The tragic final time Roger Waters saw Syd Barrett: “There was nothing that could be done”
The story of Syd Barrett is loaded with tragedy. For a moment in time, he was at the forefront of the British music scene, pushing new boundaries and putting Pink Floyd on the map as a pioneer of psychedelic music.
However, when Pink Floyd eventually became one of the biggest rock bands in the world, Barrett was firmly out of the picture and a jaded memory. While they were selling millions of records and playing at the most prestigious venues imaginable, his life couldn’t look any more faraway from the one lived by his former bandmates.
Significantly, the version of Barrett that Roger Waters became friends with while studying at Cambridgeshire High School For Boys was a starkly different soul from the one he later saw for the final time, a meeting that continues to haunt Waters to this day. When Waters and Barrett became close, they were just kids bonded by their shared love of music. Later, the pair used this chemistry as the spark for the magic they made with Pink Floyd.
Nevertheless, after Pink Floyd established themselves with their seminal debut album, Saucerful of Secrets, Barrett’s condition sadly deteriorated due to his mental health struggles. At the time, little was known by most people about his condition, and how his bandmates dealt with his troubles would later become a regret.
They brought in David Gilmour to provide an extra hand as Barrett’s ability to contribute declined, and eventually, Gilmour became his replacement. Although it became clear that Barrett could not remain a member due to his internal struggles, Pink Floyd did attempt to be a part of his life.
After his exit, the band members did all they could to help him professionally and as friends. They contributed to his two solo albums, both released in 1970, but tragically, Barrett left the music industry behind and drifted apart. Nevertheless, as a band, they’d have one more meeting with Barrett. Much to their surprise, he wandered into the studio when Pink Floyd recorded Wish You Were Here.
While this should have been a celebratory experience for all involved, it proved to be a harrowing ordeal. Barrett was unrecognisable from the man they once knew, and he became bloated to such an extent that they initially mistook him for a studio hand. However, that wasn’t the final time Waters would encounter Barrett, and they would share one final meeting, which was equally difficult for the bassist.
Waters detailed the event during a conversation with The Mirror in 2008. At the start of the discussion, Waters discussed the decline of Barrett’s health, which he didn’t believe was exclusively down to his well-publicised use of psychedelic drugs.
The musician shared: “It’s quite amazing to have your aural and visual perceptions overturned like that – but so what? The only art that lasts is art that comes from people who experience their connections with their fellow man and woman in ways that are more deeply felt. To think drugs have a part in that is b******s, frankly.”
“Who knows what he might have done without it, but I don’t think Syd was driven crazy by too much acid,” Waters continued. “The symptoms of the mental illness he had were exacerbated by acid, but I don’t think it made him ill.”
Waters then revealed their last meeting, which was a coincidence, and explained that he tried to become part of Barrett’s life during his later years, but his attempt was unsuccessful.
“When he died, he had been gone for so many years. When I heard he was ill, I tried and failed to contact his sister to ask if I could help. But there was nothing that could be done. It wasn’t like he needed any money. Everything that could be done for him was done,” he shared.
Waters continued: “The last time I saw him was a couple of years after he turned up at the Wish You Were Here sessions. I bumped into him in Harrods where he used to go to buy sweets. But we didn’t speak – he sort of scuttled away.”
For years, they were inseparable, but when they both found themselves in Harrods, Waters and Barrett weren’t even on speaking terms less than a decade after his departure. He’d grown into a stranger who wanted to leave his past firmly behind and maintained that way of thought for the rest of his life. Eventually, Barrett returned to Cambridge and stayed out of the limelight during his final decades before passing away in 2005.
