Syd

............................................................ Singles Lyrics:Arnold Layne ............................................................ .......................................... Arnold Layne had a strange hobby Collecting clothes Moonshine washing line They suit him fineOn the wall hung a tall mirror Distorted view, see through baby blue Oh, Arnold Layne It's not the same, takes two to know Two to know, two to know Why can't you see?Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold LayneNow he's caught - a nasty sort of person. They gave him time Doors bang - chain gang - he hates itOh, Arnold Layne It's not the same, takes two to know Two to know, two to know Why can't you see?Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne Don't do it again. ............................................................ ................................ Candy and a Currant Bun ........................................................... Oh my, girl sitting in the sun Go buy, candy and a currant bun I like, to see you run Like that...... Oooh, don't talk to me Please just fuck with me Please you know I'm feeling frail It's true, sun shining very bright It's you, who I'm gonna love tonight Ice cream, taste good in the afternoon Ice cream, taste good if you eat it soon Oooh, don't touch me child Please you know you drive me wild Please you know I'm feeling frail Don't try another cat Don't go where other you must know why Very very very frail Oh my, girl sitting in the sun Go buy, candy and a currant bun I like, to see you run Like that........................................................ ............................................................ ........ See Emily Play ........................................................... Emily tries but misunderstands, ah oohShe often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrowThere is no other dayLet's try it another wayYou'll lose your mind and playFree games for maySee Emily playSoon after dark Emily cries, ah oohGazing through trees in sorrow hardly a sound till tomorrowThere is no other dayLet's try it another wayYou'll lose your mind and playFree games for maySee Emily playPut on a gown that touches the ground, ah oohFloat on a river forever and ever, EmilyThere is no other dayLet's try it another wayYou'll lose your mind and playFree games for maySee Emily playApples and OrangesGot a flip-top pack of cigarettes in her pocketFeeling good at the topShopping in sharp shoesWalking in the sunshine town feeling very coolBut the butchers and the bakersin the supermarket storesGetting everything she wantsfrom the supermarket storesApples and orangesApples and orangesCornering neatly she trips up sweetlyTo meet the peopleShe's on time againAnd thenI catch her by the eye then I stop and have to thinkWhat a funny thing to do 'cause I'm feeling very pinkApples and orangesApples and orangesI love sheShe loves meSee youSee youThought you might to knowI'm the lorry driver manShe's on the runDown by the river sidefeeding ducks by the afternoon tideApples and orangesApples and orangesApples and oranges ............................................................ .......................................................... Paint Box ............................................................ Last night I had too much to drinkSitting in a club with so many foolsPlaying to rulesTrying to impress but feeling rather emptyI had another drink Drink - a - drink - a - drink - a - drinkWhat a way to spend that eveningThey all turn up with their friendsPlaying the gameBut in the scene I should have been Far farAway - away - away - away - awayGetting up, I feel as if I'm remembering this scene beforeI open the door to an empty roomThen I forgetThe telephone rings and someone speaksShe would very much like to go out to a showSo what can I do - I can't think what to sayShe sees through anyway Away - away - away - away - awayOut of the front door I goTraffic's moving rather slowArriving late, there she waitsLooking very angry, as cross as she can beBe - a - be - a - be - a - be - a - beGetting up, I feel as if I'm remembering this scene beforeI open the door to an empty roomThen I forgetScream Thy Last Scream (Old Woman with a Casket) (Transcribed by Stephen Schneider at 1/5 slowed down for accuracy.)Scream thy last scream old woman with a casket Blam blam your pointers point your pointers Waddle with apples to grouchy Mrs. Stores She’ll be scrubbing bubbles on all foursScream thy last scream old woman with a casket Fling your arms madly old lady with a daughter Flat top top houses, mouses, houses Victim a victim of sitting fat flatWatching the telly til all hours, silly child Fling your arms madly old lady with a daughter (During Instrumental part) Oh, sock it to me.... Scream thy last scream old woman with a casket Blam blam your pointers point your pointers Waddle with apples to grouchy Mrs. Stores She’ll be scrubbing bubbles on all foursScream thy last scream old women with a casket ............................................................ ............................................ Vegetable Man ..................................................... In yellow shoes I get the blues, So I walk the street with my plastic feet with blue velvet trousers make me feel pink Theres a kind of stink about blue velvet trousers In my paisley shirt, I look a jerk, and my turquoise waistcoat is quite outta sight. But oh, oh, my haircut looks so bad.... Vegetable man! Where are you? So I change my gear, and I bugger my knees and I cover them up with the latest cuts My pants and socks are all in a box It does take long to find darn old socks The watch, black watch, my watch with a black face and a date in a little hole and all the luck, its what I got, Its what I wear, Its what you see, It must be me, Its what I am! Vegetable man! Where are you? Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah Hah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah - oh! I've been looking all over the place for a place for me But it ain't anywhere It just ain't anywhere. Vegetable man, Vegetable man, Vegetable man. Vegetable man, Vegetable man, Vegetable man, He's the kind of fella you just gotta see if you can, Vegetable man......................................................... ............................................................ .............................................. My lovably ordinary brother SydThe ‘crazy diamond’ founder of Pink Floyd was no acid casualty or recluse. He loved art and DIY, his sister Rosemary tells his biographer Tim Willis in her first interview for 30 yearsWhen the death of 60-year-old Roger "Syd" Barrett was announced on Tuesday, the media raised an astonishing last hurrah for the founder of Pink Floyd, the "crazy diamond" who had shunned the public gaze for decades.The descriptions of him as a "mad genius", "recluse" and "acid casualty" were far off the mark, however, according to his sister Rosemary.When I wrote Barrett’s biography, Madcap, four years ago I had off-the-record guidance from Rosemary -- his junior by two years and closest friend. Last week, after his death, we spoke again and this time she went on the record -- the first time she has given a press interview for more than 30 years.She described him as a loving man who "simply couldn’t understand" the continued interest in his distant Pink Floyd years and was too absorbed in his own thoughts to spare time for fans.While her account is naturally fond, one should remember that she has spent much of her working life as a nurse and therefore sees no stigma in mental illness. As children, she and Barrett shared a bedroom and she recalls him leaping from his sheets to conduct an imaginary orchestra. He always had an extraordinary mind, bordering on the autistic or Aspergic. He had a rare talent to exploit ambiguities in language and also experienced synaesthesia -- the ability to "see sounds and hear colours" -- which was to be a huge influence on his music in his psychedelic phase.As a performing artist, signed to a label, he was under enormous strain. Not only did he find fame a two-edged sword, he was also deeply resistant to his record company’s commercial demands. He was run ragged. Between January 1966, when the Floyd turned professional, and January 1968, Barrett played 220 gigs around Britain -- not to mention broadcasting and performances abroad -- as well as writing, recording and co-producing two hit singles, most of the band’s first album and part of the second.While his enthusiastic ingestion of any drugs available might have triggered some disturbing behaviour, such stress might tip anyone into nervous collapse.From 1981, when he returned from London to the suburbs of his native Cambridge, resumed the name Roger and set up home in his mother’s modest semi, he made faltering but significant progress.Rosemary is adamant that he neither suffered from mental illness nor received treatment for it at any time since they resumed regular contact 25 years ago. At first he did spend some time in a private "home for lost souls" -- Greenwoods in Essex -- but she says there was no formal therapy programme there. ("And besides, he didn’t mix, because he was very content to be basket weaving and making things.") Later he agreed to some sessions with a psychiatrist at Fulbourn psychiatric hospital, Cambridge, but neither medication nor therapy was considered appropriate.He might have continued to find social interaction difficult -- when I knocked on his door while writing my book he greeted me in his underpants and avoided conversation by saying that he was just looking after the house -- but the idea that he "didn’t recognise he was Syd" is nonsense. His troubled years had been so painful that even thinking about his former incarnation upset him, so he made a conscious effort to avoid that trap.Because he was so interested in his own thoughts, his sister said, he often forgot about the mundane chores essential to comfort. To keep an eye on him, she would visit or phone every day and sometimes accompany him on expeditions into town.Earlier this year an old friend saw the pair in Robert Sayles, the Cambridge department store, and went up to renew their acquaintance. "Hello, Syd," he said. "Do you remember me?""Yup," replied Barrett. But Rosemary cut in with "Roger is only interested in buying some ties today", and led her brother away. Now she admits she might have been over-protective.Barrett lived in the semi with his mother until her death in 1991 and then remained there alone. "So much of his life was boringly normal," said Rosemary. "He looked after himself and the house and garden. He went shopping for basics on his bike -- always passing the time of day with the local shopkeepers -- and he went to DIY stores like B&Q for wood, which he brought home to make things for the house and garden."Actually, he was a hopeless handyman, he was always laughing at his attempts, but he enjoyed it. Then there was his cooking. Like everyone who lives on their own, he sometimes