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Nick Mason pays tribute to Syd |
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Written by Matt
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Saturday, 22 July 2006 |
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In the new edition of the Asian
edition of Time Magazine, published tomorrow, Nick Mason pays tribute
to his old friend and Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, who sadly passed
away on July 7th.
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| Syd and Nick, 1967 |
Nick notes that Syd's "reputation
as a real talent was intimidating but he proved delightful... He went
on to front the band and was for his entire tenure its creative center,
writing the songs and devising most of the music."
He continues: "Thanks to Syd, by
early 1967 we had a recording deal, two hit singles and had appeared on
television. But that's when he began to disintegrate. On stage he was
there physically but not musically. The rest of us were busy—and busy
being in denial—so we didn't try to find out what the problem was:
mental breakdown, overuse of LSD or finding himself in a commercial
environment he never sought. To this day none of us knows. What we do
know is that we lost a charismatic and inspiring leader."
Later in the tribute, he refers
to the appearance at the Wish You Were Here sessions, a picture of
which appears in Nick's book "Inside Out". "I never met him after that
but he had been on our minds recently. David, Roger Waters and I were
all moved by Tom Stoppard's new play Rock 'n' Roll, which in part deals
with Syd as a fabulous young man and his transformation. It's the
transformation people talk about now, but what I most remember is his
brilliance. Shine on indeed."
The full tribute can be read through this link.
Our thanks to Dion Johnson from SydBarrett.org for the information on this tribute.
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