Syd Barrett - Interviewed By Meatball Fulton - London August 1967
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2020
- Syd Barrett - Interviewed By Meatball Fulton - London August 1967
A very odd interview to say the least. At times, I'm not sure who is more odd, Syd, or "Meatball'
I am Autistic, and Syds Speech pattern reminds me of myself. I have no problem understanding his speech , and what he is talking about for some reason . I think all of Syds answers are straight forward and to the point . And I don’t think Syd or Even me can fill in the blanks what this interviewer is asking .
The questions seem very odd. And not very human . Syd to me seems normal . The interviewer seems to be speaking some strange language with lots of things missing in his questions . And lots of things that should not be there .
I think this "interview" was summed up pretty well when Syd said "Very strange to meet you." If the questions have no substance, then the answers will follow suit.
I wish so badly I could see his face and emotion while he's talking
me too, there is only like two or three footages and videos of him actually talking, wish there was more.
Probably, expressionless, calm and reserved like his voice. And fair nuances of emotion, ie, little smirks here and there. Rapid blinking as he is concentrating on his words. Lots of eye contact and looking down.
I lived that age and saw it dozens of times in different people. THere's nothing to make sense of unless you're tripping too and seeing the faces adds nothing
I would think he was showing confusion and desperation due to the person interviewing him sounding like a person in the final throws of the death agony.
I wish there was video of him recording Madcap Laughs or Barrett.
I'm just hearing an interviewer projecting on to his subject what was going on in his own mind rather than Syd's. The interviewer has an agenda that dominates the interview rather than facilitating Syd to express himself.''Your impression of me; would you care to tell me?" This guy should never have been allowed to do an interview - he didn't get the first rule: it's not about YOU Mr interviewer! Jeeees!
that's what makes syd not cautious of speaking his thoughts. so i think it is a brilliant interview technique, creating a natural and real relationship between the two.
Syd barrett seems to be an intelligent lovely bloke and to imagine planet earth without pipers at the gates of dawn would be unthinkable, my teen years getting high listening to pipers sent me into my own world and words fail my to describe how good of an album it is, there will never be another Syd Barrett.
Well said. Been there (to an extent). His thought processes are logical enough to HIMself. He just doesn't feel too bothered about describing them..
I still would suggest you to take a listen to How to leave town by Car seat headrest
I spent my teens doing the exact same thing in the early/mid 80s. Getting high & tripping to Piper.
? Hmmm...? Will do!👁️☕
Great stuff! Is this your band? Hope y'all are weathering this horrible plague. Stay well!👁️
The interviewer is the oddball . Syd is wary and rightly so . He knows he's not to be trusted. Somebody said the interviewer was ' creepy ' &
that's about right . Syd is perfectly sane and coherent , just very guarded .
I agree, this nutter is trying to f**k with syds head, with his mind control MI5 bullshit
Exactly, under the condition of being psycho-analysed like in therapy but in kind of a negative way, Syd was holding it up pretty well. Not single question about Syd's music. I had to stop listening after a few minutes.
That's basically a synopsis of what lead to Syd's decline, enablers with no real concern for him in the process. It's very sad still, he was so brilliant.
Modern humans ascribe credibility to Meatball.
Meatballs suck.
That was excruciating. Poor Syd, he was too polite to tell this stoned and rambling American to get lost. Clearly though he was not particularly enjoying this encounter.
Exactly so.
He had such a calm soothing and kind voice. Even when he seems to have wandered off into insanity, he still sounds so nice. It's easy to picture why they all loved him 💔
WHAT AN ATTRACTIVE PERSON....JUST LISTENING TO HIM SPEAK, HE WAS CHARMING.....THAT´S WHY WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IS VERY SAD.....Greetings from Argentina
Rick was similar
I think this interview is what made Syd go mad
Tender voice, loving, tourmented soul♥️
How do you know he was tormented?
the interviewer is stranger than Syd! The questions he asks would leave anyone struggling.
I think he was just trying to be on Syd’s level… what do you ask a person like syd.
It would've been hard to find a decent time to interview syd in late 67..
Some of his questions are actually good. I think you're being a bit silly.
@@editingandy3808this is 67 syd he had no clue who syd was stop exaggerating.
I was just thinking the same thing. Then came to the comments to see if its just me and yours was the first I see. I think Syd was fine until this interview and during this interview he went crazy. The interviewer is wacko
This is one of the strangest and creepiest interviews I've ever heard. And it's mostly not because of Syd.
Why?
@@freddiesimmons8730 Because the interviewer is so odd and asking so many intrusive questions
Exactly. Why is the interviewer posing questions about himself?
I agree. This is not a professional journalist. He is messing around with Syd. He is mind fucking him.
@@Valientlink it is weird but those are the best kind of conversations even tho they dont know each other small talk is so boring to me
I think the interviewer was dosed more than Syd. Lol. This dude asked creepy heady questions . Instead of asking "what you working on inside yourself Syd" he could have just simply asked. 'Hey Syd?' 'What are you working on these days'? But he is trying to get inside his head and I can tell Syd is uncomfortable with it by just not trying to answer him and ultimately ending communication with him. Good on you Syd. This guy is a obvious creep who should not have been allowed nowhere near him .
Bloody Yank! Always got to compartmentalise mental health look what America have done throughout 20th century and to the 21st.Make money out of peoples' distress. Over and over. Take care everyone. Love to the Barrett family.
I agree 100%. Syd sounds lucid Who would ask these stupid questions other then someone making a joke of someone it’s seems really stupid interview Syd was very pleasant & nice. I would have told him bugger off & ended interview.
Is this about Syd or the interviewer?
