She was a Millionaire

All discussion related to Roger Keith (Syd) Barrett.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Idisaffect »

I am thinking of this. Yes, I am.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by sashwap »

i had a dream that i got to listen to this song. it was good! funny how made-up songs always sound really great in dreams.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by professor frogmorton »

Further information on She Was a Millionaire. Clues to it's likely form....Take a listen to the Waters songs on his 1970 record with Ron Geesin, Music for the Body. Most of the tracks are little silly abstract vignettes of sound effects, but there are several Waters penned acoustic songs and one full band song with the rest of Pink Floyd playing and female backup singers(the first use of female backup singers by Waters). These are good songs if you have'nt heard them. All can be heard on Youtube.

All of these songs are waltz structure tunes with obvious Barrett-type rhyme stylings. The songs are Sea Shell and Stone, Breathe(not the DSOTM song), Chain of Life , and the full band r and b waltz Give Birth to a Smile .

There are similarities structurally, thematically, and lyrically to Barrett's Opel. use of same words, shimmer, round, shell, and seaside imagery similar to that in Opel. Also there are references to bike rides, youth, and funland, things that I associate with Barrett. Anyway it seems that many Pink Floyd songs reference past memories.

As it has been stated in previous posts that the intro to the Untitled Pink Floyd '67 outtake is nearly the same as the Opel intro and the 1970 attempt by Barrett at Millionaire had the same lyrics as Opel's "I'm trying I'm living I'm giving" section.

Opel is a song with two distinct parts the first half lyrical waltz/ the second half a long repetitive coda with a sung chorus repeated over and over.

I believe the reason the Untitled '67 outtake stops before the song is over is because the rest of the song is the faster repetitive section for another couple of minutes( this may have been stated by David Parker). This is the "I'm trying, I'm living, I'm giving" type long coda section. I am not stating that Opel is exactly the same as She Was a Millionaire.

Now take a listen to Give Birth To a Smile ,the full band version with backup singers. Musically and structurally it is very similar to the Untitled '67 track. Very, very similar, tempo a bit slower though. My belief is that it is a Waters rewrite of the original She Was a Millionaire, with the female backup singers over which Barrett and the others had butted heads in 1967. This song and the others above seem like they are meant to honor and appease, in some abstract way. Almost in the way of Shine on You Crazy Diamond, but just urging Barrett to smile.

it should be noted that the film version of Give Birth to a Smile differs from the Soundtrack version, the film version lacks the backup singers and is mostly acoustic with additional drum fills. It is less similar in sound to Untitled, due to the very different drum track and mix, but has a a closer approximation of the Untitled/She Was a Millionaire tempo

I believe for some approximation of what She Was a Millionaire sounded like, one should listen to three related songs, Untitled '67( She Was A Millionaire backing track), Give Birth to a Smile, and Opel.
I feel that somewhere I've seen reference to Give Birth To a Smile as bearing some relation to early Barrett Pink Floyd tracks, though I'm not sure. I have not read David Parker's book, but perhaps he has made this observation.

And to complicate things further, which you might hate me for, the two available takes of She Took a Long Cold Look at Me. Especially the one not included on Madcap, may shed a little light on this subject also. Perhaps an early Syd rewrite of this song. In both takes he chatters about the songs length "that short" and "just two verses" while Waters or Gilmour discuss slowing the tape down.( that's a bit curious)
It too has the two distinct sections and sounds more like the film version of Waters Give Birth to a Smile, where Waters sings the transition from part one to part two rather than having the female backup singers take over. The transition to a higher key, if that makes sense.

It seems that somewhere in 1967 the happier colors of She Was a Millionaire gave way to the somber tones of Opel and perhaps to She Took a Long Cold Look at Me. If in 1970 Give Birth to a Smile sounds like a throwback tune in relation to other Pink Floyd songs of 1970, that's because it likely is.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by crowman »

I don't know about Give Birth to a Smile (whose D-G-E-A progression is straight out of Saucerful), but Opel shares some big similarities with Crying Song from More. The "We cry, and cry" verse of the Floyd track is the same as the "I'm crying" coda of Opel. Then there's the fact that the two songs were recorded within a couple of weeks of each other in March/April 1969 and the fact that Opel was excluded from Madcap for some reason, despite being the one of the strongest songs from the sessions, that makes me think there's more to these songs than meets the eye.

The Untitled 1967 track definitely has the same intro as Opel, but played on organ rather than guitar.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by professor frogmorton »

I agree that the Crying Song has similarities to Opel. There is no doubt that in 1969 Roger Waters was familiar with Opel, She Was a Millionaire , or whatever you'd like to call these related songs. The Waters acoustic songs on More, Ummagumma and especially Music for the Body seem, at least to me, to clearly reference Opel. I also agree that Opel was not likely left off of Madcap because it was simply overlooked. It seems like a tune that post-Syd PF was familiar with. There is even an echo of that Opel intro in Wish You Were Here.

Take a listen to the Give Birth to a Smile version on youtube that lacks the female singers. The changes seem more overt than Untitled, but very similar. To an untrained ear, the slight and subtle approximation of chords Barrett plays seem provide space to allow the backwards guitar and unrecorded vocal to be heard. This makes it hard for me to hear what's going on in Untitled, based solely on Barrett's guitar, but its more audibly clear in the bassline. It does make sense that it might be maddening to try and play along to some of his odd structures.

