Original subtitles

"Fnme requlres every kind of excess.

I mean lrue me.

A rtevouring neon.

Long journeys across grey space.

Danger.

Tbe edge of every vold.

Unrterslnnd lhe man who musl lnhabll tbese exlreme reglons.

Even If half-mart, be is absorbert inlo lhe publlc's lolal madness.

Even If fully rallDnal, a bureaucrnl In hell,

a secret genlus of survlval,

he ls sure lo be rteslrDyert by lhe publlc's conlempl for survlvors."

What are you working on at the moment inside yourself?

I can't really say.

Maybe this break would be very valuable

to try painting again after a break of going into pop music.

I don't know.

If I wanted to say nothing ,

or if I want to act in an extraordinary way,

then I feel that that too is justified.

Syd Barrell, one of lbe foundlng members of Pink Ployrt,

has rtled al lhe age of 60.

A slalemenl from lhe band descrlbert hlm as a gulrtlng llgbl

who leaves a legacy wbich conllnues lo inspire.

He lefl lhe Plnk Ployrt In I 968

anrt llved as a recluse In Cambrlrtge for lhree decades.

How woulrt you descrlbe, now In your malurily...

Thank you.

...his contribution to Pink FIoyd?

Well, ll wouldn 'I bave exisled If il hartn 'I been for Syd.

We would have been one of those thousands and thousands of bands

who come up and they play blues and "Louie Louie".

They might write the odd crappy song and then they disappear.

They get proper jobs and that's the end of it.

I rtlscDvered Plnk Floyd's muslc

lhrougb lhe music lhey marte In lhe lnle '70s.

For people lhal gol lnlo Plnk Ployrt at lhal polnl

and were lislenlng lo lhose recorrts flrsl,

lhey knew lbal lhere hnrt been lhis guy Syd In lhe band.

The slory was always, "Oh, be wenl mart anrt left lhe group."

That's all we knew aboul ll.

There was rellglous acld laking al lbal llme.

Syrt was one of lhe sort of salnts of lhal unrterground cull.

Flleralure anrt lbe Bible for example, ls full of people

who rtellberalely lsolalert lbemselves.

The bermils who wenl lnlo lbe rtesert.

People who had visions, who preferred to be on their own.

And others, who having those experiences,

were determined to preach to the multitude.

Tbe romanllc ideal is

lbal a creallve persDn ls rtrawn by somelhlng so powerful

tbat be, or she, wlll follow lhal

regarrtless of tbe prlce lhnl has ID be palrt.

These people are oul lhere In fronl.

They're nDt looklng over lhelr shoulder,

lbey're just gonna do il.

Syrt is lhe ulllmale kind of Ioner.

Il's lhe same a llllle bll wllh Brlan Jones or somelblng.

I suppose whal ls sad is aboul someborty

who ls slill exlremely relevanl, just rtecldes lo slop.

It's OK when someone carries on into irrelevance and then stops.

No one cares.

Tbe lasl tblng be was lnlereslert In was explalnlng hlmself

Anrt consequenlly, he became a flgure of lnlense-focused lnleresl,

because lhere was a myslery lhere.

He's tbe perfecl gort, you see.

A god must actually be killed and eaten ,

but then he must be reborn.

Tbe life of Syrt Barrell,

foundlng member of Plnk Ployrt, is full of unanswerert questlons.

Thougb he named lhe group and wrole lhelr flrsl lwo hll songs,

Barrell was laler pushed out of lhe banrt by lls members,

who were convlnced be was baving an fSD-lnrtucedpsychollc breakdown.

Bul ID examlne lbe complex slory of Syd Barrell,

Dne neerts lo lake a lrip.

A lrlp back lo lbe plcluresque and bislorlc

Engllsb unlverslly lDwn of Cambridge.

Roger Keilh Barrell was born in Cambrldge on January 6lh I 946.

One of five chllrtren, closesl lo hls slsler Rosemary.

He was always wanling lbe nexl bll of fun.

And if it didn't arrive, then he'd make it.

I can remember Dnce al lhe dlnner lable,

when he had a !lllle bit of cabbage sllcklng oul Df bis moulh.

He knew it was there and he kept it there for the whole meal

and pretended he didn't know.

Of course, everybody was giggling because his face was,

"I know it's there, I know you're Iaughing at me

but I'm going to ignore it."

Barrell's falher, a palhologist and avlrt bolanlsl,

encouraged lhe artisllc leanings of hls son,

who loved lo wrlle anrt draw.

By lhe age of I 3 or I4,

Roger hart acqulred lhe nickname yrt' from bls friends al school.

As legend bas ll, after a local jazz bass player,

Syd 'lhe beat' Barrelt.

Al bDme he remalnert Roger or Rog.

I'm speaking at this Ievel . I'm speaking at this Ievel.

Ok. This is slate three.

I believe Storm's interview, it's 08: 10.

Big clap.

My name is Slorm. I knew Syd In lhe early '60s.

We were bolh al lhe same scbDol

as Roger and Dave, wbo became Plnk Ployrt Dbvlously.

The peer group In Cambrlrtge lhal Syd was part of

was full of asplring artlsls.

Nol businessmen, nol mertical, nol lawyers.

Syd was nol unusual

and seemert lo be as be were one of lhe gang.

Tbe group evolvert by ltself

Noborty was really lhe learter.

The cenlres of Seamus and Storm

was slmply because lbelr molhers were very lnrtulgent

lowarrts leenage boys.

Tbe start came al Cherry Hlnlon Roart al your mDtber's bDuse.

I tended to be into beer and jazz and students.

Your lot were more into drugs and rock music and cool people.

I deny it totally.

I wenl lo lhe cDunly hlgb school, Cambrlrtgeshlre Hlgb School for boys,

and was in the same year as Syd.

We had lo choose belween woortwork, melal work anrt nrt.

SD I wenl lnlo lhe art class

and there I discovered a bunch of people who were useless.

A leacher who was equnlly useless,

bul one slurtenl by lhe name of Roger Barrell,

hart a flare way beyond his years.

Tbe Chrislmas holirtay of I 96 I was overshadowert

by his falber's rtealh from cancer,

just a montb before Syrt's I 6lh blrthday.

Syrt's famlly moves lo I 83 Hllls Roart.

Libby Gausden llves several houses up lbe streel.

I mel Syrt, I lbink, in I 96 I.

We 'rt have bolh been I 5.

Where did you meel?

I met him at Jesus Green ,

which is a wonderful place in Cambridge.

I'd been swimming and diving actually with Dave Gilmour.

Afler lbe swlmmlng, I came oul wllh some frlenrts

anrt we were messing aboul on lhe see-saw oulslrte.

And I mel Syd lhere.

He was kind, he was gentle, he was generous,

he llked buylng presenls.

He wrole lo me all lbe llme.

I hart always lhougbl of you as Syd's flrsl major glrlfrlenrt.

We were always logelher.

Wben you wenl oul wltb hlm how was he ?

It always looked like he was full of the joys of spring , which he was.

Fel's go back, way back lo lhe early '60s.

Whal ls your abldlng memory of Syrt?

Just a guy who was fiercely intelligent and Ioads of fun.

Life was just loo easy for hlm really In a way.

He had huge gifts

which were natural to him so he did n't see them as huge.

Everything he turned his hand to worked.

The girls worked , the painting worked , the music worked ,

the friendships worked.

I always remember Syrt's balr.

- DD you? - Yeab.

- Curly, black. - Yenh, lDvely.

Anrt I nlso remember his walk.

- He smelled nice. - Sorry?

He smelled nice.

You could see lhls exlraordlnary buoyancy

whlch was mosl clearly evlrtencert In tbe way be wa!ked.

He walked with a bounce, he walked on the front of his feet

with his heels off the ground all the time.

You cDuld spol him several bunrtrert yards away In Cambrldge

wanderlng up lbe slreel.

We usert lo go on my Vespa rtDwn to Hllls Road

for lhese Sunrtay aflernoon jam sesslons,

where I saw Syrtplaylng gullar for lhe firsl llme.

The muslc sirte of lbe slory really begins

wilh Geoff Moll Anrt The Molloes, of whicb Syd was an augusl member.

