Syd Barrett- So who else loves this guy? C'mon, you know you love Floyd!

crdirtRider856

Silver Member
Well, after seeing so many posts regarding Pink Floyd and how much of an influence they have been, I know there are some more hardcore Syd fans here. Myself being one.

I d love to hear what your favorite Syd/Floyd song is, along with how this argonautical explorer has influenced your way of looking at songwriting, music, sanity, and just how he s affected your sense of seeing the world in everyday life.

I have much more to say- pending responses. This doesnt have to just include Syd, but also Pink Floyd, Psychedelic music and experiences with, whatever you want to add. I d love to hear what you all have to say. If this thread doesnt do well, gladly it be deleted.
 
Whenever I pick up a guitar in a shop, the first thing I blast out is 'Astronomy Domine'. It's also my warm up song - at least the bits I can follow because the mid-section is throughly mental. As far as his solo works go, my favourite song is 'Gigolo Aunt' - just because it's so quintessentially bizarre and Syd. I love the man - as a songwriter he is one of my biggest influences. The way he manages to fit abstract poetry with obtuse and often angular music yet still make it paletteable and at the same time produce works of extraordinary experimentation and beauty - whilst being incredibly undertrained and raw is an incredible inspiration to me. I appreciate that the acid had a hand with that along the way - but I rank him amongst the greatest songwriters of the last 100 years.

Incidentally my old biology teacher was from Cambridge and knew him at school. He was weird then too.
 
Whenever I pick up a guitar in a shop, the first thing I blast out is 'Astronomy Domine'. It's also my warm up song - at least the bits I can follow because the mid-section is throughly mental. As far as his solo works go, my favourite song is 'Gigolo Aunt' - just because it's so quintessentially bizarre and Syd. I love the man - as a songwriter he is one of my biggest influences. The way he manages to fit abstract poetry with obtuse and often angular music yet still make it paletteable and at the same time produce works of extraordinary experimentation and beauty - whilst being incredibly undertrained and raw is an incredible inspiration to me. I appreciate that the acid had a hand with that along the way - but I rank him amongst the greatest songwriters of the last 100 years.

Incidentally my old biology teacher was from Cambridge and knew him at school. He was weird then too.

Wow, good stuff there, MFB. Its like he just kinda picked up a guitar and started singing...and did it in a style that to some, just sounds "right" in a way.Whenever I would play "The Madcap Laughs" alot of people just didnt get it. A few would, but alot were like-"What the Hell is This?" Some of us got it , and some didnt.. You have to be able to relate to his pov and what he might have been "seeing" or "realizing" at the time. His lyrics were like an astral fragmented poster, they go on for as long as you want them to.

Take for instance- "Arnold Layne", now compare this to ......say, "Terrapin". Endless creativity.To me, its the pinnacle of self expresion and showing it back to society in a way that---If you dont get it, Oh well! Good luck to the"mainstream"... And the eccentric always get shorted for the "mainstream"! If you re interested, I have an interview with him thats not very well known, after Floyd and well into his permanantly "affixed" state. I read it alot these days....

As far as playing the mid-section of "Astronomy" I remember an old guitarist friend replicating it by pulling the string "off" of the fret.I dont play guitar, so its a bit hard to explain, but this is only a tiny bit of the song.. BRILLIANT!

Sorry for ramblin on, but its been a long day... : )
 
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Well I'm talking about ALL the noodling in the middle. I have a book with a lot of early Floyd music in it (sheet and tab - arrangements for two guitars as well, which is handy) but the middle minute of the song is just practically undecipherable. David Gilmour plays it in a completely different way - in fact, he plays the song in a completely different way altogether, which is pretty cool. But one day I'm going to figure it out and then rock it out at a gig.

What I like about Syd is the fact that it's clearly just thrown together stream of consciousness. There's no Superego, it's all Id and there's a lot of child-like innocence within that. 'Effervescing Elephant' is one of the best examples of that (apparently the first song he ever wrote) and everything has that element of 'in the moment' composition that I really appreciate because even if technically it is lacking, the energy and enthusiasm that it expresses is like nothing else.

The fact that modern bands, forty years later are starting to cite Syd as a major influence all over again is testament to the quality of his work and the sheer eccentricity of it. My old college tutor is in a band that charted rather well a couple of months back (top 80 I believe, in the UK) and one of his favourite artists is Syd Barrett - and that shows. I'm listening to a band called Oneida at this very second and the psychedelic influence is very strong. Great band too.
 
There would be no Floyd without Barrett at the beginning, shaping their early sound. It was truly revolutionary. Having said that, I still believe what I think of as the "big three" albums (Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals) are works of musical genius unrivaled by any of their other work.
 
Arnold Layne was a catchy tune. Astronomy Domine was pretty trippy but certainly creative.
It's too bad Syd declined the way he did account of drugs, he was quite gifted.
 
I remember as a kid trying to figure out why I saw one member in pictures and then another. Of course I was seeing Syd Barrett and then David Gilmore. I also remember some of the first music I really started listening to as a kid... Astronomy Domine, See Emily Play, Arnold Layne, Flaming, Matilda Mother, Bike and one not actually written by Barrett, Corporal Clegg. Good Stuff.
 
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