Golden Hair - Syd Barrett, 1969, words from, James Joyce, Chamber Music, 1907, Cantos V.

[Bobjb999]

One other amusing factoid about Joyce's poem, "Chamber Music" is that the famous pun-ster admitted in his letters that the respectable sounding title was in fact inspired by a certain natural, non-instrumental, "musical" sound that made an impression on Joyce: the sound of a prostitute peeing into a chamber pot!

[oracleofottawa]

Could it be in 500 years from now that this recording will be listened to and that other group

will be lost in the dust of century's??

[xwsftassell]

I met another guy who knew Syd. He was from Cambridge & moved to London at the same time as The PF. He spoke similarly: Syd wasn't bonkers, Syd wasn't into drugs, Syd was stitched up by his band who were spoilt, coke-snorting, trophy-womanising, arriviste filth. He attributed Gilmour's size to cocaine: after a while your metabolism goes crazy & you blow up like a huge pink inflatable, floating above Battersea Power Station.

The Crazy Syd Legend has been good business for a lot of people.

[hamfisto]

@xwsftassell It was good business for Syd, too, in fairness, given that despite his slight output he made tons of royalties. If it wasn't for the whole myth he wouldn't be such a revered figure in rock history.

[xwsftassell]

Always makes me laugh when you read about how untogether/nutso Syd was meant to be during the Madcap/Barrett period (according to the "victors" of that particular history). The artistic triumph of those two records outshines the entire career of the dreary, moanie, money-grubbing Syd-less Floyd. Says I, anyway.

[minutegongcoughs]

Indeed. David Gilmour mentions that it was hard to be around the other PF chaps. There was a 'Playground Hierarchy'. Roger, Nick and Rick were 2 to 3 years older than Dave and Syd. You would never get one over them or feel easy in their company if they were together. Dave being a few months younger than Syd probably felt an empathy more with him than the others.

[xwsftassell]

A few years ago I had a drink in The Troubadour with Duggy Fields (Syd's flatmate in the Madcap flat, Earl's Court Square). He told me the greater part of the Syd legend was complete and utter bullshit. The Mandrax/Brylcreem scenario never happened, neither did the "cupboard" story. Syd hardly ever took drugs and to Field's knowledge, Syd never even took acid.

[limpidgreen07]

Great post! Thank you so much.