I remember when Syd bought his first Futurama.

It was bright red as I recalI

and he used to Iearn Duane Eddy things on it

like "Walk Don't Run".

We 'rt slarted lo go lo sbo In fondon

anrt I remember sllllng on lhe lraln havlng seen Gene Vlncenl.

We sat there with a piece of paper

and figured out the amplification for the band

that we were going to be.

It had two VOX AC30s drawn on it.

And we were going , "Well , the vocals and the bass

and then this can go through this one.

The rhythm guitar...

Will we have a keyboard? Don't know, maybe."

He used to appear at parties

of which we had quite a lot of in Cambridge at that time.

He used lo play a lol of lhe songs lbal later became songs on bls album.

But because he was just as he were one of the gang ,

I don't think anybody thought anything about him.

He had lhls grln

you coulrt mlslake for a smirk bul it wasn 'I.

Il was almosl llke be knew somelhing you rtlrtn 'I know.

He was one of those people

that was part of the crowd very much so

and then the next minute, he'd slipped away from a room.

And ll'rt be, "Where's Syd?" Noborty knows.

Syd's enlhuslasm for palnllng

sees hlm enrol al lhe Cambrirtge School of Art In I 962.

Slmullaneously, be rtlscDvers Bealpoelry, Kerouac

anrt rhylhm anrt blues.

He gets lnlo The Bealles

and sees lhe Rolllng Slones In concert.

He drew very often

with a lovely kind of whirly twirly drawing quality.

Very refined line I would say.

He seemert lo me a born painler

anrt lo have really lhe lemperamenl of a born palnler.

SIightly recessive and contemplative.

I had laken up pnlnllng.

Davlrt Gale suggeslert tbat we have an exblblllon lDgelber.

It is our first venture into commercial art.

A lolal llure.

- Did you sell anything? - No, we sold nothing.

We used to have jam sessions with the guitar

In lbe art school, and laler, jolnert by Dave,

In lhe common room lo lhe whole lecbnlcal college.

We lovert Bealles anrt Slones and b!ues sluff

Chuck anrt BD.

I can remember learning "Come On".

- The Stones. - By the Stones.

And "Off the Hook".

I can see In my mlnrt lhe back bench

agalnsl one of lhe walis anrt people sllllng lhere

at prDbably I 0..00 o 'clock In lbe mornlng just slrumming away.

Do you remember wbelber you were lmpressert by bis palnllngs

or by his personalily?

I was more impressed by his personality.

He just looked like someborty who was going places.

He was qulle a slar in our small firmamenl as ll was al lhe llme.

He was very unusual , very interesting.

The complete package I believe you'd say.

The complete package.

Jenny rtenr, when rtlrt you flrsl meel Syrt?

And how was he ?

I mel hlm In lhe Cambridge Sludenl Unlon Cellars.

He was playing with a band called Those Without.

He came up anrt sald bello and lntrortucert blmself

When rtid you slart going slearty?

Well , a week Iater,

a week after that, he phoned me and said

he would like to meet up and have coffee.

So I met him in the Guild.

He wrole lo me anrt sairt

lhal he'd rtrawn a plclure of me leanlng agalnsl tbe bar.

He sent this picture

with a beautiful piece of pink tissue paper written on it,

"I love you , I love you . I can't stop thinking about you ."

How long did you go oul wilb hlm ?

I probably saw him nearly every day from '5 I lo '63.

I think he went to art school in London in '64,

so that was a bit of a messy year.

In Seplember I 964, Syrt moves lo Lonrton.

I n 1960, whatever it was,

he duly arrived and he moved into the apartment

that I was already sharing with N ick Mason and Rick Wright.

- Mike Leonard's place? - M ike Leonard's place.

We were Leonard's Lodgers.

Bob Klose was In tbe banrt.

As soon as Syrt arrivert lblngs changed because Syrt had olher asplrallons.

Syrt lunert lnlD lhal wbole wesl coasl lblng.

If you asked me, "What did Love do?" I'd go, "I have no fuckin' idea."

But I know Syd did.

He was one of lhe mosl

emollonally anrt lnlelleclually curious people

lhal I've ever mel.

Glgging unrter varlous names,

lhe ArcbllecluralAbdabs anrt Tbe Tea Sel,

Syrt renames lhelr banrt lhe Plnk Floyrt Sound

by comblnlng lhe names of lwo obscure blues men,

Plnk AndersDn anrt Floyd Councll.

Bob Klose leaves lbe banrt

as tbey slart movlng lowards more lmprovlsed muslc

largely as backlng lracks lo tbelr lncreasingly elaborale llgbl shows.

Syrt slarts lo wrlle songs lncludlng "Lel's Roll Anolber One '

wblch laler becomes "Canrty anrt a Curranl Bun "

anrt "Bob Dylan Blues ".

The banrt becomes solirtified wllb Syrt on gultar,

RDger Walers on bass, Rlck Wrlghl on keyboards

anrt Nlck MasDn Dn drums.

When you were al Camberwell wilb Syrt, whal klnd of guy was he ?

The lhlng lhal I really remember is bls lnnocence.

All this very glamorous dark curly hair, very alive eyes

and a general air of glamour about him.

But he had this innocence almost like a child.

He palnlert wllb greal energy, lerrific sense of colour.

And whal I remember is blg, verypainlerly abstraclpalnllngs.

Towards lhe enrt of lhal flrsl year,

he wenl ID Robert Mertley, wbo was heart of palnllng.

He sald lo Robert,

'Al lhe momenl wllh my group I'm gelllng 200 pounds a week."

- A lol of money. - A fortune really.

He sairt, "Coulrt I posslbly have lbe year o have a sabballcal?"

His college wDrk was lmportanl and he'd wrlte lo me and say,

"I've gol lo do a palnllng lhis slze so I can slay on nexl year,

bul I wrole lhls really nlce song."

So did Syd then leave for a year?

He left and he didn't come back.

Havlng lefl art school lhere are a lol of lhlngs lhal I could rto,

a Iol of lhlngs I see now, a lol of lhlngs lhal went lnlo me,

tblnklng lhal lbese were perhaps changlng and alterlng lhlngs.

Roger Kellh Barrell, asplrlng palnler,

rtrops oul of art school sD lhal Syrt Barrell, pop slar, may be born.

Before long, Barrell would flnrt hlmselfal lbe eplcenlre

of lbe biggesl unrterground movemenl ever lo hll Brllaln.

You've got a bright future.

There's a general sea change that goes on

in English music anyway during 1965, '66.

You get a band like The Paramounts turning to Procol Harum

and stop doing cover versions of Poison Ivy.

And within two years they're doing "A Whiter Shade of Pale...

I lhlnk Syrt is al lbe very culllng ertge of lhal movement.

I lhlnk Syrt's one of lhe firsl ones who lransrms

from just copylng R&B to aclually doing somelhlng ullerly new.

We were readlng Alan Wnlls, Marvel comics,

Kerouac and Cybernellcs, all al lbe same lime.

Syrt was an exlraorrtlnarlly quick absorber.

It was just a series of, "Look at this.

Listen to this. What about this?"

And it was just going on and on and on and on.

All of the arts, all simultaneously

and then we can just throw LSD into the mix if you feel like it.

There was a lot of rumours going around

that acid can damage your brain.

And hippies would say, "It's just the CIA, man.

They're just saying that to stop you taking acid ,

to stop you eating Iive kittens."

Accorrting lo all lhe accounls lhal I've reart,

everybody was on aclrt in my parenls back garrten.

Tbls is nol lrue.

I lhink lhe only person lbere who was on aclrt...

Maybe lwo people were, Paul Charrler nnd Sunny Syrt.

I believe there was a water fight.

The bathroom window on the top floor banged open.

There were shouts of joy

and we saw water coming out of the window.

Paul Charrier wielding the rose of the shower spraying Syd.

They were just mucklng aboul llke slx-year-olrts.

People were hanglng arounrt In lhe garrten.

Syd wenl lnlo lhe kllchen of lhe house, found a box of malches,

an orange anrt a plum, sal rtown and lookert al lhem.