found that boring but he became good at curries."When Roger was working he liked to listen to jazz tapes. Thelonious Monk, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis were his favourites -- he always found something new in them -- but apart from the early Rolling Stones, he’d lost interest in pop music a long time ago."As for a television or radio, he didn’t feel the need to own one because he didn’t want to waste any energy concentrating on it. It’s not that he couldn’t apply his mind. He read very deeply about the history of art and actually wrote an unpublished book about it, which I’m too sad to read at the moment. But he found his own mind so absorbing that he didn’t want to be distracted."He did have leisure interests. He took up photography, and sometimes we went to the seaside together. Quite often he took the train on his own to London to look at the major art collections -- and he loved flowers. He made regular trips to the Botanic Gardens and to the dahlias at Anglesey Abbey, near Lode. But of course, his passion was his painting."Roger worked in a variety of styles -- though he admired no one after the impressionists -- and you could say he came up with his own type of conceptual art. He would photograph a particular flower and paint a large canvas from the photograph. Then he would make a photographic record of the picture before destroying the canvas. In a way, that was very typical of his approach to life. Once something was over, it was over. He felt no need to revisit it."That’s why he avoided contact with journalists and fans. He simply couldn’t understand the interest in something that had happened so long ago and he wasn’t willing to interrupt his own musings for their sake. After a while he and I stopped discussing the times he was bothered. We both knew what we thought and we simply had nothing more to add. It became easiest to pretend those incidents never happened and just blank them out."Roger may have been a bit selfish -- or rather self-absorbed -- but when people called him a recluse they were really only projecting their own disappointment. He knew what they wanted but he wasn’t willing to give it to them."Roger was unique; they didn’t have the vocabulary to describe him and so they pigeonholed him. If only they had seen him with children. His nieces and nephews, the kids in the road -- he would have them in stitches. He could talk at length and he played with words in a way that children instinctively appreciated, even if it sometimes threw adults."He was quite a sharp dresser, too. "He didn’t follow fashion -- he just bought what he liked for himself -- but he liked to look presentable. His clothes were always clean and pressed. In fact, if he had an obsession, it was with that."Barrett suffered from stomach ulcers for 30 years -- which he managed by drinking milk -- and also developed diabetes. "But he simply refused to admit it to himself. For days at a time he wouldn’t take his pills -- which, being a nurse, could have worried me. But to be honest, it can’t have been very severe because he never showed any ill effects."What he did show, she said, was love: "I gave it to him and he gave it to me. He was incredibly supportive when our mother died. And in the past week I’ve been surprised to learn how popular he was with the local tradesmen. He was simply a very lovable person."He showed his personality in lots of different ways -- which some outsiders found confusing -- but underneath he was solid as a rock. It may have been a responsibility to look out for him, but it was never a burden."The Sunday Times -July 16, 2006 Reproduction under Tim Willis permission.................................................. ............................................................ ..............Tim Willis Talks about Syd Barrett Last DaysTim Willis is the author of Madcap - The half-life of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's lost genius", published by Short Books, This book is the last work and probably the definitive one about the Floyd founder. Thanks to his usual helpfulness, Tim gave his second interview to "Dolly Rocker", trying to clarify some questions for Syd's fans and giving us further bits of details about last Syd days.Vittorio: Hi Tim, let me first congratulate you with the excellent work on Syd Barrett. I trust it got a good result in terms of sales, after all the positive reviews. Are you planning to have it translated in other languages? Tim: It's out in French - called 'Syd Barrett' - with an extra little essay. I haven't heard of any other interest.Vittorio: The death of Syd Barrett came as a hard blow to all the fans, since, no matter his diabetes, encouraging news has been recently circulating on his health. Any clue about how things worsened to the point of leading him to death? Tim: Not really. I know he went into hospital about five weeks before his death, and was taken home 'to die in his own bed' about a week before the end.Vittorio: Many fans were puzzled about the very meager comments of Waters and Gilmour after Syd's death. A Floyd fan wrote me he was at the 11 July Waters concert, soon after the rumors on Syd's death started: apparently neither Waters nor Mason felt like expressing any personal thought to the memory of their "fellow traveler". Your opinion? Tim: Sorry, I really don't know.Vittorio: Do you have any clue about Gilmour's actual state of mind? Did you happen to hear from him? We know well he always tried to ensure Syd a comfortable life, offering him new income