Pink Floyd's Barrett dies aged 60

radiospan

BBC:

Syd Barrett, one of the original members of legendary rock group Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 60, the band's spokeswoman has confirmed.
He was born Roger Barrett in Cambridge and met future bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour at school there.

The guitarist was invited to join Pink Floyd by Waters in 1965 but left three years later after only one album with his mental state affected by drugs.

"He died very peacefully a couple of days ago," said the spokeswoman.

"There will be a private family funeral."

He had suffered from diabetes in recent years and had not been recording music.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5169344.stm

R.I.P.

hallelujah

Shine on you crazy diamond

Wokie

R. I. P.

ChuckProphet

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear
That I'm not here.
And I never knew we could be so thick
And I never knew we could be so blue
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.

I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my loving in the winter.
And the sea isn't green
And I love the queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke.

Doodee

gay

magpie

Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun Syd!

withneill

Have a DVD on his life and some strange coincidences during the initial recording of Shine on. He turned up in the studio, unannounced and unseen for years. He sat there, fat and with a beard I think. I think it was Gilmore who told Walters that Sid was there. He was so far gone that Walters didn’t even recognize him.
Its a great DVD for any fans, full of interviews with the band and weird coincidences with Syd. If you want a burn-I mean loan of it, any Floyd fan is welcome.

hallelujah

withneill wrote:

Have a DVD on his life and some strange coincidences during the initial recording of Shine on. He turned up in the studio, unannounced and unseen for years. He sat there, fat and with a beard I think. I think it was Gilmore who told Walters that Sid was there. He was so far gone that Walters didn’t even recognize him.
Its a great DVD for any fans, full of interviews with the band and weird coincidences with Syd. If you want a burn-I mean loan of it, any Floyd fan is welcome.

Yea, read that in a book on making of DSOTM. Also says that pink floyd were'nt a very drug oriented band. Only Syd was into heavy use. Roger Waters hardly touched drugs but one time Paul McCartney came back stage after a gig and was smoking a joint, he passed it around and Roger took a huge drag of it.

withneill

Its funny when you see and interview with any of the band members, they are all from well educated upper middle class backgrounds. The music is cleverly put together and the production is second to none. Still, it’s the best music to get stoned to but the common misconception is that they were all acid heads taking tones of drugs and pumping out Psychedelic noise, but they were far more considered than that. Walters just finished writing an Opera for Christ’s sake, took him ten years. Try doing that on a head full of shrooms!

hallelujah

I wish Waters was taking his tour to Dublin. I'd love to see him play the full DSOTM. Say the Aussie Floyd and they were amazing..

muesli_offire

Wow, just heard it on the news there, Tragic. The guy was such an inspiration.

withneill

A mate of mine saw Walters last week and said it was as good as you would expect. The lad who introduced me to floyd over a smoke about ten years ago, was a mature student in the IT I was in. He had been to see them in Earls court when they shot the Pulse video. He said he was directly under the plane when it shot across the audience and he nearly shat himself. He goes to plenty gigs but said that will never be surpassed. Lucky B strd

dimerocks

Rip

mike65

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.

Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.

Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

One of the all time great instictive English writers who inspired one of the all time greatest songs.

Mike.

mike65

Some dopey American on Today FM just played a track from Dark Side as a tribute to Syd....:rolleyes:

Mike.

blastman

Female? Probably Alison Curtis if so and she's Canadian, I think.

telecaster

withneill wrote:

He sat there, fat and with a beard I think.

Was shaven headed rather than with a beard. There was a photo of him that day at the studio's in Nick Mason's autobiography 'Inside Out'.

Some of the solo stuff is hard work, but he was hugely influencial. Weller, T-Rex, Blur (particularly) all took a lot from his music.

There's a book called Lost In The Woods about Barrett, one of the best music biographies I've ever read. Actually it's THE best.

mike65

If you have the will and speed to download 373 mbs here is a bbc Omnibus doc about the great man. I expect they'll show it again on BBC2/4 in the next week.

Mike.

Mossy Monk

thanks for the link mike

FX Meister

withneill wrote:

Walters just finished writing an Opera for Christ’s sake, took him ten years. Try doing that on a head full of shrooms!

It's probably crap. Just because he may have taken drugs 30 years ago doesn't mean he was still taking them in the past 10. And I'm sure when you take mushrooms it's not going to last for 10 years, you would have room to fit in writing an opera, no problem. But off topic.

I feel happy that he's passed. He hadn't exactly been leading the best life and perhaps it's better that he's finally at rest now.

telecaster

FX Meister wrote:

He hadn't exactly been leading the best life

I understood he was living a quiet simple life off his royalties and being looked after by his sister in Cambridge? There was a photo published of him out cycling recently, didn't seem to be a miserable existence or anything like that.

