Syd was no acid casualty or recluse

[Zarquon]

This was a great article to read, but I wonder how much of it can be taken as truth. The author of the article himself stated that Syd came to the door in his underwear. Hardly the actions of a man obsessed with presenting himself niclely. Also, look at the stalker video and other pictures. He hardly looked presentable with a wife-beater tank top and long socks which look like they lost their elasticity. Also, I read an interview with Ian Barrett, Syd's nephew, who admits to never really being able to get close to Syd. That doesn't sound like a guy who loved to be around children. She makes it sound like Syd went out alot, yet there are only a handful of newspaper articles with pictures of him over the last 15 years. I desperately want to believe her becasue it makes Syd sound so sweet, but I don't.

Are you suggesting that there were costantly news people there to check whether he came out?

Playing with your nephew and knowing him are two different things

[froobydoob]

Good Morning,

Firstly, can I state I'm not a Roger Barrett fanatic. I like to follow popular music history and read "Lost in the Woods" a few years ago. That's about my sum of following Barrett's history (apart from checking a few websites after reading the book and ,subsequently, on his passing).

1. I read this forum earlier without a pair of trousers on. I've also answered my front door with just underwear on.

2. I don't have any great desire to go to work. I have to but it's not out of choice. Some of my friends have never worked (and they're now in their forties). Had I been sufficiently successful in my career to obtain a lifetime's regular income capable of sustaining a reasonable lifestyle without working, then I wouldn't work.

3. When I go to the local shops I don't dress up for the occasion. Gosh, I sometimes go out into the street with just socks on. I might not have a shower, brush my teeth or put deodorant on. Good gracious, I have been known to not even iron my clothes before going out.

4. Quite often I do feel like being alone. So much so that I will be curt, short and, maybe, even rude to people to make them go away.

Now, I only live a short distance from Roger's house. Perhaps we're all a little eccentic round here but I don't consider the behaviour detailed above to be that unusual and certainly not a positive indication of an abnormal mental state. Furthermore, I wouldn't expect anyone in the neighbourhood to consider any of the above to be particularily out of the ordinary.

I have a lot of respect for Roger just getting on with his life. I'm getting on with mine and I politely suggest that you all get on with yours.

[wiped]

Good Morning,

Firstly, can I state I'm not a Roger Barrett fanatic. I like to follow popular music history and read "Lost in the Woods" a few years ago. That's about my sum of following Barrett's history (apart from checking a few websites after reading the book and ,subsequently, on his passing).

1. I read this forum earlier without a pair of trousers on. I've also answered my front door with just underwear on.

2. I don't have any great desire to go to work. I have to but it's not out of choice. Some of my friends have never worked (and they're now in their forties). Had I been sufficiently successful in my career to obtain a lifetime's regular income capable of sustaining a reasonable lifestyle without working, then I wouldn't work.

3. When I go to the local shops I don't dress up for the occasion. Gosh, I sometimes go out into the street with just socks on. I might not have a shower, brush my teeth or put deodorant on. Good gracious, I have been known to not even iron my clothes before going out.

4. Quite often I do feel like being alone. So much so that I will be curt, short and, maybe, even rude to people to make them go away.

Now, I only live a short distance from Roger's house. Perhaps we're all a little eccentic round here but I don't consider the behaviour detailed above to be that unusual and certainly not a positive indication of an abnormal mental state. Furthermore, I wouldn't expect anyone in the neighbourhood to consider any of the above to be particularily out of the ordinary.

I have a lot of respect for Roger just getting on with his life. I'm getting on with mine and I politely suggest that you all get on with yours.

Well said mate .... and having read some of the posts in this thread it's no wonder that Barrett wanted to remove himself from the world of "fans" / media etc .... fuckin pathetic

[Keith Jordan]

Well said indeed! If I had fans, I would be afraid!! It would seem people have made this image of him as some sort of mental recluse. He just liked to keep himself to himself apparently and go about his normal life.

So... who started spreading the rumours that RKB was a mental recluse?

[PublicImage]

It was probably David Gilmour.

[henno]

Do you think it could be a conspiracy to keep people away from his grave? "fans" destroyed Jim Morrison's grave. Will they do the same to RKBs?

yet Phil Lynotts grave is treated with huge respect here in Ireland... i think the same might happen for RKBs.... or maybe there should be a monument for Syd and leave Roger Barretts grave alone, for family....

[moonwall]

Do you think it could be a conspiracy to keep people away from his grave? "fans" destroyed Jim Morrison's grave. Will they do the same to RKBs?

yet Phil Lynotts grave is treated with huge respect here in Ireland... i think the same might happen for RKBs.... or maybe there should be a monument for Syd and leave Roger Barretts grave alone, for family....

Something like the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial in Austin, Texas. A good thought!

[Atom Heart Sun]

moonwall:
I already said I was done with this discussion. There is no need for you tell me not to carry on after that. You even quoted me saying I was done with it. Can't you read or something? Next time I WILL carry on, I don't take kindly to that.
However, in this discussion I do have nothing further to add so far that I haven't already said and I think it is not a discussion I want to be involved in further.
moonwall do not drag me back in.

[peesea]

Yup, its all true. Syd was just an ordinairy guy... who went on a visit to abbey road with shaved eyebrows, a shaved head, a toothbrush in his pocket (that he'd randomly brush his teeth with) and a blisteringly good bit of conversation about the porkchops in his fridge.

