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A few words for Roger "Syd" Barrett

FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
edited July 2006 in Other Music
I'd often see Roger Barrett around Cambridge, cycling or walking to the shops, but I would never approach him. Cambridge people by principle would keep a respectful distance from the man they admired but didn't wish to bother. We knew who he was, we loved his music, but we wouldn't think of pressing ourselves on someone who hadn't performed on stage since the early seventies and had completely retired from any kind of public life before most of today's pop stars were born. A friend of mine grew up a few doors away from him and though a big music fan, he too would only venture the occasional little hello to his neighbour, this essentially solitary man.

Roger Barrett lived in comfortable near-privacy. Apparently he would get some trouble with the odd over zealous fan banging on his door, but from what I can gather, he found peace and contentment in later years. Though millions of music fans will mourn the loss of Syd Barrett, the tragic acid-casualty and lost leader of the London underground psychedelic era, I'll remember also Roger Barrett, a man I saw often in my everyday Cambridge life and who, to the end, commanded a distant, unspoken awe from his fellow city dwellers.
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Comments

  • kdpjamkdpjam Posts: 2,303
    nice.. i always liked relics because of syd's influence. may he rest in peace.
    lay down all thoughts; surrender to the void
    ~it is shining it is shining~
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    thats really cool. I didn't realise that Syd actually went outside much so it's pretty cool that you say him a lot.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • Ledbetterman10Ledbetterman10 Posts: 16,882
    "Got the Bob Dylan blues, and the Bob Dylan shoes and my clothes and my hair is a mess........but you know i just couldn't care less"
    2000: Camden 1, 2003: Philly, State College, Camden 1, MSG 2, Hershey, 2004: Reading, 2005: Philly, 2006: Camden 1, 2, East Rutherford 1, 2007: Lollapalooza, 2008: Camden 1, Washington D.C., MSG 1, 2, 2009: Philly 1, 2, 3, 4, 2010: Bristol, MSG 2, 2011: PJ20 1, 2, 2012: Made In America, 2013: Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014: Denver, 2015: Global Citizen Festival, 2016: Philly 2, Fenway 1, 2018: Fenway 1, 2, 2021: Sea. Hear. Now. 2022: Camden, 2024: Philly 2

    Pearl Jam bootlegs:
    http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
  • VortexVortex Posts: 8,772
    FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:
    I'd often see Roger Barrett around Cambridge, cycling or walking to the shops, but I would never approach him. Cambridge people by principle would keep a respectful distance from the man they admired but didn't wish to bother. We knew who he was, we loved his music, but we wouldn't think of pressing ourselves on someone who hadn't performed on stage since the early seventies and had completely retired from any kind of public life before most of today's pop stars were born. A friend of mine grew up a few doors away from him and though a big music fan, he too would only venture the occasional little hello to his neighbour, this essentially solitary man.

    Roger Barrett lived in comfortable near-privacy. Apparently he would get some trouble with the odd over zealous fan banging on his door, but from what I can gather, he found peace and contentment in later years. Though millions of music fans will mourn the loss of Syd Barrett, the tragic acid-casualty and lost leader of the London underground psychedelic era, I'll remember also Roger Barrett, a man I saw often in my everyday Cambridge life and who, to the end, commanded a distant, unspoken awe from his fellow city dwellers.

    Thank you for your story.

    I´m really sad today, i don´t have words to express it but i´m really sad about this.
    If you follow every dream
    You might get lost
  • kdpjamkdpjam Posts: 2,303
    Vortex wrote:
    Thank you for your story.

    I´m really sad today, i don´t have words to express it but i´m really sad about this.

    yeah thanks fins. it is sad. its pouring rain here today too... and i am now CRANKING Arnold Layne... a personal favorite syd song. right into instellar overdrive :)
    lay down all thoughts; surrender to the void
    ~it is shining it is shining~
  • FedericoFederico Posts: 7,916
    thank you for posting this Finsbury...
  • PissBottleManPissBottleMan Posts: 4,154
    That's a nice perspective on this story...thanks for posting.

