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The Musical Influences of Syd Barrett

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The Pre -Rock and Roll Period:а

Nursery Rhymes to Dancehall 78'sа

(1946-1954)

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а Now, for the first part of Barrett's musical influences, we start at the very beginning.........his childhood.

а Barrett's musical influences were very rich indeed.а As a child, growing up in the late 1940's and early 50's, little Rog was exposed to numerous nursery rhymes, children's songs andа traditional folk songs.а Here are a few that might have influenced his songs, directly and indirectly.а These are mostly guesses, but if you hum the melodies to those old songs, you might find they remind you of Barrett/Floyd ones as well!

 

а 'Sing A Song of Sixpence' with its sing-song cadence can be heard in the verse of 'Matilda Mother' that goes 'Why'd you have to leave me there/Hanging in my infant air'.аа The same diatonic progression shows up in 'Bike' as well.а Those falling phrases of notes, such as in 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', in the 'how I wonder what you are' portion show up again in again in Barrett's music.а The descending barre chords ofа 'Interstellar Overdrive' are a case in point.а Those cascading riffs or phrases that constitute an important part of the Barrett sound.

 

'Oranges and Lemons' provided provided part of the inspiration for 'Apples and Oranges'.а Brahm's 'Lullaby' might have influenced 'Flaming'; a comparison between the two is amusing.аа To my ears, and you may laugh now, 'See Emily Play' suggests 'London Bridge is Falling Down' .

 

'Green Grow the Rushes, Ho!', the popular folk song, according to Barrett himself, inspired 'Octopus'/'Clowns & Jugglers'.а Not only in its melody, but also in its rather complex arrangement.

 

аIn the 1930's, albums used to come on graphite platters which would be played at 78rpm, they were extremely breakable and tended to wear out very quickly.а Also, they were very short.а Dancehall 78's from the 1930's, probably his mother's, would prove influential in Barrett's development of uptempo songs such as 'The Gnome', 'Love You', and particularly 'Here I Go', which is a direct tribute/parody of songs from that era.

 

Paul McCartney was also very fond of music from that era, and popular artists of the time included Billy Cotton, George Formby, Jack Hylton and his Orchestra, Henry Hall and Louis Terry and his Gaumont-British Symphony.а They are vastly entertaining records worth remembering and checking out.а Nipper Records has a super compilation on CD.

 

Gilbert & Sullivan operettas: The final vocal coda in 'Bike', as well as Barrett and Rick Wright's harmonies on 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn', suggest Barrett had both knowledge and appreciation of the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, such as 'The Pirates of Penzance'.

 

 

 

Lonnie Donegan to the Beatles' 'Help!" (1954-1965)

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Before rock and roll appeared, during 1954-6, one of the biggest pop smashes of that time was Lonnie Donegan's cover of American folk/blues singer Leadbelly's 'Rock Island Line' (Leadbelly's also wrote 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night?', covered by Nirvana). Lonnie Donegan's 1954 adaptation sparked the fad for skiffle, the first teen craze in Britain. Though Barrett was bit young, his elder brother formed part of a skiffle band, and Barrett was exposed to the music.

During 1957-59, rock and roll exploded onto the music scene. Bill Haley's 1956 'Rock Around the Clock' was the first rock and roll to hit big, though black R&B artists had been doing it since the early 50's with records such as 'Rocket 88'. 'Rock Around the Clock' arrived in the UK in 1957 with its inclusion in the film 'Blackboard Jungle', and Britain's teenagers lost their collective minds upon hearing this song, causing riots in cinemas. The Teds, the U.K.'s first notable youth subculture, were particularly galvanised by early rock and roll and led the riots. They literally tore the seats out from the floor and shredded them apart in the cinemas. Can you imagine how repressed teens lives must have been then? They were so fired up......kind of beautiful in its own way. That doesn't even happen today at GWAR shows!

 

Buddy Holly's 'That'll Be The Day' (1958) was another biggie.Barrett and friends use to 'jam' to Buddy Holly songs in the late 1950s. Chuck Berry and Little Richard were also Barrett's favourites, according to Watkinson & Anderson, including 'Richard's 'Tutti Frutti' and Berry's 'Maybellene'.

 

Bo Diddley's epic single 'Bo Diddley' (1958) and subsequent album, 'Have Guitar Will Travel' (1959) were key Barrett influences, and ones which provided much of his basic inspiration between 1960-66. Diddley's distinctive rhythms form the bedrock of Barrett's playing, and Diddley's songs remained in the Pink Floyd's repertoire until late 1966, when they were still playing Diddley's 'I Can Tell' onstage at the All Saint's Hall.

 

Surf rockers the Ventures masterful instrumental single, 'Walk, Don't Run' (1960) was an influence too. Not only 'Lucifer Sam's surf inspired intro but 'Matilda Mother' also adapts the central riff of that guitarist's favourite. The Ventures were influential for the heavy echo on their guitars as well.

 

Jimmy Smith's 'Back at the Chicken Shack' (1960): Storm Thorgerson (Pink Floyd album cover designer and childhood friend of the band) stated that jazz/R&B organist Jimmy Smith was a favourite among their group of friends, Barrett included, during the early 1960s. They used to skip school together to go to Storm's house, smoke ciggies and listen to records like this one.

