Rest In Peace Syd…
It was announced on CNN’s website today that Syd Barrett has gone on the the dark side of the moon…
“Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett has died at the age of 60, according to a spokeswoman for the band. Barrett founded the band in the mid-1960s and was the creative force behind its first two albums. He was also the inspiration for the band’s 1975 album, ‘Wish You Were Here.’”
Prepare yourself…I don’t “blog” in the conventional sense, more or less I post news about me.
Anyway, this does hit a nerve with me. I guess because 3 of my musical heroes were “lost”, all from the same era of the same band–Fleetwood Mac. Granted, two of them (Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer) have made slight returns/recoveries. Peter was the first to leave the band, after suffereing a nervous breakdown. Jeremy followed soon afterward, joining the now famous religious cult, The Children Of God. The remaining guitarist, Danny Kirwan pushed on for a few years, before suffering a similar breakdown and leaving the band.
Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer are now active musically, and have been for some time. This is great for fans of the British Blues scene of the 60’s. But sadly, Danny has not been so lucky, and he is still, more often than not, homeless, unwilling to discuss his time as a musician, and quite possibly mentally disturbed.
Danny has been for some time, my own Syd Barrett. I personally support his desire to stay completely away from music and the music business. It’s his life… I just hope he someday tells his story before passing suddenly as Syd has.
Danny…”wish you were here.” Syd, we’ll see you on the “dark side of the moon,” Buddy. Shine on you crazy diamond.
~jp
July 12th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Danny is a real tragedy for me because I think he is Fleetwood Mac’s most underated member and perhaps their greatest guitarist. Watchin the “Original Fleetwood Mac” DVD, it turned out that Danny played my favorite guitar parts on the Peter Green era songs. Plus his songs on Future Games and Bare Trees are my favorite FM songs.
July 18th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Indeed… the little bits of interview Danny gave a few years back were much more cohesive than anything we got from Syd. At least he was somewhat able to discuss his past.
I’ll never give up hope that he’ll return, but won’t hold my breath.
~jp
April 12th, 2007 at 1:49 am
Yes, I could never understand why Danny wasn’t given more credit for his contributions to FM, as well as the guitar in general. He is the reason I re-started playing several years ago, and his songs sound just as ccol and ethereal as when I first “discovered” them in my early twenties about 15 years ago. I would certainly travel to England to hear him play if ever the opportunity arose. One never knows…