Earlier in this post there was a debate about the original recording date of Untitled. I've been lead to believe that the leak of Untitled came from Peter Jenner who was given a copy of the track by EMI in hopes of it's inclusion in some sort of early 1970's Barrett compilation that obviously never came to fruition. The EMI executives were said to have described this unfinished track to Jenner as being from Pink Floyd's FIRST session at Abbey Road. If this account is to be believed, then Untitled was recorded earlier than September '67 as some have argued in this post. And also more likely that it is She Was a Millionaire ,if you buy that logic. Maybe the tape was taken away from Abbey Road later on, in order to apply the backwards guitar. grasp straws..i know nothing

I'm obviously of the mind that a considerable amount of early post-Syd PF music continued some of what he was playing with them naturally and sometimes overtly, as they all were playing Syd's tunes when he was still in the band. It would be hard to set that history down entirely.

In regards to this, on another topic that Crowman brought up is the last section of ASOS and its origins, or at least the final section as it was eventually played live on Ummagumma. There are two early versions of that third section on the Committee soundtrack which can also be found on Youtube. This is PF's first recording without Barrett I believe, and there one can easily discern how those instrumentals bear a strong relation to Reaction in G and ASOS. Added chords to make more of a melody, to have it "musicked up" a bit as Gilmour would say. Those Committee tracks show a similarity to the BBC snippet of Reaction in G. And later, the Ummagumma ASOS last section shows a similar build up of sections to the two bootleged versions of Reaction in G from Rotterdam and Copenhagen..... Why throw an instrumental away that you've played live many times? just add to it or change it, in order to align it more with your own vision. Just speculating here.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by sashwap »

so frustrating that this song is likely lost forever. i wonder if it even still exists in the heads of the living members of the band. has roger waters ever commented on it, for instance? who else has definitely heard it?
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by professor frogmorton »

The Piper and Saucerful immersion boxes may answer this question for us.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Vegetableman1967 »

I have three takes of "no title" and two takes of "opel
I have "give birth to a smile" too and... I think if mix the three songs for example: the intro of "no title" the tempo and instruments of "give birth to a smile" and the lyrics of "opel" would be a different song very similar to "she was a millionaire"
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Vegetableman1967 »

In the second take of "sunshine/no title" you can hear an organ in fade in very similar to a bell or something.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Wolfpack »

Vegetableman1967 wrote:I have three takes of "no title" and two takes of "opel
Are these in circulation?
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Vegetableman1967 »

Wolfpack wrote:
Vegetableman1967 wrote:I have three takes of "no title" and two takes of "opel
Are these in circulation?
Yes, the two takes of "opel" are the 9 and 1
And "sunshine" the other take lasts 1:45
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Vegetableman1967 »

The lyrics of She Was A Millionaire:

Would you like to be way loyal?
Would you like to be way down?
You'd been turning to a boy you won't be
Did they tell you you'd been heard to lie?
Round and round and round and round
You fly...
Do you want to pull the curtain down?
Mother hold'em down
I'm bound, I'm bound,
Involved and tortured!
Pretty woman hold my hand
Million, million, millionaire
Million, million, millionaire
Would you like to be where you want?
Would you like to be where you are?
Did they tell you, you were young and willing?
Did they tell you you'd been kicked a lot?
Round and round and round and round
You fly...
Would you like to be well loyal?
Would you like to be weighed down?
Did they tell you you was growin' on me?
Did they tell you you'd be little I?
Round and round and round and round
You fly...
Do you want to put the curtain down?
Mother hold him down (bad boy!)
I'm bound, I'm bound,
I'm bound and tortured!
Pretty woman hold my hand!
Million, million, millionaire
Million, million,million-aire!
Would you like to be well loyal?
Would you like to be where you are?
Did they tell you, you were young and willing?
Did they tell you You've been gigolot?
Round and round and round and round
You fly..
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Wolfpack »

Vegetableman1967 wrote:The lyrics of She Was A Millionaire:
No, that's not 'She Was a Millionaire'.
Andrew King remembers it as something like:
"She was a millionaire,
they had some time to spare,
and they had a lovely time together"...

(David Parker - Random Precision, 2001, page 55)

Maybe yours is an attempt to dechiper 'One in a Million' (1967), by Waters?
I've seem another attempt, which starts with something like:
"Would you like to be one in million?
Would you like to be one in five?"
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Vegetableman1967 »

Wolfpack wrote:
Vegetableman1967 wrote:The lyrics of She Was A Millionaire:
No, that's not 'She Was a Millionaire'.
Andrew King remembers it as something like:
"She was a millionaire,
they had some time to spare,
and they had a lovely time together"...

(David Parker - Random Precision, 2001, page 55)

Maybe yours is an attempt to dechiper 'One in a Million' (1967), by Waters?
I've seem another attempt, which starts with something like:
"Would you like to be one in million?
Would you like to be one in five?"

Yes, maybe. I wish listen to it someday.
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Re: She was a Millionaire

Post by Vegetableman1967 »

The no title outtake, in the 0:21 sounds like Good Vibrations, but it is the second backing track that pink floyd was made for a remake of She was a Millionaire.