The Bizarre Story Behind Syd Barrett’s Final Meeting With Pink Floyd

This is the true story of when Syd Barrett, the estranged co-founder of Pink Floyd who nobody had seen for years, wandered into the studio at the exact moment Pink Floyd was recording what would be one of their biggest hits, (about Syd).

By January 1968, co-founder Syd Barrett’s erratic behavior had reached a point where the band simply stopped picking him up for gigs. There is a famous moment in Pink Floyd lore where the members were on the way to a show at Southampton University, someone asked, “Shall we pick Syd up?” and the consensus was, “Let’s not bother.”

And that simply, the band parted ways with their dear friend, creative force & the person who gave them their name. The other members would only see Syd very few times ever again.

Quite possibly, the split was quite a relief for all parties. The breakup wasn’t an explosive, or dramatic moment, nor did it seem there were hard feelings between the members. In fact, Gilmour and Waters helped Syd release his first solo album a little less than two years later, “The Madcap Laughs“. Richard Wright played on his second solo album, “Barrett“. But those were among the band mates’ last interaction with their childhood friend and co-founder.

Syd was famously reclusive, and effectively never discussed departing the band, so we don’t know his thoughts on the matter, though he seemed to be at peace with it.

Afterwards, the band experienced a period where they struggled to define what Pink Floyd’s sound would be after the loss of Syd.

They also grappled with guilt over the experience of leaving him “behind”, so to speak, while his creation became among the greatest bands of all time.

By 1975, nobody had seen Syd in the following five years. But the band members grappled with his lingering spirit. So David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright wrote a song that helped them come to terms with the ordeal.

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was specifically written with Syd in mind, and they were planning to record it for their upcoming album, Wish You Were Here — the much-anticipated follow-up to Dark Side of the Moon.

In London in June of 1975, the band was at Abbey Road Studios recording & mastering the songs that would become Wish You Were Here when a strange twist of fate visited.

In the exact moment they were finishing working on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, Barrett, whom nobody had contact with for years, simply wandered into the studio. But he looked completely different. He’d shaved his head and eyebrows, and gained significant weight. At first, none of the band members recognized him.

Gilmour was reportedly the first to finally recognize their old friend. Waters said he was moved to tears at Syd’s disheveled appearance.

In his autobiography, Nick Mason agreed and said he was horrified. “I cried. Roger cried. We all cried. It was very upsetting.”

The reunion was bittersweet. In a curious interaction, Syd at one point casually asked where he should plug in his guitar…

They played Syd “Shine On”, but he did not seem to recognize its significance to him, nor was he particularly moved by it.

In fact, he simply quipped that it sounded “a bit odd”.

Someone in the studio offered to play it again for him, but Barrett dismissed it as “not necessary”.

Gilmour said Barrett stayed around for a couple of days, and even stayed for Gilmour’s marriage to Virginia Hasenbein at Abbey Road Studio! And then, during a random moment at the celebration, he quietly slipped out without saying goodbye.

The band would (almost) never see Syd again. Roger Waters said Syd “shuffled away” in a department store once, after being spotted by his old friend.

Syd Barrett stayed around London a few more years until the early 80s, when one day he just left without warning & returned to his mother’s home in Cambridge. He reportedly walked the roughly fifty mile trip from London.

At home, he lived a reclusive life far away from the spotlight. He reportedly enjoyed creating art and gardening.

Syd died in 2006 of pancreatic cancer at age 60.