Syd Barrett - Long Gone Lyrics

this album needs a movie

Pushed life for all he sought... but unfortunately... he never made it back....shine on you crazy diamond..

Freakin brilliant

I've looked up "The Madcap Laughs" on Wikipedia and there is no mention as to who plays the Hammond B3 Organ on "Long Gone". I would venture to guess its Pink Floyd Keyboard player Rick Wright.

Siempre qe estoy ebrio y son las 7 am escucho este tema

Probably the darkest yet most coherent song off the album. The chorus just owns.

Hahah holy fuck

Dark side of king

Syd Barret's music is pure, mysterious, to the core. I'm glad his uncommon value & creative talent is being appreciated more & more.

Who plays the Hammond B3 Organ on this track? Is it Rick Wright?

About his relationship with Lindsay Corner. He was beating her up then she left.

@thesecond I'm certain that he did have an affair with June Child and apart from his girlfriends he used to sleep with other women too.What about Iggy the Eskimo?Casual sex was pretty common among "rock stars".Verbal or physical abuse against women is an issue that souldn't leave anyone indifferent but I don't think that is the case.

Iggy was with him in the first half of '69.
You see in the pictures of them together how happy he was, even though he's not smiling - doing the moody rockstar look.
The pictures taken later in the year he looks more damaged and lonely even though he was with Gala.
People think ' Dark Globe' was about Iggy because he mentions 'Eskimo chains'.

@thesecond where did you read about this

Read any book about him. Lindsay and Gala both say he was violent towards them.

good for her then. too bad she never hit back with those large hands. ( :), I guess)

That awesome accent...

18 guys have short gone

It kinda feels like a darker version of "shaman's blues" by the doors

Does no one else hear the clear influence this had on later punk floyd....sometimes I wonder if syd going crazy 2as just a clever marketing ploy/way out of the spotlight for syd and he just wrote floyd song behind the scenes all those years.....hmmmmmm

Niandra lades and usually just a t shirt

She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'til no one understands...

The purest person to have been in Pink Floyd.

Come on what about Nicky?

@David HyrmanI'm sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful to the rest of the band. I do believe Nick Mason is a pure and honest person and artist just like Rick Wright(he had some specific issues,though).To my mind,however,Syd was far better than David or Roger who became the "leaders" of the group at some point.

Lone gone... :(

Eren Nova you mean LONG* gone lmao

Dude's got vocal range... and blatant emotions

And I borrowed a page from a leopard's cage and I prowled in the evening sun's glaze...

that voice of his

He left behind the memories of those times because they upset him. I kind of know why but it’s sad for Syd.

Planet Claire (B52s); Is Their Life on Mars (Bowie); Jeepster, Bang a Bong, Soul of my Suit (Bolan).

Who is she?

O HAMMOND ORGÃO DESSA MÚSICA É CRUEL . DENSO .

this song rocks the casbah when you're burnt out on fun songs like rock the casbah but you have no intention feeling like shit just cuz the clash can't try to be serious just a sec

Last time when that chorus starts you can hear overdub syd screaming in very funny way the chorus on the background :D
"and i stood very still!!!! by the windowsill!!!!" haha, classic syd

And I stood very still by the windowsill
And I wondered for those I loved still...

What a haunting image.

BeatleBug the wildest thing is im leaning against my window sill and im leaving him.

This reminds me of Julian Cope's stuff on Skellington Chronicles II. I wonder if Cope was influenced by this?

JasonJason210
Apparently he was a fan of Syd's

Hallo, please check some of my videos too ya. Thanks.

She was long gone

❤️✨

A great influence for John Frusciante.

No. It was not a comparison.

Grande no sentido de grande mesmo. Não sei se você conhece os primeiros álbuns da carreira solo do Frusciante. Caso sim, deve ter notado a influência de Syd Barret. Nesta música em específico, a forma como Barret canta duas vozes lembra o que Frusciante faz em diversas músicas próprias. Além do mais, Ele já cantou "Long gone" em pelo menos uma oportunidade, num show dos Chili Peppers.

Surely one of Syd's best (and darkest) works. It amazes me sometimes, how Syd's songs can be sort of naive but complex at the same time (I'm just talking about his guitar playing here, not his lyrics). If you figure out how to play his songs, he isn't really a guitar virtuoso - he uses fairly standard chords and song structures - but he had a unique approach that was innately artistic and innovative. His work on the early Pink Floyd albums pioneered a completely different way to play electric guitar; he literally revolutionised the instrument... But in his solo works, we see a different side to his musicianship that doesn't rely on the ethereal tones and soundscapes he used with Pink Floyd. I'm so glad that we have this stuff to look at technically, but much more than that - these songs are a part of our lives and mean so much to us. What a legacy he left.

When I was still in school I saw this picture of Syd dressed in black, and he looked so cool - I started wearing black long sleeve shirts with black trousers. It was my uniform for many years, to the point that people would comment on it if I wore anything else! I fucking idolised Syd when I was young... I dreamed of going to Cambridge to try and meet him. I used to busk a lot, and I'd play loads of his songs even though I would hardly get any money for playing them. One day though, I was playing Wouldn't You Miss Me and this old bloke came up to me and said how cool it was to see a young person into his music. I had a lot of great times over the years playing and listening to Syd's music. He's my favourite musician, without a doubt. The song Opel is his masterpiece, I think. So serene and beautiful yet shot through with pain... He was absolutely amazing.

Noodles37UK yes absolutely, consider for example Daniel Ash (Bauhaus). He used a telecaster and a Watkins Copicat, varispeed model. I've never read anything nor heard any interview concerning the Syd link but I've thought it for years, has to be!

Exactly my thoughts.