Thank you for the interview! It seems to me more and more that everyone wanted a piece of Syd. The interviewer took words Syd was saying about his process of making a recent painting and twisted it into some kind of interpretation that made sense to him. Syd was rather giving in his words at the beginning until the interviewer started acting like he had to figure him out and interpret what he was saying to an audience. The questions seemed to be manipulative and even became presumptuous of what might be found deep down. I hear Syd trying to call him out on it in a very nice way and trying to be clear in calling him a "strange interviewer". I will agree with the interviewer that Syd was vulnerable. I don't blame Syd at all for not talking much after he noticed the interviewers intentions. It's pretty clear there was an agenda in his questions. He sounded like a forensic psychological used car salesman. Although, I do appreciate being able to hear an interview with Syd. For that I am grateful. It might have been longer if he just let Syd share his thoughts. Thanks for uploading this and sharing it!
couldn't said it any better...for Syd, thanks~
I agree, the questions seem unnecessarily complex and it seems like they are designed to extract some sort of understanding about his "condition"
L😅😅😮😮😮😅😅😅😅
⚘
Acid made him too nice for his own good. He got over that later.
Sauerkraut.
Interview by Meatball Fulton (1967)
Transcription by Mark Jones
SYD: Well I’ll, I’ll say… for example, painting at an art school. Or painting, say, in infant’s school. The initial desire to paint or initial suc-first successes at painting arised, I think, out of a very genuine basic, um, drive one way or another. So, an-and because of family and social set ups are channeled into success or otherwise and, er, er, through schools and such like and one gets different things. And I think un-and, course, one comes across teachers and people like that, teaching and, sort of, instruction and to talk to and there came, and I feel now that having left art school that there are a lot of things… um… that I could do. A lot of things I see now, a lot of things went in to me, into my head and thinking that these would, perhaps, changing and altering things. For instance I made a painting the other day… and… it’s, I could see and hear very clearly, sort of, different instructions and different criticisms going in to the picture which were in fact p-um-criticisms that I could relate back to art schools and teachers and various things that’d come at that time. So… maybe… this would be very valuable, this break. I don’t know… and, er, sort of, to… try painting again after a break of going in to pop music and going to… playing this sort of music… just might work out that, get more, sort of, basic freedom. I don’t know, it’s something to d-, just things like shape of the paper and, er… seem to be a lot of assumptions taken place.
INTERVIEWER: When you were saying criticisms you had, criti-, your own criticisms of your work is that what you (??) outside other people?
SYD: Um, criticisms that I, I, I, really, d- yeah…
INTERVIEWER: Of your own criticisms of your own work…
SYD: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: …that were, sort of, put in to you by teachers and so on.
SYD: They were what I was channeling into my own criticisms, yah, they were wh-, they were what were governing what I was doing, in to pai-,er, why it was happening.
INTERVIEWER: Do you ever… get… I don’t know… frightened by, I use this word because it’s, it applies to me by, er, the systems that, I mean this, in a sense, I don’t know, could be better worded, this in a sense, you know, is a system, when, when you’re, realise that the criticisms that you’re using… on… have been put in to you, y’know, sort of, conditioned. But, but when you realise more and more what it is that controls all the systems that, you know, system upon system, sort of, working your way through one in to another and another..does this really…bother you…or even frighten you? The feeling that you’ll never be free, that you’ll always be a prisoner? But, maybe you don’t have that feeling?
SYD:……Yeah I do!….
INTERVIEWER: Do you think that you can be free if you can realise, I mean, get to a point where you realise…you know, more and more and more systems (??)
SYD: Er yeah. I think, er, m-maybe, maybes…
INTERVIEWER: The realisation’s, sort of, freeing you on and that…
SYD: Yeah, well, yes, in slowly in time, ya know, it’s-ss, well it happened with this painting, I mean-er, I finished a picture I got through… a lot of things… I wanna, it’s quite enjoyable, you know… and the idea is, to, I would like to get hold of that and be able to assimilate the, um, the system as it comes in, rather than… um… ss-you know, see it as it goes out.
INTERVIEWER: Yep….. Do you find yourself in patterns and constantly repeating the same patterns over and over?
SYD: Mmmmm!
(Long pause)
INTERVIEWER: What are you.. working on at the moment in… inside yourself?… Do you know?
SYD: (Pause) Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Do you care to say?
SYD: Umm, I carn- er, sort of… I can’t really say, because it’s obviously taking too much time to think about it. I don’t, I, ss-um…..(pause) It’s not really difficult.
(Long pause)
INTERVIEWER: Do you ever feel when you see people, or do you often feel when you see people that you could tell them something about themselves that they don’t already know (??)? Or do you look at people that way?… I feel you do, that you really sort of observe people… Do you?
SYD: Nah I think it’s something about… um.. wow, really gets… pretty… involved… this stage… I can’t… see… yeah there is a, I certainly do get a ss-feeling of what people are like and, er… it really, the really, the, the complication comes out in talking, but this only comes out at certain times because of a feeling that talking is, in fact, a much, a far less, er, valuable thing than, er, and it’s almost superfluous, to…wha-… to… to everything else, you know, to sort of, general, as-s, I don’t know, sensing people (??) value of people… But the same time, it’s a contradiction that the wor-, that words and talking to the people should be difficult in any way. So one… goes, one is hesitant to say ‘No I can’t say anything’, you know… An- an I know as well this is something that occurs only at times, ya know, other times it doesn’t… and it’s cool.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah maybe that I think more in terms of words when I, ya know, see someone and have an impression. I mean like, your impression of me… which you must have… on… would you care to tell me? And be like absolutely honest… Do you have one?
SYD: In words?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
(Pause)
SYD: Um…Wow!
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)… I mean really be honest. And I’m asking this cos you may have something to give me, I don’t know.
(Long pause)
INTERVIEWER: Not the general things, I mean whatever, mean what the main thing that sort of hits you. And I-I’m not asking for a personality critique, ya know, cos I know enough about myself that I don’t need that.
