We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year.
God, that's depressing. Not that Syd Barrett's life wasn't depressing already.
Well oh baby, my hair's on end about this.
Thanks for the music, Syd.
I doubt that excessive use of LSD caused his psychosis. From what I've read, repeated administration of LSD leads to tolerance and diminished effect, though taking a few days off restores the effect, or some of it.
It may be that LSD did cause or contribute to his psychosis, in other words, but it wasn't because he took too much of it. I knew several people who had terrible effects with one dose.
Legit internet documentation seems all to be behind paywalls, etc, but this slightly disreputable site has some of the info: Dlightly disreputable site
My experience from watching others is that people who have some pre-existing cracks in their psychological makeup can blast them wide open with psychedelics. Those who are basically sound to begin with handle them just fine.
It was people I knew slightly, you understand, and things I read in the literature.
In the people I've known, it was always a question of causation--was it the onset of adult schizophrenia, which usually shows up in the early to mid-twenties, to which they were predisposed and had pointed them towards self-destructive behavior in the first place?--or was the LSD a trigger?
(I think we're largely agreeing here.)
7,11: The best most complete story I have read online involved a single weekend. Barrett had obviously been taking a lot of acid for a long time without flipping out. The story is that Barrett disappeared for a weekend, somehow got damaged, and was never the same again. There were around in those days drugs, and combinations of drugs, that were worse than LSD.
There are way too many people who have taken massive amounts of acid without damage, and psychiatrists experimented with LSD as a treatment for schizophrenia. Although I too have known people who have claimed psychological damage, I really doubt LSD as ever the causal factor in traumatic lasting mental distress.
Pretty comprehensive, some contemporaneous, all from people in closest contact with him. Lots of good stuff, R.D. Laing interviwed Syd. Who knows, half say adult-onset schizo, half say too much acid.
Acid does build up tolerance, both physically and psychologically, very very fast. Gary Duncan of Quicksilver says he did LSD every day for two years, before he became a tweaker. I have never understood how it is possible...I needed a week's rest at least to get decent effects.
Syd had violet eyes that "stared right through you"
The ladies loved him. Recommended to follow the link, long, but a good look inside the mind of a strange and damaged person.
A late quote from Syd:"Fun to make music. Fun to read books. Also good to do nothing. Art school laziness, maybe."
Interesting read. From those quotes, it sounds very much as though the "LSD made Syd crazy" line was a collective disavowal of responsibility.
Reminds me of the Brian Jones story, except that Jones died. (Was he murdered....?) And Brian Wilson.
LSD certainly contributed, but Barrett apparently had only extreme experiences and no support all that time.
Contrast Charlie Watts. He has been happily married the whole time and doesn't even cheat. He did have a drug and alcohol thing, though. In an interview he once said that he wasn't really a Big Bad Rolling Stone. Just Mick and Keith. Wyman is bad, but not Big. The other guitar player is transient.
Based on the thread, I suspect that Quaaludes (Mandrax) was the problem, not LSD.
Doing LSD daily sounds awful, but it doesn't mean that you're always having an LSD trip -- your body has to recharge between trips in order for them to be intense. I wish I could find this spelled out in detail, but Google hasn't done it so far.
your body has to recharge between trips in order for them to be intense
Yeah, after three or four days, all LSD really does is keep you awake.
A couple of things: "An Effervescing Elephant" is a great, great song. My friend J sends (along with the observation that "Liza turned on the radio in the morning and they started to say 'Legendary founder of the British band....' during which time I was thinking 'no, not Syd Barrett, no, not Syd Barrett' and then horrifyingly they continued '...Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, has died at the age of 60.'") the following: Syd Barrett: Careening Through Life, and Behind the Wall of Pink Floyd, the Ghost of Syd Barrett. Also: "Here I Go" is a great, great song.
Seems like the Unfogged Happy Fun Kitty has other ideas though.
Shit! and now I'm thinking, "Arnold Layne" is a great, great song too!
Herewith, some first lines and a few second:
Grooving on down in a trenchcoat with a, satin entrail...
Honey love ya honey little funny bunny sunday morning love ya more funny, love in the skyline baby,
Ice cream scuse me I seen ya lookin good the other evening.
Yes I'm thi-i-i-i,i,i-i-i-in,king of you, yes I am
It is obvious, may I say oh baby,
That it is found on another plane
It's no good trying to hold your hand,
Where I can't see because I understand