Mooretoons

Roger Waters gave Pink Floyd fans a lot to talk about recently. His interview with the German magazine Bilder included his criticism of Israeli policy toward Palestinians (good) framed in analogies to the Nazi genocide of the Jews (bad); criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (good) yet blaming Ukraine for provocations and parroting Putin’s propaganda (bad); and some weird shit about re-recording Dark Side of the Moon to replace the guitar solos with his poetry (wtf). David Gilmour retweeted his wife and lyricist Polly Samson’s excoriation of Waters, reviving a multi-decade feud between them that had seemed buried after reuniting to support the Women’s Flotilla for BDS in 2016. Oh well.

As a Floyd fan since I was a kid, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I chose not to bother much with Roger’s politics, because there’s not enough room to sort out his muddy thinking. But the DSOTM re-recording struck me as silly fodder. And I’m a big Syd Barrett fan.

As most fans know, DSOTM, Wish You Were Here, and elements of The Wall were all inspired by the bands’ complex grief and guilt over Syd’s mental breakdown. At the time the band was recording DSOTM no one could have predicted how successful it would be. All they knew is that it was good and deserved a better public and critical response than their previous post-Barrett work had received. Looking back, these three albums raise an uncomfortable question: What is Pink Floyd without Syd Barrett, as either a member or an inspiration? The answer actually lies between Saucerful of Secrets and Meddle, that exploratory phase of their career when they were trying to answer that very question. There is some weird stuff there, some of it brilliant, some of it … not very good. However, no one, historians nor fans, will put up, say, Atom Heart Mother as the definitive Floyd album (although I like it; the second side could have used some remastering.) And while die-hard fans will go to the mat for the post-Waters work, it’s the Waters-led era inspired by the memory of Barrett that defines their legacy.

None of which is to argue that Roger is right to insist DSOTM is his album, that the other members made minor contributions and had “no ideas.” He is right that he had the vision, the lyrics, the concept. But there’s Dave putting down guitar solos that people can sing to, Rick developing chord progressions, passages, and soundscapes that give the album its feel and whatever warmth the band’s engineering fixations will allow; and then Nick gluing it all together with tasteful percussion choices. Speaking of singing, Rick and Dave harmonize over half the record. Whatever ideas Roger had, the whole band had to carry them over. Some of Roger’s solo work is interesting, but I don’t think he ever appreciated (or perhaps he resented it) how much his old band contributed to the success of the songs he wrote.

I could go on and on and on about Floyd until your flesh fell away and your skeleton crumbled to dust. I’ll end by saying that it’s Syd’s stuff I return to every year and his songs I learned how to play on guitar. His legend has made him a tragic figure, but I think he had more agency than that. It took most of the 70s, but he eventually realized his happiness as an artist could not be found on the stage or the charts. It was at home, painting and gardening, sticking close to family and friends. Preserving his humanity.