SYD: Well… (mumbles) there’s so many different things, that on different levels, that I could… say, that of impressions of you, so I give us, I don’t know, I just, maybe the most strange thing is, um… meeting you, talk, sort of s-saying… eh… very strange to meet you… Well it tisn’t really strange, it’s not many people that…that sort of… one can…wr-interviewers and such like, as, as, and you came in to that class. Erm… sort of, used to, I mean generally it just sort of say hello and to get to say the questions and go again… I don’t know… very, I don’t know (laughs) Wow.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughing) I see you’re holding back.
SYD: Yeah, yeah… er.
INTERVIEWER: I mean, I mean I don’t c-, you know, it maybe something that sends me back, I don-, maybe, you know, probably not anything I’m going to want, want anyone to hear… and it’s sort
SYD: No- (Laughs) Not at all! I, I understand. I think I learn a lot from you… and er… (stammers) the thing, th-th-that you see, there’s the… I… I’m not, I know I feel from you that in, you not,really, that I could say anything and do anything and you would st-, I mean, you are recording it and that’s cool and, er… But I could… and I know that applies to you, to me and you, you know, cos really I, I, you are, I assure you, you can do anything you want, but… And in talking, I mean, that includes if… I want to… if I wanted to say nothing or if I… I want to act in an extr-extraordinary way… then I feel that that too is justified
INTERVIEWER: You have your relatives?
(cut in tape)
Syd Barrett on everything happening all at once
INTERVIEWER: Because, I don’t know, ya know maybe in a sense there’s something I could tell you I don’t know what it would be. And the same thing, ya know, I’ve done this a couple of times, not, not in interviews.. . but ya know, when I met someone who, you can see in their eyes this-s, depth, what am I saying… do you have anything to tell me?
SYD: (Laughs)
(Pause)
INTERVIEWER: Mmmmm
SYD: (deep breath)
(tape cuts off)
After reading this and the groupie comments under this video.. no wonder he couldn't get help when he needed it. He was disturbed, but people were too busy treating him like a "God." Perhaps if he had gotten psychiatric help at this point, he may have gotten better. This is sad.
@@Granger15 I think he needed help but the interviewer was asking really strange questions that were worded very oddly as well. I don’t think anyone would’ve answered the questions very well either
Forget what you know or think you know about Syd-- his acid use or abuse, his mental/emotional issues, etc.--and the interviewer easily comes off as more bizarre in this interview than his subject.
LSD wasnt the main reason syd mental health deteriated.i think he had an underlining condition.
I love syd. Syd was perfect as he was, a beautiful soul.
@@tinycreature1749 yea these prodding questions seem so psychoanalytic that it feels like hes an experiment. im sure they had some behind the scenes people doing tests on him to see what would happen giving him sketchy drugs and such. also getting lost behind the looking glass seems pretty par for the course in music industry
I was kind of thinking the same thing.
Very sad to listen to anyway.
Exactly
I blame this on the interviewer. Maybe he should have chosen a much less distracting location, like an airport runway. He sounds like Psychology 101 dropout. What was the reason for this? Certainly not for entertainment.
Syd says, "the complication comes out in talking, but it only comes out in certain times. it seems talking is far less valuable and somewhat superfluous" (for you youngsters, "superfluous" basically means excessive and redundant).
if that isn't the most spot-on statement from a young artist exploring new ways of expression, but it also hints at his state -of-mind perhaps? I hate to try to project my own thoughts onto a guy I never met, but he went on to basically cease talking over the next decade until he only expressed himself thru art. Meanwhile, the Floyd would later release a song called, "Keep Talking (Why Won't You Talk to Me)".
An Artist with a capital A was Roger Keith Barrett.
I think Barrett does a remarkably good job in responding to these dumb non-sequitir questions. I'm not sure I could coherently answer some of these...
13:16 I'm not sure you listened to the interview
I think these questions are great..almost like a psychiatrist talking with him..
Gentle and allowing the silence to speak louder then the answers..
They sound like the entrance exam to get into a cult.
@@plunkadelicdaydream Did you listen to the question he was asked? Lol it made no sense, how was his answer meant to
Exactly. I wouldn't know how to respond to any of these questions. Yes, I'm schizophrenic, but these questions are meaningless
We miss you Syd.
Always loved Syd since I was 13 & used to stare into his eyes on album covers wandering if I could gain some sort of deep knowledge or understanding of what he was seeing.Such a great influence on many in the 60's & such a shame he couldn't be looked after better back then. Still love his music & his style. Nick Mason & band do a fantastic job of bringing the early Floyd songs back to life & they are just as good & relevant today, especially Point Me At The Sky!
As a 17 year old who’s only recently learned about this after listening to pink Floyd for a couple years I have the same wonder I’m slowly losing my grip on reality and I somewhat sympathise with him although I don’t think it’s the same
Inluence yourself syd did
Point me at the sky kind of reminds me of Lucy in the sky. The song structures are very similar
Syd's first statement is quite coherent. He's basically talking about how his training in art was informing his paintings like they hadn't before. He was thinking about lessons and criticisms from teachers that he'd subconsciously taken on board, whilst painting. He was happy with a break from music and was enjoying the freedom he found as an artist. Suggesting he felt stifled as a pop musician.
But then the interview goes down hill. I think the interviewer looks too deeply into that and goes off on a reverie about 'systems'? which I think Syd tries to follow for a bit.
Syd seems more uncomfortable as the interview is manouvered into a more personal direction.
At this point Syd clams up and the interviewer tries to reassure him that any personal information will be edited out, and how he can be trusted... but I think Syd was just about 'with it' enough not to go any further.
He tried to get Syd to open up in a way that I think Syd found a bit too intimate to share with a pop interviewer on tape. Can anybody blame him?
That's probably why the interview ended abruptly. I'm sure Syd was polite when he said interview over, thank you.
Since you understand syd in this interview so well you should have your mental state checked by a doctor lol
what year was this? anyone know?
@@Silas.Marner 1967, while he was still in the band.
The interview is awkward because the interviewer is searching for hidden depths, insights and meaning, but Syd just wants to talk about his love for painting.
