![]() “It’s gone!” sighed the Rat, sinking back in his seat again. In future episodes on Pink Floyd, I'll refer to him just as Barrett, but in episodes where I discuss his influence on other artists, I will probably have to use "Syd Barrett" because otherwise people who haven't listened to this episode won't know what on Earth I'm talking about. So what I'm going to do in this episode is refer to him as "Roger Barrett" when a full name is necessary for disambiguation or just "Barrett" otherwise, but I'll leave any quotes from other people referring to "Syd" as they were originally phrased. I don't believe it's right to refer to people by names they choose not to go by themselves, but the name Barrett went by throughout his brief period in the public eye was different from the one he went by later, and by all accounts he was actually distressed by its use in later years. The man everyone knows as Syd Barrett was born Roger Barrett, used that name with his family for his whole life, and in later years very strongly disliked being called "Syd", yet everyone other than his family called him that at all times until he left the music industry, and that's the name that appears on record labels, including his solo albums. But also, there's a rather unique problem in how I deal with the name of the main artist in the story today. ![]() Why not join them? Transcript A note before I begin - this episode deals with drug use and mental illness, so anyone who might be upset by those subjects might want to skip this one. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. And annoyingly, given the lengths I went to to deal correctly with Barrett's name, I repeatedly refer to "Dave" Gilmour, when Gilmour prefers David. The song is credited to all four members, but it was Barrett who came up with the riff I talk about. ERRATA: I talk about “Interstellar Overdrive” as if Barrett wrote it solo. ![]() Completists will also want the rarities and outtakes collection Opel. Barrett only released two solo albums during his career. Those who want a fuller history of his time with the group will want to get Piper and also the box set Cambridge St/ation 1965-1967. The compilation Relics contains many of the most important tracks from Barrett's time with Pink Floyd, while Piper at the Gates of Dawn is his one full album with them. In this and future episodes on Pink Floyd I'm also relying on Nick Mason's Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd and Pink Floyd: All the Songsby Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin. Information about Joe Boyd comes from Boyd's book White Bicycles. Crazy Diamond by Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson is much less reliable, but does have quite a few interview quotes that aren't duplicated by Chapman. ![]() Some of the information has been superseded by newer discoveries, but Chapman is almost unique in people writing about Barrett in that he actually seems to care about the facts and try to get things right rather than make up something more interesting. I referred to two biographies of Barrett in this episode - A Very Irregular Head by Rob Chapman is the one I would recommend, and the one whose narrative I have largely followed. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at and Resources No Mixcloud this time, due to the number of Pink Floyd songs. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. ![]() Patreon backers also have a twenty-five-minute bonus episode available, on "First Girl I Loved" by the Incredible String Band. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Episode one hundred and fifty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “See Emily Play", the birth of the UK underground, and the career of Roger Barrett, known as Syd. ![]()
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