Bill McH

telecaster wrote:

I understood he was living a quiet simple life off his royalties and being looked after by his sister in Cambridge? There was a photo published of him out cycling recently, didn't seem to be a miserable existence or anything like that.

Today's obituary in the London Times ends up with this...

The Times wrote:

...And although he was said to have found some contentment in later years, his death brings to an end one of the most enigmatic and saddest stories in rock’n’roll.

Sums it up.

magpie

One of the all time great instictive English writers who inspired one of the all time greatest songs

Nicely put

All this business with Syd made me think about some other greats of the 60s who lost their way in a drug-fuelled haze, specifically Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. We all know Green is back playing, but a quick google of Jeremy Spencer revealed that he's back from his 'Children of God' immersion and also playing again http://www.jeremyspencer.com/

Anyway, somewhat OT but there you go...

withneill

Sorry for the couple of inaccuracies in my posting, I must remember the sensitive fans out there, sweet jesus. Cheers for the links by the way. Now , where is my anorak ?

loyatemu

magpie wrote:

Nicely put

All this business with Syd made me think about some other greats of the 60s who lost their way in a drug-fuelled haze, specifically Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. We all know Green is back playing, but a quick google of Jeremy Spencer revealed that he's back from his 'Children of God' immersion and also playing again http://www.jeremyspencer.com/

Anyway, somewhat OT but there you go...

and also the late Skip Spence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_Spence

for anyone who hasn't read it Nick Kent's The Dark Stuff contains a great chapter about Syd (and more generally is a brilliant book). Kent also has an article about him here - http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1818250,00.html

magpie

Not to mention Danny Kirwan

Anam

Rip

shatners basoon

Jugband blues is the best Floyd song ever!

withneill wrote:

Its funny when you see and interview with any of the band members, they are all from well educated upper middle class backgrounds. The music is cleverly put together and the production is second to none. Still, it’s the best music to get stoned to but the common misconception is that they were all acid heads taking tones of drugs and pumping out Psychedelic noise, but they were far more considered than that.

Heh, well Gilmour talks about that in the Live at Pompei DVD and he looks pretty damn f**kfaced in it!!!

Rest in Peace Syd, make sure to borrow God's bike if you get the chance

Amazotheamazing

Barrett, Spence, Wilson, Morrison, Hendrix are all pretty compelling reasons not to do drugs.

telecaster

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Barrett, Spence, Wilson, Morrison, Hendrix are all pretty compelling reasons not to do drugs.

Some may use that reasoning to do the exact opposite

herbieflowers

hehe

Amazotheamazing

telecaster wrote:

Some may use that reasoning to do the exact opposite

Yes, but those people would be idiots. The guys I mentioned would have been great with or without drugs. (well excluding alcohol).

telecaster

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Yes, but those people would be idiots. The guys I mentioned would have been great with or without drugs. (well excluding alcohol).

Ignoring the excluding alcohol bit which doesnt make much sense. I beg to differ.

Those artists were very much products of their time, representatives of the culture - and that culture was a psychedelic one. Psychedlic music and the drug culture can not be separated in my opinion.

Hendrix was a sideman in blues bands before he got 'turned on'

Amazotheamazing

Never heard Hendrix written off so easily and I completely disagree on your assesment of him.

Most of these guys were have been making great music long before they started on the serious drugs, drugs imo, are completely overrated in the creative process.

mike65

Hendrix was a sideman, he started on the "Chitlin Circuit", but got lucky when spotted by Chas Chandler.

http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/jh_chitlin.htm

Mike.

Amazotheamazing

I didn't say he didn't learn his trade in the clubs, it's the notion that getting "turned on" changed him from regular decent musician in to a genius is what I disagree with.

mike65

Oops! It can be hard to seperate the musician from the muse, if he had'nt partaken in illegal substances would he have been the same creative talent? Maybe, maybe not.

Mike.

Amazotheamazing

Were drugs his muse though? I think he would have the same creative talent, though he might have expressed it differently. After all, plenty of **** musicians take just as much drugs.

telecaster

The question you've got to ask is that if Hendrix had arrived a decade earlier would he have been the same type of musician.

I'm not dismissing the guy - perhaps no musician has ever mastered their instrument as much as Jimi - certainly no one has ever had the expression on electric guitar that he had. But he was of the times, and the times were one big stoney trip.

Purple Haze....Stone Free to name but two entirely drug mused compositions.

To extend the drug muse factor consider the Beatles post 'Help' output when they first started dabbling in illegal drugs.

Amazotheamazing

Same could be said if he arrived a decade or 2 later, still plenty of drugs but completely different scene, drugs are a sidestory to his music, his talent is the story and that talent would have been there with or without drugs, back in the 1920's he might of gone for jazz, in the 1990's rap, who knows, but the talent would have been there regardless.

mike65

Two articles in Sunday Times

My lovebly ordinary brother

and a piece by the normaly accurate Robert Sandall but I have to say the opening paragraph is BS.

Mike.