Most of the time, what I remember is Syd sitting quietly

in the back garden of Dave Gale's house

holding and examining these objects.

Al lhal lime, everybody was rtropping acld In fondon.

Bul nDl everyborty's rtropplng acld like he was.

Bul he wasn 'I lhe only one.

And there was a lot of discussion about how to take it.

Is there a big difference between 50 milligrams a day or 100 or 250?

How many times a day? Once, twice or three times?

Is there a real difference between 250 milligrams and 500 milligrams?

Aclrt was lbe rtrug of lbe tlme.

Self-realisation , speaking to God through acid ,

is the danger of opening doors

before you've spent 30 years in solitude

and preparing your soul and your spirit ready

for the big meeting with Big G.

That was one of the problems with acid.

It whooshed you right through that 30 years of preparation ,

opened the door and bang!

There you are at the centre of the celestial universe.

Deal with it my son.

Anrt lwo bours before you were eallng fish anrt chlps rtown lbe corner.

He really rtlrt feel lbal lbe psycbertellc revolutlon

was flowlng rlghl lhrough his borty.

He rtid feel he was almost possessert agalnsl bls wlll.

You know lhal slory, "If you can remember lhe '60s you weren 'I lbere."

It was the destruction of the rational , predictable, material world.

So called reallly was Dnly one of many.

I 966 is lhe year lhe doors come Dff lhe hlnges.

Fuellert by experlmenlallon wilh mind-expanrting rtrugs

flowlng lhrougb lhe counler culture,

lhe seismic upbeaval of post-war Brllish soclely

sprearts frDm pollllcs anrt art, lo shlon and muslc.

Everyborty was laklng lDts of drugs.

People Iiked these long things that you could really get into,

which strung you out

and took you very slowly through various climactic trajectories.

We all llked Love's album whlch was really good.

I was just saylng lo hlm, "I really !ove lbal song wblch goes.. ."

Da-da-da-da-da da-da-da.

Done In lbe "flllle Red Book' or somelblng Ilke lhal.

I can 'I slng In tune lo save my llfe.

Syd salrt, "You mean like lhis ?" And be played ll.

That's whal became "lnlerstellar Overrtrlve '

It was that riff mangled by me and then reinterpreted by Syd.

The blg lbing In lhose days was Prlrtay nlgbl al lhe UFO club.

Nol only dlrt you have Plnk Ployrt, yDu hart Tbe Sofl Machlne

anrt lhe Crazy Worlrt of Artbur BrDwn.

"Fire." Da-da-da, da-da.

Pele wDuld have been supplylng a psychedellc projecllon apparalus

lo lhe increaslngly glgglng Plnk Ployrt.

Were you as exclled by lbls as were lhe audlence ?

I don't know about the audience, I never gave them a thought.

I remember being in the aud ience

thinking this was probably the centre of the universe.

Yes it was, indeed.

The Dnly llme I've ever rtellberalely missed a glg wilb Tbe WbD,

was I hearrt lhal Plnk Ployrt were rtolng a concert

and rtlrtn 'I lell lhe band.

So the band went and I went to the U FO club with Eric

and took some acid and danced like a hippie.

The band bart come oul wllh lhis lnlerestlng rlg,

wblch was lwo Blnson Echorec unlls.

Tbey were considerert lo be an echo box from lhe era of..

Dow-dow, dow-dow-dow.

Nobody used them.

Certainly J imi Hendrix d id not use an echo box

and neither did I , and neither did Eric Clapton or J immy Page.

Nobody used them.

But Syd had not just one but two.

He came oul, he had a shock of blnck balr, black makeup on bls eyes

anrt lbe clolhes he was wearlng were proper psychedellc oulflts.

Anrt he was beaullful.

He plays a chord and it just goes, jang!

And then nothing happens.

So he pushes some buttons on this machine,

plays another chord , jang!

Nothing happens, he pushes another couple of buttons on the machine

and suddenly it goes...

Da-na-na, da-da-da wo-wo-wo-wo...

His analogue echo degrartes.

He pushes another button on the other machine,

and it goes into, what we call in the music business, syncopated echo.

It goes...

Pow-pow-pow-pow, pa-pa-pa-pa, pow, pa-pa-pa-pa, pow.

Pa-pa-pa-pa, pow, pa-pa-pa-pa, pow.

Nlck Mason slarts lo play anrt lhen Roger Walers slarts lo play

anrt ll just lurns lnlo whal can only be rtescrlbed

as speclacular psychertelic beavy melal.

Somelhlng sudrtenly klcks In. I rton 'I lhink ll's even grartual.

Yes, you can say ll's LSD.

Yes, you can say it's the echoplex, it's the Iight shows.

There's all these interesting environmental things going on

in and around the music, but really it's Syd.

The way lhe acl's developed In lhe lasl slx monlhs

has been lnfluencert by lhe facl lhal we've playert In ballrooms.

I lhlnk concerts have glven us a cbance lo realise

lhal lhe muslc we play isn 'I rtlrecled al rtanclng necessarlly

like normal pDp groups.

Syrt deflnert lhe wbDle of lhal momenl In lhe '60s.

The colour, the vivacity of it, the psychedelic freedom.

Wllboul Syrt, sDmelhlng mlghl bave bappenert evenlually.

You could n't over emphasize his importance

because he was the creative genius.

I remember sltllng wllh him

whlle he was looking lnlo lhe slars book

and gelllng 'Aslronomy Domlne " lhlng, wblch I hnrt lo reart In lbe slurtio,

whicb he just look oul of a book, anrt I lDve lhal.

Tbey were so lolally anrt unbellevably orlglnal.

You coulrt say lhal lbe varlous lecbnologles were available,

!lke Hammond organs and lbis anrt lhal and lhe olher,

whlch gave lhem lbe opportunily of mlxlng popular muslc

wilh melapbyslcal lrteas and sclence ficllon ideas.

The FIoyd were never doing " 19th Nervous Breakdown"

or "I Can't Get No Satisfaction".

Why has it all got to be so terribly Ioud?

For me, frankly it's too Ioud . I just can't bear it.

I happen to have grown up in the string quartet which is a bit softer.

If one gets immune to this kind of sound ,

one may find it difficult to appreciate softer types of sound.

Syd , yes, no?

- I don't think that's so. - No?

Everybody Iistens, we don't need it very Ioud to be able to hear it.

And with some of it is very quiet in fact.

Do you in your turn feel aggressive towards your audiences?

No, not at all.

I n spite of all the Ioudness?

- No, not at all . - Sorry?

There's not many young people who dislike it.

- There's no shock treatment intended . - No, certainly not.

When Syd Barrett started writing for Pink FIoyd ,

he seemed to give it this very English voice,

which was quite unusual at the time.

The Kinks were doing that, I guess, as well.

He had a big attachment to more intellectual realms,

to lhe whole Hilalre Belloc lhlng and lo fewls Carroll.

He has a strange bridge

between Edwardian musical , Vaudeville,

and his own particular brand of English psychedelia.

When you heard that music, it was in colour.

Everything else was in black and white.

He's lhe fake Poels.

He's an English romantic of the 19th century.

He was not London 1966.

Bul be was Lonrton /956.

He happened lo be, bul lhal was a cloak he wore.

In hls lyrics, lbere's a lol of anlmal references.

Tbere's a mouse called Oerald, lhere's lhe elephanl,

there's fairies, there's scarecrows, there's cats.

Il's a worlrt lhal I was always fasclnaled wllh.

In bls songs we have a palnlerly vlslon.

He evokes very slrongly references lo sun,

lo shlnlng, lo sea, lo sparkles, lo waler.

All lbese lhlngs run lhrough hls songs

like a perpelual contlnuous lhreart.

Syrt ls a nalure poel.

I bearrt al one polnl lhal hls whole dlet

conslslert of hasb and poelry.

I think I tried to do that at some point in my 20s.

He's the original pu nk rock icon in what pu nk rock meant to me,

which was sort of breaking all the rules and having fun with it

and the spirit of play.

To look good, ID be able lo play gullar, lo lnvent good melorties,

and also to produce lyrics that made you think.

Il's a very pDwerful sel of lools lo have al your rtlsposal.

