portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Saturday, July 28, 2018

SYD
(from the wonderful blog Music Italy 70)
I have an immense affection for Syd Barrett and his tragic lifestory. I adored the first album I found with him on and it remains a favourite in my top thirty albums for sure in the unique 'The Piper At The Gates of Dawn' [the title taken from a favourite book, Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind In The Willows' - being the title of the seventh chapter and reference to Pan]. There but for powers and circumstances beyond our control I empathise with Syd's experience and have lost friends to drug use so that I ended up working in the field of rehabilitation of people damaged by such life choices whatever that had propelled them that way. 
I have discussed here earlier what happened to later Pink Floyd albums and the time I stopped following the band around the time of 'Dark Side of The Moon' which I found obvious and hollow and the execrable 'The Wall' but Syd's 'Bike' and 'See Emily Play', 'Arnold Layne' 'Lucifer Sam' etc etc still haunt me and I am given to singing 'Bike' at times of stress (if only in my head, fortunately) . . . . . . . shine on you crazy diamond indeed
































































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