158 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
158 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
From: nyx.cs.du.edu!grimmer@is-next.umd.edu (Geoff Rimmer)
|
|
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1993 13:56:24 -0600
|
|
To: echoes@tcsi.tcs.com
|
|
Subject: Syd interview+roio
|
|
|
|
I just bought a CD roio called "Syd Barrett - Lucy Leave & other
|
|
rarities." The CD booklet contains an interview with Syd (see below).
|
|
|
|
The cover has a picture of Nick, Roger, Syd and Rick. Syd's cutting a
|
|
cake, Roger's pouring champagne AND SMILING!!! (First and last time?)
|
|
The Cd has a picture of Syd walking down the street, fastening up his
|
|
blue T-shirt. I don't know when the picture was taken, but he's not
|
|
got much hair left! Not because he's shaved it - actual baldness.
|
|
Now where did I put that colour scanner? :-)
|
|
|
|
Some tracks are the same as on Opel, (e.g. Word Song and Birdie Hop)
|
|
Others are completely different from any of Syd's solo albums. I have
|
|
a horrible thought that the new box set (out Monday 26th April
|
|
according to HMV in Birmingham.) will simply be a combination of
|
|
Madcap, Barrett, Opel and this roio!
|
|
|
|
Two tracks are "Lucy Leave" and "I'm a Kingbee". What was the echoes
|
|
conclusion about these? Who sang them? (It doesn't *sound* like
|
|
Barrett.) The CD says these tracks are:
|
|
|
|
"Very rare acetate (as Screaming Abdabs), recorded May 15th 1965
|
|
(Syd Barrett/Roger Waters)."
|
|
|
|
If Roger ever does a radio phone in, make sure you call and ask him
|
|
"Where were you on the night of May 15th 1965?"
|
|
|
|
Anyway, here's the interview (I think it comes from about 1970).
|
|
Oh, and there's definitely no mention of The Orb :-)
|
|
|
|
-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
|
|
START OF INTERVIEW
|
|
(Syd's words are indented 4 spaces)
|
|
-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
|
|
|
|
There is a formiable and sometimes rather tasteless mystique
|
|
surrouding Syd Barrett not very different to that which until recently
|
|
went hand in hand with the name of Arthur Lee. What little has been
|
|
written has only added weight to the myth of a modern Nietzsche/
|
|
Nijinsky figure who mumbles inanities and vague things about "getting
|
|
it together." Strangely enough, Syd turns out to be as normal,
|
|
unkempt, and emaciated as most of us. Talkative, unpretentious, and
|
|
above all, very human...
|
|
|
|
Piper at the Gates of Dawn?
|
|
"Wind in the Willows." That was very difficult in some ways,
|
|
getting used to the studios and everything. But it was fun, we
|
|
freaked about a lot. I was working very hard then; there's still
|
|
lots of stuff lying around from then, even some of the stuff on
|
|
"Madcap".
|
|
Some of your songs seem rather obscure - like Chapter 24 on Piper.
|
|
Chapter 24...that was from I Ching, there was someone around who
|
|
was very into that, most of the words came straight off that.
|
|
Lucifer Sam was another one - it didn't means much to me at the
|
|
time, but then three or four months later it cam to mean a lot.
|
|
How important are lyrics to you?
|
|
Very important. I think it's good if a song has more than one
|
|
meaning. Maybe that kind of song can reach far more people,
|
|
that's nice. On the other hand, I like songs that are simple. I
|
|
liked Arnold Layne because to me it was a very clear song.
|
|
Some of your words don't come over too clearly, like on Octopus
|
|
there's "little Minnie Conn coughs and clears his throat". Have you
|
|
though about printing the words on the sleeve next time?
|
|
Yeah that would be nice (laughing). That was "little minute
|
|
gong."
|
|
What about Octopus - that was my personal favourite.
|
|
I carried that about in my head for about six months before I
|
|
actually wrote it so maybe that's why it came out so well. The
|
|
idea was likethose number songs like "Green Grow the Rushes Ho"
|
|
where you have, say, twelve lines each related to the next and an
|
|
overall theme. It's like a fool-proof combination of lyrics,
|
|
really, and then the chorus comes in and changes the tempo but
|
|
holds the whole thing together.
