Lime and Limpid Green
Roger 'Syd' Barrett passes away at age 60. "Who?" you ask. Syd Barrett, primary founder of The Pink Floyd Sound, later The Pink Floyd then dropping the article altogether. Granted, most fans of Pink Floyd aren't familiar with his work, since he burned out and dropped out of the band long before they broke in America (though they did play some Barrett-written songs like "Astronomy Domine" during their last couple of tours as a gracious nod to the man who started things off.) Barrett's lyrical work was marked by a love of whimsy, of singsong rhyme and a fractured, ferocious imagination. His guitar playing, essential to the band's early impact, while not the most proficient, was unique and stands up more than thirty years later. Barrett's early vision of the band persisted long after his immediate departure, and it could be argued that they never fully emerged from his shadow. Even when they became arena superstars, Barrett's breakdown and withdrawl laid the foundations for both DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and WISH YOU WERE HERE, though it could be argued that Pink Floyd had moved far beyond Barrett's primal psychedelic meltdown sound.
None of these made him an easy person to be around. High-strung to begin with, Barrett descended into drugs and paranoia, in some way becoming the sort of dark side of England's Summer of Love when such a thing was largely unthinkable. But before his spectacular burnout (chronicled on his fragmentary solo albums, as well as some mostly-lost Pink Floyd singles), his influence was inescapable. Members of The Beatles attended events that the Pink Floyd headlined, and they were central to the convergence of art and rock that was taking place in England (not unlike a similar one that was taking place here with the Velvet Underground).
And even during the time of his breakdown, Barrett seemed to have a glimmer of self-knowledge that came out in his lyrics, particularly "Jug Band Blues" from the album SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS.
It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm most obliged to you for making it clear
That I'm not here.
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon 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?
Barrett spent his the last thirty plus years in seclusion painting watercolors and tending his garden, by all reports. There were always rumors of home tapes being recorded, but there's nothing to indicate that those were anything more than rumors. There is, however, a small but substantial body of Barrett's work to be enjoyed.
With Pink Floyd
PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN
SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS
"Arnold Layne"
"Candy and a Currant Bun"
"See Emily Play"
"Apples and Oranges"
"Vegetable Man"
Solo
THE MADCAP LAUGHS
BARRETT
OPEL
The artist is dead, in this case, long dead, but the art lives on. Celebrate that.