Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Syd Barrett Dead at 60

Indulge me an off topic post;

One of the most inventive and influentual musicians of the late 60's died recently of diabetes. I've always been a big fan of Syd's solo stuff as well as his work with the group he founded, Pink Floyd. Heaven is fortunate today, for now Syd plays for the Angels.

""There are many stories about Barrett's bizarre and intermittently psychotic behaviour - many of which are undoubtedly apocryphal, although some are known to be true. According to Roger Waters, Barrett came into what was to be their last practice session with a new song he had dubbed "Have You Got It, Yet?" The song seemed simple enough when he first presented it to his bandmates, but it soon became impossibly difficult to learn: as they were practicing it, Barrett kept changing the arrangement. He would then play it again, with the arbitrary changes, and sing "Have you got it yet?" After more than an hour of trying to "get it," they realised they never would.""




There has been much speculation concerning the psychological well-being of Syd Barrett. Many believe he suffered from schizophrenia, though he didn't totally fit the typical profile for that condition. Additionally, some have suggested that Barrett had traits associated with Asperger Syndrome, a condition within the autistic spectrum.

Barrett's use of recreational drugs, especially LSD, during the 1960s is well-documented. Some believe that Barrett's drug use helped trigger (or at the very least inflame) his mental illness. In an article published in 2006, Gilmour was quoted as saying: "In my opinion, his breakdown would have happened anyway. It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it."

There is also the possibility that the sudden death of his father (a respected pathologist) when he was 11 caused him considerable anguish and left emotional scars that probably sowed some of the seeds of his later malaise. The subject matter of a lot of his songs, the nursery rhymes and fairy tale fantasies, were reminiscent for him of a "happier" period of his childhood before his father's death.

We may never fully understand Syd, but his music is still there for us to enjoy.

6 Comments:

Blogger WomanHonorThyself said...

Thanks for sharin this Kev..:)..sounds as though he had a bit of a tortured life eh..:)

July 11, 2006  
Blogger kevin said...

He did, most of what i've read leads me to think he suffered from mental illness made worse by drugs.

""There has been much speculation concerning the psychological well-being of Syd Barrett. Many believe he suffered from schizophrenia, though he didn't totally fit the typical profile for that condition. Additionally, some have suggested that Barrett had traits associated with Asperger Syndrome, a condition within the autistic spectrum.""

Syd's in a better place nowand his demons are long behind him.

July 11, 2006  
Blogger Tennessee Jed said...

It is odd how people that are deranged are able to shape the world of art and emotion so much. In nature it seems nothing is truly a waste it is just converted. His voyage into maddness took us all on a trip when he created Pink Floyd. I have noticed that folks from all sorts of backgrounds enjoy the music and thoughts prevoked by Syd's mind.

July 12, 2006  
Blogger Brooke said...

Hmm... It seems that artists are usually the most tortured of all of us.

July 12, 2006  
Blogger RFC said...

Good work Kevin. Nice post.
It was nice to hear from a fellow Floyd fan. May I ask how you stumbled upon my web site?

July 12, 2006  
Blogger kevin said...

FRC
I ran a search for Syd Barrett. I was happily surprized by the number of bloggers who payed homage to Syd.

July 12, 2006  

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