Obituary: Syd Barrett
I’m not sure about anyone else, but from everything I had read about Syd, at least part of what was going on with him makes it sound like he was one of us (’on the spectrum’). [Disclaimer: I am a major Pink Foyd fan-boy] Thank you for the music, Syd.
Obituary: Syd Barrett [BBC]
Syd Barrett was a huge influence on rock music. As a founder member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett wrote songs at once wistful, surreal and quintessentially English. Barrett’s increasingly erratic mental state led to him leaving the band in 1968.Syd Barrett’s continuing importance, both to his former band-mates and the musical world at large, was made explicit at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London’s Hyde Park.
Introducing their classic song, Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters said: “This is for the people who can’t be here - especially Syd.” But it was another Floyd song, the epic Shine On You Crazy Diamond, written as a tribute to Syd Barrett, which will stand as his epitaph.
Update July 12:
Illustrative of this is an excerpt from an Associated Press discussion on the passing of Barrett with biographer Tim Willis, author of “Madcap: The Half-Life of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s Lost Genius.”
Do we know for certain what Barrett suffered from?
Willis: Nobody knows. His sister has said that a specialist said he had an “odd mind” rather than an illness. He had some identity problems, probably combined with Asperger’s syndrome, the obsessive kind that you often find in great artists. He just had a different brain. (full article)
Yep, that ‘odd mind’ rather than an illness…
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July 12th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
I’ve always felt like he was either one of us or a ‘cousin’ of some sort too. I read about his death earlier today and was sorry to hear about it.
July 12th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
For years I felt Syd was an autie; I am heartened to see you’ve blogged about him, even though it’s the with sad news of his passing. He was a gorgeous person - inside and out. May the memory of Syd always shine on….
July 13th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Personally I reckon it is wishful thinking probably a pyscological tendency that certainly is not confined to the spectrum to consider those who one admires as somehow of the same phylum (sept, clan wharrever) as oneself
I have thought the same way of Syd Barret but you see I am another of those children of the sixties. Na he was creative, obsessive and ultimately a recluse, I think more than anything it is his artistry that puts him in a different category to neuro typicality.
There are artists and there are autists, Iconoclasts and tragocanths (whatever they might be terabinths notwitstanding)
July 13th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Laurentius– too true, I notice (both personally and in others) the tendancy to find whomever is admired to be similar to oneself. Of course, that also means those who are despised are dis-similar, perhaps not even human (cf. Jung).
But as a child of that decade (though Syd was 10 years my senior) I observed many who had similar muses and excesses, yet did not possess that singular outlook that Syd (and a few others) had. Where else does the art spring from?
That is where the admiration came from, not from a ‘that is cool, I like that,’ rather ‘oh my god, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I do however, lack the skills to express it with the artistry that you do.’ Thus, I do feel he was similar to myself as I have that strong identity with his work…
I have not idea that you mean by tragocanths and terabinths. I am unfamiliar with those terms and various sources refer me to shrubbery and the components for adhesives. So are you saying there are artists and there are autistics, people who attack cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc. and adhesive components (whatever they might be a type of shrubbery notwitstanding).
So I guess what you are saying is that it is merely a proclivity to give those we (I) admire the diagnosis I (we) have, but I must never forget that he was a artistic genius while I am an autistic, discontented attacker of cherished beliefs and a sticky shrub. Perhaps I am mistaken, but my initial assessment is to think you feel you are somehow putting me in my place and righting my misconceptions about feeling that I-indeed all of us-have a spark of genius in us.
[a comment that was over the top has been removed]
Laurence, I have read entries at your blog several times and I don’t think that is what you meant…′
July 17th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
The death of Syd struck a chord with me and my mid-month podcast at The Best Radio You Have Never Heard (http://www.bestradiopodcast.com) is a tribute to the great rock visionary.
“Here To Do My Parts” is a tribute to Syd Barrett. Even though of course there is some Pink Floyd music in the show, it is more of a tribute to Syd’s vision. I like to think of it as traveling music for Syd’s iPod as he makes the trek to the Gates of Dawn, or perhaps some gardening music for the great beyond as, in his recent past, gardening was one of Syd’s few hobbies.
Have a listen and let me know what you think.
Perry/Chicago
http://www.bestradiopodcast.com
December 30th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I have arrived to try and spread the word about a new web page I have created at
http://www.guitarnstuff.com/pink-floyd/
It contains videos (new and old) of the Floyd, including some with Syd in them, so I am hoping that it will be of interest to any fans who might find this page!
Best wishes
Charlie