Roger Waters on the final time he saw Syd Barrett
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Credit: BBC
Syd Barrett’s favourite musician of all time
Syd Barrett’s musical career was tragically short, but his mark on the musical world remains immeasurable despite him only being active for a handful of years. Similarly, his favourite musician of all time is somebody whose story is drenched in tragedy. Jimi Hendrix is a name that will be forever entwined with the highs and lows of rock. Despite his short tenure at the top, Barrett was fortunate enough to see Jimi Hendrix up close, which cemented his legacy in the Pink Floyd man’s eyes.
Their respective career’s only overlapped by 18 months, but there was a great mutual appreciation between them. When Hendrix arrived in London in late 1966, Pink Floyd was the name on everybody’s lips around the capital due to their historic shows at the UFO Club. He’d soon become a similar word-of-mouth sensation, and Barrett was one of the many who was singing his praises.
It was 1971 when Barrett commented that Hendrix was his favourite musician, which was shortly after the guitarist’s tragic death. Although Barrett was lucky enough to be still alive, his recording career was all but over due to his deteriorating mental health. However, in this interview, he spoke optimistically about the future and didn’t look backwards with regret about what could have been.
In 1967, Hendrix was the hottest touring artist in the United Kingdom, and Pink Floyd were selected as his support act. It’s the kind of bill that seems unfathomable, but it truly happened, and seeing Hendrix every night was an honour for Barrett.
Towards the end of his tenure, his declining mental health significantly affected his performances, leading to Pink Floyd being forced to replace him with David O’List during the run. After the band returned from the tour, his role in the group shrunk further until his official exit the following year.
“I toured with him you know, Lindsay (an old girlfriend) and I used to sit on the back of the bus, with him up front; he would film us,” Barrett said about Hendrix to Melody Maker in 1971. He continued: “But we never spoke really. It was like this. Very polite. He was better than people really knew. But very self-conscious about his consciousness. He’d lock himself in the dressing room with a TV and wouldn’t let anyone in.”
He continued: “Hendrix was a perfect guitarist. And that’s all I wanted to do as a kid. Play a guitar properly and jump around. But too many people got in the way. It’s always been too slow for me. Playing. The pace of things. I mean, I’m a fast sprinter. The trouble was, after playing in the group for a few months, I couldn’t reach that point.”
Heartbreakingly, Barrett also touched upon his lack of recent output and admitted to being “frustrated”. He added: “I may seem to get hung-up, that’s because I am frustrated work-wise, terribly. The fact is I haven’t done anything this year, I’ve probably been chattering, explaining that away like anything. But the other bit about not working is that you do get to think theoretically.”
Unfortunately, Barrett never released another record after this conversation with Melody Maker, and he largely remained off-grid for the rest of his life until he passed away in 2006. Barrett and Hendrix could have given much more to the world with their art than they did, but that doesn’t diminish the scale of their respective positive contribution.
