SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND

The name of this blog site, Wish You Were Here, was inspired by one of my favorite songs from the album with the same title by Pink Floyd. It was written (and later recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London) as a tribute to Syd Barrett.

He was named Roger Keith Barrett when born in Cambridge, England, but at the age of fifteen changed it to Syd after a local drummer Sid Barrett. In 1965, along with Roger Waters (bass guitar), Nick Mason (drums) and Richard Wright (keyboards) Barrett co-founded a band creating a jazz- and blues-infused psychedelic music, which struck a chord with the ageing baby boomers craving for a more cerebral soundtrack for their lives.

It was Barrett who named the group Pink Floyd — in honor of blues artists Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. In 1967, the band released its first LP, the psychedelic masterpiece The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Ten out of the eleven songs were written by Barrett.

The next year, after touring with the legendary Jimi Hendrix, Barrett began to suffer from mental instability, exacerbated by his heavy intake of the psychedelic drug, LSD. Guitarist David Gilmour was brought in to provide continuity; both Barrette and Gilmour shared center stage for a few months. However, Barrett’s mental condition worsened; making him increasingly unreliable and erratic (such as frequently going on stage to play no more than two notes in a whole set). He was soon forced to leave the band.

Although his stint with Pink Floyd was brief, Barrett’s delicate and wistful songs influenced many musicians, including David Bowie — who covered one of Barrett’s original compositions, See Emily Play. In a statement on his Web site, Bowie wrote, “His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed.”

After leaving the band, he reverted to his old name Roger Keith Barrett and moved back to Cambridge at his mother’s house. He also released a couple of solo albums, but eventually called it quits altogether. Before Pink Floyd, he attended art school and would subsequently spend the rest of his days engaged in painting or tending his garden.

Rolling Stone magazine in describing his new-found lifestyle and artworks wrote, “Sometimes crazy jungles of thick blobs. Sometimes simple linear pieces. His favourite is a white semi-circle on a white canvas. In a cellar where he spends much of his time, he sits surrounded by paintings and records, his amps and guitars. He feels safe there, under the ground. Like a character out of one of his own songs.”

Through the ensuing years since his departure, out of courtesy and respect, his former bandmates saw to it that he duly received his royalties from his early work with the band. On the other hand, Pink Floyd continued to dwell on the subject of mental illness as reflected by their Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall albums. On a recent statement issued upon Barrett’s death, they said, “Syd was the guiding light of the early band lineup and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire”

Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006 due to complications related to diabetes. He was sixty years old.


Photo credit: otowlcek.bloguje.cz