The totem 8


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page 27  Have we found the meaning yet? No, the elements we have allow us only to say that the totem is something special to be with.

We know merely that the word "totem" is much used in Formentera and Syd might have known some totems of stones there. Apart from this, there are no known connections between the "Opel" lyrics and any totem from Formentera or Australia, but it suggests the stone as an element to understand the totem in Opel.

A stone to be carried may be a more original theme than all the opal stones already used by poets. Roger Waters' "Crying Song" ends with the line "Help me roll away the stone", and Rick Wright called "Sysyphus" his instrumental suite for Ummagumma (note the misspelling of "Sisyphus"). Both were recorded in March 1969. * Waters returned to the theme in the lyrics of his late '70s songs.   Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone? Open your heart, I'm coming home
 * — Roger Waters, "Hey You"

The theme of Sisyphus and his stone is one of the most interesting themes in the whole of Greek mythology, at least judging by the success of the 1942 philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus. We know that Syd was interested in mythology and read Robert Graves' book The Greek Myths, but is it possible that the young Syd in his twenties was so serious about his work, thinking of it as a "gem-stone" to bear meaninglessly? A multicolour opal could be a symbol for Syd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn only if the legendary Pied Piper was ever a symbol for Kenneth Grahame's piper, ** but while there are pages about the philosophical aspects of Sisyphus' stone in Waters' songs, much less has been said about Syd's stones. The only mention in the book Pink Floyd and Philosophy is: “Opel” presents us with an example of Barrett’s fanciful storytelling as metaphor for his own slow withdrawal from the world of individuality. … His reality seems to be overcome with a sense of distance from normality, as his mind lies where “warm shallow waters sweep shells.” … But before we discuss the power of Dionysius, we need to engage Nietzsche’s concept of Apollo, where the singularity and individuality Barrett seems to be losing in “Opel” are defined. — Brandon Forbes, "Submersion, subversion, and Syd" Even the stone promised to Syd in "Dark Globe" could have some reference to a Sisyphus stone, and could have inspired Waters' stones, but also talking about "Opel" some Pink Floyd fan has already found this Opel/Sisyphus connection:  [Q] [Opel lyrics] … you gonna stretch your imagination....kill your brain cells to answer this... … suppose your life at every point in time keeps recurring continuously for e.g. fear keeps recurring in time....then man's continuously bounded by fear … [A] … that concept answers the Sisyphus kind of the recurrent thing … — venkatesh



* "Crying Song" melody is similar to "Opel": a connection as strong as the supposed references like "Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd, smiling" in "Fearless", to which one could now add "And I'll climb the hill in my own way". ** The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a 14th century folk tale, with versions written down by storytellers such as the Brothers Grimm in 1816, while "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is a chapter from 1908 Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows. The first story probably had nothing to do with the second, then here it's emphasized the improbability of Syd's album as symbol for "Opel".  sources → Pink Floyd. "Hey You." The Wall. Lyrics by Roger Waters. Harvest Records, 1979. LP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymgYEQgSqLI Forbes, Brandon. "Submersion, subversion, and Syd." Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful With That Axiom, Eugene!. Ed. George A. Reisch. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company, 2007. 242. Print. http://books.google.com/books?id=qxlBF7G5tjcC&pg=242 venkatesh. Web. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quiznet/message/4734 [/message/4793]