Syd Barrett Tribute- Happy Birthday

Because today is the late great Syd Barrett's birthday I decided to put this tribute up.
Syd Barrett is a legend of our time. Creative, original, without him who knows what modern music would be like?
Roger Keith Barrett (His full name, which he used in later years) was born in Cambridge to Arthur Max Barrett and Winifred Barrett. As a young boy he was very creative and loved painting (A passion he never lost).
He was given the name Syd, because a double bassist (though a few people think it was a drummer) in cambridge had the name Sid Barrett, but Syd changed it to a "y" to give the name independance.
A month before his 16th birthday Syd's Father died, which effected Syd quite badly, and possibly in later years.
Eventually he joined a band which he named "The Pink Floyd Sound" who had started as an Rythym and Blues group, but after a while they began to progress into more psychadelic areas. They contained Roger Waters on bass, Rick Wright as keyboard, Nick Mason on drums, and Syd Barrett on guitar and singing. Their first single was Arnold Layne, a story about a man stealing clothes from womens washin lines, it was banned from the BBC.
Syd was happy in all this, when he got the record deal he smiled saying "We're going to be pop stars!" Pink Floyd we're getting bigger.
On stage they'd do long instrumental passages of improvisation that the crowd loved. Syd was doing things on guitar no one had ever dreamed, playing slide with a zippo lighter, making it make whatever sound he could.
But soon the shedule began taking it's tole on Barrett. He was taking LSD frequently, maybe to get away from it all.
After their first album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Which Barrett pretty much wrote all the material too) was released, more was being demanded from Syd but he couldn't keep giving.
All of this was beginning to make Barrett's behaviour more and more erratic. He'd stand on stage doing nothing, or untuning his guitar strings, or doing completely different to what the rest of the band were.
Pink Floyd had to find some way to solve the problem, but no matter how they (and friends and girlfriends around him) tried to help Syd, they couldn't, his brain had been fried, he'd taken too much.
It's sad to talk about these parts of his life.
He had to leave the band, replaced by David Gilmour (An amazing man also).
He did make two solo albums with the help of Roger Waters and David Gilmour, but then he stopped.
He went through a large amount of pain with his state of mind, his lost success, and when he moved back to Cambridge, I believe he restored his mind somewhat. After all this, at his old home in Cambridge is probably a time when he was very happy, painting, seeing his family, doing th shopping, there was even a rumour he was working on a book on the history of art purely for his own enjoyment.
Some people rule Syd off as some rock nutter, but he was much more than that.
Happy birthday Roger. Shine on.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Syd
• Barrett
• Wish
• You
• Were
• Here
• happy
• birthday

[ruffmike]

Nice job!

[ruffmike]

Nice job!

[darkglobe111]

SHINE ON!!!!!KGD

[jmaxcamp]

this music is more powerful thjan many will know.

[remfanbeforu]

Syd, the "everlasting" Capricorn, your memory will be etched in history just as was Beethoven, Mozart, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. May you all be somewhere resolving your youthful conflicts and fulfilling your possibilities!

[BethLoveful]

rest in peace Crazy Diamond...we love you forever

[kikerulez1]

we miss you crazy diamond..

[punk1rock2]

Fantastic...

[sATYRinVENUS]

shine on you legend, you martyr...

wherever you are..

well Syd never died..is still here until Art dies will be here..

[HippyRockChocChick]

Why did he have 2 die? seriously! :'(