| Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I - V) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
The dynamic of this song is not unlike a ‘call and response’ with the lyric first then a response of “Shine on...” following. If you look at the verse unbroken by the ‘response’ it frees the reader/listener to focus on each stanza as a more complete/unbroken thought. And YES this song is undoubtedly about Roger Keith ‘Syd’ Barret. Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky. You were caught on the cross fire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel breeze. Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine! You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon. Treatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light. Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the steel breeze. Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine! Prior to Syd becoming the now infamous “Psychedelic Martyr” he was a charming young man and school friend of David Gilmour’s in Cambridge. Syd is remembered in the early lines as that young man, shining in his brilliance, undamaged by the excesses of success. Then, in stark contrast, presented as the hollow man he became with a void behind his eyes (see the footage of Syd staring deranged and transfixed into the camera during the aborted shooting of the Floyd’s only appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand). This is the effect of being “caught in the crossfire of child hood and stardom”. The enigmatic phrase “steel breeze” fits well with the metaphors used as contrasting opposites such as “legend, martyr, stranger, raver, seer, painter, piper, and prisoner”. Like most great and interesting people, Syd holds great contrast in elements of his personality. Fueled by his desire for “reaching for secrets too soon” he walked a dangerous precipice. Fame and excess was only one way that Syd searched for enlightenment. He was also very religious, and had sought enlightenment most notably through eastern philosophy and religious practices. Very early in his life he was devastated when a religious group denied him membership for unknown reasons (read about this in Interstellar Overdrive). Roger Waters penned these lyrics to try to encapsulate this very complicated man. The opposites of this child and man are juxtaposed such as the opposites of random and precise, steel and wind (breeze), childhood innocence and stardom with all of it’s excess and falseness. And yes the question of Syd’s mental status is alluded to throughout. The term ‘crazy’ is used primarily as a term for the mentally ill in the united states crazy = unstable, insane they are synonymous. I myself work with the severely mentally ill here in the states. Lyrical lines such as “target for faraway laughter” appear to refer to the auditory hallucinations and paranoia associated with major forms of mental illness. Those same voices open up the Pink Floyd album “Dark Side” play it at volume for the first 30 seconds and imagine being plagued by those voices yourself. The phrase ‘dark side of the moon’ is itself a reference to madness. The last line with the alliteration of the consonant “P” as in “Painter, Piper and Prisoner” seems the most haunting encapsulation of all. Roger was moved to tears when seeing Syd for the first time in many years during the recording of WYWH. To Roger Waters, seeing this great man, a true talent...painter, piper at the gates of dawn reduced to a prisoner of his own mind must have been quite a sobering experience. |
|
| Pink Floyd – Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
No one was even close on this one ;). It has been pointed out that the lyrics that were originally posted are wrong. The re-posted lyrics appear correct. So here is the real deal. This song was "ripped off" by Waters. As some of you know, Roger had to step into the role as "leader" of the Floyd when Syd stepped out (so to speak). Roger has admitted to "ripping of Chinese poetry from the late T'ang period" in writing this song. The addition of the space elements and suicidal space flight into 'the heart of the sun' were his own. This was a period where Waters was consciously trying to produce fantasy lyrical musings that matched the original Floyd hits as penned by Syd B. Water's himself has admitted this fact in many interviews. Great song none the less. The music is very trance inducing. Now what the original meaning of the Taoist poems are up for grabs. The following website provides a large amount of info on this whole discussion, and appears very scholarly: http://www.cjvlang.com/Pfloyd/index.html |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.