ASTRONOMY DOMINÉ (Syd Barrett) in « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967) & « Echoes » (2000)| Produced by Norman Smith
Syd Barrett: lead vocals, electric rhythm and lead guitar; Roger Waters: bass; Rick Wright: vocals, keyboards; Nick Mason: drums; Peter Jenner: vocalisations.
Peter Jenner:
«I was at the studio when the first LP. Syd suddenly said, «Let’s have you read a bit through a megaphone». And I was game for that, so they used if on the song. Syd had me read bits from a book of his, from which he was getting all his info about astronomy. Syd wasn’t particularly into astronomy it’s more a case of us all being hippies and groovy and «wow! man»»
«Pink Floyd - The 30 greater songs», Uncut, October 2008
Roger Waters:
« All that stuff about Syd starting the space-rock thing is just so much fucking nonsense. He was completely into Hillaire Belloc, and all his stuff was kind of whimsical, all fairly heavy rooted in English literature. I think Syd had one song that had anything to do with space, 'Astronomy Domine', that's all. That's the sum total of all Syd's writing about space and yet there's this whole fucking mystique about how he was the father of it all. It's just a load of old bollocks, it all happened afterwards »
«A Rambling Conversation with Roger Waters concerning All this and that », Wish you were here songbook, 1975
Nick Mason:
« This is such a great drum track in an interesting time signature. I also think it has a great science fiction vibe. It is interstellar, but it is also a bit more astrology. And then there is a fantastic piece of philosophy from the sixties, mixed with a kind of psychedelic text. For me it is also fun to play because of the pace. It reminds me a bit of Ginger Baker, who had a huge influence on me. There is a Ginger Baker-like drum filling in this song. The number starts with our manager who reads the names of the planets. Those were the days when management was involved in both artistic decisions and the company. »
« My top five Syd Barrett songs », Rolling Stone, January 2019
Nick Mason:
«I still think it’s a great song. It’s got dynamics, great fun to play for a drummer. I like poetry of it, the references, it’s sort a theatrical, psychedelic in a slightly cod way».
« I like the poetry of it …», Collector’s special Edition, 2020.
LUCIFER SAM (Syd Barrett) in « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)
Syd Barrett: vocals, electric rhythm and lead guitar; Roger Waters: bass, bass with bow; Rick Wright: organ, piano, backing vocals; Nick Mason: drums, percussion.
MATHILDA MOTHER (Syd Barrett) in « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967) & « The Best of the Pink Floyd » (1970) & « Masters of Rock » (1974) | Produced by Norman Smith.
Syd Barrett: vocals, backing vocals, rhythm and lead guitar; Roger Waters: bass guitar; Rick Wright: Hammond organ, Farfisa organ, double-tracked vocals; Nick Mason: drums.
There are two different spellings for the title: « Matilda » (on « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn ») and « Mathilda » on « The Masters of Rock »
FLAMING (Syd Barrett) • « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)
Syd Barrett: vocals, twelve-string acoustic guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals, miscellaneous sound effects; Roger Waters: bass, backing vocals, miscellaneous sound effects (including a slide whistle); Rick Wright: organ, piano, backing vocals, miscellaneous sound effects; Nick Mason: drums, miscellaneous sound effects.
POW R., TOC H. (Syd Barrett/Roger Waters/Rick Wright/Nick Mason) in « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)
Syd Barrett: acoustic guitar,vocals effects, electric rhythm and lead guitar; Roger Waters: bass guitar, vocal effects; Rick Wright: Farfisa organ, piano, vocals effects; Nick Mason: drums, percussion.
Rick Wright:
«I’d forgotten about that one. Never didi like those silly voices at the start of that song»
Cited in «Lost in Space», Collector’s special Edition, 2020.
TAKE UP THY STETHOSCOPE AND WALK (Roger Waters) • « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)
Syd Barrett: electric rhythm and lead, backing vocals; Rogers Waters: vocals, bass; Rick Wright: organ, backing vocals; Nick Mason: drums.
Nick Mason:
« He wrote “Doctor, Doctor” [“Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk”] on Piper, and I thought it was a really average song. And then, yes, suddenly it clicked in».
« Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason on ‘Early Years,’ Syd Barrett, Inter-Band Tension», Rolling Stone, 18 November 2016.
