From Robyn on Patreon in 2024
One of the perkier of Syd Barrett’s later compositions, it harbours some of the best lyrics ever to grace an uptempo boogie. “She was angrier there, than her watershell male/Life to this love to me, heading me down to me, thunderbird shale” is one of my favourite couplets of all time.

It’s a vision you can hear, a song you can see: the singer striding along the cliff tops on a blustery day, encased in an ex-army greatcoat (as many groovers were in the late 1960s) leaving a retinal image behind him as the pale daylight moon hangs over the sea. He’s walking behind an older woman with whom he’s been having an affair. I picture her in a long coat too, with a Victorian bonnet on her head and a black frilly umbrella tightly rolled up…

I’ve been playing this live off and on for decades, back to the Soft Boys days. This version was recorded at Kelley Stoltz’s Electric Duck studios in San Francisco, featuring Kelley himself on drums and Dr Pete Strauss on bass. We had just played a Syd’s birthday show at the Chapel to a packed house of Barrett fiends, and were full of the joys of his music. Dr Pete’s bass and Kelley’s drumming make a sprightly trampoline for my guitar excursions, jam band style. Jammin’ With The Duck, indeed…