I feel the acid haze right through this interview and the attempt to be coherent when your mind is dredging through impossible connotations every second
This is just strange. Poor Syd. He probably came across a lot of people like this, and it seems exhausting.
Having had experiences of i believe similar illnesses, I can't help but feel for Syd when I hear this.
I'm very curious about whether this interview had been prearranged with Syd, maybe by others, or if the reporter had miraculously "bumped into" Syd and convinced Syd to give an interview.
Today it's a fascinating rare snippet of rock history, but listening to it, personally, I get the impression that this was the exactly the kind of experience that exacerbated Syd's worsening mental health & pushed him away from the music industry and consequently Pink Floyd.
When you hear his interview in May from Look of the Week, he's so much more energetic and charismatic. I think at this point, Syd was using quaaludes and was probably on them here. He also smoked crazy amounts of hash according to the book "Dark Globe" so if he combined hash and quaaludes? It's no wonder his speech became so slowed from here into his solo albums, though his singing was still sharp since that uses a different part of your brain, kinda like how Ozzy could sing fine well after he couldn't speak well
A very rare chance to explore the psche of a genius ruined by a poor interviewer. Such a sad loss
Interviewer is more crazy than syd. Syd needed to stop after the 2nd question or whatever or Meathead was going....ridiculous!!
He makes perfect sense (in his sometimes halting way) when talking about his (visual) art. Also, some of the questions were perhaps more appropriate for a therapy session, and something tells me that "Meatball" was not exactly qualified to play that role.
What the FUCK do u want A FLUFF PIECE?
Qq
This interview is what drove him crazy
I've listened to this interview hundreds of times. He is a perfect soul and I cherish everything he gave to the world.
Sounds weirdly obsessive.
@@glenbellefonte9620 I think Syd in general was obsessive of quite a few things in life so maybe. But his ability to express himself in an inspiring and unique way and share with the world the art he was able to create was frankly unprecedented. Although influenced by many people he was able to create new ways of sound expression. I akin Syd's tracks a lot more to paintings than songs as that's how he loosely intended.
@@glenbellefonte9620 and I also do believe that art exists only to the eye that sees it so maybe your eyes don't. And thats cool too lol
@@BrianBarrettWilson my ears believe Floyd sounds better after about 1970.
@@glenbellefonte9620 Floyd sounded worse without Barrett until they started singing about him lol.. aka dark side, wish you were here, the wall. Piper at the gates is just behind those 3 and on par with animals in my mind
To me, this is very coherent and beyond the thoughts of many, especially in these modern times. I think the interviewer is just asking difficult questions. Obviously, Syd was a very deep thinker, and putting these thoughts into words had proven to be quite difficult for him to express in such time restraints. He even expressed his acknowledgment of this during the interview as well as how different this interview was compared to the normal type he was accustomed to. Was he mentally ill? I don't know. I myself believe we live in a mentally ill reality in which people are quite mad. I'm particularly speaking of those in power and the direction in which the masses are being led. These realities to such a man might cause him to want to escape from it all. Hide behind a door with a lock and no key in which to enter. People who are different and behave abnormally are often dismissed as being mentally ill. Some of these people have a better grasp of reality than many others. These are just my personal beliefs, of course. Thank you for sharing this video❤❤❤
Thank you David Gilmore for taking care of him
I think the questions are probably a bit deeper than Syd expected and that made him a little anxious about how much he should reveal as he mentions it is being recorded. He is definitely wary and somewhat uncomfortable... as I would be myself if asked some of these questions. He's not beyond return here. It's a shame that they were all so young when this was all going down. Nowadays he would have got some professional help earlier than the point of no return.
Unless he's in the United States. No help here unfortunately.
@@alidabirnia2882 well he is british so it probably would’ve worked out better for him
@@stevie7255 my point exactly
Don't use drugs
@@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631 ..when u have schizophrenia
Syd sounds so nice snd his voice and manner to talk , accents are amazing! ❤️💌
These are questions you probably shouldn't ask someone on acid - being a "prisoner", being "afraid", "personality critique", etc. Kind of negative thread, there, which probably put him into a weird frame of mind. He was trying, though.
The "interviewer" just seems to want something from Syd, a personal justification, an acknowledgement of something, what's your impression of ME? Have you got something to tell ME?
Syd sounds to me like he's trying to express a sense of loss for a freedom in artistic expression, which can be beyond words. Meanwhile he's conversing with someone who purports to be on the same wavelength as him, but is really another emotional vampire. He loved the freedom of painting, of playing such far out music with his band, and writing songs about whatever took his fancy, and clearly had wanted (at least at one time) the freedom that financial success could potentially bring, but soon enough realised that when big money gets involved it's no longer about the art, the fun. He found himself on the treadmill and wanted to get off, but now you've got band members, managers, record companies, fans, all relying on you to keep delivering the goods. I'm not denying that he must have damaged himself (and/or been damaged by those around him) but like Laing said, who's the real mad man?
Ah, Laing. The ubiquitous.
@@thenowchurch6419 Just yesterday I watched an interview with Waters and he mentioned RD Laing and Syd.
Interesting and beautiful souls.
Good insight. I always try to put myself in context of the time and the moment. The late 60's seemed to be a heavy time, similar to now but obviously different, and people were often trying to be deep and existential and the interviewer comes off as trying to sound like some profound intellectual who can communicate with Syd on another plane. I feel like there was a good bit of that going around at the time and Syd was probably surrounded by it. I've read a good deal about Syd and while I do think he suffered from some sort of nervous breakdown from all the pressures surrounding him, I don't think he was the madman that they made him out to be. There's some theories that he was possibly mildly autistic or had Asperger syndrome which I do think is possible. The one thing I've noticed, which is apparent in his final interview with Mick Rock, is that Syd at times had difficulty communicating and speaking coherently. In fact in that interview he even apologizes to Mick Rock for not being able to speak coherently. So I think he was perfectly sane yet when it came to communicating with others he had difficulty putting his thoughts into words. Syd's nephew also mentions in an interview that Syd had a fractured way of speaking. Anyhow, it's something I've noticed about Syd that I feel could've been misconstrued or taken the wrong way and led people to believe he was some nutcase.
