"Goodbye Blue Sky"

I just found out the bad news from a fellow blogger,

so I dedicate this to you "Syd".

His beautiful music lives on.

Welcome, my son, welcome to the machine.

Where have you been? It's all right, we know where you've been.

You've been in the pipeline, filling in time,

provided with toys and 'Scouting for Boys'.

You bought a guitar to punish your ma,

and you didn't like school, and you know you're nobody's fool,

so welcome to the machine.

Welcome, my son, welcome to the machine.

What did you dream? It's all right, we told you what to dream.

You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar,

he always ate in the Steak Bar, he loved to drive in his Jaguar.

So welcome to the machine.

Roger Keith Barrett was born in Glisson Road, Cambridge, to Winifred and Arthur Barrett, on January 6th, 1946. From an early age, he displayed a musical and artistic nature, and played the ukelele, banjo and piano - indeed, he won a prize for a piano duet at the age of seven. He then took up the guitar. As he built on his guitar skills, his exploration of music in all its forms took him to the Riverside Jazz Club, where the drummer - one Sid Barrett - nicknamed the young Roger "Syd", a name which stuck.With his growing prowess, he played in various bands in Cambridge and London - bands such as Geoff Mott and The Mottoes, Those Without, The Hollerin' Blues, The Spectrum Five, Leonard's Lodgers, and then, in 1965, The Pink Floyd were formed.The Floyd toured extensively between 1965 - 1967, in a punishing schedule which saw them even play more than one country some evenings! The band's first album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, was also recorded during this period, as were Syd's contributions to the second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets. He left the band at the start of 1968, and pursued a solo career. Two main albums came out of this very fragile period - The Madcap Laughs, and Barrett (both 1970). Other solo albums were to follow, taken from various sessions recorded between 1969 - 1971. Roger Barrett retired from the public eye, choosing to live out the remainder of his life in his mother's house, even after her death in 1991. He contented himself with painting, and reportedly wrote a book about the history of art, for his own amusement (with no intention of publishing). Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett passed away on friday July 7, 2006.