Echoes of Syd and Rick

this is the first of two pieces written in response to a writing group challenge. The set topic was 'music'. The word limit was 750 (which I ignored for the second piece - see 'Riding the Steel Breeze'). For this piece I wanted to try a conversational style (the equivalent of breaking the 'fourth wall' perhaps?) I've also added a couple of YouTube links after the postscript.

Can you think of a song that you could identify from just one note on a keyboard?

OK, let's set the scene …....

It's 2006 and Pink Floyd's virtuoso guitarist David Gilmour is playing a concert at Gdansk Shipyard to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Solidarity Trade Union in Poland. It's not a Pink Floyd concert, but with Rick Wright on keyboards it almost is, especially when the band perform some classic Floyd material. The concert is being recorded and will later be released as David Gilmour's 'Live in Gdansk'.

Now, we'll go back briefly to 1971 ….....

Pink Floyd are gradually evolving into the band which will shortly conquer the world with their 'Dark Side of the Moon'. They are not yet there though, although the new album 'Meddle' provides a glimpse of what is to come two years later. A bit more than a glimpse in fact. The whole 23min 31sec of one side of the album is taken up by one track. It's a complex multi-part piece which starts quietly with Rick Wright's keyboard, shortly joined by Gilmour's melancholy guitar. The introduction ushers in the full band, and two verses with chorus precede a heavier, trademark Pink Floyd, prog-rock segment. There's an electronic 'noise' section in the middle with atmospheric wind, whistles, screeches etc. before the delicious moment where Wright fades in a gorgeous, sustained chord (more trademark Floyd) on the organ and the whole structure is rebuilt with a third verse leading into a lengthy climactic closing section with everything finally blown away in a sweeping wind. It's a brilliant piece of music – something to immerse yourself in. You might even feel emotional!

Excuse another detour here (don't worry, I'm keeping track of where we are) …....

A few years ago there was an article in The Guardian which I kept folded up inside my copy of Nick Hornby's excellent book '31 Songs'. I found it again recently. The writer recalls the occasion when a boy stood up at her school's end of year variety show and read the lyrics to Syd Barrett's 'Bike' (from Floyd's first album in 1967). The point was that he must have felt so passionately about that song that he wanted to stand on a stage and read it to the whole school.

“I've got a bike / You can ride it if you like / It's got a basket / A bell that rings / And things to make it look good / I'd give it you if I could / But I borrowed it.” (it starts to get a bit weird after that!)

I always thought that Roger Waters' lyrics to 'Echoes' would have been more suited to such an occasion. (I agree it's not Dylan Thomas or W.H. Auden, but it's rather more poetic than 'Bike' - and a little less psychedelic.) Here's verse 1 :

Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
An echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine

two old friends performing together

Now it's back to Poland, and that 2006 Gilmour concert in Gdansk …..

The stage is in darkness and 50,000 people are waiting expectantly to hear what is coming next.

Then just a single note (a high octave B that sounds like a submarine sonar) is played on a keyboard – the crowd erupt – they know what's coming now. A beam of blue light picks out Rick Wright as he plays his introduction. A minute later David Gilmour joins in with a wistful guitar accompaniment. The blue light picks him out too with 'smoke' from the dry ice adding hugely to the drama. For another 40 seconds it's just the two old friends performing together. Then, a cymbal shimmer invites the whole band to join in and the lighting bathes them in soft smoky red. It's ECHOES!

POSTSCRIPT

Rick Wright died of cancer in 2008, two years after the 'Live in Gdansk' concert and just a week before the album release. David Gilmour has stated that he will never play 'Echoes' again as his friend's contribution was so important to the song. For the same reason he said that Wright's death was the end of Pink Floyd.

