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retired researcher, amateur philosopherUpdated 2y
Did Syd Barrett ever see Pink Floyd after leaving?
Yes, in 1975, while The Floyd were recording the album “Wish You Were Here”. During recording, Barrett (now heavyset, with a completely shaved head and eyebrows) wandered into the studio.
Because of his drastically changed appearance, the band did not recognize him for some time. When they eventually realised that the withdrawn man in the corner was Barrett, Roger Waters became so distressed about Barrett’s appearance that he was reduced to tears.
Richard Wright commented, “Roger was there, and he was sitting at the desk, and I came in and I saw this guy sitting behind him – huge, bald, fat guy. I thought, “He looks a bit… strange…” Anyway, so I sat down with Roger at the desk and we worked for about ten minutes, and this guy kept on getting up and brushing his teeth and then sitting – doing really weird things, but keeping quiet. And I said to Roger, “Who is he?” and Roger said “I don’t know.” And I said “Well, I assumed he was a friend of yours,” and he said “No, I don’t know who he is.”
“Anyway, it took me a long time, and then suddenly I realised it was Syd, after maybe 45 minutes. He came in as we were doing the vocals for “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, which was basically about Syd. He just, for some incredible reason picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him. And we hadn’t seen him, I don’t think, for two years before. That’s what’s so incredibly… weird about this guy. And a bit disturbing, as well, I mean, particularly when you see a guy, that you don’t, you couldn’t recognize him. And then, for him to pick the very day we want to start putting vocals on, which is a song about him. Very strange.”
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