 

Barrett and Gilmour endlessly practiced Shadows instrumentals, such as 'Apache' (single 1960). They both owe a debt to Hank Marvin's guitar style, particularly his use of echo and the fluidity of his tone. Traces of Marvin's style can be found in Barrett songs such as 'Swan Lee', as well on his final 1974 recording session, where he reverted to basic Marvin-style riffs.

 

Blues/R&B guitarist and singer Jimmy Reed's 'Bright Lights, Big City', released as a single in 1961 was an absolute favourite with every band in Cambridge in the early sixties. Barrett performed this song while with Geoff Mott and the Mottoes, his first proper band.

 

Booker T. and the MG's 'Green Onions' (single 1962). Barrett cited the MG's guitarist Steve Cropper as an early influence, and Cropper's distinctive, clean riffs and leads inform Barrett's playing throughout his career. Barrett also probably picked up his Telecaster in imitation of Steve Cropper. Incidentally, Cropper plays these days with the new Blues Brothers touring band, as well as a star turn in the old one, and he appeared in the film. Check this guy out, he's a guitar genius.

 

Barrett was the first to catch onto the Beatles 'Love Me Do' (single 1962) among his friends in Cambridge. John Lennon was Barrett's favourite Beatle, according to Watkinson & Anderson.

 

Bob Dylan 'Bob Dylan' (1962): Barrett and Gilmour both attended Dylan's first major show in Britain, held at the Albert Hall in London. Dylan provided a songwriting model, with his extended and alternately hyper-realistic and surrealistic narratives.

 

Classical works by Leos Janacek, Olivier Messiaen and Bela Bartok, 'Das Rheingold' by Wagner, and others were among the various LP's that Peter Whitehead played when Barrett and friends were practicing in the next room at Cambridge scientist Peter Mitchells' house during 1962. Syd used to come over and jam with the son of the family, and also cos he was infatuated with Julia, the Micthell's cute daughter. He did stop in also to check out Whitehead's painting and chat about music.

 

Certain passages in 'Interstellar Overdrive' and other extended instrumentals would suggest Barrett had more than cursory knowledge of classical music, particularly of Wagner and his epic flourishes and sturm und drang. Barrett's father performed in a local symphony and was a keen classical music enthusiast, implying there were many classical albums at hand at 183 Hills Road.

 

Davy Graham 'The Thamesiders and Davy Graham' EP (1963)contains 'She Moves Through the Fair', a traditional Irish song which Graham played with Indian overtones, vastly influential on acoustic guitarists of the era. Graham's 'Folk, Blues and Beyond' (1964) was a stunning blend of folk, jazz, blues, Moroccan traditional music and Indian ragas. (Jimmy Page cited Graham as an important influence as well; Led Zeppellin's 'White Summer' was a mutated cover of 'She Moves Through the Fair'. Its a shame that Graham is almost totally forgotten, an amazing musician. Luckily his old LP's are being (finally) re-released on CD this summer. FIND THEM!!!! ;)

 

The Kinks 'You Really Got Me' and 'All Day and All of the Night' (both 1964) notable for their advanced use of distortion and Dave Davies crunching fuzz box riffs. It's hard nowadays to gauge the impact these singles had when they came out. They were so brutal and anarchic; they still sound totally punk. It's no coincidence that the Sex Pistols used to play 'All Day and All of the Night' in their early days.

 

The Beatles 'I Feel Fine' (1964) was notable for its use of feedback in the intro, indicative of the growing experimentalism among British guitarists in the mid-1960s. Barrett always had a keen ear for feedback, distortion and noise, and helped pioneer its use in rock music. The early Floyd was about as extreme as underground music got in 1966......comparable to today's grindcore or the avant terrorism of the Boredoms.

 

During 1964-5, Barrett was exposed to several jazz albums at Mike Leonard's Highgate house, where there is a copy in Leonard's collection of jazz artist Yusef Lateef's 'Eastern Sounds' (1961). Lateef's jazz and world music blend perhaps influenced Barrett's in his later use of Eastern modal tonalities. There also were several John Coltrane albums, including 'Coltrane' (1962). Barrett named the cat in Leonard's Highgate house 'Tunji', after a track that appears on that Coltrane album. Coltrane's groundbreaking use of stacked chords and 'sheets of sound' soloing was a pronounced Barrett inspiration, especially as he began to experiment more during 1966.

 

The Who's 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere' (single 21 May 1965)was perhaps one of Syd Barrett's all-time most important influences, with its heavily distorted glissando effects and Morse-code blips in its central 'freak-out' section. I sat and tried to listen to it as Barrett must have heard it and you can really hear where it paved the way for 'Astronomy Domine' and 'Interstellar Overdrive.' Highly, highly recommended.

 

Barrett and Gilmour busked around the South of France playing songs from the 'Help!' (1965) album, which came out shortly before they went on their summer holidays. That they crammed to learn the songs indicates the force of the impact it had on them. 'Help!', the title track was an overtly personal song, unlike anything in pop music up to that time, save for Dylan's more abstract first person soliliquies. Barrett responded to it at once.

