My Essay on Syd Barrett

[lady_barrett2112]

I have written an article on my blog as tribute to the late great Syd Barrett. All of you Barrett lovers that are interested, the link is at: Lady Ash Presents: Syd Barrett: A Foundered Genius of Rock and Roll

 

[Groovy Man]

lady b., that was a good read. I liked how you started with your personal history with Pink Floyd and how you became a Syd Barrett fan -- then you gave the official history of Syd Barrett from the beginning to the end -- then your personal opinions about Syd....that was great.

Personally, I don't know how ''crazy'' Syd Barrett was? But I do think his downfall was due to too much chemicals and not wanting to be in the spotlight. I think we wanted to become famous at one point, but when he achieve stardom, he quickly decided it wasn't for him, and he freaked - and add mind altering drugs - and the rest was history. Also, I think the excess of those powerful mind altering drugs damaged Syd Barrett's mental state, for years, until his death.

Once again, that was a good read- great job by you - I enjoyed reading it.

 

[architect]

Great article, lady. You obviously have a great love for Syd.

A lot of people don't realize that Syd made his huge impact on the world in a very short period of time. Only one year, if you don't count 1966, which was the year of playing church halls, universities and finally the UFO and Marquee clubs, all in England. No one outside of the London underground knew of them.

The Floyd were signed to EMI records in February of 1967 and Piper was released in England on August 5, 1967. Just six months later on January 20, 1968 Syd would make his last ever appearance with the Floyd.

 

[snakes&ladders]

I don't think Syd's "lunacy" was all due to drug abuse!!! There are thousands of excerpts out there to prove the Syd = total madness "theory" wrong.....too many to document here of course. Much of the blame goes to the other Floyd members...they never liked Syd much...they were clearly on ego-trips and this had an effect on Syd's fragile mind!!. Everyone knows about the day Syd walked into the studio years after being kicked out of the band and none of the Floyd members recognized him...if, like they sustain, Syd was a friend for them, would they not recognize a friend? No matter how down he was.....NOW LET'S COME OFF IT....Syd mad my ASS

 

[Syd]

Beautiful essay. I don't know why, but I've always felt identified and represented by these musicians that end up becoming crazy, that have serious mental issues or that are total disasters. That's why I like Syd so much (along with other like Kurt Cobain, Brian Wilson, Pete Doherty, Daniel Johnston).

I don't really know what to say about Syd. He's clearly a very influential man in rock history. Probably more influential than the whole rest of Pink Floyd combined. I've had a hard time looking for other bands/songwriters that did what he did in his solo albums or in The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. It's just so senseless. His music is so weird, but at the same time it's brilliantly intriguing and hauntingly beautiful. How is it that he could do that? All these weird noises in that album, only make sense in that context. It's truly a masterpiece. With all the sofistication, technology, resources and talent that Pink Floyd had in their post-Syd era, in My Opinion, they never could achieve that magical feeling that shows up in every song on Piper. They sure made great great records and songs. But that mistic halo that surrounds Syd Barrett has escaped the world since the day he decided to retire from the spotlight.

 

[lady_barrett2112]

Beautiful essay. I don't know why, but I've always felt identified and represented by these musicians that end up becoming crazy, that have serious mental issues or that are total disasters. That's why I like Syd so much (along with other like Kurt Cobain, Brian Wilson, Pete Doherty, Daniel Johnston).

I don't really know what to say about Syd. He's clearly a very influential man in rock history. Probably more influential than the whole rest of Pink Floyd combined. I've had a hard time looking for other bands/songwriters that did what he did in his solo albums or in The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. It's just so senseless. His music is so weird, but at the same time it's brilliantly intriguing and hauntingly beautiful. How is it that he could do that? All these weird noises in that album, only make sense in that context. It's truly a masterpiece. With all the sofistication, technology, resources and talent that Pink Floyd had in their post-Syd era, in My Opinion, they never could achieve that magical feeling that shows up in every song on Piper. They sure made great great records and songs. But that mistic halo that surrounds Syd Barrett has escaped the world since the day he decided to retire from the spotlight.

Thank you! That's exactly how I feel about Syd! I think I relate to him so much because I myself have been struggling with psychological issues and consider myself a tortured poet.

He was a beautiful person both artistically, spiritually and physically. It really saddens me that he's never come to terms with his success and never understood how much he means to people. Lucky for us his legacy will never fade away and we have his music to reminisce about the hypnotic being he was.

While I love Pink Floyd's material post Syd era, I personally don't think they captured that magic and mysticism like they did with Syd on the Piper album. I can't wait to get my hands on Syd's solo albums.

 

[Shaz]

I enjoyed reading your Syd article Lady_B Have you read "A Very Irregular Head" by Rob Chapman? It's a very good Syd biography.

 

[lady_barrett2112]

I enjoyed reading your Syd article Lady_B Have you read "A Very Irregular Head" by Rob Chapman? It's a very good Syd biography.

Thanks Shaz! No I haven't read it but I will one of these days. There's so many biographies on Syd, I don't know which one is the best read.

 

[Prime]

Finally got to reading this, very very nice work barrett.

 

[CREAM'd]

Great read/post Lady Barrett