Syd hart all lhls churning around In his mlnrt,

llke lhe resl of us did,

bul be mnkes connecllons lhal are so unexpeclert and strnnge

lhal no Dne else In lhe world could bave made lhose connecllons.

Even early songs like "Bike" for instance.

He'd written about a bike,

which of course is not a subject that most lyricists write about.

They write about love or death or illness or loss.

"I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like."

"It's got a basket, a bell , a ring and things that make it look good ."

"I'd give it to you if I could , but I borrowed it."

Where does this come from?

Every verse is like that I think.

I suppose lblngs llke "Blke "

was more of a slruclurert lhlng happenlng,

bul sonlcally lowards lhe enrt,

I've never really bearrt anylhing like lhal.

A sort of oversaturation of sounds, clocks,

and then this kind of repetitive sound

that sou nded like a goose attacking you.

- Like a what? - Like a goose attacking.

Going into attack mode.

Quite d isturbing.

The way LSD works, we now know,

is it stimulates receptors in the brain

called serotonin receptors.

But a particular subtype of serotonin receptor

called the 5-HT or serotonin 2A receptor.

Psychertelic rtrugs llke fSD all work Dn lhose receplors

anrt whal lhey do ls lo lnlerrupl lbe lrartillonal way

In whlch tbe braln ls organlsed.

Everylhing we rto ls orcheslralert In a very reflexlve habllual way.

FSD, by lurnlng on tbose receplors disrupts lbal.

Whal lhen bappens ls tbat your braln ralber lban dolng

wbat ll's been tolrt lo rto by habll, slarts lo do ils own lhlng.

If you have regular conversations with God , or the angels

and they're saying pleasant things to you ,

telling you how great you are, you don't want to lose that.

On the other hand , if you're tormented by devils

or other persecutors,

you may nevertheless feel that you're important enough

for the devil to take an interest in you.

And that might give you enough kudos

to carry on with this situation without telling other people.

Tbere's a lol of lnleresl in balance belween right braln and lefl brnln.

I n very simplistic terms,

the right brain is the more creative, whole picture side.

The left brain is the more focused , analytical side.

There's a little saying that the problems in psychology are

when the right brain's got nothing left and the left brain's got nothing right.

Anrt lbere ls a lol of lnleresllng discusslon

aboul lhe llnk belween creallvlly and menlal lllness.

Carl Jung , the psychologist,

had this great insight where he talked about,

from his studies, of breakdown , mental illness,

he called it a "failed initiation".

What he meant by that,

which I think was a really interesting thing to say,

was that often a breakdown is an attempt at a breakthrough.

It's an attempt to come into a new form of consciousness.

And it's either premature or in some way it falters.

I remember one partlcular inlerlurte where we went lo see lhe Masler,

lhnl's Cbaran Singb Jl.

Which was a guru that we were all thinking of following

in the heady days of psychedelia.

A few people there and then said they wanted to become 'initiated'.

I don't like the word but anyway.

Syd had asked for initiation

and the Master had said it's too early.

Dlrt you know wby he said lhal?

Well, lhere's qulle of a lol of commllmenl In Sanl Mal,

wblch ls vegelarlanlsm,

and abslalnlng from mlnd allerlng subslances.

Is ilposslble tbat lhe rejecllon affeclert Syd?

Rejecllon affects us all.

I lhlnk Charan Slngb...

I dDn 'I know how deep bls lnslghls were,

I tblnk he hart a lol,

bul maybe be coulrt see wbat was gDlng ID bappen lo Syrt.

When you broke up, did you rto ll or dlrt he do lt?

Il was me, I'm afrald.

He was a great lover, a good boyfriend and you got rid of him?

Yeah.

Explain this to me, Jennifer Spires.

In lbe early days, he was lovely 'cause be was very calm,

he was an artlsl.

I got on the train at Cambridge at one end

and Syd got on the train at the other end.

That's bow we slartert llvlng al number 2 Earlbam slreel.

The wbole clan wenl from lbere lo I 0 / Cromwell Roart.

101 Cromwell Road!

A den of iniquity if ever there was.

Extraordinary place.

They'rt just puff away al lbese enormous jolnts

and gel complelely oul of lbelr heads.

I feel woozy even lhlnking about ll.

You see Syd, anrt lhe Pink Ployrt were really beglnnlng lben

anrt lhlngs were laklng off

I lhlnk lben, he was just loslng lhe plol sllgblly.

I remember we had a cat called Rover. Well , that was Syd , wasn't it?

The Plnk Floyrt sound was a perfecl malch

for lhe sponlaneous undergrounrt anrt lls mulllmedla evenls.

Wllh Barrell's song wrlling oulput flourlshlng,

lhe Plnk Floyrt were on lheir way.

Glgging a punishing four or flve nlghls a week,

lbe group ls approacbed by Peler Jenner and Andrew Klng,

wbD promislng lo buy lhe banrt some new equlpmenl,

becDme lhelr managers.

Klng anrt Jenner scbeme lo gel tbe banrt a recDrd conlracl

by recordlng a few rtemo lracks wilh American producer JDe Boyd,

who also runs lhe legendary UFO club wltb John 'Hoppy' Hopklns.

The plan works and Plnk Floyd slgn lo EMl Records In Pebruary I 967.

The very next rtay tbey begln recordlng fDr tbelr rtebul album,

"The Plper at lhe Oates of Dawn " wllb Norman Smilh al Abbey Road.

In lhe slurtlo nexl rtoor,

The Beatles are making lheir lanrtmark LP 'ergeanl Pepper'

There were a few casual songs be 'rt wrlllen early.

Bul lhe one wblch I'rt call lhe firsl real,

showing 'where we were going song' was "Arnold Layne".

"Arnolrt fayne " is releasert as a single on lhe I 0lb of March.

Syd workert very hard al "Arnold fayne '

He lold me ll had laken hlm a couple of monlhs

to write the Iyric, to get it just the way he wanted it.

- Really? It wasn't spontaneous? - No.

Tbis ldea tbat Syd rollert oul of bed al luncblime,

lDok some acld anrt wrole a couple of genlus songs

ls just absolule crap.

There's no such thing as easy art, Storm, is there?

Otherwise we'd all be doing it.

Desplle belng banned by Rartlo fondon for obscenlly,

"Arnolrt fayne "rencbes number 20 In lhe slngles chart

wllb lhe album "Piper al lhe Gales of Dawn "

reacblng number slx.

He was speclacular al lhe beglnnlng.

Prom lhal Chrlslmas, lbrough lo tbe summer

when tbey released 'Arnold Lanye "

anrt lhen "The Plper' Syd, anrt of course Hendrlx,

were klnrt Dflhe lwo blg psychertelic slars.

In May I 967, Plnk Floyd announce a mullimertia psychedellc concert

"Games For May' at lhe Queen Ellzabelh Hall.

Barrell bas wrlllen a new song for lhe evenl,

wbose lllle also "Games for May'

changes lo become lbe era rteflnlng 'ee Emlly Play'

He startert lnnovallng bls muslc

wilb lbe Zlppo llghler on bls Slralocasler

sllrtlng ll up and dDwn.

I n gigs, suddenly he was using this Zippo lighter

to create these incredibly eerie sounds.

'Ee Emlly Play" becomes lhe second Plnk FIDyd hil slngle,

earnlng lhe group several cruclal appearances

on lhe prlmellme BBC muslc sbow Top of lbe Pops In July.

When "See Emily Play" went to No. 5 or got into the top ten ...

I remember it well.

I was really excllert

anrt I'm wearlng all tbese slupld clolbes.

Yeah , but it was exciting , for God's sake.

It was very exciting

but I remember Syd in the dressing room

sitting there and he looked a bit glum

and I went, "Come on , what's up?"

He looked at me and he said ,

"John Lennon doesn't have to do this."

Even when things were going as well as they could ,

the band actually was stressful.

I remember we were in Trafalgar Square, we 'rt been In Green Park,

and lhen ll was lime lo go lo Top of lhe Pops.

Syrt sairt, "I don 'I really fancy il."

I sald, "Well, yeab, bul ll's a bil of a blg rteal."