    PBM
    "We paced ourselves and we didn't rush through it and we tried to be as creative as our collective minds would let us be over some course of time instead of just trying to rush through a record"

    Wishlist Foundation: http://wishlistfoundation.org
  • Drifting AwayDrifting Away Posts: 270
    Shine on you crazy diamond
    Run to the hills
    run for your life
  • Gary CarterGary Carter Posts: 14,067
    cool story

    R.I.P. syd
    Ron: I just don't feel like going out tonight
    Sammi: Wanna just break up?

  • Red LukinRed Lukin Posts: 2,994
    RIP Syd

    What a sad day in music history.

    Time to go listen to the new Pulse dvd.
  • memememe Posts: 4,695
    FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:
    I'd often see Roger Barrett around Cambridge, cycling or walking to the shops, but I would never approach him. Cambridge people by principle would keep a respectful distance from the man they admired but didn't wish to bother. We knew who he was, we loved his music, but we wouldn't think of pressing ourselves on someone who hadn't performed on stage since the early seventies and had completely retired from any kind of public life before most of today's pop stars were born. A friend of mine grew up a few doors away from him and though a big music fan, he too would only venture the occasional little hello to his neighbour, this essentially solitary man.

    Roger Barrett lived in comfortable near-privacy. Apparently he would get some trouble with the odd over zealous fan banging on his door, but from what I can gather, he found peace and contentment in later years. Though millions of music fans will mourn the loss of Syd Barrett, the tragic acid-casualty and lost leader of the London underground psychedelic era, I'll remember also Roger Barrett, a man I saw often in my everyday Cambridge life and who, to the end, commanded a distant, unspoken awe from his fellow city dwellers.

    Thank you
    ... and the will to show I will always be better than before.
  • hippiemomhippiemom Posts: 3,326
    Thanks for posting this, Fins. A sad day indeed :(

    Nobody knows where you are,
    How near or how far.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    Pile on many more layers
    And I'll be joining you there.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    And we'll bask in the shadow
    Of yesterday's triumph,
    And sail on the steel breeze.
    Come on you boy child,
    You winner and loser,
    Come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
    "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
  • Wookiee_BlaylockWookiee_Blaylock Posts: 202
    Thank-you FinsburyParkCarrots for your story.

    I can't get over how much this passing has touched me. It is tragic, but I think it's special that he is remembered for nothing but good; for all of the lives he touched/inspired etc. But yeah, it's tough to explain the sort of sorrow that I feel.
    05/30/03 Van, 09/01/05 Gorge, 09/02/05 Van, 09/04/05 Cal, 09/05/05 Ed, 09/07/05 S'toon, 09/08/05 'Peg, 07/22&23/06 Gorge, 06/14/08 'Roo, 08/08/09 Cal, 09/21/11 Cal, 09/23/11 Ed, 12/02/13 Cal
  • inner senseinner sense Posts: 74
    It's an idea, someday
    in my tears, my dreams
    don't you want to see her proof?
    Life that comes of no harm
    you and I, you and I and dominoes, the day goes by...
    I attack with love, pure bug beauty, curl my lips and crawl up to you.
  • MeddleDealMeddleDeal Posts: 2,547
    thank u for telling us about Roger Keith Barrett. His music will live forever. I hate it that most people think of him as 'taking too much drugs' and don't think about the music that he created. Without him, there would be NO Pink Floyd

    I am terribly sad today. Before I heard the news, I actually was going to bring my Syd Barrett albums with me, but decided not to. then less than 20 mins. later and friend called me to tell me the news:(

    I did my Senior research paper on him b/c not a lot of people knew the story behind Pink Floyd. Everyone knows about Gilmour, Waters, Mason and Wright, but not Barrett. That is why I did that. To put a name and a face to it.

    Shine on you crazy diamond.

    RIP Syd:(
    ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~ø~
    ~*STONEY PONY all the WAY!*~
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~
    "For the world, not for the war"-Neil Finn
  • moster78moster78 Posts: 1,591
    Nice story, thanks for it.

    I listened to all of Wish You Were Here on the way home in honor of Syd.
  • LimeDiseaseLimeDisease Posts: 89
    I was feeling suffocated about it, I'm glad I came here
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