his childhood, and hearing accounts from his friends one gets the impression of a very high functioning, high I.Q. autistic.
a true origional ..love his paintings in song..r.i.p.
Jug band blues is amazing few words and sounds to say so many things . Barrett is the 60s incarnated
What most saddens me about Syd's story is how his mates only could watch him decline without being able to do anything about it in a time where mental health was not understood as much as it is now. Imagine wanting to help your friend but you can't because the methods to help them probably don't even exist yet. At least the Floyd made sure to help him financially for the rest of his life.
It wasn't so much an issue of mental health, it was just that LSD really destroyed him, there was no turning back from that addiction for some people who are vulnerable to this powerful, destructive drug.
LSD opened his mind, as it did mine and my friend's in the 90s, I'm now a psychiatric nurse and if i was Sid's friend im not sure I would've wanted to see him sectioned and medicated and restricted, I don't know what he would've wanted but I'd like to think he'd agree
@@Citadin I'm sorry but I don't think you understand the nature of mental illness, addiction and LSD
@@wessexjez okay, what kind of behavior do any of your schizophrenic patients exhibit, without medication?
@@MamaofaWrestler depends on what part of the the cycle they're in, and the access they've had to psychological therapies their preparedness for relapse, external stressors etc, to a certain extent the symptoms can be managed without the need for medication. Psychedelics also have a therapeutic use (not in Schizophrenia) which is only just starting to be understood. I used to love psychedelics myself, it's the closest I've ever been to psychosis and also the closest I've ever been to Moksha
Syd's words I heard aged 14 still rattle round my head at 57, he loved words and off beat, it shows. Cheers
It's so apparent how much Bowie was influenced by Syd...
Somewhere around 1970 I wanted to make some sort of musical collage bringing together bits of sounds and music from all sorts of sorces, I recorded a lot of sounds and programs from the radio. Recording a radio program on newly published children's books, I was mesmerized by the music they played in between each review. It was so good and "childish" and fitted the theme of the program well, so I thought someone had composed it for the program. I kept a lot of it in the finished piece, unfortunately the tapes were lost later.
Not long after I had finished it, I found out that the music they were playing was Pink Floyd's "Scarecrow" by Syd Barrett ❤
He was brilliant and unique. Multi talented
It's a shame there are very few live recordings of Syd's Floyd, they presented themselves very differently from Piper. They interplay between him and Wright must have been tremendously mind expanding, even by today's standards - at least before he lost it.
not entirely accurate but a descent presentation of the man and his work
Such a nice lookin chap
In those times UK had Syd while USA had Brian Wilson. Two musical geniuses who were trapped by drugs. Brian created Surf's Up, probably the best song ever made, while Syd - Astronomy Domine, the hymn of psychodelic rock. Brian stayed for a few years in his bed, but finally survived and returned in glory. Syd disappeared and passed away in his world of fantasy and fairy tales... Shine on you the craziest diamond !!! Forever!!!
Absolute genius!! Never a mental sick boy, only a a guy who was introduced a new world where he wasn’t aware of the real danger of psychedelics at that time . Please guys stop being stupid thinking he was into schizophrenia! He just flu too high ✈️
See Emily Play and Arnold Lang are brilliant.
also ´´Flaming´´
Syd Barrett was a great man.
There in Heaven, God already gave him a new and bright brain..ha.....that´s what a guess...God is Good
Syd Barett was a talented, gifted young man. Unfortunately, he was a drug addict. He had the wrong friends. Founded Pink Floyd in 1965. Kicked out in 1968!!! Released two solo albums in 1970... Toured with the group Stars in 1972... That was a catastrophe... Syd Barett was on the verge of schizophrenia... Psychiatry wasn't ready at the time... Syd Barett didn't want to do therapy... A tragedy for the whole Barrett family... His two solo albums should have been released with the musical treatment of Pink Floyd, played, then they would have been musically better... I'm interested in how Syd Barett lived with his illness??? Unfortunately, there are no more books in German...