There was the famous three weeks

that we did "See Emily Play" on Top of the Pops.

Tbe flrsl week was fine, Syrt looks really goort.

He's sllllng cross Ieggert on a greal blg lndlan cushlDn.

The second week, he arrivert lale, looklng very shambolic lnrteert.

Third week, we couldn't find him anywhere.

I openert lhe door and Syrt was lhere looking lolally freaked oul.

His feel were bare anrt he sairt, "Hl, can I come In ?"

I sald, "Of course you can come In."

Anrt be dldn 'I say anylhing.

Then there was a bang on the door

and somebody was like, "Is Syd in there?"

Whoever this person was, came in and just literally grabbed him

and dragged him out.

I think Syd Barrett was interested in this total freedom

almost like a jazz, really.

A kind of 'dlvertlmenll

I suppose lrylng lo slruclure or reln In lhis klnrt of energy

mlgbl have been fairly rtifflcull for hlm.

There 'd been a lol of welrrt sluffDn slage

wllb Syrt delunlng gullars

and lurnlng il lnlo a mlnd-numblng sound.

We were committed to being a pop grou p

and Syd was absolutely on the way to being ,

"No, I don't actually want to be a pop star."

Tbe relenlless gigglng anrt demanrts Dfslarrtom

are laklng tbelr lDll on Barrell's psycbe.

I was living in France in '6I, and I came back to England.

I wenl lo see lhem recorrtlng

and somelhing hart changert qulle radlcally.

He had losl bls spark anrt hls bounce

and lhal was a very ortrt anrt uncomrtable momenl.

The lhree songs I lhlnk lhal are really lmpDrtanl,

'ugbanrt Blues ' 'cream Tby fasl Scream "

and "Vegetable Man '

"Vegelnble Man ' he wrole ll In my room.

He sal In a corner anrt he just wrole lbose lyrlcs down.

Il was scary.

You had this skinny guy who's just crying his heart out,

"That's why I am vegetable man ."

You go, "Oh God.

Is that what you really think?

Is that how you feel about yourself now?"

It was all lhal classlc music buslness bollocks.

"Come on Syd, where's lbe nexl slngle ?"

He was a senslllve chap, he wasn 'I harrtbollert.

He didn't like all that pressure.

And he had a hell of a lot of pressure.

Il's llke If you look al Van Gogb's Ialerpiclures,

you get lhe same tblng.

You can see tbe manlfeslallon of lhe lurmoll In bis brain

and all those things.

I think, in the same way you can see the confusion

and everything within Syd's brain.

Bolh "Vegelnble Man " anrt 'cream Thy fasl Scream "

are rteemert uncommerclal by lhe record company.

And 'ugband Blues " is held over for lhe nexl Plnk Ployrt album.

'Apples anrt Oranges ' a song wrlllen by Syd

about his glrlfrlend flndsay Korner shopplng,

is flnally chosen by EMl as Pink Ployrt's lhirrt slngle.

Il is releasert In November anrt ls a flop.

Did you ever see him perform with Pink FIoyd?

Yeah , I did once.

I went to the Roundhouse but it wasn't any fun.

It wasn't.

He didn't look as if he was enjoying it

and so it wasn't anything I did again.

Do you agree in any way about the family's view

which is they blame rock and roll for Syd's decline?

I think that's not an unreasonable position.

I don't think he would have Iiked not to have done it.

He got into it, he was very happy doing it.

It was good fun.

It was sad to see him go downhill . You could see by his eyes.

He would be looking sort of...

He wouldn't look at you , he'd be Iooking into space.

Wltb hopes of breaklng Amerlca anrt despile concerns aboul Syd,

lhe banrt sel off r a mini lour of lbe US.

You're lhere wltb Syrt who was just an artisl who wrole songs

anrt was havlng a good llme nnd llked llslenlng lo muslc,

playlng In a banrt and, "Wow, lsn 'I lhls groovy?"

Able to go and buy a new shirt, have your hair frizzed

and do all these things that you could do.

- Buy some new boots. - Yeah , all that stuff.

Gosh , got some money coming and , "Oh wow."

Then , people started asking him the meaning of life.

He was as ll were lhe plnup bDy of lhe revolullon.

Thal was probnbly very strange going lo America

'cause, "Wow, I'm In Amerlca now.

I'm rtolng lhe Pillmore.

WDwlAnrt lhese guys glve me lhis nlce aclrt.

Wahey! Oh , wow." You know.

Are you lelllng me you anrt Syrtgolplcked up

by a couple of Callfornian blonrtes ?

Exaclly lhal, wllb lhose slralgbl eyebrD.

Yes, everyborty woulrt dream aboul lhls slDry.

- And this happened to you . - It happened to Syd and I.

But we were young kids from England

where this sort of thing was fucking ...

Tbere was lDts of dope anrt lols of everylblng

and Syd was very bappy.

U ntil we returned.

I think, then , it would be the gig in Los Angeles

which was probably the worst gig of all.

These gentlemen you're about to meet

are on their first visit to the U nited States.

They've only been here less than a week as a matter of fact.

Would you greet them warmly please, The Pink FIoyd!

- Rlck llp-synchert ll. - Because ?

Because Syd wDulrtn 'I slng, couldn 'I sing, woulrtn 'I slng.

He just sloort lhere.

That was a tricky tour.

- Syd , did you write this? - Yeah.

I noticed on the album you wrote most of the songs, is that true?

Yeah , that's right.

We rtlrt a TV show In fos Angeles,

he just walked oul Df lhe sludlo and rtlsappeared.

- For a reason ? - No.

Let me wish you , gentlemen , all very good Iuck.

I hope you enjoy your stay, get some sleep

and get something other than cheeseburgers during your stay.

Thank you very much . N ick, nice to see you.

When Syrt became unrellable, I lhlnk we really almosl balert blm,

because we were so dependenl on him.

By tbe llme Anrtrew came back from Amerlca, ll was rteflnllely a prDblem.

One Dflhe more conlenllous rumours ls lhe ldea

lbal be mlghl have been glven aclrt every morning In bis coffee.

Dld Rlck say somelhlng?

He reckoned that Syd's downfall came about by his hangers-on.

Then, people wbD are wrlllng books or rtolng lnlervlews,

lbey tblnk, "WbD were his frlends al lhal tlme ?"

'O and so."

- Jock anrt Sue In lhls case ? - Yeab.

Apparently we're living in Richmond , we used to get up every morning ,

we all sit around the breakfast table, we would then spike Syd.

It's absolute fucking bollocks.

Maybe lhal's alsD a quallly of rumours.

Il's qulle gDort If your herD is flawert

because of someborty else 's ralber lban lhelr own.

Better for him to be spiked

than to have him gone to them and said , "Oh , can I have some acid now?"

In a way, il woulrt have been mucb easler for all of us

If Syrt ha sald, "I'm really fuckert up.

I'm really sorry, I can 'I cope any more. Can yDu help me ?"

So we were always trying to help him without him giving any ind ication

that he had any desire or need for help.

I remember taking Syd to Ronnie Laing's

and him refusing to get out of the car.

Not that I'm convinced Ronnie Laing

would have been able to do a huge amount for him.

As psychiatrists and psychotherapists

who profess to be able

to be of some service to people

in distressed states of mind ,

we cannol expecl lo be of any help

beyond pulllng people back to lhls slrte.

I nto this socially reinforced ,

totalitarian , egalitarian , quantitative,

dequantified , de-experientialised dead world.

Where there's no fun or joy

or any genuine celebration of anything

because all that is life and science is studying death.

You coulrt argue lhal some forms of so-callert madness

are slrong moves lo relain freedom.

You could also argue at a certain Ievel ,

he could see that the success of the FIoyd was reducing his freedom.

He was playing us this song in a rehearsaI

and the song was called "Have you got it yet?".

And basically, the song would alter so that the chorus was, "No, no, no."

Syd would alter the rhythmic pattern

or do whatever was necessary to ensure that no, they hadn't got it yet.

- Or couldn't. - Or couldn't get it.

Or might never have got it.

Slorles are leglon aboul Syrt's alarming bebaviour

on slage rturlng lhis perlort.

