Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Discussions about Pink Floyd and Solo Official Album CDs and DVDs.

Rate This Album

5 - Best
57
54%
4
28
27%
3
12
11%
2
6
6%
1 - Worst
2
2%
 
Total votes: 105

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Mike Eder
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Mike Eder »

One of the best albums ever made by anyone. I've come to love the later Floyd but Syd is why I am here.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Wolfpack »

Mike Eder wrote:One of the best albums ever made by anyone. I've come to love the later Floyd but Syd is why I am here.
Monday morning and everything shines.
Listening to The Piper (mono, 40th anniversay edition).
For the 1001th time.
And it dawns on me, hów wonderful, colourful and ever refreshing this record is to me.

"You only have to read the lines
As scribbly black
And everything shines."


According to my dictionary, a "scribble" can be a "cat bell".
In Dutch, a "cat bell" can mean a "memo" or "reminder".

The music is just a reminder of the "real" music that's behind.
And this "real" music is, how the listener interprets the music.
The "scribbly black" is being read (decoded) by the listener's brain, and then... "everything shines".

I think this is how the album always manages to refresh itself.
The "scribbly black" is only bits and bytes, read by the brain's software.
The album lets the brain decode the "real" music behind, where "everything shines".

Maybe I finally found "another way for gnomes to say Hurray".
Not the "fresh air" amidst the "grass" (drugs), but the real fresh air behind it.

Barrett must have really worked very hard on this album, to encode the "real" world into "scribbly black". The world of how he as an "autistic" kid could see colours in sounds, and sounds in colours, "alone in the clouds all blue". The other Floyds couldn't see that world, or at least not as vivid and... exhausting.
The experience is amazing, but exhausting. Also without any drugs, it can be exhausting to make a "telephone" connection with that "real" world. And it can be very, very hard to fully come back. It's a bit like having a near death experience and then having the alarm clock ring in the morning, waking up in a "mist of grey".

At least, that's how I'm decoding the "scribbly black" now.
And, oooh my, "everything shines" - like a painter's colour palette.
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danielcaux
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by danielcaux »

Wolfpack wrote:Monday morning and everything shines.
Listening to The Piper (mono, 40th anniversay edition).
For the 1001th time.
And it dawns on me, hów wonderful, colourful and ever refreshing this record is to me.

"You only have to read the lines
As scribbly black
And everything shines."
Hey Wolfpack! I just listened this afternoon to Piper in mono, first time in years, and that exact line captured my imagination so strongly, out of all the album it was the one lyric that I found most inspired and inspiring. I got this mental image of all the letters in the book being carried away by the wind like airborne pollen and then morphing into these dreams of eastern kings and desert nights in the horizon! I was enjoying so much the album in mono that I started thinking about finally finding a good version of Saucerful in mono, which in turn lead me to remind myslef "I must write to Wolfpack and ask him for that 1992 remaster Jugband Blues version he has..." Then at night I come here and read this post by you, surreal coincidence! :D [-D-]
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by rememberaday »

Piper has some of the best poetic lyrics in the history of music. My current favourite is from Scarecrow - "The black and green scarecrow was sadder than me, but now he's resigned he doesn't mind". Syd's voice is just eerily cheerful, and in general like most of his music has an ominous air about it. The beautiful strumming that follows is a killer as well.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Cornelius »

Piper is one of my favourite early period Floyd albums, I would say I only really dislike Pow R Toc H and Interstella (only because it meanders so long).

The rest to me is a pure magical album [-D-]
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Wolfpack »

danielcaux wrote:Hey Wolfpack! I just listened this afternoon to Piper in mono, first time in years, and that exact line captured my imagination so strongly, out of all the album it was the one lyric that I found most inspired and inspiring. I got this mental image of all the letters in the book being carried away by the wind like airborne pollen and then morphing into these dreams of eastern kings and desert nights in the horizon!
I think that's the work of a poet. The words trigger the imagination of the audience. Each individual having his/her own interpolation of the "scribbly black".
danielcaux wrote:"I must write to Wolfpack and ask him for that 1992 remaster Jugband Blues version he has..."
Is this an actual request? (And if so, only 'Jugband Blues'?)
danielcaux wrote:Then at night I come here and read this post by you, surreal coincidence! :D [-D-]
No surreal coincidence. Just my magic powers. \:D/
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by pinkfloyd »

fantastic album
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Morty »

What can you say? It is great. I rated it a strong 4, simply because it is not an album I listen to often. I might pick up some songs now and then, but as a whole it does not cut it 100%. But yeah, all around great fun.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Wolfpack »

Question about 'Lucifer Sam'.

At 1:25, doesn't Barrett sing: "Love got something I can't explain"?
Maybe short for "Love's got something I can't explain"?

Or is this just wishful thinking on my part?
Last edited by Wolfpack on Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Hudini »

At about 1:25 of 'Flaming' he sings "Travelling by telephone".

You're obviously referring to 'Lucifer Sam', and the lyric goes "That cat's something I can't explain".
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Wolfpack »

Hudini wrote:You're obviously referring to 'Lucifer Sam', and the lyric goes "That cat's something I can't explain".
Oops! I've corrected the error.

I know the officially printed lyrics,
whether or not they are really faithful to what Barrett wrote and/or sang.

However, I don't hear "that cat's" at 1:25.
On the other spots, I do hear it.

At 1:25, it seems to me that Barrett varies on that phrase.
It's at the end of the "Jennifer Gentle" verse,
which is believed to be a reference to a girlfriend he loved.
I think that would fit with him singing "love got something", at that spot.
However, English is my second language. So, that's why I am asking if it makes sense.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Hudini »

I just listened to it and that particular verse sounds like "black cat's something I can't explain" to me, or something like that. Might be just unclear pronunciation, but I can definitely hear an "L" sound in there somewhere.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by nosaj »

fantastic start...love it
Jimmy Page
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Jimmy Page »

Hey just wondering if anyone knows who sings the part of matilda mother that goes, "why'd you have to leave me there hanging in my infant air, waiting?"? I'm assuming its Syd but not sure, any info would be appreciated
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Re: Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Post by Wolfpack »

Jimmy Page wrote:"why'd you have to leave me there hanging in my infant air, waiting?"?
Yes, that's sung by Barrett.
Wright does the storytelling ("there was a king").