![\"Pink](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Pink-Floyd-December-1967-Nick-Mason-Syd-Barrett-Roger-Waters-Richard-Wright-David-Gilmour-Far-Out-Ma.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Pink Floyd)<\/p>\n
Mon 15 September 2025 3:00, UK <\/p>\n
After Syd Barrett was kicked out of Pink Floyd<\/a>, he quickly became a physical representation of a heavy feeling. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were driving up Ladbroke Grove, and someone said \u2018Shall we go and pick up Syd?\u2019 and somebody else, probably Roger, said \u2018Nah, let\u2019s not\u2019. And we didn\u2019t, and we drove off down to Southampton\u201d. That was David Gilmour\u2019s explanation of how Pink Floyd cut their old leader loose. <\/p>\n As Barrett fell further and further into mental illness and addiction, the singer became increasingly unreliable until one night, it seemed like a better option to simply not bring him along.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was a harsh way to do it<\/a>, and over time, they all realised that. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of mixed emotions with the whole Syd thing. Because, in some ways, he was so smart in so many ways. I think there\u2019s a bit of sadness now looking back on it \u2013 and a little bit of guilt,\u201d Nick Mason said. <\/p>\n From then on, even when Barrett wasn\u2019t in the band, his presence seemed to float in and out of the music, embodying a sense of guilt and upset that the rest of the group all felt. In particular, \u2018Shine On You Crazy Diamond\u2019 held that presence, because one day, during the making of Wish You Were Here, Barrett himself wandered into the room.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe just, for some incredible reason picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him,\u201d Wright recalled as they were already working on the starts of the track that day Barrett showed up. <\/p>\n He added, \u201cWe hadn\u2019t seen him, I don\u2019t think, for two years before. That\u2019s what\u2019s so incredibly\u2026 weird about this guy. And a bit disturbing, as well, I mean, particularly when you see a guy, that you don\u2019t, you couldn\u2019t recognise him. And then, for him to pick the very day we want to start putting vocals on, which is a song about him. Very strange.\u201d<\/p>\n No longer looking like the friend they knew, Roger Waters was so distressed that he started crying. It was such an impactful moment that it floated into the song, becoming the band\u2019s ode to their old mate but also a tragic consideration of the life they wished he could have instead. <\/p>\n That comes in the final part when Richard Wright\u2019s keys take on a different story. Lighter and brighter than the rest of the song, the section encapsulates the band\u2019s desire for Barrett to get better and live a happy life, or even to be able to get better and come back to them, as they mixed a bit of \u2018See Emily Play\u2019, Barrett\u2019s finest song for the band<\/a>, into this new track.\u00a0<\/p>\n Holding that memory of better times, \u2018Shine On You Crazy Diamond\u2019 became more than just a song about Barrett. Suddenly, it was now a tribute to his talent as well as a mournful reflection on a person they felt they\u2019d already lost, as the man they knew was not the man who walked into the studio that day.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Pink Floyd) Mon 15 September 2025 3:00, UK After Syd Barrett was kicked out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,26420,70599,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-425805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-pink-floyd","11":"tag-syd-barrett","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115207349769624270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}