Playlng one nole for an enllre show,

or slowly delunlng bls slrlngs unlll lhey fell Ilmp on lhe gullar.

Flve boolleg recorrtlngs however,

caplure several lnspirert performances.

Nevertbeless, on a smnll package tour wllb Jlmi Hendrlx,

The Move and a few olher bands,

Bnrrel would somelimes need lo be replaced

by Davld O'fisl from Tbe Nlce.

As far back as I 965, Syrt hlmself bart wrlllen lo fibby Gausden

suggesling bls old frlend Davld Gllmour should joln lbe group

referrlng lo blm as 'Prert'.

Whal became known as lhe 'Frert plan ' was now pul lnlD effect.

Looking back on it,

I can see that they all played a distinct part

in the success of Pink FIoyd.

You hart Roger wbo bart lhis masslve rtelermlnallon,

Rick's muslcal sopblsllcalion and you've gol Nick's showmanshlp.

For several shows, lhe banrt performs as a flve-plece

In lbe bope of keeping Syd arDund.

We 'rt alrearty lrlert tbree or four glgs as a flve-plece.

Il was a very uncomfortable feeling

bul I lhlnk we were absDlulely gearert lo lhls lrtea.

Il wasn 'I a maller Dflrylng Dave oul,

I lhlnk we lovert lbe ldea of baving blm In tbe banrt.

Do you recall whal happenert on whal I called 'The day'?

I can 'I remember where Syrt was llvlng al lhe lime.

- We were all.. . - Were you on the way to a gig?

Yeah , we were absolutely on the way to a gig.

Everyone else had been picked up, so we were on the way to pick Syd up

and someone said , "Shall we bother?" more or less.

There was this sort of moment and we went,

"Do you know what? Let's not."

Syd's lasl gig wllh Plnk Floyd

was on lhe 20lb of January, I 968 al Hasllngs Pler.

Do you think it's understandable then that they had to move on as it were?

That's the way it works.

It's animal husbandry.

I'm amaze lhal lhey managert lo recover

from loslng lhelr maln creallve drlve.

No, it's not amazing they recovered ,

they became the pop group that they always desired to be.

Once David Gilmour's in there, that's the beginning of something else.

Il's tbe beglnning of lbe Pink Floyrt

lhnl became very successful laler on wllb "Mertdle '

"Dark Slde of lhe Moon " anrt "Wlsh you Were Here ".

When the FIoyd broke up,

you and Peter, as BIackhill , as I understand ,

elected to continue with Syd.

We made a particularly astute commercial decision.

That's lwo verses.

Sorry, I'll do ll agaln.

Syrt came lo Ilve wllb us al Egerton Court

wblch ls lhe ftal lhal we hart In lhe cenlre Df London In Soulh Ken.

I wenl lhere, you were tbere anrt Po was tbere,

Nlgel and Jenny, lhey hart lhe smart room al lhe fronl.

How was Syd dDlng lhose days ? Do you remember?

He was unpredlclable lhen. He was very unprertlclable.

I don't think anybody in the flat realised

just bow bad Syd bart become.

He began locklng himself In bls room for several dnys wllb flndsay.

There were rows, all sorts of things going on.

I had the small room adjacent to the Iarge room

in which he and Lindsay Iived.

I could hear him tickling her, which sou nded harmless enough ,

and then she'd scream at him to stop tickling and he wouldn't.

I can't remember what happened but he pushed me over and jumped on me.

That's when I called out and you came in.

Syd rteclrtert lbal presumably lhe relallonsblp was nol as ll shoulrt be

and seemert lo be allacking ber wltb a manrtolln.

Then the next day you took me home to Cambridge.

- Don't you remember? - Yeah.

But was this the end of you and Syd?

Oh yes, that was it.

Syd's apparenl malalse, sball we say, dldn 'I appear lnllially.

I lhoughl he was cbarmlng anrt good company.

This was his very room.

Dave Gllmour llved In Rlcbmonrt Manslons, one slreel away.

We could see from our kllchen inlo bis kllchen.

Syd goes back lnlo Abbey Roart slurtlos lo begin recorrtlng some demos.

Wllb lhe support of Peler Jenner, Malcolm Jones,

Davld Gllmour and Roger Walers,

lhese sesslons, lbDugh rtifflcull, would resull In his flrsl solo album,

"Tbe Martcap faugbs ".

In lbe firsl lol DfsesslDns

you coulrtn 'I gel an honesl answer lo an honesl quesllon.

"Shall we do that again?"

No reply.

"I think that was really good , can we try that again?"

ND reply.

"Woulrt you wanl lo go and play a bll more ?"

Tben, he woulrt go oul anrt maybe play a bll more or maybe nol.

Is ll on ?

There'd been quite a considerable amount of time

and money gone into it

and EM I had decided to more or less pull the plug.

Roger and I asked them if we could finish it off

and they gave us something like three days.

We sluck hlm In lhe sludlo anrt recorrted everylhlng and anylhlng

lbal we coulrt gel blm lo do.

The end result is a pretty fair portrait of him at the time.

And I tblnk his wrlllng probably was beller

lhan lhe wrlling on "Plper al lhe Gales of Dawn '

"Where are you now pussy willow who smiled on this leaf?"

You go, "Wbal lhe fuck ls lbal aboul?"

He's slill maklng lhese exlraordlnary conneclions

wllb lhe deepesl feellngs of,

"Can I or can I not make contact with other human beings?"

Which is the stuff of all our Iives.

Storm anrt I bad a company called Hlpgnosls

anrt we were asked lo rto lbe album cDver.

Slorm wenl lo pholDgrapb Syrt wllh Mlck Rock.

He had a flat in which he'd painted the floorboards blue and red ,

I think for the photo session , which is pretty amazing.

What was interesting about the floor is there was all this rubble

because he'd paint over the cigarette butts

and various bits of debris in the room.

I look a pholo of Syrt croucbed a bil llke an animal really.

I look a lon of lhem loo, ll wasn 'I just Slorm.

And lggy lhe Eskimo, wbD was never really his glrlfrlenrt

because lhese were blpple llmes.

I lhlnk she llngerert for a couple of weeks.

On tbe back cDver was a plclure of a naked woman

who was an klmo,

but likert, whelher Syrt was lhere or nDt, lo walk arounrt nakert.

He sald, "Thls is lggy, why rton 'I you pul her In lhe plclure ?"

I salrt, "Plne."

"Tbe Martcap faughs " ls releasert

on EMl's new progresslve lmprlnl, Harvesl, in January I 970.

Il reaches number 40 in lhe UK charts.

Successful enough for EMl lo flnance lbe recorrtlng

Df Syd's secDnrt sDlo album, "Barrell'

There was more time so we could relax a little bit more

and try and do things in a slightly different way.

We llved arounrt lhe corner from eacb olher,

we being myself and Wlllie Wllson.

He and I sharert a ftal In Chelsea.

Syd lived around lhe corner.

We'd try and get him to play along with the band ,

but he'd never do it the same twice.

So usually it meant we'd cut a backing track without him

and then get him to put some stuff on it afterwards.

Rlck came along anrt helpert a bit on lhal Dne.

All I ever saw was Dave wanting to get the best out of Syd

he could possibly get, which was not easy.

We just followed him wherever he wenl.

Sometimes, it just kept falling down and falling over itself

and sometimes it got interesting.

He wrote some pretty unusual chord sequences

and found some unusual melodies to sit on the top of it

and wrote fascinating lyrics.

Even though some around that Wetherby Mansions time are very moody,

there's quite a lot of them he's Iaughing in.

Released In November, "Barrell" woulrt be Syd's flnal sludlD album.

Il lls lo chart.

Can yDu recall wben you flrsl met Syd?

He came runnlng up looklng llke a rock slar

wllh bls velveljeans on, his velveljackel

anrt bls Chelsea bools on.

He looked and I thought, "Ooh , wow, it's Syd Barrett."

He hart a spare room.

I wasn 'I sure at lhal slage whelher ll was,

"Come anrt llve wllh me, " or...

- "Would you like a room?" - "I've got a room ."

- "Give us some money." - Yeah , "Give us some money."

He was prelly strange.