I'm not a guitar player. His playing strikes me as 'faux naive': it sounds straight forward but there is always a twist somewhere or something that makes it stand out. His lyrics are something else alltogether, sometimes I think he would have liked to have been a children's entertainer, sometimes I think he's trolling the listener, but there is wit and verbosity in there and he is a master of the meter.
This is indeed great and dark and beautiful, it also sounds sad and painfully honest, how the song's protagonist 'wonders for those he loves still' even if they are 'long gone'.

Depends how you look at it. He truly was a structural genius. But he also was a huge influence for many guitar players. He found ways to make the guitar make sounds no one before him really had. Much like a Tom Morello in his approach to guitar. If you listen to his Piper at the Gates of Dawn you realize he was also a guitar genius. Getting tones/notes from unconventional method

love this song.

Song just popped into my head, that happens sometimes. Glad I looked it up.

+Mythic Rare exactly the same ha! Weird! Good song.

Same here

Weird me to. I was playing my guitar real late and began strumming long Gone by accident so I looked it up. It really is a good song.

Just Syd, It mean enough to describe it, Pink Floyd's Spirit!

have a cigar your gonna go far by the way witch ones pink

Thanks Leadhead444 for posting this haunting song. Actually, it would have been slightly better to have posted "Golden Hair" (which precedes this song) together, because they complement each other so well, but I'm not complaining, this is great. 

John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers does this as well as a few other Syd covers..

In an odd way I prefer the world doesn't recognize the beauty of this poetry.. it just makes it that much more special to me.

paul A I agree

Like I don’t know if I should try to cover any of syds songs. Cause it’s like I don’t know if I can do them justice

After all these years it still amaze me I must say one of my Barrett tune like a great Old Greek myth is deceivingly simple and never the same

Stylistically, two very different directions, I'm not knockin Syd. He would have done far better without ever joining the Floyd.

I'm with you guys for most comments. I think we'd all agree his style was way ahead of his time. There has to be a reason things didn't pan for him in the music scene. I'm actually kinda tired of the typical "artist creates art that no one understands" we say this is underrated all we want... but there is a reason David Gilmour stepped in, there is a reason the Pink Floyd shot to the top for so many years after Syd.

Gilmour also did a lot of work on Barrett's solo albums. He (Barrett) was a great artist but not fit for what pop music in general and Pink Floyd specifically were evolving into in the 1970s.

Wow... just wow.

Era andata via, da tanto,tanto tempo

I agree! Roger is an egoist !

Everyone from PF > Roger Waters

when i first heard this song, it was like finding a brick of gold in a mud hole. sorrounded by shit music these days i was able to find treasure and music with soul and feel. thank you syd barrett! shine on

This music is simply fantastic!

I was born in distant mountain village of Uzbekistan, far from civilization and quite far from Syd, in 1965. And i know him and i love him. That's how powerful he is, that's how his soul is beautiful. RIP.

The girl is pink floyd.

I think is Iggy the Eskimo ❤️

@Stefania Cesco Bolla
I think he was thinking about Iggy and his ex girlfriend Lindsey Corner.

Perhaps. Pink Floyd as well as (any) of those he found he still loves. I admire Syd's pure, mysterious, unique to the core music. The wide world of music needs a 😚Syd Barret to take us there.

Oooooooo......I love your interpretation, so creepy!

"Til know one understands."

Quote frequently,I've always felt that this line in particular is a misheard lyric.IMO,the change I proposed not only makes more sense,but provides for a more sinister interpretation.

"She was long gone,the bigger they come, the larger her hands:TELL NO ONE, UNDERSTAND? Why for so long she's been gone"

See,by asking the listener to keep quiet,was Syd implying that the missing girl(w/her large&bloated hands)is already dead!?Has he fancied himself the killer?Discuss!

I have not re-listened to see if "Tell no one, understand" is in fact what he sang but I can dig it because he is singing about that which no one should say. What hand is he talking about?

This is some of Syd's finest guitar playing: the choruses appear to mix both Spanish&Gypsy elements-and w/out consciously attempting to do so!

The chordal major/minor structures of the verses(ft.dynamic organs,tortured/strained harmonies,etc)project a timeless English melancholy that was(until recently)widely ignored.

And with lyrics that are at once both maddeningly cryptic&yet wholly familiar,Syd displays a maturity not seen in his works with the Floyd.

Is Long Gone underrated? It sure is.

Syd Barrett Unplugged.

m2 i just need to learn singing XD

in 2025 this will sound finally in of fashion

long long gone, shine on your crazy diamond

I can proudly say I can play this song :D

..........she was.

@ahitler1000 I hate to be pedantic, but this event actually occurred during the recording of Wish You Were Here, hence why that album is a tribute to Syd.

This is clearly one of Syds best.. oh man.. 'one' of the best..

Love you Syd <3

@Demonofdeath1231 Oh yes. His solo albums may not be as accessible as early Pink Floyd stuff but the more you listen to them, the more richness they display!

Only Syd has the talent for such an amazing song.

tem coisa pior que funk , pior que Emenen ( se é assim que escreve, sei lá ) mas não existe nada pior que Syd Barrett nada ..

I know the depth of his lasting influence on the floyd , in the book saucer full of secrets , roger said he saw a tired fat bald man watching them as they done the wall, and roger said he asked who, s that ? and david said , its syd , roger cried , Ill see you on the dark side of the moon ,

Can't believe that such an influential song as this has not had the views it deserves. Its a good job that a lot of pop stars after Syd listened to his music though. Roger waters took a long time after Syd to produce Dark side. At first Pink Floyd sounded and looked like a band without direction, a few flashes of of good stuff to come though. Syd took us on an inward journey of creativity and carried that on privately in his art. He commented years later that he couldn't believe all the fuss.