through the Echoes album, which included several Syd's tracks. Tim: I can't really speak for him, but I do know he was much harder hit by the news than he had expected to be. On the other hand, he also said to a mutual friend: 'I lost Syd 30 years ago.'Vittorio: In a recent interview, Gilmour stated that time had probably come to meet Syd. Did you know if this did happen before his death? Tim: I'm afraid not, and I think David is quite sad that he didn't risk it in the end.Vittorio: Barrett's sister recently said that Syd was definitely not mentally ill, neither confined, and that his withdrawing into himself represented his way to overcome the Pink Floyd era. This seems to suggest that Syd showed a progressive and steady recovery from the well-known mental instability of the late Pink Floyd days. This would confirm my opinion that Syd Barrett deliberately resolved to make a clean break with the music biz: an unusual choice in a world where, sooner or later, everybody comes back. This probably made the curiosity and interest around him grow more and more. Tim: I tend to agree!Vittorio: Nick Mason, the only Pink Floyd member who seemed to comment Syd's departure, said: "I think, looking back on it now, what we should have probably done was just let him go much, much earlier instead of desperately trying to keep the thing going and to keep Syd on side, which did him no good at all." Sounds somehow contradictory, since already in Dec. '67 the "mentally healthy" threesome were conspiring about his replacement. something which Syd was fully aware of, as shown by his provoking (when not totally insane) attitude. Tim: Well, by December, Syd had been acting strangely for quite some time - so is there a contradiction?Vittorio: Quoting Mason again: "Pink Floyd wouldn't exist without Syd. If ever there was a record that marks a period of music history, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, with Syd's songs, is absolutely part of it. It's something that we never discovered again, not with Rick's or Roger's or David's writing, that sort of whimsical English vein". Any comment? Tim: I think that English whimsy was perfect for its time and Syd's age; but I doubt if he would have wanted to recapture it, either. He didn't like revisiting things.Vittorio: Mick Rock, in a recent interview, states that the last time he met Syd in person was in the 70's. This confirms what you said in your former Dolly Rocker interview: Syd Barrett would sign the card enclosed with the book, knowing only he was going to get a lot of money. Do you believe he did not even give a look at Mick's lavish photo volume? Tim: I don't know for sure, but I suspect he wouldn't have wanted to see it, and wouldn't have been interested if he had.Vittorio: Looks like the fans' best-preferred sport was to periodically put in his mailbox some music present (the HYGIY compilation or any other composition dedicated to him). Any clue, even from the family, if this kind of correspondence ended directly in the bin, or if Syd showed any interest towards these things (like in the story of the park bench that you describe in your publication)? Tim: Sorry, don't know. One day, I hope to talk to the family more. But they need time to mourn first.Waiting for hot water to turn cold Vittorio: After Syd's death, there were kind people like yourself with a nice article on TheFirstPost, an appreciated gift for all the fans of Syd. On the other side, unscrupulous speculations have started: there were cases of true looting and legal threats to the fan sites (fully ignored until then), whose widely-known content was abruptly claimed to have been published without the original author permission. We all agree the copyright is an untouchable right, but the copyright owners seem to systematically ignore the regulations on the "fair use": don't you think these represent just the latest examples of the human smallness about the smell of money? Tim: It's always sad when people turn nasty and greedy, isn't it? But lets close our eyes to the octopus ride.Vittorio: Do you think we're going to be flooded by a lot of profit-making efforts in memory of Syd Barrett? Tim: Probably. I guess it depends if interest grows now, or dies off 'due to lack of Syd'.Vittorio: Do you think Syd Barrett's family will put any of his paintings on sale? Any news about the art book he was told to be writing? Tim: See three questions above!Vittorio: What surprised me most about Syd is that, even if the recent commercial projects of the Floyd granted him a fair income, his way of life was absolutely plain. No excess, as confirmed by those people who, for different reasons, happened to visit him at home. Tim: Yes, but I think he had everything he wanted - and there's a lot of peace of mind to be had if you stop aspiring to more. ('Please leave us here..')Vittorio: Can we say, without exaggeration, that we lost a true music genius? At least because, even with a limited production, it's thanks to him if the Pink Floyd existed, and because he was the inspiration for the most renowned names of a psychedelia, which was immediate, intelligent and light-years far from the degenerations of progressive rock. Tim: I couldn't have put it better myself - and certainly not in Italian. One bit of unpublished news. Not Syd's last words - but still, some very interesting ones. When he was at home, in the last week of his life, his sister asked him what he thought about God and the after-life. "Do you know," Syd replied, "it never occurred to me."Okay, ciao. T