He 'rt just open lhe door anrt cDme In lhe room

and lhal woulrt be ll.

I thought it was kind of great to have a boyfriend like that

rather than a bloke working in Barclays Bank.

In support of lhe "Martcap faugbs " anrt "Barrell" albums,

Syrt records a session for lnfluenllal Radlo I DJ, John Peel.

And on lbe 6lh of June I 970, be plays a glg,

bls first for lwo years, al lhe Olympla Exblblllon Hall

wllb Davld Ollmour on bass gultar and Jerry Shlrley on rtrums.

Afler just a few songs, however, Syd abruplly walks off slage.

He decided at one stage that he no longer wanted to be a pop star.

He wenl oul anrt bougbl canvases, lons of pols of palnl and brushes

anrt he locked hlmselfln lbal room anrtpainled day anrt nlgbl.

Every lime I was allDwed ID see a canvns,

lhe next llme I saw ll, ll woulrt ellber be deslroyert

or he 'dpalnled all over ll.

Try and keep up with Duggie, 'him next door'.

He never used his name, it was 'him next door' or 'that painter'.

You've got two aspects of his personality though , haven't you?

You've got Roger and Syd.

Syd was the musician ,

Roger was maybe a would-be artist but Roger never found his way.

He put a layer of hessian over the curtains

so he had this darkened room that he Iived in.

People would stanrt Dutslde hls doDr knocklng and gDlng,

'yrt, lel me In, " for hours somellmes.

I moved back to Cambridge and Duggie had called me and said ,

"This is getting crazy."

I don't know what he was doing but he'd been in his room for days and nights

and hadn't come out.

I conlaclert Syrt and I salrt, "Why ldn 'I you cDme ID Cambrldge ?"

Anrt sDmebow il was like we were back logelher agaln.

So, I moved in.

- I nto Hills Road? - I nto H ills Road.

- I nto the cellar? - I nto the cellar with Syd.

Il was all rtark, It was orlglnally a coal cellar.

Il bart all bls blls and pieces from his cblldboort lhere,

his rtrawlngs, his palnllngs anrt bls guilar.

Anrt il was all very normal.

Mrs Barrett would come rushing out and say,

"Oh, bello dear, hello rtear. Wbal aboul a cup of lea ?

Rog, would you llke a cup Df lea ?"

We became engagert.

Mum Drganised lhis big Sunrtay lunch.

Thls is lhe llme when Syd lhrew a bowl of lomalo soup over me.

It was a normal Sunday lunch and Syd just went, whoops!

Then , he stood up from the table, laughed , disappeared ,

and came down , and he'd cut all his hair off.

I'rt gone back ID my parents.

Tbe nexl rtay, a leller arrlved

saylng lhal lhe engagemenl was offlclally off

"Yours sincerely, R. K. Barrett."

I gol anolher leller from hlm lwo rtays laler

saylng, "Dear Oala, I lhlnk we shoulrt gel marrled.

Ignore the Ietter I sent you yesterday.

Lots of love, Syd ."

We went up lo Lonrton and bDughl anolher engagemenl ring.

So lhere's always lwo. Two rlngs and lwo parts of Syrt.

Two rlngs and lwo lellers.

Syd's relalionshlp wllh Gala Pinlon would enrt

wben he became convlncert she was havlng an affalr

wllb a colleague In lbe local rtepartmenl slore.

Gala would be lhe last of Barrell's glrlfrlends.

He became more reclusive when he returned to London

and he was living in Chelsea Cloisters.

Slghllngs of Syd become less frequenl

wilh just lbe ortd lurld slory In lbe papers

and occaslonal vislls lo lhe local pub

or lo lbe oce of bls muslc publishers.

When we were still at N EMS , which was early 'I0s,

and he started coming to those offices,

that's when we realised he didn't have any money or very little money.

We talked about it and he said

he did n't know where his money and his royalties were.

So we said , "That's easy, we'll write to Essex, we'll write to EM I ,

we'll write to PRS and find out where your royalties are."

I use the phrase very Ioosely, "Poor Syd ."

Of course, Brian being a money man ,

he went "Poor Syd?

He made lwo and a half mllllon qulrt lasl year."

I said , "God , where do you keep all your guitars? You've got loads."

He said , "I've got another flat for them ."

He salrt, 'ohn Lennon's gol lols of guilars."

Wllh royallles from Plnk Floyrt sales

and Davirt Bowle's cover of 'ee Emlly Play" on his "Pln Ups " album,

Syrt woul move back and rth belween fondon

and lbe small back bedroom In hls mDlber's bouse in Cambrirtge

for lhe nexl I2 years or so.

Whlle In Cambrldge, Jenny Splres lnlrortuces Barrell lo her husband,

bass player Jack Monk and rtrummer Twink from Tbe Pink Palrles.

Afler several lmpromplu jam sessions, lhe lrlo formed lhe group Stars

and play a hanrtful of glgs locally.

We 'd like lo brlng Syd Barrell up lo lbe banrt sland.

Woulrt you come on ? How aboul a hand for Syrt Barrell?

All appears lo be going well

bul following a disaslrDus glg wllh MC5

anrt a negallve revlew In Melorty Maker, Syd leaves lhe group.

He will never play In publlc agaln.

A year laler, Plnk FIDyd release "Dark Slde of The Moon "

anrt hll lbe lop of lhe US Billboarrt album cbarts.

Il remalns one of lbe besl-selllng records of all llme.

As Pink Floyrt's success anrt fame grows,

Peler Jenner persuades Syrt ID relurn lo Abbey Roart.

After lhree days In lhe slurtlo prortuclng just a hanrtful of rlffs,

lhe sesslDns are abanrtoned.

In /975, Plnk Ployrt records lhelr nlnlb slurtlo album,

lhe concepl recorrt "Wlsh You Were Here '

ngaln reachlng number one on lhe Blllboard cbarts.

Wrlllen as a lrlbule lo Syrt, 'bine on You Crazy Diamonrt'

a 25-mlnule-long lrack made up of nlne parts

book ends lhe album.

The last personal abiding memory I have of Syd was at Abbey Road

when he turned up, remarkably,

at the recording of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond"

but I didn't realise it was him.

I was sllling In my usual place In tbe conlrol rDom of Slurtlo 3.

I heard lbe rtoor go, looked round

anrt lhere was lbls chap slanrtlng In tbe back of lhe room

who was sllghlly portly, wllh a shaven head anrt a raincoal on.

I just assumed he was something to do with the studio.

You would occasionally get odd people popping in.

I had been doing something in the studio.

I don't know what but I'd been in the studio.

So I came into the control room

to find the band all looking a little bit weird.

It took a little while.

I don't recall whether it was Roger or David who realised that it was Syd.

I was waiting for someone to either say, "This is so and so."

Or for someone to say "Security are coming any minute now."

For someone who'd come in off the street.

Dave looked at me and he said , "Do you know who that is?"

I went, "No."

Anrt he sairt, "Il's Syd."

He hadn't been seen for six years.

He asked if he could help.

Syd came in and sat down ,

David and Roger started talking to him.

I then took this opportunity to snap a couple of photos

with the camera that I'd only had a couple of days

as a present from the band after we'd done Knebworth.

Il lurns oul I was uslng a slow speert ouldoor fllm.

So piclures indoors are a llllle bll gralny.

Roger bart Brlan Humphrles, lbe englneer play blm lbe enrt of "Shlne On '

wbich fealures lhe melorty Ilne of 'ee Emlly Play'

Roger asked him afterwards if he recognised it

and Syd just said no.

Very blank, "No."

Syrt dlrtplck up lhe Martln,

lbe D-35 gullar In lhe conlrol room lhere.

I don 'I lhlnk be played anylhlng In partlcular.

Then what happened?

Nothing , we carried on working , as far as I remember.

Probably a lillle bll shellsbocked.

Rlck was lerrlbly upsel anrt Roger crlert.

Oflen people forgel lhal allhougb Syd was a buge lalenl,

lhis is a lalent lhal was all loo soDn losl lo us.

And that the band , had Ioved him.