A few selected resources

Album : Pink Floyd 'Meddle' (1971)

Album : David Gilmour 'Live in Gdansk' (2008)

Film / DVD : Live at Pompeii (1972)

DVD : Live at Pompeii (Director's Cut 2002)

Books :

Inside Out : A Personal History of Pink Floyd (Nick Mason) 2017 Edition

Their Mortal Remains (V&A Publishing 2017)

YouTube Videos :

Echoes (Live in Gdansk, 2006) https://youtu.be/EMneCi9F_UQ

Echoes (Meddle) https://youtu.be/53N99Nim6WE

Bike (from 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' 1967) https://youtu.be/2PoLaX4IA_0

Riding the Steel Breeze

this is the second of two pieces written in response to a writing group challenge. The set topic was 'music'. The word limit was supposed to be 750 but, having adhered to that with my first piece (see 'Echoes of Syd and Rick') I felt free to be a little less restrained for this one! It is supposed to have a '31 Songs' (Nick Hornby) vibe - but I'm not sure that there's enough of me in it for that. 

I remember where I was when I first heard 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'. First, a little background. I wasn't really aware of Pink Floyd when they brought out their debut album seven years earlier in 1967. They were led by the charismatic Syd Barrett, the darling of the band's fans. Their first single was 'Arnold Layne', a song about a transvestite who stole women's clothing from washing lines. It charted at no.20 and gave them a little useful publicity when Radio London banned it for being unsuitable. Their next single was 'See Emily Play'. By now, the band were getting noticed. Three appearances on Top of the Pops followed, and they found themselves at no.6 in the singles chart - in those days it took a lot of sales to break into the Top Ten. Syd refused to appear on TOTP again, saying “if John Lennon doesn't have to do it why should I?” ('Emily' will return to the story later.)

Syd - bright, talkative and charming (May 1967)

 Although he was the singer, song-writer and lead guitarist, Barrett's behaviour was becoming problematic. His LSD fuelled self-destruction rendered him increasingly unreliable and unpredictable. He was becoming a liability. The band were in danger of throwing away everything. A second guitarist, David Gilmour, was recruited and, briefly, Floyd were a five-piece with a busy diary of bookings. Barrett was often in no condition to sing or play and might simply stand still on stage without making any contribution whatever to the performance. On another occasion he would de-tune all his strings and play a discordant jangle whilst the others attempted to cover for him. Drummer, Nick Mason recalls that one day in early 1968 the band were driving to a gig and they simply decided not to pick Syd up. He never played with them again.

The post-Barrett Pink Floyd have been prominent in the soundtrack to my adult life since the early 70s. From sharing a flat with music obsessed friends to working shifts with prog-rock devotees, I've lived and worked with 'Abbey Road', 'Tubular Bells', Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Santana, The Who and many others, but Floyd eclipsed them all (excuse the pun). 'Dark Side of the Moon' changed everything. It was astonishingly successful because of the combination of musical and lyrical excellence, it's thematic flow with the unlikely subject of madness (Barrett inspired?) as the central strand, and its emotional tug. Now they had the problem of writing and recording a follow up to their monster selling album!

In 1974 they were in Abbey Road recording studios creating the new album 'Wish You Were Here' when a disheveled shaven headed fat fellow in a trench-coat wandered in. The band didn't recognise him and had to be told - it was Syd! Everyone was shocked at the change. Bass player Roger Waters said “when he came to the 'Wish You Were Here' sessions - ironic in itself - to see this great, fat, bald, mad person, I was in (expletive) tears.” Rick Wright recalls “He had shaved all his hair off – I mean his eyebrows – everything! He was jumping up and down brushing his teeth. It was awful!”

Barrett's visit was more than ironic, it was astonishing timing. The album's magnum opus was the mercurial 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', a song which expressed sadness about Syd, his disintegration and the waste of his talent. The song was co-written by Gilmour, Waters and keyboard player Rick Wright. Waters was responsible for the lyrics which described Syd as both a “seer of visions” and a haunted, frightened “target for faraway laughter” who “wore out his welcome”. Whether Syd was aware of the significance of the album title ('Wish You Were Here') or the lyrical content of 'Shine On' cannot be known.

