Shine on

Genius is an overused word. Syd Barrett was exactly that. And an understated legend.

Pink Floyd's Barrett dies aged 60

Syd Barrett, one of the original members of legendary rock group Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 60 from complications arising from diabetes.
He was born Roger Barrett in Cambridge and met future bandmates Roger Waters and David Gilmour at school there. The guitarist was invited to join Pink Floyd by Waters in 1965 but left three years later after only one album with his mental state affected by drugs.

"He died very peacefully a couple of days ago," said the band's spokeswoman. "There will be a private family funeral."

Barrett was the band's first creative force and an influential songwriter - but his drug intake soon began to affect his place in the band. Often he would be seen standing on stage with his guitar dangling from his neck, staring into the crowd.

'Mental breakdown'

At one stage he was unhappy about appearing on Top of the Pops and walked out of a session recording in July 1967 after "freaking out". "That really was the first sign of his complete mental breakdown," producer Richard Buskin wrote later. "He never did come back into the studio any more after that, meaning that I had a hell of a hard time with the recordings".

He did turn up again, ironically on the day the other band members were recording a tribute to him, Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Just as Pink Floyd were about to achieve worldwide success, he retreated from public life to return to Cambridge. Members of the band felt his breakdown might have happened even if he had not used drugs but felt that along with the pressures of fame, the substances he took probably acted as a catalyst. After he finally drifted out of the music scene, his whereabouts were unknown for two decades, until he turned out to be living with his mother.

Don't do drugs kids. Unless you want to of course. Hell, I'm not going to stop you.

An Effervescing Elephant
with tiny eyes and great big trunk
once whispered to the tiny ear
the ear of one inferior
that by next June he'd die, oh yeah!
because the tiger would roam.
The little one said: "Oh my goodness I must stay at home!
and every time I hear a growl
I'll know the tiger's on the prowl
and I'll be really safe, you know
the elephant he told me so."
Everyone was nervy, oh yeah!
and the message was spread
to zebra, mongoose, and the dirty hippopotamus
who wallowed in the mud and chewed
his spicy hippo-plankton food
and tended to ignore the word
preferring to survey a herd
of stupid water bison, oh yeah!
And all the jungle took fright,
and ran around for all the day and the night
but all in vain, because, you see,
the tiger came and said: "Who me?!
You know, I wouldn't hurt not one of you.
I'd much prefer something to chew
and you're all to scant." oh yeah!
He ate the Elephant

Syd Barrett.