He was taking copious amounts of lsd! It broke him! Have you ever known anyone ruined, broken by led? I do it's heartbreaking and this interview....?is just that.
@@nifflofair6685 I don't fully buy into that. LSD may have exacerbated the underlying issue but it just doesn't seem to add up to me. Malcom Jones, who produced The Madcap Laughs before Gilmour and Waters stepped in, said that Syd seemed fine when he was working with him and that was after he got away from that scene. There's just been too many things I've read like that over the years that just don't add up to enough to simply write him off as an acid casualty.
The lyrics Syd wrote in Jugland Blues show he wrote his own exit song from PF and absolutely knew what direction the band was going, especially when they added Gilmour as a 5th member of the band.
I've been a PF fan since I was in middle school in the early '90's. I wish I could've seen them live with Syd, unfortunately, I wasn't born. His music is a gift that he left us all and for future generations to enjoy and relate to in their own lives.
Yeah, the interviewer completely misunderstood what was going on. Syd begins by talking about how he feels overly influenced by the rigidity of the 'rules' that dictate how art *should* be. The interviewer decides to try to be all 60's intellectual, and Syd immediately thinks he's a tool. He starts off by not following what Syd was saying, which is illustrated by the criticism question. Syd then politely gives him several hints that he doesn't think very highly of him. He politely implies he "has trouble" talking to some people, and finds talking to them pointless. The interviewer isn't catching on, so he straight up asks "what do you think of me?" Syd chuckles and says "wow." As in, "wow this guy really doesn't get it." He even says, in not so many words, that he shouldn't even have to say out loud how he feels about the interview; isn't his body language *enough* of a statement? The politest thing he could bring himself to say was that he was strange.
There's a lot of tension in this interview, and very little "madness." It went far over the interviewer's head. Maybe that's why Syd didn't want to bother talking to him.
I had to stop myself, from tumbling down inside him'.. wow....I have been mentally ill, since 1980....from military service... PTSD & Manic Depression...i can feel this interview....in America, those that live on disability, even military disability, are shunted to the curb...people have told me directly, 'there is nothing wrong with you'....being retired, at 25, i have had time to read classic works of the West....the book that best describes America is, 'The Protestant Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism'...Max Weber, 1905...
Take large doses of magnesium citrate liquid gel caps... I recommend Kratom as well... I went through hell as a child and a young man I'm 51 years old and I've kicked three drug habits by using a combination of vitamins and herbs... Just trying to help
They say you can judge a country by how the treat there prisoners. Everyone should have the right to live a dignified life.
@@franriding6473a schizophrenic overheard Jeffrey Dahmer bragging about killing boys and bashed his skull in with a weightlifting bar.👍
Thank you for sharing this.... Listening to this talk gave me, perhaps the most valuable insight into this Diamond!
Shine on you crazy Diamond💎
Thank you very much for uploading this interview here. I love the question at 8:25 and it is very relatable for me. I do believe Syd enjoyed this interview just like he said "I think i learn a lot from you". If you don't understand the genius/psychedelic mind you wont get it.
This is gold, pure gold... better than gold
Edit; The September tour of Scandinavia was about three weeks away when this was recorded... the tour with the malfunctioning PA which meant that the vocals could hardly be heard...
Mr. Fulton came into this interview having talked to the other members of Pink Floyd, who had explained that Mr. Barrett was not himself. I think that explains the probing nature of the questions. It seems to me that he wanted to help, and thought that by revealing his own worries and angst, he might get Mr. B to open up and reach some kind of closure. It also occurs that many other music stars would love to answer questions like 'What are you working on inside yourself?'. I imagine it being put to Mr. Marc Bolan... he'd talk for about fifteen minutes at least... the difference is that between glamour and actual emotional depth.
The third single, 'Apples And Oranges', b/w 'Paintbox' was about two months away, and the unreleased 'Vegetable Man' b/w 'Scream Thy Last Scream' was in the making... the latter was played on some dates of the September tour. Mr. Barrett's tenure in Pink Floyd was to be over in a matter of four months... but in August, he was still hanging on.
Apparently, psychoanalyst R.D. Laing concluded that Mr. Barrett was untreatable after hearing a recording of him speak. It might as well have been this recording.
How can some human conclude that he's untreatable!!!??? That too after hearing a record of him speak!!! These psychoanalysts were not helping him in anyway i guess...i feel for Syd. Been a PF fan since '79 and knew Syd in a much different way thru different articles, videos about him etc. But this interview gives me so much more insight into Syd's personality at that time.
At first I thought you meant that lesbian cowgirl K.D. Lang and I was like WHAT? What tf would SHE know about Syd's prognosis??
Hmm didn’t think of it this way
This is a gift. It’s the most informative Syd interview and shows that the myth may be a bit different than the reality
The myth is a LOT different from the reality. I've done extensive research.
The thing about myths....
It shows nothing, jez, would you like to be judged by an edited ancient idiotic interview when you were in your 20s? Struggling with drugs and being replaced in your band by a good friend? and who appear to be selling their souls for cash n fame? They didnt help him , he didnt help himself? Who knows.
@@MimiYouyu absolutely
@@atlasking6110 Extensive research on Syd Barrett?? You must have a lot of free time on your hands.
I'd wager that it was just this type of absurd, fawning, spaced-out questioning from a so-called 'journalist' that led Syd to get out of the 'pop' business as soon as he possibly could. Impossible for him to answer these 'questions' in any cogent way, though he tries his best in his touchingly middle-class, polite, Cantabrigian way.
Syd was able to transfer his skewed view of a world he clearly struggled to get to grips with into the wonderful music he created....
His own very personal form of art will live forever and can be found in all of us if we look hard enough !
