Song of the Week (Pink Floyd - Shine on You Crazy Diamond)

I struggled with what to pick for this week. So many things to discuss...ACL lineup announced, upcoming shows, awesome 80s songs, the Great Icing of Neil by Frosty the Snowman...I digress.

Alas, I kept coming back to another upcoming event which has caused me to re-listen to the catalog of an old friend: Pink Floyd. With Roger Waters coming in town this Fall, and with my shelling out an unreasonable sum of money for tickets (btw...I'd like to issue a big FU shout out to Ticketmaster), I thought it was a good time to celebrate the greatest Space Rock band of all time past, present and future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyqgjCKm9nQ

Shine on You Crazy Diamond is much more than the not-so-subtle drug-induced anthem: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles. This isn't a denouncement of the Beatles accomplishments, but simply an acknowledgment that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (LSD) back in the 60s is roughly the equivalent of my writing a song entitled "Ingrid in the Cellar with Emeralds" (ICE). For those of you who haven't been Ice'd yet, please visit: http://brosicingbros.com/

Behold, an excerpt from the website comments section:
"We just had a heated debate about the rules of Icing:

One of my bros Iced another bro while he was in the shower. But the showering bro was prepared with an Ice of his own to Ice block. The first bro stole the Ice from the showering bro’s shower caddy, and Iced the defenseless showering bro.

Is this legal? Can one bro steal another bro’s Ice blocking Ice, and then proceed to Ice aforementioned bro?

Thanks for the help bros."

I feel your pain young bro...it's a very complex legal question indeed. As of yet, there is no legal precedent with which to draw a validated conclusion. I advise you not to seek the legal counsel of my friend Tom-bone, as he is tainted with the belief that it is legal to steal a bro's Ice and Ice his bro with his own Ice...not f'ing cool.

Apologies for the lengthy "Ice'ing" segue.

Shine on You Crazy Diamond is a tribute to the original singer/songwriter/guitarist and founding member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett. Syd Barrett recorded 2 albums with Pink Floyd, and then gradually degraded into mental and drug-induced insanity. While on tour, Syd would do things like gradually detune his guitar throughout a whole concert or strum one chord through a full set. The other members of Pink Floyd eventually became fed up and replaced Syd with David Gilmour. There is a famous story of the group recording the song: Shine on...and Syd actually entered the studio unannounced at the invitation of one of the engineers. No one from Pink Floyd recognized Syd because he had shaved off all of his hair and eyebrows, and was at this point fairly overweight. Roger Waters was the first to recognize him, and he began to cry.

Sorry to bring the party down, but I kinda think it adds a dimension to the song knowing a brief history of the origin.

"Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine."

Hope you Dig,
JZ