“Paagol chaara duniya chole na (The world doesn’t work without madmen)”.
-Lalon Fakir
Roger Keith Barrett, better known as Syd Barrett, is the man credited for taking psychedelic rock music from cult status to global fame. As the wildly eccentric and experimental leader of Pink Floyd, he gave birth to psychedelic delights like ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, ‘See Emily Play’ and ‘Bike’, among many others. As is known, his extreme use of drugs, especially the hallucinogenic LSD, affected his already fragile mental health, resulting in mental breakdowns and going “insane”, although in reality he was on the verge of schizophrenia. But there are always two sides of a coin; madness seemed to have fueled his creativity exponentially.
Leading up to his departure from Floyd, many stories have been heard about his insanity. He often stood on stage without acting; in a concert, he only played a single note at all times; once she went on stage after pouring a whole tube of Brylcreem gel into his hair, and due to the heat from the stage lights, the gel started to melt and fall on his face, looking as if his face of him was melting! All these incidents make one sure that he was a mad hatter, but what he doesn’t realize is that his mind worked differently and he lived in his own world. In other words, the reality was slightly different for Syd. Although such antics were a hit with the public, they did not strike good marks among his bandmates, who were resentful. Until finally, one fine day in January 1968, when Roger Waters was driving to a show at the University of Southampton, the band decided not to pick up Barrett. A person in the car said, “Shall we pick up Syd?” and another said, “Let’s not bother.” This is how Syd Barrett stopped appearing in the pages of history (as a member of Pink Floyd).
Before delving into the mind of this strange character, we must reflect on the signs that showed his mental imbalance. Unreleased songs like ‘Scream Thy Last Scream’ (which was supposedly a last-ditch effort to regain sanity) and ‘Vegatable Man’ are haunting tracks. Most haunting is the track ‘Jugband Blues’ from Floyd’s second album ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’, Barrett’s only contribution on that album. The fact that he was floating to the darker side of the moon was apparent to him, is clear from the song, as is the increasingly antagonistic behavior of his bandmates. The last couple of lines “And what exactly is a dream / And what exactly is a joke?” it is a reflection of his mental state. He couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or if his mind was playing tricks on him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Imagine the sheer horror and despair! And understand the depth of those words.
However, the last straw was a practice session that turned out to be Syd’s last session with the band. He came up with a new song called “Have You Got It Yet?” The band picked up composition fairly easily and began to improvise. However, Barrett changed the arrangement and melody slightly. Again they had to learn it again. But Barrett kept changing it with each new practice. This resulted in the band members trying to catch up with Syd, and the music was all messed up! If this wasn’t enough, in the song, Syd would ask “Got it yet?” and all the other members had to yell “No! No! No!” as an answer to the question. The startling revelation here is that Syd Barrett hadn’t come up with any songs. He came up with a concept! The song was the very concept! The song would have a constantly changing structure, and the other members would not understand the song correctly, or “Got it yet?” it would not be valid! This was what produced the schizophrenic mind. Now you can call it ‘pure madness’ or ‘absolute genius’ but it will make you think and wonder. You may marvel at it or dismiss it, but you’ll appreciate the concept and respect the fact that you tried to implement it. You can never tell if he did it out of spite or another honest creation though, but this display of his idiosyncratic sense of humor did not bode well for the other members. They finally had enough of him! Roger Waters left his bass, left the room, and never tried to play with Barrett again. He called it “a true act of mad genius.”
Now it’s up to you to decide if you think Syd Barrett is really crazy or a genius, but who are we to judge? Also, there is a very fine line between insanity and genius. As for me, he leaves you with a little thought: Can you ask yourself what really happened in that wonderful mind?