August 1967 - June 1968: Nah, Let's Not Bother

Pictured above: Pink Floyd, 1968.

Having released The Piper at The Gates of Dawn, Pink Floyd remained a popular live act in London, most notably at the UFO Club. However, guitarist and frontman Syd Barrett's decaying mental state started becoming very apparent, with his erratic behavior on stage concerning his fellow bandmates.

After being forced to cancel their appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, along with several other shows, the band's manager Andrew King informed the press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Roger Waters eventually arranged a meeting with psychiatrist R. D. Lang, with Waters even driving Syd personally to the appointment, despite this Barrett refused to leave the car. A stay in Formentera with the well-established in the underground music scene doctor Sam Hutt also led to no visual improvement.

Despite all these troubles, the band followed a few European concert dates in September with their first US tour in October. However, as the US tour went on Barrett's condition only worsened. During appearances on the Dick Clark and Pat Boone shows in November, Barrett would not respond to the host's questions as he stared off into space. He went as far as refusing to move his lips when it came the time to mime the song See Emily Play on Boone's show.

After these embarrassing episodes, King ended their US visit early and immediately sent them back to London. Soon after they supported Jimi Hendrix during a tour of England, with Barrett only getting worse and worse, culminating in December where they had to hire a new guitarist.

Pictured above: David Gilmour, 1968.

David Gilmour was added to Pink Floyd's lineup in 1967 as a guitarist and the fifth member of the band. Gilmour and Barrett already knew each other, both having studied together at Cambridge Tech during the early 60s)

"(On Syd Barrett and David Gilmour at Cambridge) the two got along well - getting together at lunchtimes with guitars and harmonicas for a jam - and later spent a summer down in

the south of France, hitch-hiking around and busking."

- Nick Mason, 2005

In January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises (a partnership between the members of Pink Floyd, Peter Jenner, and Andrew King) announced Gilmour as the band's newest member, with the band intending to keep Barrett as a nonperforming songwriter, not too different from Brian Wilson's situation with The Beach Boys at the time.

"The idea was that Dave would ... cover for his (Barrett's) eccentricities and when that got to be not workable, Syd was just going to write. Just to try to keep him involved" 

- Peter Jenner, 1991

In an expression of frustration, Syd, who was expected to write additional hit singles to follow up Arnold Layne and See Emily Play instead introduced the song Have You Got It Yet? intentionally changing the structure of the song on every performance as to make it impossible for the band to follow.

"It was honestly frustrating as all hell. I was about to put down my bass and leave the room, but then what I can only describe as fucking magic happened: Despite the damn thing changing all the time, Nick (Mason) and Rick (Wright) started to play along, improvising and constantly changing the structure themselves. Eventually, me and David (Gilmour) also joined in and it ended up becoming this huge improvisational piece that lasted for like 30 minutes. Of course, we cut it down for the album, but that was probably one of my favorite moments in the studio during the recording of Scream Thy Last Scream."

- Roger Waters, 2001

In the end, despite the chaotic and fruitful recording of Have You Got It Yet?, Syd Barrett proved to be too difficult to work with, and matters came to a conclusion in January of 1968 while on their way to a performance in Southampton, when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett, to which the answer was "Nah, let's not bother.", signaling the end of Syd's presence in Pink Floyd.

"He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him."

- Roger Waters, 2008

In March of 1968, Pink Floyd met with business partners Jenner and King to discuss the future of the band, with Barrett agreeing to leave. With them believing that Barrett was the creative genius of the band, Jenner and King decided to represent Barrett and end their relationship with Floyd. Despite this the band continued to record the album Scream Thy Last Scream, releasing it on the ELP format on June 29th, 1968, peaking at number 9 and receiving mixed reviews by critics.

Scream Thy Last Scream

- 01. Vegetable Man (2:31) [1]

- 02. Let There Be More Light (5:38) [2]

- 03. Remember a Day (4:32) [2]

- 04. In the Beechwoods (4:43) [1]

- 05. Apples and Oranges (3:04) [1]

- 06. Paintbox (3:47) [1]

- 07. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (5:27) [2]

- 08. Corporal Clegg (4:12) [2]

- 09. Have You Got It Yet? (14:32) [3]

- 10. See-Saw (4:36) [2]

- 11. Scream Thy Last Scream (4:42) [1]

- 12. Jugband Blues (3:00) [2]

Released: June 29th, 1968

Track sources:

[1] - 1965-1967 Cambridge St/ation, 2016

[2] - A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968

[3] - 1965-1967 Cambridge St/ation, 2016 - John Latham Versions 4-9 (start Version 4 from 2:34 onwards)