Interesting reference to the influence of Leo G. Carroll's imagery on Barrett. McCartney said most of the imagery in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" came from Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass". Great minds......
Leo G.Carroll was an actor-Man from Uncle, Tarantula,etc.
I'm unable to equate anything done by Syd with the Pink Floyd that I've loved since I was dropping LSD at 15yo listening to Dark Side of the Moon for hours on end.
It's easy to see Syds slide into mental illness in his music.
The question must be asked, would we have albums like Dark Side, Animals or Wish You Were Here [just to name a few of my favourites . . . No not The Wall; that album sucked] had Syd remained with the band?
I think not.
His music does absolutely nothing for me, but I'm a big Pink Floyd fan albeit post Barrett.
As great and magnificent pink floyd music is, for me Syd solo albums are even greater; you can really hear that there are no filters, his voice is so haunting that has become a part of me for decades now. The only voice that I can think of being so sincere is that of Johnny Thunders. Great video!
Nice piece. I would make this point though: Mad Cap and Barrett both had the potential for commercial success but for Syd’s complete inability to perform in front of live audiences at that point. Record companies were not and are not in the habit of pushing albums that can’t be marketed by their creators.
As for his genius, he was a sponge for ideas of all sorts and was able to synthesize them and push them back out without filters. Octopus, even with its rawness and unfinished nature, probably better expresses his genius than any other song. It is English children’s literature, Burroughs, Monk, Lennon, LSD all rolled into one. His love of creating a dropped key in the final phrase in a verse, or throwing away the earlier verse phrasing altogether is pretty brilliant.
Syd’s Pink Floyd just couldn’t be monetized to the level someone in the organization desired. Maybe Roger, more likely a label exec? Who knows? The mental illness story means nothing to me. It is plain as day merely artistic difference.
Maybe they should have changed the name instead of Pink Floyd and called it the Syd Barrett experience
Umm, excuse me, am I the only one that thinks Wined and Dined is the best song on any of his solo albums?
I am producing a retrospective film on Roger Waters. Could I please ask permission to maybe use a small clip of this video?
Kind regards
Barry
Is it so terrible that it's actually genius? No... it's terrible.
Does anybody realize most of their song’s from later on after syd was gone were all based on the band members experience of syds schizoid disintegration. They used this to propel them to stardom. They never would have come up with that stuff had it not been based in reality with their experience with him. There was a great well of musical invention which made Pink Floyd the great trippy band they became.
Rough start
what the end 💎
What a great YT documentary about Syd Barett. Syd's voice was just beautiful, never out of key (musical ears), had excellent volume and over several octaves. He was a natural born singer. The Pink Floyd (with Syd and later on with David) never sounds outdated, like all good music does, the truth vibrates the soul. IMHO Syd dropped out for all the reasons already talked about, a combination of those. We all have inclinations written in our DNA and within boundaries we think of ourselves as normal. Creative minds want much more than normal society (which isn't normal because it is run by psychopaths), and this requires madness, but drugs and DNA do not always match well, I stay away from it. Another option exists to let the lies drop like flies.
Syd’s songs are astonishingly authentic. A true genius and a major inspiration. I really enjoyed watching. Looking forward to checking out your channel.
In my own opinion, See Emily play is one of the best songs ever made.And I was priveleged to be around when it was in the charts.
I think the impact of new innovations in electronic music are being missed. Yes, acid is an influence, but other documentaries go deeper into the power and inspiration electronic music had for Syd.
That cats something I can't explain
EXACTLY....´´THAT CATS SOMETHING I CAN´T EXPLAIN´´....THAT VERSE OF THE SONG IS GREAT...THE WAY HE SINGS , IT WITH THAT EMPHASIS ´´ IT´S CAPTIVATING´´
You missed my favourite Syd song: Wolfpack
I love "Echos".
See Emily Play is iconic
The Madcaped Laughs is a brilliant album, those so called critics who couldn't see it at the time and since clearly hadn't a clue.
I will always remember my late teens very fondly, with Syd's music the perfect accompanying soundtrack. RIP Syd - total legend.