Listening to this again I can hear someone scribbling during the interview and I think it is Syd drawing all the while this hippie babble is going on. It's very polite of Syd to try and answer the silly questions. Still, I'm grateful this interview exists.
Babble really is the best word for it. Just absolute hippy nonsense more concerned with sounding meaningful than actually being so. You can tell Syd is checked out by like third question.
R D Laing said that maybe it was the band that had the " problem" not Syd. The truth is that Syd didn't want to be a preforming monkey anymore. Syd was a artist not a monkey.
Thanks for this, fascinating, actually you sound more out there than Syd, its a shame you didn’t ask him some more straight forward questions too
Amazing. First real interview of Syd I’ve heard. Wish you asked about his music
Syd Barrett makes so much sense to me, even in this state - like you can really get into his head and visualize the structures of his words. He definitely wasn't lost at this point, which makes me wonder about the proceeding circumstances. I have a strong intuition that it was social isolation due to lack of patience of the others during an intense period for the band. It's hard to explain this intuition, but I'll give it a shot. My unconscious mind can't imagine the patterns of personality displayed by Syd Barrett - even in this state of mind - faltering in a sufficiently patient and understanding environment. Also, his insight on how early impressions affect the creative process is really neat.
YES! I agree completely! I don’t think Syd went insane, but rather faked it to escape the evil music industry and the fame!
It’s possible he faked his death, too, which I am deeply hoping
You nailed it. Imagine your band that you fronted and wrote all the songs that got you a record contract kicking you out and going on without you. If Syd didn’t write those songs they wouldn’t have gotten signed. Yet, they call Syd unproductive?? They couldn’t even write songs.
I feel this comment really well....
@@mitchmcturtle6890 I think the issues the band faced with Sad were exponentially more serious in the months following this interview. Sad would stand on stage and not play or not sing or play odd sounds. He would not show up for gigs or recording sessions. One long weekend when he disappeared and finally a few days later shows up at the studio, he was so lost and vacant looking. he apparently lost a significant amount of coherence. As far as their talent back then, Sad clearly was their leader, but Richard Wright was the only trained one with talent. He also wrote some of the songs. Their greatest success would come in the 70's post Syd Barrett, so eventually. their talent surfaced and created the longest Billboard hit album of all time.
"very odd" is an understatement. It's a shame we don't have the interviews with the others to compare to this. In general, it is a conversation between 2 very introspective people. I have no idea what the topic/purpose of the interview was? Not music anyway. With regard to Syd Barrett, halucinogens can vastly change ones perspective, and it seems that he lost interest in making music and returned to art/painting, and although he seems to have had mental health issues, I wonder what most of us would think in this situation, being asked these bizarre questions?
I understood what he wanted to say and do with his life. His mind was just as loose as it can get while also concerned with what he tells the interviewer, the guy would have probably gotten something deeper if Syd wasn't recorded. Plus Syd is hinting that he communicates better without talking. There's something artistic about that and the secret that Meatball was looking for.
The silence is justified what a yogi
Around halfway I had to stop. He sounds so completely destroyed, as if he just went through years of torture. An incredible brilliant mind in some place we'll never understand.
Yippy you cant see me but i can you!
Syd was a highly intelligent man. Everything he said made perfect sense. He knew what he wanted and what he was saying. After all he is Syd barrett. God bless him.
Well..."Highly intelligent man, what he said made perfect sense, he knew what he wanted and what he was saying..."
But he also lost his band...his mind...and after all, his life!
So...obviously, (and sadly), something was missing!
@@JohnDoe-vj2yy Yes, it might have been loyal friends who did not stab him in the back.
@@beccita Waters, or Gilmour???
Sorry....of course... you mean Gilmour!
I think...Syd Barrett would have left the band anyway..!
He saw the "Pink Floyd-Project" as a launch pad for his own visions...
He was NOT the guy to "stick" to a group...finding his place by doing something again and again....and again..!
Gilmours Idea of P.F. albums has never "connected" to the Ideas of Waters´...
Waters... always wanted to be the "Alpha-Animal"!
And even Waters, (as the best friend of Barrett), had an ANOTHER "Vision" of the musical concept as Barrett!...
So, I´m just curious...(and would like to know it from you)...
Was it right, to go ahead with the band WITHOUT Syd Barrett?
@@JohnDoe-vj2yy No he didn't!
@@JohnDoe-vj2yy he was missing you John. He missed your member in his hand.
Not now!
The only syd interview that enables him to be real and open up. A true treasure to have this!
im reminded of when gilmour said, "he'd talk, and at the time, it made sense. then, afterward, he had no idea what was just said.
Thank you for the same 6 revolving photos... mesmerizing/mesmerising.
tell us what you really think..
''Your impression of me; would you care to tell me?" This guy should never have been allowed to do an interview - he didn't get the first rule: it's not about YOU Mr interviewer! Jeeees!
It's hard to be professional when you are tripping balls. But if he wasn't tripping Syd probably would not have been able to relate at all.
He just noticed Syd was not going to say much. My 2c.
He sounds very sad :'(
Thanks alot for posting this
It's my pleasure
Syd answered the first question coherently and then upon realizing what the interviewer was trying to do he shut down. I think he is playing with him. Meatball is asking leading questions and attempting to tell Syd why he may do things he does, I don't think he appreciated it.
Question for everyone: What percentage of Syd’s “decline” was mental illness and drugs, and what percentage was him being repeatedly told (stigmatized) by people he trusted, that he was crazy? Then after he leaves Floyd, David G titles the first solo album “The Madcap Laughs” True. Then, his former bandmates build a massive body of music (admittedly brilliant) around a common theme of Syd being mad! How would you or any sensitive person respond? This interview is from late summer 1967, and he sure expresses himself quite well.
I like where you are going with this. He seems totally normal to me in this interview. Then again I’m not all there
Bingo. It probably really hurt. Is this interview after the supposed breakdown?
