The Madcap Next
Door
By Keith Jordan
This article considers some of the points
raised in an article published in the Mail on Sunday tabloid
newspaper in Great Britain. It sheds light on the life of
Syd Barrett once he returned home from London to Cambridge.
It seems Cambridge was not as quiet and idyllic as one may
have thought! Discuss
on forum.
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| Article from Mail on Sunday |
If an article published by the British tabloid
newspaper The Mail on Sunday - and the gentleman who wrote
the story - are to be believed, then it would seem Roger Keith
(Syd) Barrett was not quite the quiet recluse (who lived at
number 6 St Margaret’s Square in Cambridge for the final
25 years of his life) that everyone thought he was. Former
next door neighbour David Sore from number 7 (it’s a
cul de sac so 7 is next door) apparently shared some of his
memories of living next door to Syd Barrett from childhood
until recently in the Mail on Sunday.
 |
| Pink Floyd performing on the American
Bandstand show in 1967 |
Syd Barrett’s frequent use of mass
quantities of drugs - probably combined with a natural propensity
to develop the symptoms of schizophrenia - caused him to be
unreliable in a professional band as Pink Floyd had become
by 1967. When Pink Floyd finally got their visas sorted out
so that they could work and perform in the USA in November
1967, Syd was not able to perform at all on occasion; particularly
the American Bandstand show. Additionally, on the Jimi Hendrix
Experience tour later that month, - on which Pink Floyd were
one of the support acts - Barrett was being typically Barrett
about things and, on one occasion, Davy O’List from
The Nice had to stand in and play Syd’s parts.
 |
| Iconic photo of The five man Floyd with
Barrett centre back. |
In January 1968, Syd Barrett’s erratic
behaviour was preventing Pink Floyd from being a professional
and reliable band. David Gilmour was, by now, joining Pink
Floyd on stage to play as the 5 man Floyd. The egos of the
band were thirsty for success and so it was decided one day,
on the way to a gig in Southampton, that Syd Barrett would
not be picked up. David Gilmour would thus become the permanent
lead guitarist for Pink Floyd from the 26th January 1968 at
the Southampton University gig they drove to in their van.
This late comer to Pink Floyd is currently its lead guitarist
and front man.
The fact that Syd was the creative force
behind Pink Floyd in the 1960’s, led the bands management
to drop the Pink Floyd in favour of managing the talent of
Syd. Syd went on to record two solo albums called The Madcap
Laughs and Barrett although not to considerable commercial
success. Much later, an album of studio out-takes and dropped
tracks was released called Opel. Due to his increasingly fragile
mind, bad behaviour and worsening mental condition, Barrett
eventually retired from the music business. Apparently with
a little bitterness and resentment!
Wish You Were Here Sessions
 |
| Roger Keith Barrett during Pink Floyd's
Wish You Were Here sessions at Abbey Road |
To assume that Syd Barrett had completely
left the earth due to his mental health problems would be
a flawed assumption; especially in light of the recent accounts
of his life post-Floyd. There was one occasion during the
Wish You Were Here recording sessions in the 1970s that Syd
Barrett turned up at Abbey Road Recording Studios in London.
The Pink Floyd members saw a large, round, extremely fat man
appear in the studio with a completely shaved head. Even his
eyebrows were missing. It suddenly dawned on the members of
Pink Floyd that the man was none other than Syd Barrett. They
were working on the tribute song to Syd Barrett ‘Shine
On You Crazy Diamond’ at the time.
Eventually Barrett had returned home to Cambridge
to 6 St Margaret’s Square to live with his mother Winifred
Barrett after a stint of living in various places such as
Chelsea Cloisters where he often gave away expensive items
to people. Barrett’s mental condition had not improved
and, according to a story in the mail on Sunday on 3rd December
2006, Barrett’s erratic and abusive behaviour forced
Winifred Barrett to move out of 6 St Margaret’s square
leaving her daughter - Barrett’s sister - Rosemary to
look after Syd. She visited often and they became very close.
Barrett’s Neighbour
 |
| Syd Barrett's house at 6 St Margaret's
Square in Cambridge |
For a long time, biographers of Roger Keith
Barrett have been unable to shed much light on the life of
Barrett when he moved back to Cambridge in 1981. But, in an
article written by Barrett’s former next door neighbour
David Sore published on 3rd December 2006, a wealth of anecdotes
have appeared that, combined with the recent auction items
of Barrett’s
final possessions, shed a great deal of light on the mysterious
life of Roger Keith Barrett.
Some of the events and happenings as written
by the neighbour in the Mail on Sunday article are listed
below. Apparently Roger’s behaviour went like this:
• Screaming and animal-like howling;
• Shouting ‘F****** Roger Waters! I’m
going to f****** kill him’;
• Destroying furniture;
• Destroyed the beautiful front garden of the property;
• Having huge bonfires to burn the trees and his paintings;
• Lived on fry-ups often setting pan on fire then
abandoning it;
• Syd smoked and drank a lot of alcohol;
• Neighbour only saw Barrett smile once when neighbour
was washing his car. Neighbour speculated that Barrett possibly
thought he was watering it like a plant as the hosepipe
let out its water;
• After 1986, the peak of the legal wrangling with
Pink Floyd and Roger Waters co-incidentally, Barrett started
to calm down and had less ‘attacks’ as his neighbour
called them, eventually even sending hand-made Christmas
cards to neighbours.
 |
| Barrertt taking out the rubbish. |
Some of the redeeming factors the former
neighbour David Sore pointed out were that, when Roger Barrett
was not having one of his attacks - indeed, they died down
after the late 1980s - Roger was a pretty quiet neighbour.
It was rare that any noise was heard except for the occasional
piece of Jazz or Classical music. But never Syd’s own
work.
One song by Syd Barrett called ‘Here
I Go’ possibly expresses the anger Barrett felt
about being ejected from the Pink Floyd in January 1968.
This is a story about a girl that I knew
She didn't like my songs and that made me feel blue
She said a big band is far better than you...
She don't Rock 'n' Roll, she don't
like it
She don't do the stroll, well she don't do it right
Well everything's wrong and my patience is gone
When I woke one morning and remembered this song
Kinda catchy
I hope that she will talk to me now
and even allow me
To hold her hand and forget that old band....
 |
| An adapted and stained side table as made
by Barrett. |
So, there you go. Now we know what Mr Barrett
got up to when he wasn’t engaged in his ‘interesting’
and ‘alternative’ DIY projects. Perhaps one could
speculate from the evidence that Barrett was bitterly annoyed
about being thrown out of his own band that he made famous.
Perhaps his bizarre behaviour was not inspired
by anything in particular; perhaps the destruction of his
property was inspired by a desire to “renew” things
that had been broken. Indeed, many of the photos
from the auction of Roger Barrett’s final possessions
show some interesting creations. Perhaps these were the results
of the poor skill Barrett applied to trying to fix his possessions
that he had destroyed.
Above all, it is clear that Roger Barrett
did not have any interest in material things at all. One must
stop and think who are the crazy people? People like Barrett
or people who over-value possessions. What an interesting
perspective and way of life Barrett had. May he rest in peace.
 Feel
free to discuss this issue/article on the forum on this
thread.
References:
I - Internet
II - Books
- Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink
Floyd by Nick Mason
Crazy Diamond: The Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd Story by Mike
Watkinson and Pete Anderson
III - Publications
- The Mail on Sunday 03.12.2006
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