[Keith Jordan]

Perhaps he was just stoned? He used to go round to Mick Rock's house after his breakdown for to have a smoke and a cup of tea according to an interview at the weekend in the Observer newspaper.

[olzen]

Yup, its all true. Syd was just an ordinairy guy... who went on a visit to abbey road with shaved eyebrows, a shaved head, a toothbrush in his pocket (that he'd randomly brush his teeth with) and a blisteringly good bit of conversation about the porkchops in his fridge.

Yeah, but that was the last the fans heard of Syd for years. There's no doubt he was mentally ill at this point, and his family probably noticed that as well. I doubt he'd been acting like that since his childhood. And after that encounter, there were some 5 years wherefrom there exist no pictures of Syd, as far as I know. On the next photos that turned up, he was clearly in better shape and even talked to journalists, even though he seemed quite uncomfortable with it.

Anybody who takes as much acid, Mandrax and whatever as Syd did is bound to end up with some mental problems. But if Rosemary should be trusted, Syd's illness seems to have been under control in the final years of his life (there are doctors who deal with these things, you know ). But don't judge him from that one pic, cause that is him at rock bottom. And we all know that he did recover somewhat later. You can say a lot about the last few pictures that have surfaced of him, but he definitely looks better than that single photo.

[JT]

With all due respect, it would seem to me that saying he didn't have a mental illness to some degree is just not accurate. He was a grown man living with his mother until she passed away at which time he was about ... maybe 45 - 50 years old.
I understand the man passed recently and we want to be respectful and remember him in the most positive light possibe, but we also have to add some sense of realism. His sister almost contradicts herself in the article by saying he had no mental illness but she had to call or come by every day to check on him, and escort him into town .... etc .... Let's be honest, you don't do that for someone who is all there.

[SydsMadcapGirl]

He was just someone who lived a normal life...

Please...qualify this statement.

I don't consider "a normal life" to be subsidized by about two or three years worth of effort.

I don't consider it "normal" for a person to be unable to "function in the job market."

Does anyone else consider these things "normal?" Maybe I'M the one who needs to be in a padded room.

As I wrote in my post, normal is subjective.

"Normal" to Mr. Barrett was to be ALLOWED to live his life...in peace. To tend to his garden, to paint, to do the things he wanted to do. Normal to you (and the vast majority of people on this earth) would be to go to a menial job every day, pay your bills, etc. But you can't tell me you'd still want to go to your job if you had an income from another source that allowed you to do the things you WANT to do.

Here's some concrete evidence of Syd's post breakdown state...

- the 1000 yard stare he has in many of the late '67 photos
- the Jugband promo
- the '74 sessions
- the WYWH photo

I do believe that Syd partially recovered in the 80's and 90's but to suggest that he wasn't ill in the late 60's is just not accurate.

just my .02

Chris

If Rosemary says she thinks her brother had Asperger's syndrome....that IS a mental illness. It's on the Autism spectrum...high functioning autism. Asperger's people are very unconventional and see the world in a different way than most. Besides, in summation she's basically saying is he's not some wild eyed creature....even if, by all accounts, he was 30 years ago. I agree that he was a complete loon in the 60s and 70s. But that doesn't mean that that's a stigma that will follow him around the rest of his life.

You CAN have a mental illness and still not be stark raving mad.

[J Ed]

all this talk about mental illness is legit
but I prefered that article MassGadgets found, that discusses his actual musical achievements
the burnout myth always seemed to me morbid, and dismissive of his contribution to music
as if his whole function was to be the inspiration for somebody elses songs about madness
the fact he is remembered at all is because his brief musical career was so innovative, Rog and Dave owe their jobs to him and were only in a position to write a musical eulogy because he'd earned such a mythic rep 8 years earlier

[SydsMadcapGirl]

Good Morning,

Firstly, can I state I'm not a Roger Barrett fanatic. I like to follow popular music history and read "Lost in the Woods" a few years ago. That's about my sum of following Barrett's history (apart from checking a few websites after reading the book and ,subsequently, on his passing).

1. I read this forum earlier without a pair of trousers on. I've also answered my front door with just underwear on.

2. I don't have any great desire to go to work. I have to but it's not out of choice. Some of my friends have never worked (and they're now in their forties). Had I been sufficiently successful in my career to obtain a lifetime's regular income capable of sustaining a reasonable lifestyle without working, then I wouldn't work.

3. When I go to the local shops I don't dress up for the occasion. Gosh, I sometimes go out into the street with just socks on. I might not have a shower, brush my teeth or put deodorant on. Good gracious, I have been known to not even iron my clothes before going out.

4. Quite often I do feel like being alone. So much so that I will be curt, short and, maybe, even rude to people to make them go away.

Now, I only live a short distance from Roger's house. Perhaps we're all a little eccentic round here but I don't consider the behaviour detailed above to be that unusual and certainly not a positive indication of an abnormal mental state. Furthermore, I wouldn't expect anyone in the neighbourhood to consider any of the above to be particularily out of the ordinary.

I have a lot of respect for Roger just getting on with his life. I'm getting on with mine and I politely suggest that you all get on with yours.

That's EXACTLY what I was saying in my post from last night that nobody seemingly read.