6. He had a poignant final encounter with Roger Waters.
According to rock lore, Pink Floyd saw Syd Barrett for the last time on June 5th, 1975, when the now bald and bloated 29-year-old dropped in on a recording session for the album Wish You Were Here. Remarkably, the band was in the midst of working on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” – a track that paid tribute to their fallen musical leader. While certain elements of the story may be apocryphal (Nick Mason, for one, can’t confirm the precise song they were working on), the remarkable scenario is largely true. While it would be the last reunion for the five members of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters would have one final encounter. Though less dramatic, it was equally troubling.
“The last time I saw him was a couple of years after he turned up at the Wish You Were Heresessions,” he told the Mirror in 2008. “I bumped into him in [British department store] Harrods where he used to go to buy sweets, but we didn’t speak – he sort of scuttled away.” Not wishing to upset his old friend, Waters made no further attempt to communicate.