Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

[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.

[Wolfpack]

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.

[danielcaux]

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!

[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.

[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

[Wolfpack]

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".

"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'?)

Then at night I come here and read this post by you, surreal coincidence!

No surreal coincidence. Just my magic powers.

[pinkfloyd]

fantastic album

[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.

[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?

[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".

[Wolfpack]

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.

[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.

[nosaj]

fantastic start...love it

[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

[Wolfpack]

"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").