It was at Trentham Gardens Ballroom in November, 1974 when I first heard 'Shine On'. Pink Floyd were touring Britain and the Stoke-on-Trent venue was midway through their schedule. They were playing the 'Dark Side of the Moon' set, but they started off by introducing three new songs written for the next album, which was still to be recorded. It turned out that the first two songs didn't make that album. They had to wait for the following one ('Animals'). The third song was called 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' and it was just amazing. It's a lengthy song - mainly instrumental, with a mournful, repeating 4 note guitar theme¹ which Dave Gilmour discovered whilst 'doodling' in the rehearsal room. “I don't know where it came from, it could have just been an accident. It did seem to have a haunting quality and I repeated it a few times”, he recalls. “That moved something in Roger and it started the whole process off which became 'Shine On'. It was specifically about Syd and his problems.”

The final recording appears on 'Wish You Were Here' in two parts² which bookend the other three tracks. Both parts together comprise of almost 26 mins of musical brilliance, equalling anything the band have produced before or since. It is a lament rather than a tribute, but there is a final moment of respect to the band's former leader when, as the last notes of 'Shine On' fade out, Rick Wright on keyboards plays a few ghostly notes from the vocal melody of 'See Emily Play' (“Emily tries but misunderstands”). Most people will probably have missed that poignant reference (including perhaps the damaged Syd Barrett?) but Wright clearly wanted to leave a personal message to his old friend.

The reason I remember when and where I first heard 'Shine On' is that I still have that concert program from 1974. I made a note of the set list too. After the new songs they played the entire 'Dark Side of the Moon' set. Finally, for an encore, we were treated to the magnificent 'Echoes' from their earlier album ('Meddle'). Amazing! I only saw Floyd one more time when they were touring with 'Animals' (remember the flying pig?) – they were always spectacular but, for me, nothing could match that night at Trentham!

footnotes

1The four-note theme (B♭, F, G [below the B♭], E)

2SOYCD was recorded in 9 sections. Part One itself comprises five sections (confusingly labelled as parts 1 to 5 on the original vinyl album.) Part Two comprises a further 4 sections (labelled as 6 to 9 on the vinyl album).

A few links …..

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (full version – parts 1 - 9)

https://youtu.be/8UXircX3VdM

Wikipedia – Shine On (detailed breakdown of all 9 parts) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shine_On_You_Crazy_Diamond

Top of the Pops (July, 1967) – this badly damaged footage of 'See Emily Play' is all that is left. https://youtu.be/ns4fR7tw2DA

BBC2 Arts program (May, 1967) – a dreadfully conducted interview with Syd and Roger. (Syd is bright, talkative and charming – so sad how it all went wrong so quickly!) https://youtu.be/otyfo2KuaNQ

Syd Barrett - The breakdown of Syd as told by his sister and band members. - Radio Broadcast (2011) https://youtu.be/3zi_o1_7zDc

Emmy and the Empress

The creative writing group had gone their own ways for over a year- and then came Covid-19. Everyone was required to stay at home for several weeks (maybe months?) and it seemed a good idea to reawaken the slumbering writers with a challenge. As we can't meet physically for a while, we would circulate our responses via email. The first challenge was to produce a story of max 750 words which featured someone 'in a fix'. I struggled with the brief, but will argue that my leading lady did indeed find herself 'in a fix'. I think I slightly pushed the word limit too - but who's counting!

EMMY AND THE EMPRESS – inspired by actual events.

Emmy watched the crew, awaiting her chance.

GO! Quick as a flash she was down the third class gangway and across the quayside, nimbly darting past the stevedores as they loaded the last of the supplies, and straight to the shed at Pier 27 where she sat and watched the Empress being prepared for departure.

The Empress of Ireland was due to sail within the hour. Several of the Liverpool bound passengers were watching the last minute preparation from their respective decks – as was young Lizzie Jones, one of the 11 stewardesses who were signed up crew members for the Atlantic crossing.