|
|
There;s a strong childhood feel to a lot of your songs with lots of
|
|
fairy-tale and nursery rhyme elements. Have you ever thought of
|
|
writing for kids?
|
|
Fairy-tales are nice...I think a lot of it has to do with living
|
|
in Cambridge, with nature and everything - it's so clean, and I
|
|
still drive back a lot. Maybe if I'd stayed at college, I would
|
|
have become a teacher. Leaving school and suddenly being without
|
|
that structure around you and nothing to relate to...maybe that's
|
|
a part of it, too.
|
|
There was a strong science-fiction thing in the early Floyd. Were you
|
|
ever into that?
|
|
Not really, except "Journey into Space" and "Quatermass", which
|
|
was when I was about fifteen, so that could be where it came from.
|
|
Your lyrics could be described as surrealistic collages. Did your art
|
|
training affect your writing?
|
|
Only the rate of work, learning to work hard. I do tend to take
|
|
lines from other things, lines I like, and then write around them
|
|
but I don't consciously relate to painting. It's just writing
|
|
good songs that matters, really.
|
|
Do you still paint?
|
|
Not much. The guy who lives next door to me paints, and he's
|
|
doing it well, so I don't really feel the need.
|
|
Do you want to do other things?
|
|
A lot of people want to make films and do photography and things,
|
|
but I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing.
|
|
Are you into other people's music?
|
|
I don't really buy many records - there's so much around that you
|
|
don't know what to listen to. All I've got at home is Bo Diddley,
|
|
some Stones and Beatles stuff and old jazz records. I like
|
|
Family, they do some nice things.
|
|
What about the Underground?
|
|
I haven't been to the Arts Lab or anything, so I don't really know
|
|
what's happening. There are just so many people running around
|
|
doing different thingsand no kind of unity. It doesn't really
|
|
bother me.
|
|
Do you read poetry?
|
|
I've got Penguins lying around at home. Shakespeare and Chaucer,
|
|
you know? But I don't really read a lot. Maybe I should.
|
|
Were you satisfied with Madcap Laughs?
|
|
Yes, I liked what came out, only it was released far too long
|
|
after it was done. I wanted it to be a whole thing that people
|
|
would listen to all the way through with everything related and
|
|
balanced, the tempos and moods offsetting each other, and I hope
|
|
that's what it sounds like, I've got it at home, but I don't
|
|
listen to it much now.
|
|
Madcap is rather gentle compated with your Floyd stuff. What about
|
|
the new album?
|
|
There'll be all kinds of things. It just depends what I feel like
|
|
doing at the time. The important thing is that it will be better
|
|
than the last.
|
|
In "No Man's Land" on Madcap there's a long spoken part which is
|
|
barely audible, like the "faded" lyrics of Astronomy Domine. Was the
|
|
intention to abstract the words into just background noise?
|
|
Originally the words were meant to be heard clearly, but we went
|
|
and actually did it, that's how it came out, which wasn't really
|
|
how I'd planned it.
|
|
How's the guitar playing?
|
|
I always write with guitar. I've got this big room and I just go
|
|
in and do the work. I like to do the words and music
|
|
simultaneously, so when I go into the studio I've got the words on
|
|
one side and my music on the other. I suppose I could do with
|
|
some practice.
|
|
What about the future? Are you looking forward to singing and playing
|
|
again?
|
|
Yes, that would be nice. I used to enjoy it, it was a gas. But
|
|
so's doing nothing. It's art school laziness, really, I've got
|
|
this Wembley gig and then another thing in summer.
|
|
What about forming a band?
|
|
I'll be getting something together for the Wembley thing and then
|
|
just see what happens.
|
|
And now?
|
|
I'm working on the album. There's four tracks in the can already,
|
|
and it should be out about September. There are no set musicians,
|
|
just people helping out, like on Madcap, which gives me far more
|
|
freedom in what I want to do...I geel as if I've got lots of
|
|
things, much better things to do still, that's why there isn't
|
|
really a lot to say, I just want to get it all done.
|
|
-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
|
|
END OF INTERVIEW
|
|
-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>
|