Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Have You Got It Yet?

Have You Got It Yet?
Rehearsed February 1968 
* Unrecorded
     (written by Syd Barrett)

Lyrics:
Have you got it yet? (repeated)

Lead vocals: Syd Barrett

In March of 1968, Syd Barrett left the Pink Floyd. The announcement was made to the press on 6 April. Things had come to the point where it was simply impossible for anyone to work with him. There was no communication, either artistically or otherwise, between he and the rest of the band. With Syd went managers Peter Jenner and Andrew King, believing that he was more likely to be successful than the rest of the group, even in his mentally withdrawn state. Bryan Morrison took over management of the group for a short time, followed by Steve O'Rourke three months later, who would manage them for the rest of their career.

Before Syd left, however, he introduced one more 'song' he had written. Have You Got It Yet? was not so much a song as a madcap practical joke played by Syd on the rest of the band. Syd continually changed the chord progression and even the key of this song, so no one could follow it; hence the humorous nature of the lyrics and title. It was certainly this type of thing that frustrated his fellow bandmates — but they still respected his creativity.

Nick Mason: "Syd came in with some new material. The song went 'Have You Got It Yet' and he kept changing it so that no one could learn it."

Roger Waters: "It was a real act of mad genius. The interesting thing about it was that I didn't suss it out at all. I stood there for about an hour while he was singing 'Have you got it yet?' trying to explain that he was changing it all the time so I couldn't follow it. He'd sing 'Have you got it yet?' and I'd sing 'No, no.' Terrific!"

Syd had played on a few tracks for the Saucerful of Secrets LP before he left. Recording for the album concluded without him. See that entry for more details.

2 comments:

  1. Since the band began recording without Syd in mid-February, this had to have been much earlier than March 1968.

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  2. Some dates are highly speculative, amounting to nothing more than my best guess, but your point here is well taken. I've edited the entry to move the rehearsal date back to "February 1968", too a speculation of course, and probably the latest possible date.

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