The Madcap Laughs (Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett)

No Man's Land

Chapter 4: No Man’s Land

The band was playing at the UFO club. It was their first show with David. They invited me to go to try and ease the transition for Syd. They opened with ‘See Emily Play’ and Dave did a magnificent job playing guitar. Syd sang a few lines at the beginning and in the chorus, but you could tell he was out. Next, they played Interstellar Overdrive. Syd de-tuned his guitar until the strings fell off and then left the stage. David was a little surprised, the rest…not so much. Dave quickly took over for Syd and I hurried backstage to find him. He was standing just out of the line of sight of the audience. He looked at me blankly, his arms hung lifelessly at his sides and his guitar strings were strutting out from every direction. I sat him down on a chair in the dressing room and put his guitar down on the floor. I bought a drink from the bar and waited for the band to finish playing.

“Do you see what we deal with?” Roger said to David as they exited the stage. They noticed me sitting there with Syd and Roger mumbled an apology.

“I don’t even care anymore.” I said, taking another drag of my cigarette. “I’m just tired of looking after him. I’m not a god damn babysitter!”

“Of course not. I’ll drive you and Syd home, okay?” Nick said

“I can drive myself!” I said standing up. I wobbled a bit and Nick helped me find my balance.

“You can’t even walk right now…So, I’ll drive you.” He put his arm around me and helped me into his car. Roger followed with Syd. When Nick pulled up to Syd’s flat, I got out too.

“My place is way out of your way. I’ll just spend the night here.” I insisted.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, go home and see Lindy.” I collapsed on the couch as soon as I got inside.

            The next morning I woke up surrounded by strangers with no recollection of anything after sitting Syd down after his ‘performance’.

“Shit, what did I do?” My head pounded unbearably. I got up and looked around for some aspirin. I carefully maneuvered around all of the people scattered on the floor. I tried the bathroom cabinet first. It was filled with acid, marijuana and various other mind disintegrating narcotics.

“Of course…” I decided to ask a man with a scraggly beard, the only conscious person in the room.  “Do you know where the aspirin is?”

“As-pir-in?” he enunciated every syllable.

“Yeah, like Advil? Tylenol? I have a bugger of a headache.”

“Oh, yeah. I know just what you need. Sit down, I’ll get you one and a glass of water.

“Thanks.” I said, shifting uncomfortably on the couch.

“Here.” He handed me a glass of water and an Advil. When he wasn’t looking, I studied it carefully to make sure it was, in fact, the sort of painkiller I asked for. It looked to be one so I took it.