Interviewer: «Is there any you go back on, and go «Awwww.. wish I hadn't done that"?
Roger Waters: «Umm... possibly "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" from the very first album …»
«Roger Waters Live by Satellite from Australia», Radio show, 4 May 1988
INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason) in « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967) / « Relics » (1971)
Syd Barrett: lead guitar; Roger Waters: bass guitar; Rick Wright: Farfisa keyboards; Nick Mason: drums; Norman Smith: drums.
This track was considered for the 2000 compilation « Echoes - The best of Pink Floyd » but was eventually rejected. It was played for the first time in 29 years by Nick Mason on a tribute show with Jools Holland and Hugh Cornwell on June, 22th 2000.
Peter Jenner:
«In fact, I was once trying to tell him about this Arthur Lee song I couldn't remember the title of, so I just hummed the main riff. Syd picked up his guitar and followed what I was humming chord-wise. The chord pattern he worked out he went on to use as the main riff for Interstellar Overdrive»
«The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett», New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
Roger Waters:
« All that stuff about Syd starting the space-rock thing is just so much fucking nonsense (…) There's an instrumental track which we came up with together on the first album, 'Interstellar Overdrive', that's just the title, you see, it's actually an abstract piece with an interstellar attachment in terms of it»
«A Rambling Conversation with Roger Waters concerning All this and that », Wish you were here songbook, 1975
David Gilmour:
« These stories do the rounds. I know, but there is much more truth to the one that Interstellar Overdrive came form My little red book and the theme tune from Steptoe and Son »
« Caught in the crossfire », Mojo Special Edition, 2020
Nick Mason:
« This is a song that is open to improvisation and reinterpretation. If you play the opening riffs, you can freestyle it in so many different ways. At the moment we only play it one way, but I think as soon as we move on, I hope it will take a number of other directions. »
« My top five Syd Barrett songs », Rolling Stone, 9 January 2019
THE GNOME (Syd Barrett) • « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)
Syd Barrett: vocals, twelve-string acoustic guitar; Roger Waters: bass guitar; Rick Wright: celeste, backing vocals; Nick Mason: drums, cowbell.
CHAPTER 24 (Syd Barrett) in « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)| Produced by Norman Smith
Syd Barrett: vocals, electric guitar; Roger Waters: bass guitar, backing vocals; Rick Wright: Harmonium, organ, backing vocals; Nick Mason: cymbals, tubular bells.
This track was considered for the 2000 compilation « Echoes - The best of Pink Floyd » but was eventually rejected. Lyrically the song was lifted nearly verbatim from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 translation of the Chinese oracle *The I-Ching* -- *The Book of Changes*
Seamus O'Connell Cambridge’s Barrett friend):.
«Syd was staying with us in Tottenham Court Road (on summer 1964. He had a bedsit there. My mother had set up house in this place, and various friends had gotten bedsits there. An appalling place, but it had an atmosphere to it. And Syd was getting interested in the occult, which my mother was also into. She would do tarot card readings for him (…) She introduced him to the *I-Ching*, the Chinese oracle based on readings drawn from random numbers thrown with coins, probably the most interesting of occult fortune telling devices, as it has as much to do with probability and mathematics as divination and mysticism. Syd was suitably intrigued»
THE SCARECROW (Syd Barrett) • « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967)
Syd Barrett: vocals,electric rhythm guitar, acoustic guitars; Roger Waters: bass guitar, percussions; Rick Wright: organ, backing vocals; Nick Mason: percussion.
This track was considered for the 2000 compilation «Echoes - The best of Pink Floyd» but was eventually rejected.
BIKE (Syd Barrett) • « The Piper at the Gates of Dawn » (1967) / « Relics » (1971) | Produced by Norman Smith.
Syd Barrett: vocals, electric rhythm guitar, sound effects; Roger Waters: bass, backing vocals, sound effects; Rick Wright: harmonium, acoustic piano, backing vocals, sound effects; Nick Mason: drums, sound effects.
Nick Mason:
« From what I remember about this song, all the clocks were actually recorded. The lyrics to this song are so incredibly Syd, amazingly handsome. It is nice, but there is a deep sadness towards them. When I listen to it now, I realize how young and immature we were and how hopeless we were to deal with Syd's « failure » »
« My top five Syd Barrett songs », Rolling Stone, January 2019
