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flag England - Full Moon 121 - 08/09/06

Roger Keith 'Syd' Barrett
January 6 1946 - July 7 2006

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My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please, please lift the hand
I'm only a person with Eskimo chain
I tattooed my brain all the way...
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?

(excerpt from "Dark Globe" off Syd's first solo album The Madcap Laughs, Harvest 1970)

Syd's professional musical career only lasted a few years. What he achieved along with his band Pink Floyd during the second half of 1966 and first half of 1967, though, has put a profound stamp on pop and rock forever after, from innocent English fairy tale pop lyrics to instrumental interstellar excursions with complete overdrive. I guess much of the contemporary music we are writing about here at Luna Kafé would've sounded different - or wouldn't exist at all - if it hadn't been for what Syd and his Floyd were dealing with back then.

All of Syd's recorded output, both with the early Floyd and solo, is very well worth checking out. Start with Pink Floyd's essential debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and the first singles. The compilation Wouldn't You Miss Me? might be a starting point for his solo stuff or, even better, head straight for the three CD box Crazy Diamond that includes his two solo albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrett and sessions he recorded for them. His songs will shine on ...

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear
That I'm not here...

(excerpt from "Jugband Blues", Syd's only contribution to Floyd's second album A Saucerful Of Secrets, Columbia 1968)

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