From Episode 157 of "A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" — "'See Emily Play' by The Pink Floyd."
The destruction of art is a longstanding topic on this blog, and destroying one's own art is very special subsection of that topic. It's one thing to destroy artwork that, back when you made it, you'd intended to exist forever and perhaps hoped would be treasured by others, even long after your death. It's quite another thing to devote yourself to creating new work while intending all along to destroy it.
It makes me think of Tibetan monks making a mandala out of sand and then destroying it:
But sand is so perfectly chosen for this plan to create and then destroy. Barrett made paintings and, we're told, burned them. Were they oil on canvas? That seems very hard to burn. I have such objects and intend to destroy them, but I can't figure out the method of destruction. Burning — where I live — seems illegal and toxic. But I'm thinking Barrett painted on illustration board (a paper product), and these things would be pretty easy to burn — kindling in the fireplace.
Why photograph what you are bent on destroying? Perhaps he thought the photo was superior to the original. There are 2 — at least 2 — reasons for thinking this: 1. You might like the way the shapes and strokes merge into a finished image in the photograph, and 2. You might abhor the existence of a valuable object that people will fight for and buy and sell.
Writing that, I thought of another reason — 2 more reasons, actually: 3. You might find it awkward to have so many bulky, demanding objects around your living space, and you might feel crowded and tormented by this evidence of your ridiculous hubris and busywork, and photos could be tucked unobtrusively in little box, and 4. You don't want these things to survive you and to perplex and burden your heirs, but they might like to have that little box of mementos.
२० टिप्पण्या:
Gilmour is arguably the greatest guitarist of all, especially if (like me) you enjoy melodic playing, not just the showy stuff.
And if you listen to some of the live concerts where he is over 70 years old, you will be amazed.
He still kills it...
It's one thing to destroy things that, back when you made them, you'd intended to exist forever and perhaps hoped would be treasured by others, even long after your death. It's quite another thing to devote yourself to creating new work while intending all along to destroy it.
Maybe it is just a different perspective on Time. Nothing lasts forever. How long is "long after your death"? Not very long, I'd guess. In another billion years or two, the Sun will have expanded out to the orbit of - well. Anyway, the Earth won't be here.
It makes me think of Tibetan monks making a mandala out of sand and then destroying it
It makes me think of big media outlets publishing lies over an extended period of time, only to walk away when the lie no longer serves their purpose.
Perhaps that's the largest art form our society has produced over the last several decades.
Tibetan-Chinese
Shine on
You Crazy
Diamond
Very sweet that he did this for †Syd Barrett.
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
He never liked the nickname "Syd" and avoided it in later life. So, it's more respectful to say Roger Keith Barrett.
Gilmour is my favorite guitarist, hands down. It's too bad Waters is such a f***wit because with his lyrics and Gilmour's guitar they made some serious magic.
Every year is getting shorter
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught
Or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation
Is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over
Thought I'd something more to say
" it's more respectful to say Roger Keith Barrett."
No. Gilmour never saw Barrett after ~1975. He didn't do what he did for the man who hated the name Syd - he did it for the man he knew as Syd
That was nice learning about Gilmour's concern and care for Barrett.
Now I'm gonna go Youtube "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", the one with Candy Dulfur on sax.
Pink Floyd of the Barrett era is very interesting musically (I own all the albums they ever produced), but the band improved after he stopped contributing. It is a credit to Gilmour that he did what he did for his friend and former bandmate.
er I bought the 'Emily' 45 in '68.
It's somewhere in the garage record boxes.
The movie Rivers and Tides is great about art that is intended to not last, though embracing nature's work not human destruction. There is a recent sequel too.
Soul cleansing movies for me
From 194-1977, Pink Floyd were the best live band in the world, IMO. They would start their live shows with new material (Animals and Wish You Were Here songs before they were released) and then play Dark Side of the Moon (all of it). During the Animals tour, they would play ALL of Animals and WYWH, then the encore would be some Dark Side songs. The bootlegs from this period are awesome.
Jim McGuinn of the Byrds also changed his name to Roger, but not because he didn't like it. His Subud guru told him that a name beginning with an "R" would "better vibrate with the universe." Sometime thereafter, McGuinn became an evangelical Christian and a registered Republican. Goes to show.
The Tom Stoppard play with Barrett as a character was "Rock 'n' Roll (2006). Herewith Stoppard's thoughts on Barrett:
Tom Stoppard thought he might write a play about a rock star living like a hermit in suburbia. The inspirational recluse was Syd Barrett, fallen cofounder of Pink Floyd. The British playwright, a lover of music and chronicler of the intersection of personal and political identity, became fixated on two photos of Barrett: one a beautiful young romantic, the other a thickset bald man pedaling home from the supermarket.
"The knowledge that they are the same person, or that one person turns into the other person, is something which I find affecting," Stoppard says. "As usual with me, the play turned out to be about a lot of different thoughts I was having."
You don't want these things to survive you and to perplex and burden your heirs, but they might like to have that little box of mementos.
Or, A Saucerful of Secrets?
Something Barrett’s sister said around the time of his death makes me feel like the “crazy” narrative, which really benefits Pink Floyd’s mythology in the end, may have been a bit over-blown and exaggerated. I’m interested in the idea that he stopped making music because he just got tired of it, which I can totally respect.
"Something Barrett’s sister said around the time of his death makes me feel like the “crazy” narrative, which really benefits Pink Floyd’s mythology in the end, may have been a bit over-blown and exaggerated"
Barrett, Skip Spence of Moby Grape, and Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac dropped enough acid that it caused or, at the very least, exacerbated their mental health issues. None of them came back from that, so I think Barrett's sister was just trying to hold out hope that Barrett's problems weren't as bad as they seemed.
I remember seeing a movie called Insight or Insanity in my health class in 1969. Saw it a few months later at a church gathering. Scared me to death. It was about LSD. I smoked plenty of dope in the 70s, and I had friends who dropped acid and liked it. I remembered that movie and stayed away from it. Barrett, Spence, and Green are cautionary tales.
"From Episode 157 of "A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" — "'See Emily Play' by The Pink Floyd."
What’s "The Pink Floyd"? Some kind of cover band of Pink Floyd?
F"rom 194-1977, Pink Floyd were the best live band in the world, IMO."
One of the few things Charlemagne and
Genghis Khan agreed on.
"Sometime thereafter, McGuinn became an evangelical Christian and a registered Republican."
The final stage of enlightenment. Always.
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