This is a very pretty song, from the start of Nick Mason's woodblock beat. I'm sure you could draw a few meanings from it. The scarecrow, brainless and sad for a while, but then fine. Is he a rebuttal of the Scarecrow created by L. Frank Baum and embodied by Ray Bolger, who wants above all to be smart? It's hard not to make that association, at least for me.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Black and green
This is a very pretty song, from the start of Nick Mason's woodblock beat. I'm sure you could draw a few meanings from it. The scarecrow, brainless and sad for a while, but then fine. Is he a rebuttal of the Scarecrow created by L. Frank Baum and embodied by Ray Bolger, who wants above all to be smart? It's hard not to make that association, at least for me.
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2 comments:
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was a great album and this song is a favorite of both of ours. Having grown up in North America as all three of us did and seeing The Wizard of Oz quite often it seems logical Syd Barrett was thinking of Baum's scarecrow when he wrote it. While I'd say it's possible my guess is he'd never heard of the Wizard and may have been writing about himself. I guess we'll never know.
When you found this video I wonder if you came across this one too. They looked very happy.
My hypothesis was based on the assumption that he'd be familiar with the book and/or movie. But you have a point. He grew up in the forties and fifties, maybe before it was much known in Britain. This despite his predilection for children's literature like Wind in the Willows.
That's a nice video. Syd himself (because of the shock of curly black hair) and Roger Waters (due to the long face) are the easiest to pick out. To me BBC announcers from that time always sound like they're in a Monty Python skit.
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