My brother and Syd Barrett

Playlist

Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd
“Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
Shine on you crazy diamond.”

I have never been a big fan of Pink Floyd. They were always a little too grandiose and over-dramatic for my tastes. The backlash against the universally admired Dark Side of the Moon had begun when I was a teenager and the Floyd were considered to be the antithesis of the vibrant sharp jolt that punk provided to us in the late 1970s. Such pomp was to be avoided at all costs.

I was only rewired into their music following my elder brother’s untimely death in 2006. At the funeral, one of his friends who struggled to speak because he was so over-wrought with emotion ended his short eulogy with a defiant call of “Shine on you Crazy Diamond.” It was a heartfelt and poignant tribute.

Then I listened again to the song and although it is a tad over-indulgent in its length, I realised that there were many parallels between my brother’s life and Syd Barrett’s, especially in the withdrawal from public life. The strong sense of wasteful loss is such that it never ceases to leave me both mournful and defiant. Barrett and my brother died within a few months of each other.

“Now there’s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky
Shine on you crazy diamond.”