 

 

AMM to Slade (1966-1974)

 

Byrds

'5D (Fifth Dimension)' (February 1966)

*'Eight Miles High' was a pivotal Barrett influence, and its fade-out riff appears in the Pink Floyd's 'Candy and a Currant Bun'. 'I Come and Stand at Every Door' probably laid some of the framework for the Pink Floyd's 'Flaming'.

The Incredible String Band

'The Incredible String Band' (June 1966)

*Influential for its mix of traditional folk and odd instrumentation, as well as Heron and WIllaimson's vocal stylings.

 

The Butterfield Blues Band

'East/West' (1966)

*Critical in Barrett's development of the Pink Floyd's extended improvisations was 'East/West', a 13 minute jazz/blues meld based on Indian raga scales. In a December 1967 BBC session, Barrett clearly plays a Bloomfield lick on 'Pow. R Toc. H'

 

Rolling Stonesа

'Aftermath' (1966)

*A Barrett favourite, this album's faux-Elizabethan 'Lady Jane' and 11-minute blues jam 'Goin' Home' paved the way for 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn's similar use of 'Interstellar Overdrive' and structured short songs.а

 

Yardbirdsа

'Shapes of Things' (single March 1966)

*Jeff Beck's masterful solo, a blend of flamenco, blues, noise and raga, was arguably Britain's first overtly psychedelic song.

 

Bob Dylan

'Blonde on Blonde' (May 1966)

 

The Fugs

'The Fugs' (1966)

*Barrett bought a copy of this album at Miles' Indica bookstore in 1966, and later cited its influence in interviews.

 

Love

'Love' (1966)

*Peter Jenner humming Barrett the central riff of Love's cover of Burt Bacharach's 'Little Red Book' led to Barrett's proto-metal riff in 'Interstellar Overdrive'. Arthur Lee's blend of musical moods was also influential.

 

The Kinks

'Sunny Afternoon' (single June 1966)

*Influential on Barrett's more uptempo and playful songs, such as 'The Gnome' and 'Here I Go'.

 

Frank Zappa & The Mother of Invention

'Freak Out!' (July 1966)

*Barrett cited this album in an interview, stating that he had 'taken quite a lot' from this band as well as the Byrds and Fugs.

 

The Beatles

'Revolver' (1966)

 

Donovan

'Sunshine Superman' (single September 1966)

 

Cream

'I Feel Free' (single, December 1966)

*Notable for the duality of its hard rhythm and poetic lyric.

 

Luigi Nono (Per Bastiana Tai-Yang Cheng)а

Karlheinz Stockhausen (Hymnen)

*Barrett may have been exposed to these modern composers during 1966. The more intellectually oriented of the Underground were exposed to works such as these at the Indica Bookstore and in the pages of IT.

 

 

1967

 

AMM

AMMusic (1967)

*Recorded in June 1966, AMM's Keith Rowe was arguably Barrett's most important influence of all, opening the door for his experiments and using developing techniques which Barrett adapted.

 

The Rolling Stones

'Between the Buttons' (1967)

*Peter Jenner earmaked this album as a strong Barrett influence. Certainly, 'Paint It, Black' influenced Barrett's use of gloomy minor chords and menacing vocals. And may have set a precedent for the verses of 'See Emily Play.'

 

'Strawberry Fields Forever'а

(single 17 February 1967)

*'Strawberry Fields Forever' marked the way for Barrett in its revolutionary use of poetic images and superb psychedelic arrangement. It was released just ten days before the sessions for 'Arnold Layne', which bears its influence.

 

The Kinks

'Waterloo Sunset' (single May 1967)

 

The Incredible String Bandа

'The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion' (July 1967)

 

Jimi Hendrix Experience

'Are You Experienced?' (1967)

*Barrett had already been performing 'Interstellar Overdrive' for several months prior to Hendrix's arrival in September 1966. It is probable that Barrett and Hendrix influenced each other equally. Hendrix caught the Pink Floyd live at UFO in December 1966 and toured extensively with them in late 1967.

 

Beatles

'Seargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band' (1967)

 

Crazy World of Arthur Brown

'Fire' (single)

*Arthur Brown's sense of showmanship, ominous vocals and his band's rhythmic intensity were likely Pink Floyd influences.

 

Soft Machine

'Soft Machine' (1967)

*Contemporaries (and competitors) of the Pink Floyd, the Soft Machine's jazz/rock improvisations were as influential to Barrett as his work was to them, particularly to Daevid Allen and Kevin Ayers, who both adapted Barrett's glissando technique.

 

 

1968-71

 

Taj Mahal

Ma Rainey

Family

Slade

*In interviews during 1970-1, Barrett stated he had been listening to albums by these artists, though their influence on his post-Floyd output seems neglible, save for perhaps Taj Mahal and Ma Rainey, whose folk blues stylings could have prompted Barrett to delve into the blues with songs like 'Long Gone' and the throwaway 'Maisie'.

 

 

 

 

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