Things you didn't know about Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett, the progenitor, and mastermind behind Pink Floyd, is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood figures in rock history.

From his experimentation with LSD to Floyd’s debut masterpiece The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Syd Barrett’s contribution to music was powerful, eccentric, and tragically short-lived.

Of all the versions of how Syd got his name, the most convincing story relates to a local Cambridge musician called Sid Barrett who lead and played double bass with "The Sid Barrett Band". 

Syd, as a teenager, got the name as an appreciation for the original Sid Barrett who was quite famous in the local Cambridge music circuit.

Interestingly, Sid Barrett, the jazz musician who once also was secretary of the local musicians' union used to get several fan mails intended for Syd Barrett for many years especially in the mid-70s when there was a rekindled interest in Syd, mainly due to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, an album dedicated to Syd.

Radha Soami Satsang Beas was established in India in 1891 and in later years spread to many other countries including the U.K.

In 1965, Syd approached Charan Singh, spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, to have an initiation into this sect but was denied.

His decision was more emotional and part of the existing trend rather than a "genuine spiritual research" as Maharaji expected. Syd had become quite disappointed and even thought about quitting smoking and turning vegetarian in order to still follow the path of Maharaj Ji. 

By summer of 1966, Syd had come out of the rejection phase and shifted to his Earlham Street flat, writing what would eventually become the contents of Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. 

Starting in 1964, the band that would become Pink Floyd evolved through various line-up and name changes including "The Abdabs", "The Screaming Abdabs", "Sigma 6", and "The Meggadeaths". In 1965, Barrett joined them as the Tea Set (sometimes spelled T-set). 

When they found themselves playing a concert with another band of the same name, Barrett came up with "The Pink Floyd Sound" also known as "The Pink Floyd Blues Band" and later "The Pink Floyd" joining the names of the two bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. 

While the song "Arnold Layne" is famed as the world's introduction to Pink Floyd, it's also notable as the only pop chart ode to an underwear bandit.

The lyrics were inspired by an unknown fetishist who ran amok in Cambridge stealing women's underwear from clothing lines - including the one in Roger Waters' backyard. 

Barrett was moved to eternize the local eccentric in song after hearing Waters' unusual story. Barrett told Melody Maker in 1967, "I thought Arnold Layne was a nice name and fit well into the music I had already composed. Then I realized, 'Arnold must have a hobby,' and the rest is history."

By late 1967, Barrett's increasingly erratic mental state led to Pink Floyd hiring David Gilmour to fill in on guitar duties. At their first rehearsal as a quintet in January 1968, Barrett brought a new composition to the table, "Have You Got It Yet?" 

The tune appeared straightforward enough, but the band became confused as they tried to join in and learn the song. The melody and structure seemed to shift on each run-through, with Barrett gleefully singing the chorus of "Have you got it yet? Have you got it yet?"

Gilmour later said, "It was really just a 12-bar, but the responses were always in the wrong places according to Syd. Some parts of his brain were perfectly intact - his sense of humour being one of them."

Unsurprisingly, the song was never recorded and it was Barrett's last rehearsal with Pink Floyd.

"Well, I think of myself as a painter eventually," Syd Barrett once said. Barrett was a prolific visual artist who painted for the majority of his life, in contrast to his limited but powerful musical output. 

In fact, just days before he passed away, he completed his final canvas. In a thankful turn of events, Barrett photographed his complete works before burning the canvases. 

In a pile of manuscripts found after his death, there were more than a hundred pages of notes on the chronology of art history, from cave paintings through each century to modernity. 

It was only intended for his own enjoyment, as were all of his late projects, and it was never intended to be published.

                       

Syd Barrett's house, once occupied by his late mother, began to to evolve and grow on the whims of its aging sole inhabitant into an abode like no other. 

The house had various bedrooms which Barrett would sleep in depending on his mood, each containing various colour schemes and makeshift DIY projects.

"Every wall would be painted a different colour. The idea of painting a room with the same colour was just nonsensical to him. I used to say to him, "Do two walls the same colour." "But why?" he'd say. "They're all different walls." The house was very colourful and anybody else would say it was a disaster. But that's how he liked it. We used to go to hardware stores and get all this wood endlessly and do lots of DIY projects, which were very funny. He used to laugh at them because they never worked at all." his sister said. 

              

Before Barrett left music behind forever, he hopped around various posh London hotels before ultimately establishing residence at the upscale Chelsea Cloisters apartment complex. 

He then proceeded to fill his place by purchasing and discarding an enormous number of expensive items from Harrods. 

Barrett would usually give away everything he bought after a couple of days to his caretaker at Chelsea Cloisters Ronnie Salmon. 

When Barrett eventually ran out of money, he retreated to his mother's home in Cambridge. He remained there until 1982 when he returned to London for a few weeks to tie up loose ends. 

There he gave away more belongings before setting out on foot for a 50-mile return journey to his mother's house. 

  

By the time Pink Floyd started working on their ninth studio album "Wish You Were Here", former leader and frontman Syd Barrett had already left the band for over six years.

On June 5, 1975, the band was working on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" - a track that paid tribute to their fallen musical leader when they noticed an overweight man with a shaved head and eyebrows carrying a plastic bag.

Richard Wright said, "I remember going in, and Roger was already in the studio working. I came in and sat next to Roger. After 10 minutes he said to me: 'Do you know who that guy is?' I said: 'I have no idea. I assumed it was a friend of yours.' And suddenly I realised it was Syd."

Back then, Barrett was just 29 years old but he looked more like a middle-aged man. He was a shadow of his former self. They talked with him but he was barely making any sense.