Pink Floyd releases their second single, “See Emily Play” in 1967
The now Psychedelic Rock classic it’s one of the band’s first hits
Pink Floyd release their second single, “See Emily Play” in 1967
Written by founding member Syd Barrett, “See Emily Play”, backed by “Scarecrow”, was the second single released by Pink Floyd, on June 16, 1967. Also known as “Games for May”, after a free concert in which Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd performed, the song, as most of the band’s early work it’s Psychedelic Rock at it’s purest form, using studio techniques to enhance the Psychedelic song structure such as backward tapes, much use of echo and reverb, and the first piano bridge between the first chorus and second verse recorded at a slow pace then sped up for the final master. Syd Barrett was not happy with the final studio cut, and he protested against its release, which producer Norman Smith speculated was based on his fear of commercialism. Pink Floyd performed the song three times on BBC TV’s Top of the Pops. On each occasion, they mimed to the single, over which Barrett sang a live vocal, unfortunately, BBC wiped the shows (as they usually did back then to re-use the tapes) and only damaged parts of it have been recovered in recent years. This marks the period of Syd Barret’s mental decline, soon after he would leave Pink Floyd. The US single was released by Tower Records three times between July 1967 and late 1968 but each time it failed to duplicate its UK success, however, despite being released as a single only in Europe and the U.K, appears on the American edition of their debut album “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”
Watch the rare existing footage of Pink Floyd performing “See Emily Play” at Top Of The Pops in 1967
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