To be found... 8
Syd could not exactly be insensitive to such "public judgements": a review in 1972 prompted his withdrawal from music, which became simply his "stone" when he finally found a new life as Roger Barrett, "amateur" painter... But there's a part of him that has an old mood which would make him smile at this criticism, the way he smiles in the photo chosen for the Opel album cover.
Maybe he was the smartest one. When I'm feeling sad about Syd, I always think, 'Maybe he's laughing at us'.
Thinking about the future... Malcolm Jones mentioned an important but unreleased final line for Opel:
The whole pathos comes in the line 'I'm drowning', that's the whole... Perhaps it's just on the tape that he sung to me then? That does sound almost exactly, well to my ears, exactly the same tape.
Where is that line recorded? What does it sound like? Perhaps it will not matter to anyone until the Take 4 recording is released, if it is not already lost from what were once the EMI vaults.
Who was dragged down by the stone?
- — Roger Waters, "Dogs"
Fricke, David. "Syd Barrett, 1946-2006." Rolling Stone 9 Aug. 2006: 30. Print. https://rorydesmondphotography.wordpress.com/2006/07/31/this-really-chokes-me-up/
Trueman, Ivor. "Malcolm Jones." Interview with Malcolm Jones. Opel:
The New Syd Barrett Journal 6 (1984): 23. Print. http://www.sydbarrett.net/subpages/articles/interview_with_malcolm_jones_ope.htm
Pink Floyd. "Dogs." Animals. Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Lyrics by Roger Waters. Harvest Records, 1977. LP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_JOzSgOu4