“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” by Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was written by the band’s core members:
- Roger Waters
- Richard Wright
- David Gilmour
This song, which is a pure Pink Floyd classic, can be found on their 1975 album titled “Wish You Were Here”.
What “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is about
The song is primarily a tribute to the aforementioned artists’ former bandmate Syd Barrett. Barrett, who was also one of the founders of Pink Floyd, was kicked out of the group in 1968 because of his fragile mental health and LSD abuse.
The track captures the band’s feelings of guilt for ousting Syd as well as their admiration for his creativity in writing most of the songs on their debut album. In the verses of the song, the singers use metaphors such as ‘sun’ to describe his massive potential and creativity. In the process, they also contrast it with terms such as ‘black holes’ to signify his loss of identity and memory.
The band suggests that like a child who lacked discipline, he couldn’t control his drug intake and suffered from schizophrenic attacks. Syd was later replaced by David Gilmour but continued to provide a source of inspiration for Pink Floyd.
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett was, at one point in time, a professional musician. In fact his most-notable achievement is being the co-founder and initial frontman of Pink Floyd. However, his professional music career was short-lived, as he had serious mental issues in addition to problems related to illicit-drug abuse. Also another of his claims to fame is that from 1972 going he became infamously reclusive. Indeed despite the fact that his name remained famous in the UK and he received considerable royalties via Pink Floyd throughout the years, during the last three decades of his life he had completely withdrawn from the public spotlight.
He died in 2006 at the age of 60. Pancreatic cancer was what officially caused his death.
In 2006, I had a period of two weeks when ‘Shine on…’ kept replaying in my mind. I wondered why this was. At the end of the two weeks, I heard that Syd Barrett had died. I believe that the replays were a premonition of Syd’s death.
The song has been special to me since I first bought the album in the late 1980s, It seems to be a tune plucked from heaven. It is sometimes calming and sometimes moving. It is one of the most profound pieces of music that I’ve ever heard. It is a fitting soundtrack for those crossing over into the next world.
(Reply to John Evans)
Was Particularly Moved by Your Entry
Describing Your Otherworldly Resonance (‘Over a Two Week Period’)
And Subconscious Containment that Coincided with the Passing of Syd Barrett.
In and Otherwise Melancholy Existence that Universally Creeps Into Our Journey Isn’t it an Atom Splitting Reaffirmation that Whilst We May Lose Ourselves in Anonymity to a Point of Fracture that Ultimately in a Sphere We’ll Never Comprehend on this Side that the Celestial Sphere that Monitors Our Reality Surrounds Us, Binds Us and Molds Us to a Fabric of Greater Meaning to those of That Spiritual Accord Like a Mother Calmly Easing Her Child Securely to Protected Rest.
Not Presently Aware of Any Other Artist(s) to Date that Allow that Spiritual Movement Across the Ethos than that of Pink Floyd. (John Evans Thanks for Sharing.)
Me too !!!! First of all, i wouldn’t call myself a
“ die hard “ fan or anything like that…I was introduced to Pink Floyd thanks to my dad & i remember being really into them at that time especially during my teenage years and reading into their history. This was when i came across Syd’s story and ever since then, I’ve had an affinity for him which i do till today…I like to think that we’d get along pretty well hadn’t i been born a little too late haha…well anyways coming back to my point, this morning i dreamt a rather peculiar dream & i saw Syd in it ! The details were rather strange that i HAD to write it down…in it, he was a father to two children ( a boy and a girl both hardly 4-5 years old ) but with two different women, he was not in custody of his older son and he was telling me how much he misses his older son and i remember being sad and angry at him and when he was this, he was telling me that it’s alright as he tried to console me instead seeing my visible sadness ( he was such a gentleman! )
As I was scrolling Instagram later on, i saw that it was his death anniversary today !!!!
Which i swear i was NOT aware of !
Sometimes i wish he were still here….
Many, many nights I have faded into slumber while listening to Shine on You Crazy Diamond on the headphones. I recently heard an interview with David Gilmour on his coming back to London to visit Syd Barret whilst The Floyd were recording See Emily Play, “He sort of looked straight through me. He has what Roger has very aptly put as ‘Black holes in the sky’ for eyes”.
Took me a long time to see that the song title spells out “Syd” (more or less). Shine on You crazy Diamond.
eher scheine weiter verrückter diamand, oder?
Can someone tell me what the meaning and what is it saying?
“ The song is primarily a tribute to the aforementioned artists’ former bandmate Syd Barrett. Barrett, who was also one of the founders of Pink Floyd, was kicked out of the group in 1968 because of his fragile mental health and LSD abuse.
The track captures the band’s feelings of guilt for ousting Syd as well as their admiration for his creativity in writing most of the songs on their debut album. In the verses of the song, the singers use metaphors such as ‘sun’ to describe his massive potential and creativity. In the process, they also contrast it with terms such as ‘black holes’ to signify his loss of identity and memory. “
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This song rocks!
Pink Floyd with Syd was more of an almost nursery rhyme, playground type of feel to the music as opposed to when he departed and they became after a few experimental albums possibly the most serious rock band on the planet, what they lost with Syd was their innocence which was bound to occur anyways, what they gained from Syd no longer being the frontman was not only something they could write about in their music but someone they could write directly to as well many of their songs attest to this such as Shine On – Wish You Were Here – Brain Damage etc. Just my take