Emmy had been the ship's cat for about 2 years – no one could quite remember when she first stowed away and made the Empress her home, but most of the crew befriended the skinny, ginger tabby who delighted in their attentions and grew fatter with their offerings of food. Emmy had one special favourite – Lizzie Jones who had joined the crew a few months later. Lizzie in turn was devoted to Emmy who was allowed to sleep on her bunk to the amusement of the other stewardesses.

With less than an hour to departure, some of the passengers were surprised to see a cat fleeing the ship. Lizzie saw her too and was horrified. It was her Emmy! Without hesitation she ran after her, barging past the protesting deck officer and shouting that she would be back on board in a few minutes.

It all happened so quickly. On the quayside, in her rush, she hadn't noticed the dray as it returned from offloading its cargo of beer and wine. Then, too late, she saw it. Twisting out of the horse's way and slipping on the cobbles, she lost her balance and banged her head so hard that she lost consciousness.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

“Don't move young lady, you've had an accident.” said the blurry white figure. “You need to lie still for a little while.”

“No, I can't, I have to go now. I have to find my cat and get back to my ship. I'm with the Empress of Ireland and she's sailing this afternoon.”

“Don't worry about that,” replied the nurse, now coming into focus. “The Empress sailed two hours ago. They know what happened – you're on extended shore leave for the next 3 weeks.”

- - - - - - - - - - -

From their Quebec City departure the Empress liners claimed 'The Shortest Ocean Passage to Liverpool – Two days along the St Lawrence river and Gulf, and four days crossing the Atlantic'. The Canadian Pacific advertising for their liners proudly boasted 'Safety, Speed & Splendour'.

At 1:36 am on 29^th May 1914, almost 9hrs after leaving Quebec, the Empress spotted an oncoming ship, some 6 miles away. The ships were on course to pass in about 12 minutes. The Empress set a course to provide plenty of room for the unidentified inbound steamer.

They were 150 miles NE of Quebec City. It was at this critical moment that a phantom fog rolled in which enveloped both vessels and reduced visibility to zero. For reasons that would never be satisfactorily established, one or both of the ships must have changed course. The Norwegian cargo vessel Storstad impaled the Empress at 90 degrees on the starboard side between the two funnels.

It was 1:55am. The damage to the Empress was so severe that it took just 15 minutes for the great liner to completely disappear underwater.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The first news of the sinking reported that all lives were saved. The picture changed dramatically as each new report came in. Soon the horrific facts became clearer. Very few lifeboats were successfully deployed in the dark on a rapidly capsizing ship.

The first of the survivors to be picked up by rescue vessels arrived back in Quebec about 12 hours after the disaster. The bodies did too! Shed 27 was turned into a temporary morgue.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Earlier the previous evening, against medical advice, Lizzie discharged herself from hospital. She had no foreboding of the tragedy which would shortly be played out on the St Lawrence. She had to find Emmy and made her way back to the Pier 27 Shed on the quayside. To her huge relief she spotted the ship's tabby perched on a vantage point looking out to the harbour from the open shed doors. Emmy willingly allowed herself to be scooped up and taken to Lizzie's parents' cottage – a short distance from the harbour. Thanks to Emmy, both were safe. Following the dreadful events of 29^th May, 1914, neither of them ever returned to sea.

- - - - - - - - - - -

POSTSCRIPT

The 'Empress of Ireland' sailed from Quebec City (for Liverpool) on 28^th May, 1914.

The collision with the Norwegian collier Storstad in the St Lawrence river at 0150 the following morning, happened as described.

840 of the 1057 passengers were lost.

This was more passengers than had perished on The Titanic two years earlier!

172 crew also perished. In total 1012 lives were lost.

Of the 10 stewardesses in the crew, only 1 survived.

The ship's cat Emmy absconded from the 'Empress' as she was preparing for sailing.

A crew member was sent to bring her back but she escaped again. Feline intuition?

Lizzie Jones is a fictitious character.

Alan Carr, April, 2020

Recommended reading:

Forgotten Empress – The Tragedy of the Empress of Ireland

(David Zeni, 2001)