David Gilmour covered a pair of songs by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett during a recent live stream. The performance occurred during the Gilmours’ regular Von Trapped live stream.
Barrett founded Pink Floyd in 1965 alongside Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright, with Gilmour joining in 1967. Barrett was the key songwriter for the band’s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, but by the time Gilmour joined the group, Syd was suffering from myriad psychological issues that forced him to leave the band.
Related: Remembering The Troubled Genius Of Syd Barrett On ‘The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’
Between poetry readings, sips of wine, and amusing anecdotes, Gilmour performed a pair of songs from Barrett’s debut solo album, The Madcap Laughs. Though his son, Charlie Gilmour, encouraged David to refer to it as “The Madcat Laughs”, Gilmour stayed true to the original lyrics and said, in a bit of dour humor, “Syd’s not going to like it.”
Syd Barrett died in 2006 following decades of reclusiveness due to his psychological maladies. With that, Gilmour launched into “Octopus”, one of the simple acoustic songs from The Madcap Laughs that highlighted Barrett’s darkly clever lyricism.
Following some more poetry and a Q&A segment with viewers, Gilmour performed “Dominoes”, which also appeared on The Madcap Laughs. The song featured David Gilmour on drums on the original release, which was recorded at Abbey Road over a 15 month period between May 1968 and August 1969. As Gilmour pointed out on the stream, “Dominoes” could work well as a lockdown song, as it describes the simple act of sitting at home, “wasting time on dominoes.”
Watch David Gilmour cover “Octopus” and “Dominoes” by Syd Barrett, occurring respectively at 17:35 and 32:50.
Polly Samson’s A Theatre For Dreamers Live (With David Gilmour And Family) #6
[Video: David Gilmour]
The Von Trapped webcast originally began as a way to promote Gilmour’s wife’s Polly Samson‘s new novel, A Theatre For Dreamers. Over the past month, however, it has evolved into a showcase of poetry, music, and more. Until this point, David Gilmour has been confined to Leonard Cohen covers, but it now appears he has broadened his horizons. Tune into Gilmour’s YouTube page for his weekly live stream with his family.