Remember wben you were yDung, you shone llke lhe sun

Sblne on you crazy dlamond

Now lhere's a look In your eyes llke black holes In lhe sky

Sblne on you crazy dlamond

You were caugbl in lhe crDssfire of cbllrthoort anrt slarrtom

Blown on lhe sleel breeze

Come on you slranger, you legenrt, you martyr anrt shlne

In spile of his now cull slalus

In lhe eyes of a new generalion of fans anrt muslclans,

In I 978 Barrell sells lhe rlghls lo hls sDlo albums lo lhe record company.

By I 98 I, be's faclng bankruplcy proceertings.

In I 982, Syrt walks lbe 50 mlles from fondon back lo Cambrldge,

relurnlng home for lhe lasl llme.

He hart enormous bllslers on bls el

and he was lying on lbe sofa wllb his feel up

lrylng lo gel lhese blislers menrtert.

He just wanted to get home and he hadn't got any money.

You've gol lo remember lhal be never ld a day's work In his llfe,

getllng a salary or a wage packel.

He never bart lhal, so he never aclual!y grew up lo be responslble

because he never needed lo.

And I suppose all of us, if we d idn't need to, we wouldn't do it.

It's more fun being a child , isn't it?

We usert lo go oul In lhe car,

go lo areas where be coulrt pbDtograph for a palnllng.

So we spenl a lol of llme al Grantcbesler, whlch is just nearby.

He went back lo Cambrlrtge anrt his art very much reflecls lhal.

You could say ll's a relurn lo landscape.

- What happened to the work? - He wasn't keen on keeping his works.

Il's nol lbal be rtirtn 'I care r tbem aflerwards

because be rtid lake pbolos of lbem.

But he did tend to destroy work.

Syd marte lhlngs anrt lhen seemert lo deslroy lhem, Dr so we 're lolrt,

anrt I'm wonderlng whal lhal means.

Maybe he rtlrtn 'I llke loo much cluller.

It's called 'Syd's Feng Shui'.

He needert a lDt of support.

He was rtistressert.

PDr 25 years or so be was my responslbilily.

I cared for him.

He 'd come on his blke and he 'dgDl a canvas shopplng bag,

very much nn old person's tblng.

I said to him , "Do you know who I am?"

And he said , "Yes, I do. It's Libby isn't it?"

I said , "Yes, it is."

And we talked for a little while.

That's a strange question to ask, "Do you know who I am?"

I know who you are, you don't have to ask me.

I did have to ask him , he looked different.

He lolnlly moved on and dldn 'I llke lhal person,

he rtldn't like lhal worlrt anrt dldn 'I wanl lo be remlnrted of ll.

When people came lo lhe rtoor, he 'rt say,

'yd rtoesn 'I llve here nnymore."

Because be rtlrtn 'I.

He wasn't Syd anymore.

I lblnk ll's mosl unlikely lhalyDu can relnvenlyourself,

lbal you can become an orrtlnary bloke wbo goes rtown lhe pub and plays rtarts

wben you've been a rock slar,

wben you've been in lhe hll pararte and lhen you're nol.

DD you lblnk people llke lo embrolrter anrt romance lblngs ?

He's perfecl for rumours.

A magnellc person who's had so much lmpacl

anrt lhe banrt wenl on going on belng more anrt more successful.

And where was Syd?

Perfect for rumours.

I know the Daily Mail on a quiet celebrity period ,

would rediscover him every three years, you know.

"The mad genius of Pink FIoyd ."

I have a feellng lhal unrternealh a lol of lhls is a sartness.

Yes, bul you rton't know, you see.

Whal was he lhlnking on bis bicycle In Cambrlrtge on his own ?

We can lalk aboul ll forever bul we won 'I know.

Il's nol for us lo say how people shoulrt be.

Of course, ll wDuld have been great If be 'rt gone on

to prortuce sluff all hls llfe, bul he dlrtn 'I.

Anrt wby?

You could say he was in a weather system ,

something bigger than him that turned him over.

And it was sunny for the first two weeks

and it rained for six years.

There was a lragedy belng playert Dul partly self-lnduced.

In lbe end, il's a lraglc lale

anrt lraglc lales resonale wilh us In a dlfferenl way

and perhaps more aculely lhan lales of trlumpb.

Oul In lrtabD, lbey know who Plnk Ployrt are.

They probably don't know who Syd Barrett is.

He's the old singer in the band that I love, which is Pink Floyd.

The banrt we know Floyd ID be nDw, wouldn 'I be here wllhoul Syd.

Bul ll doesn 'I really bear much resemblance

lo lbe banrt lbal Syd was In.

Whal would ll have sounrtert llke If be bart slayert in lhe band?

I would hope that he would be able to see

what a beautiful thing it ended up being.

He ld lbings for lhelr own sake

an be rtepenrtert heavlly on hls Dwn chllrthoort memDries.

Bul I lbink lhal's alsD a goort Iesson lo us all,

lo go back lnslrte yourselves and see whal you can flnrt.

Now I don 'I unrterstanrt how borlng muslc can be,

wben al one polnl someborty was lrylng lo pul

so much lnto ur mlnules wDrtb of lislenlng

anrt lhe ear was enlertalned.

I hope lhal young people lhink lwlce because look whal can happen.

It'd be nice to think that people could Iearn a bit.

There are some people who must have a weakness of some sort

that is like a switch waiting to be turned.

And lhal swilcb wlll go and lhey'll never qulte come back.

I lhlnk il's really bard lo nol feel somelbing.

We probably dlrt aboul as mucb as we could.

We were all very young.

- Bul I bave a regret or lwo. - In whal form ?

That I never went to see him.

H is family kind of discouraged it.

Maybe we shoulrt have.

I regret that I never went up to his house in Cambridge.

- I n the '80s you mean? - '80s, '90s, 2000s.

I did n't go either.

None of us did , but I think, in retrospect,

both Syd and I might have gained something

out of one or two people popping around to his house

for a cup of tea.

There's this bloke who changed the Iives of everyone arou nd him.

- Yeah , I think.. . - It's a terrible story.

- Sorry? - It's a terrible story, Storm.

- It's a sad story. - It's a very, very sad story.

Is it a sad story? I wonder.

I don't think so, Storm , no.

- Sorry? - I don't think so.

I hope not.

I suppose it's because I partly feel he was unfulfilled

but that's just my projection rather than what he felt.

Yeah.

Well , all right, it's sad in this way.

We lboughl we were mDvlng In lhls wonderful rtlrecllon lo ulopla.

We were fully engagert In lbe blp dream

and ll was a rtream.

We hart splrllual helgbls In our slghts anrt Syrt loo.

Do you bave anytblng to lell me ?

Yeah.

OK, Syd.

I can't, I sort of...

I can't really say.

If you were, bypolhellcally, to wrlle a leller lo Syd...

Writing to him now? Yeah.

It would take me ages, I think.

I would say that he was a good man . "You were a good man.

And it's terribly sad what happened to you.

Sorry about all the rubbish that gets written about you

and the silly stories that get told ."

"I'm glart lbal you managed to gel away from all lbal martness

tbat was gDlng on In LDnrton arounrt your llfe.

And I hope that you were happy."

I'd say, "Syd come back," because he became Roger

and I don't think Roger was any happier.

A lol Df people tblnk my cnreer slarted wllh David Bowle

anrt I'rt bave lo say, well, of course, really tbe beglnning was Syd Barrell.

So, thank you Syd.

I always go back, revisll his work,

anrt il's always as good as I gel olrter and my underslanrting grows.

For me, he's like the perfect artist.

So, I'd like to give him a hug.

It's very interesting that you bring up memory.

And clearly this whole story that you're trying to tell about Syd

depends upon the memories of people of our age.

SIippery memories, aren't they?

Well , we all know that we make up memories to suit our egos.

- Thank you very mucb. - No.

Thal was greal.

Il was nice lo be lertgenlly back.

It's actually quite emotionaI

standing up here with these three guys after all these years.

Standing to be counted with the rest of you.

Anyway, we're doing this for everybody who's not here,

and particularly, of course, for Syd.

Syd, are you ready?

- Yeab. - Off you go.

I'll rtD ll on lop, rlghl?

I'll slart agaln.