I agree you are into something. Exploitation of a genius by way of forcing him out then dismissing him thru media when there was no diagnosis. Tell me you rock stars who hate control like another brick in the Wall, are you a doctor with a degree and license to diagnose and or treat your so called friends/family? Yeah...sure.
68 was where he apparently got much worse
I agree with you, this interviewer is clearly trying to confuse syd and provoke uncertain responses from him. He asks ambiguous and cryptic questions that are almost desired to trick syd. I think syd must have been lost to some extent and unsure about much of his perseption of himself and the world around him and this must of been distressing for him at times because I have experienced small amounts of the general innate confusion that lsd can create during and experience let alone from 100s of trips ! I do agree that he manages to cling on and answer the questions adequately in his own way considering the complexity of him as a person and the inadequacy of the questions he’s asked. Syd Barrett is an amazing person who had a rare talent and a next level understanding of music and art who was fundamentally misunderstood by everybody during the time, if they had the understanding of psychedelic drugs in the 60s that we do now syd could have flourished even more but with much less negative cognitive effects.
What's with these questions?? Can't understand a thing the interviewer is attempting to ask. No wonder there are long gaps of silence. Syd, like us, is trying to figure out what in the world the interviewer wants to know.
I friking love Sid Barret, his change my musical taste, his up side down my brain. Its so amazing
"It's gettin' heavy in'it..."
“Yeah Syd, it’s getting heavy”
Syd got and still gets a bad rap about "going mad" ! all he wanted to do was paint and live off of it, and he was needled by pop culture so he bounced right out of it all. Not mad at all. Really. Took care of Mum and lived out a rather glum life, but there it is. Sheer disappointment in him is the only factor that calls him nutzo.
Very insightful and sane. Syd was branded insane by the people who relied on him to keep the rockstar gravy train going. Mind you,he had trauma issues long before Pink Floyd.
More than overwhelmed with the gravy train, I think he was just bored with what it took to sell a million records/more interested in discovering new worlds of music, which of was what the Floyd was founded. ~for a slight departure from Syd, but a similar story's Dead Kennedy's rhythm-guitarist/composer Carlos Cadona aka 6025. He had more experimental things in mind for the band, so they threw him out and said "he disappeared; he wanted to be the new Captain Beefheart, but Christian" = more bad-press is good press. 6025's few songs and the way he played gave the band a soul to steal. Who knows what ever became of him?
You're twisting things. His mother took care of him and when she died his sister did. I would say shaving his eye brows off or randomly showing up at a pink floyd session "to do his part" even though
@@allsystemsgo8678 *Hey, "Some people never go crazy -what truly horrible lives they must live."
C. Bukowski
@@allsystemsgo8678 I'm only moving the definition of "Crazy" a little, just into the blurred line.
This interview proves that Syd's breakdown was not a sudden acid induced bad trip but rather him not coping with how fame was treating him. This interviewer was obviously aware of the actual cause of Syd's condition and taunting him with it. Having watched a few documentaries on Syd's life on youtube its obvious to me that the other members of Pink Floyd meant well but overlooked the pressures Syd was under and put him under more pressure with hopes that Syd would get back to normal with help from his friends.
The members of the band have always hammed up Syd's "madness".
@@FLASHAHOLIC_TV it is obvious he wasn’t cut out for rock n roll stardom.
It was the 'stiff upper lip' British culture and a real lack of understanding on mental illness back then.
@@daylighting442 This. And people seem to forget they all were little more than kids back when it all went down, like 20/21 years old.
Meatball sounded like the real screwball in this interview, not poor ol' Roger.
Why doesn’t this have more views? Ive been wondering why theres so few interviews with syd barrett and here is a great one with barely any views...very sad...i suppose people are to caught up in the trash music of today 🙄
we still exist :)
well, ask Floyd fans who forgot him. but not us
Does not fit the Floyd myth, I suppose.
he's s softly spoken, this is relaxing
The first thing out of side mouth was, this stuff get edited, meaning change his meaning. He spoke in metaphor. He had a great mind that he expanded. Once you see things in a different way and your eyes are opened, you can't go back and close it. If he didn't like and answer he would just ignore it. He also couldn't sat what he was working on as it would just pour out of him and that was his magic. Rip💜
The poster, Chris Warren, wrote “Who is odder? Syd or Meatball”? I think the answer’s clear and was aptly summed up by @DiscerningLight below. Fulton comes across as the acid casualty. According to him, he interviewed the rest of the band, but the other tapes went missing. How strange.
If this was recorded in August 1967, the Floyd had just released Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This was before the infamous “missing weekend” and Syd was still comparatively together.
He was 21. He was very young, suddenly successful, vulnerable, and more than a little addled. He had been interviewed by radio, TV and the usual fanzines, who mostly asked straightforward questions.
And there he is faced with some stoned guy asking things like, “Do you find yourself in patterns and constantly repeating those patterns?” So there are inevitably long silences where Syd is presumably thinking, what do I say now? But he tries to give Fulton (seemingly desperate to get some form of self-validation) the answers he thinks Fulton wants to hear, as you would if you were being interviewed by the BBC. And as Syd probably did with many hangers-on.
If there is a revealing comment by Syd in all of this, it might be, “If I want to say nothing and if I want to act in an extraordinary way, then I think that too is justified.” Perhaps you could add, “The complication comes out in talking but this only comes out at certain times because of the feeling that talking is, in fact, a far less valuable thing and it’s almost superfluous to everything else…to generally sensing people. At the same time, it’s a contradiction that words and talking to the people should be difficult in any way. So one is hesitant to say ‘No I can’t say anything’. And knowing that this is something that only occurs at times and at other times it doesn’t. And it’s cool.”
Maybe he was not exactly coherent, and who can blame him, but these are the words of an artist, writer and musician.
After recording "Scream thy Last Scream" and "Set the Controls..." in early August, the band took the rest of the month of August 67 off for "holidays" and because they had been working non-stop for many, many months. It was during this month, when the interview took place, that Syd seems to have done too much LSD and "lost it." Rick Wright and others have pinpointed it earlier but their recollections don't match with the timeline...this was the period, I believe, when Syd went over the edge.
