New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

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ZiggyZipgun
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

Wolfpack wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 5:46 pm Are you referring to my contributions?
I quoted an earlier post of mine, since nearly all of it pertained to the home studio story. He deleted it, but not before you replied to the one part that was about something else. Either way, all of the information that is know about the incident is on that page, until someone interviews Emo or Ginger or David about it. Ginger's recollections in general seem fairly reliable, Emo's not so much, and David has rarely talked about his encounters will Syd following the Barrett sessions.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Wolfpack »

ZiggyZipgun wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:56 pmI quoted an earlier post of mine, since nearly all of it pertained to the home studio story.
As these rumoured Gilmour Barrett home studio sessions apparently won't have anything to do with Chapman's upcoming book (which I jokingly call) "The Tower of Barrett", it's best to have a thread dedicated to that particular mysterious subject.

Reconstructing Barrett's lyrics... The Tower of Babel... That's what I'm thinking of...
A confusion of tongues, even if Waters and Mason (or even the deceased Wright) would have been involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

Barrett destroyed his lyrics.
So far, that seems to be the only thruth...

For me, the 'Mind Shot' ('It Is Obvious') lyrics sheet is very important to understand Barrett's lyrics.
So far, as far as I know, the sheet is the only clue to understand what Barrett has been singing - and how creative he was to put his lyrics onto music.
'It Is Obvious' is known for having different musical approaches, caught on tape, different takes, turning the 'Mind Shot' words into a song.

Image

I feel forever triggered to see the full lyrics sheet!
After having seen only the teasing part, shown in the booklet of Barrett compilation 'Wouldn't You Miss Me' (2001).
ZiggyZipgun wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:56 pmEither way, all of the information that is know about the incident is on that page, until someone interviews Emo or Ginger or David about it. Ginger's recollections in general seem fairly reliable, Emo's not so much, and David has rarely talked about his encounters will Syd following the Barrett sessions.
Is there anybody out there, who can ask Gilmour about the home studio story?
Rob Chapman, do you read us? ;)
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Wolfpack »

As I can't keep updating my previous post forever, here's a new post with one of my favourite pet peeves concerning the deciphering of Barrett's lyrics.
Apr 29, 2020, Rob Chapman (Twitter) wrote:With 'certain famous parties' am currently trying to decipher what Syd sings at end of Octopus. Official lyric has it as 'The seas will reach and always seep'. That's clearly wrong. "The seas will wreath/we'll alway see?' What do you think? It's driving us mad.
source: http://www.latenightdiscussion.com/view ... 324#118324

If "the seas will reach and always seep" is a problem, I'm all the more curious what a transcription of 'Jugband Blues' might be.
"And I'm almost obliged to you for (...) making it clear".

The lost syllable in transcriptions of 'Jugband Blues'.
And I'm almost obliged to you for (my) making it clear?

Both the EMI and BBC recording have this lost syllable, but in the official transcription (so far) it just gets... ignored... :o
Last edited by Wolfpack on Sun Oct 11, 2020 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ZiggyZipgun
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Life is brief.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by twcc »

Indeed, life is brief. No finger pointing was intended but when posting a reply to the post immediately before there is generally no need to quote the entire post as it just bloats the thread. There have also been a few duplicate posts recently and these add to the thread length.

For some reason some topics, this one and EMH, have seen a more than usual quote and re-quote which is OK when appropriate but often is not needed.

As Keith noted, let's keep the forum a friendly place.
ZiggyZipgun
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

Wolfpack wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 11:31 pm And I'm almost obliged to you for (my) making it clear?
I believe it is and I'm most obliged to you for making it clear... He does seem to stutter mm-making along with the rhythm, but it's the same thing you can hear him do on a lot of his solo work, especially outtakes, where his voice quavers.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Wolfpack »

ZiggyZipgun wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:01 pmI believe it is and I'm most obliged to you for making it clear...
Agreed! I was so focused on the lost syllable, I just took over the "almost" from the official transcription (as published in 1990s CD-booklet of 'A Saucerful of Secrets').

"I'm most obliged to you for (...) making it clear".

I don't believe Barrett is just stuttering, as both the EMI and BBC recordings contain the same syllable.

"I'm most obliged to you for my making it clear".
Would that be correct English, at least?
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

Wolfpack wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 6:15 pm"I'm most obliged to you for my making it clear".
Would that be correct English, at least?
I mean, it wouldn't make much sense, him being obliged to someone else for something he did or is doing. But, we are talking about Syd Barrett lyrics here.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Wolfpack »

Barrett sarcastically being most obliged to justify himself, to make clear to the listener that he's "not here", seems to me to be the very point of this song! :o
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by ZiggyZipgun »

Either way, with the word my in there, the line doesn't make any sense; if he had said to instead of for, it would be different.

And I was saying "life is brief" because this is already too much time to have spent deciphering the indecipherable.
Kerry King
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Kerry King »

^ It's a stutter. It is obvious.

He's probably reading his lyrics while he sings. But hey, some people just want to debate. Again, this stuff hardly matters. Eventually no one will care.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Wolfpack »

Kerry King wrote: Sun Oct 11, 2020 5:23 pm^ It's a stutter. It is obvious.
If the syllable is a stutter, it's intentional.
As both the EMI and BBC recordings have it.

"And I'm most obliged to you for ma-making it clear".
Intentional stuttering like "ma ma ma my Sharona", by The Knack.

Whatever the syllable is, it's important for the flow of the lyrics.

Life is brief. No one will care... Let's kick in some open doors.
Let's join a Pink Floyd forum and tell everyone that nothing really matters! :?
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Kerry King »

^Quite a jump. From my "eventually no one will care" to Wolfpack's "nothing matters".

Oxygen, for example, is essential for human debate. Some things truly matter. Wolfpack's opinions do not. However, they might come in handy as examples of insignificance.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Wolfpack »

Chapman's book 'The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett' might at least be a starting point to further discuss/decipher/guess what Barrett's lyrics might have been.
If Barrett's lyrics would have been in the public domain, a full investigation would be possible without violating copyrights.
I wish Chapman's investigation would have been done in public, instead of in secrecy.

The Tower of Babel, confusion of tongues...
What exactly did the messiah say? I'm reminded of a scene in Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' (1979), where people can't hear all the words and begin arguing with each other. :lol:
When multiple people listen to the very same words (and even have an audio recording to check), there still might be lots of different transcriptions of what actually has been said. I find that very interesting from an archeologic point of view.
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Re: New book: The Lyrics Of Syd Barrett

Post by Jimi Dean Barrett »