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Staff
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Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70
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| Nine Years: Syd Barrett
Nine years today since he shook off this mortal coil. A list in honour of the man who allowed the greatest band of all time to be by paying a pretty fucking huge sacrifice himself. Time to remember. | | 1 |  | Pink Floyd
Relics
See Emily Play - this is where it all really started. Childish, beautiful nonsense, with Rick and Syd sounding totally comfortable singing alongside each other - a time when the band was still a whole unit. Many themes that would later appear in his work - losing yourself in nature, childhood, games - which just shows how much of his mind this stuff occupied, all the time. Float on a river, forever and ever, bros. | | 2 |  | Pink Floyd
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Astronomy Domine - still a classic. Lyrically it sounds like more ramble but with a little effort you can see something beneath it, the same something that's always lurking around somewhere during Piper - a deep, yearning nostalgia. Songs about gnomes are all very well, but a man in his 20s wasn't writing them just for the lols - he was writing them because he missed the days when he could live in that world, when he had nothing else resting on his shoulders. Likewise, Astronomy Domine is about looking up into the sky and wishing you could be up there, with Jupiter and Saturn. Deep shit, man. | | 3 | | Pink Floyd
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Scarecrow - this might actually be, thematically, the most important song on the album. "Now he's resigned to his fate, this life's not unkind, he doesn't mind." It's about giving in and giving up. | | 4 |  | Pink Floyd
A Saucerful of Secrets
Jugband Blues - you can tell he's starting to lose it here. This song flip-flops harder than Pleb talking about Tool. The same longing for childhood is still there but it's even more faded - there's an acceptance now that it's gone and not coming back that wasn't there before. "I don't care if the sun don't shine, I don't care if nothing is mine." And then of course, as the marching band goes schizophrenic and loses the melody and fades away (something Syd requested of them in-studio - was he trying to say something?) the final four lines, potentially his most endearing and memorable lyric. He seems to be questioning himself more than anyone else when he asks "What exactly is a dream? What exactly is a joke?" | | 5 |  | Syd Barrett
The Madcap Laughs
Dark Globe - For maybe one of only two times in his entire discography Syd says it plain, with no dress-up or metaphor or childish sheen. "Won't you miss me? Wouldn't you miss me at all?" | | 6 | | Syd Barrett
The Madcap Laughs
Octopus - starts off, for all intents and purposes, as a flashback to the lyrical stylings of Piper that made me fall in love with Syd - whimsical, catchy, fun, carefree stuff. Then the second verse comes in, and there's a very intentional shift in mood and tone. "Isn't it good to be lost in the wood - isn't it sad so quiet there, in the wood?" I interpret that this way - it's nice to live in memory and obsess about the better days, but doesn't it get lonely in there? | | 7 |  | Syd Barrett
Opel
Opel - the second of the two moments. Again, starts out with fable-esque stuff but switches gear pretty hard halfway through to his most vulnerable, lucid moment. "I'm trying, to reach you." But this was probably the last time he ever did. | | 8 |  | Syd Barrett
Barrett
Wolfpack - apparently his favourite song from this album, and understandably so - whether he was aware of it or not, this was the only song that approaches the honesty he'd been beginning to show on Madcap. "The life that was ours/Grows sharper and stronger away and beyond." | |
Rowan5215
07.07.15 | rest in peace roger syd barrett | Mort.
07.07.15 | cool list man | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | thanks mortimusprimicus | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | no. | YakNips
07.07.15 | see emily play slaps | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | agreed yak so do all the songs listed | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | thanks bb | altertide0
07.07.15 | His work with PF was incredible but his solo career was disappointing. His disciple Kevin Ayers has recorded some awesome stuff though. | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | any album/song recs, alter? | altertide0
07.07.15 | Just go chronologically really. His first three albums are wonderful and the next two are worth a listen as well. Nothing interesting after that I'm afraid. | altertide0
07.07.15 | Bananamour is his most "Barrett-heavy", especially "Oh! Wot a Dream", but the previous three are IMO much better. | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | awesome, will get on it | guitarded_chuck
07.07.15 | kevin ayers is alright
RIP Syd
always listen to syd era floyd more in the summer, psyc rock and sunny lazy days seem to go well together | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | had a feeling you'd show up here eventually chuck
one day I will get some eiderdown, lay in a sunny field and listen to Flaming on repeat all fucking day | tommygun
07.07.15 | pos
rip syd
effervescing elephant is a classic | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | this was inspired by your elliott list btw tommy | TheMagicalBlender
07.07.15 | I love 4. R.I.P. Syd Barrett. | TalonsOfFire
07.07.15 | Great read Row. RIP Syd | Rowan5215
07.07.15 | yeah Jugband Blues is really somethin
cheers talons | BMDrummer
07.07.15 | best guitarist in floyd | IronGiant
07.07.15 | Astronime Domine live from Smoking Blues bootleg is unreal | Torontonian
07.12.15 | i'm proud to share his birthday |
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