Last week of July 1967. That is when both Jenny Fabian and Sue (?) encountered him looking pale and catatonic. Also the last appearance at UFO when Joe Boyd said on seeing him enter the club, “Nobody home.” Very sad and tragic. PF cancelled several appearances in August and he seemed to get better in September but then continued taking more acid or perhaps STP in tour of US, and completely undone.
wonderful interview. very personal/emotional....thx
I love the stories of Syd bouncing around Cambridge all decked out like a rock star. People wonder that if he had "retreated" from music why would he still be donning that regalia? The answer is...he was an artist in the truest sense. A poet in uniform.
Once he got to Cambridge he was never decked out as a rockstar. He wasn't even decked out as a rockstar when he visited Floyd in June and July '75 during the Shine On You Crazy Diamond sessions.
What kind of "interview" is this???
@@tinycreature1749 an usa version of that
A high one.
@@smwokk he does sound like a acid head the interviewer and judging by the questions it wouldn't suprise me if they both dropped that day but that would ve gone down in syds history
Was the interviewer asking to be interviewed? He asked Syd what his impression of him was. And after that awkwardness, he further tells Syd to be completely honest in measuring him up. If the interviewer can find no reason to use his answer, he let's Syd know that he will edit it. Jesus, after that interview, I'm starting to question who the real madcap was.
You were really tuned into him there ,I was impressed.That prisoner question completely nailed it.. You're a Lucky man great interview 🍀
9:50 "Sort of sensing people... at the same time it's a contradiction that talking to people should be difficult in any way. So one is hesitant to say 'no I can't say anything' and knowing as well that this is something that occurs at times, you know, at other times it doesn't... and it's cool. Very strange to meet you."
Syd is making more sense than the yank.
Syd just wanted to do art. When the business came into it the light went away from his eyes and he just shut down.
This was uncomfortable.....The interviewer was creeping poor Sydney out
The troubles had been evident to David Gilmour a few months before this - by all accounts - the famed 'Games For May' show at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 12 May had been great fun for all - Syd included. But less than 10 days later when Gilmour visited Syd and the band at Sound Techniques studio in London - as they recorded "See Emily Play" - this is where Gilmour said he was shocked by a huge personality change in his old childhood friend - that Syd did not seem to recognize him at first - years later Gilmour would say; "I'll go on record as saying, that was when he changed"
Note to self: don't ingest an heroic dose of psychedelics before attempting to interview someone.
RIP SYD SADLY MISSED, SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND
Sounds like a meathead talking to the greatest singer, songwriter, guitatist and space cadet of the 1960s psychedelic experiment. The only mad ones are those that haven't experienced listening to that amazing genius. If civilisation lasts another thousand years piper wil still sound fresh and humanity will still speculate about Syds life, I'll bet the final cut and momentary lapse will be long forgotten.
Momentary Lapse will definitely be forgotten. The Final Cut, on the other hand, as a "requiem for the postwar dream," contains some serious substance, even if you don't like it.
@@chicklets4ever51 well maybe , could be the overflow of material from the wall, wall 2.0.
@@axax7668 It's not something I listen to very much, I admit, but I find the lyrics moving in places.
I am realizing that a rock star being interviewed is like a
client on the psychiatrist couch.
This interviewer is completely ridiculous in the ways that he's asking questions that make no sense....he's trying to reach into his soul instead of interview the musician in him... He's confusing and probably took poor Syd for a ridiculous ride making him uncomfortable and leaving him in a state of "what is going on"
I think this interviewer caused Syd's problem. He makes no sense when he talks. I couldn't even follow that he was trying to say.
According to a friend he lived with in 70 he was more into mandrex, or as some know it as quaalude, than anything else.. he’d stay locked up in his room for days at a time I think this makes more sense than that the acid caused him to break.
Might be a mix of both and underlying mental health issues
So utterly sad that such a bright light should come to such a sad end .
Not sure if Syd is the reason this was going nowhere.🤷♂️
“Do you find yourself in patterns and constantly repeating the same patterns over and over?”
Yeah, buddy, fvcking everybody does, it’s called living life with a human mind.
reality is really a form of 'groundhog day'.
This American bloke, despite his US music scene hipster credentials - for what they're worth - can barely form a coherent sentence. He's an intellectual newt compared to Mr. Barrett.
The guy doing the intro is the one who did the interview??? It’s like he didn’t even listen to the tape, but I suspect it’s really that (now, like then) he hasn’t a shred of self awareness. His side of it all feels so self-serving, like a weird forced therapy session by Mr Meatball, basically asking for Syd to give him his approval! (Of what???) I hate that the new material in the intro plays right to the classic, overplayed narrative that Syd was totally daffy when nothing here actually seems to represent that… Saying that the interview just fell apart so he stopped the tape… (uhh, ask better questions!!!) The exhaustive moralistic creed about how he’ll edit the tape really super good in particular hasn’t aged well…
Poor Syd deserved better, but I’m still glad there are such fragments of his likeness out there. He gives me the impression of a gentle, thoughtful soul, and his work speaks for itself, even though we’re left looking for more. A one of a kind mind , artist, spirit.
poor syd, i feel for him in this quote "interview" he gets lost , losing his train of thought alot i feel ,its the sound already of someone struggling with himself for whatever reason, i think there are many reasons for what happened to him and hearing this with what was to come is so so sad RIP Syd and ps he is being so nice and English here ...
Yikes! Listen again. The interview is awkward because the interviewer is trying to be a far out acid head maan🌞 But Syd is trying hard to be polite, whilst trying to steer the conversation back to his love for painting.
It sounds like the interviewer is more tripped out than Syd.
He sounds so sad and uncomfortable :((( poor babie
Ffs, if I had been interviewed by this guy, I would have ended up in Broadmoor
Anyone know the background music at the very beginning, during intro?