The Syd Barrett song David Gilmour called “quite brilliant”
Towards the end of his time with Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett was a mere semblance of his former self as he succumbed to schizophrenia. Barrett’s mental health condition started impeding his ability to function, ultimately hindering his primary reason for living—his musical career. Eventually, his struggles led to his departure from Pink Floyd, despite being one of the founding members of the group.
While recording their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, Barrett had become increasingly unreliable, leading to the recruitment of David Gilmour, who had known the band since they lived in Cambridge. Barrett frequently didn’t turn up to the studio, and it was unclear what version of him would be there when he did appear.
Eventually, in January 1968, halfway through the album’s recording process, Pink Floyd decided against picking Barrett up ahead of a concert in Southampton, and his departure was confirmed shortly afterwards.
While Barrett’s fingerprints are barely felt on A Saucerful of Secrets, he did contribute the closing track ‘Jugband Blues’, his final song for Pink Floyd. At the time of writing the song, Barrett was still conscious enough of his surroundings to realise he was drowning in deep water, but his state rapidly deteriorated further.
On the haunting track, Barrett deals with his impending fate and sings, “I’m most obliged to you for making it clear that I’m not here”. At one stage, he also questions who is writing the song, which provides a harrowing insight into his frame of mind.
During a 2001 documentary with John Edginton, Gilmour spoke of ‘Jugland Blues’ and remarked: “A very, very personal song about him and his condition, which is sort of very raw, and I think it’s quite brilliant.”
Gilmour then discussed Barrett’s songwriting process, which he never fully understood, stating: “I have no idea really how he wrote. There were many occasions when he would seem to be, either at his flat or my flat or in the studio, he would appear to just start something and it would all come out as if he’d never thought of it before that moment.”
“With the words and everything, in a way that I find hard to conceive with not being wordy as he was. It felt like he just made them up as he went along, but I’m sure it can’t have been that simple. It’s a nice idea, though,” he added.
The Pink Floyd musician then mused over the notion of Barrett’s writing being a “stream of consciousness” before adding, “Maybe it’s a stream of subconsciousness that he had some way of letting flow out of him, or maybe he did sit and think about it. I can’t quite imagine him doing it consciously.”
While Barrett’s songwriting process was a mystery to even those closest to him, it produced spectacular results for a short time. However, his career will always have a question mark hanging over it and the thought of what could have been if it wasn’t for his mental health troubles.
