The singer and guitarist David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967 and ended up becoming Syd Barrett‘s replacement in the band since the original member was fired one year later due to the erratic behavior, which could have been the result of years of drug use and an undiagnosed schizophrenia.
In 1975, Roger Waters, who became the band’s maiwn songwriter over the years, wrote the track “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, which was inspired by Syd. It became one of Pink Floyd’s signature songs being frequently performed by the band and also by Gilmour and Waters on their solo careers. But what is David Gilmour’s opinion on the song? He once talked about the song and said that it is impossible to sing and not remember Syd.
What is David Gilmour’s opinion on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”
In an interview with Mojo magazine back in 2006, he talked about the song, saying: “Roger’s paean to Syd. I’ve always loved this song. I love the words. I am (Thinking about Syd when I play it). Absolutely. You can’t sing, ‘Now there’s a look in your eyes like black holes in the sky’ without thinking about Syd. Or ‘come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr and shine’… ‘you wore out your welcome with random precision’… ‘you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner'”.
“All these images are very precise. I think of Syd. Can’t help it. It is important when you sing somebody else’s words to pay your respects to the writer and to the subject of the song. When artists sing other people’s words and they’re just words coming out of their mouths you can always tell.”
“They drop away from a phrase before the’ve quite finished it. They’re not really thinking and meaning what the words mean. It is… my responsibility as the singer to try and give the meaning and, uh, resonance of meaning the writer intended,” David Gilmour said.
David Gilmour and Barrett were friends before Pink Floyd
Years before David Gilmour joined the band, Syd and him were already friends and they were even arrested together once. He hitchhiked to the South of France and later on Syd went there as well with another friend. As Gilmour told Mojo back in 2006,
“In the summer of 65 I think, while my parents were away in America again, I hitchhiked down to the South of France and Syd came down in a Land Rover with a friend and I joined them in a campsite near St Tropez. Bacon and eggs on the Primus for breakfast – fantastic! We went busking in St Tropez and got arrested.”
“On the way back home we stopped off in Paris and bought all those naughty books that used to be banned in England. “The Naked Lunch and The Story of (The) Eye”, what was that publisher called?”
“(Wistfully) Green cover… I remember sitting in the campsite reading these things by torchlight. We had a great time. his father’s demise never seemed to enter into anything. You know, we’re all very good at covering these things up,” David Gilmour said.
Barrett passed away in 2006 at the age of 60, a victim of pancreatic cancer.