Psychedelic Syd

 An old man died in the asylum last week

He was quite heavy and his hair was receding

He used to rave and rant a lot

And quote weird poetry

He claimed he was a lead singer in a band

Which had some hits in the sixties

They had released an album that did quite well

They toured all the psychedelic clubs around the country

The music was literally mind-blowing

Ten minutes of thrashing guitars and drums

Psychedelic slideshows filled the background

They were all high on drugs

This inmate claimed he wrote all the songs for the band

And the drugs helped to inspire him

He wrote about trips to Jupiter and Mars

And other far off places

About sitting in hayfields and dancing in circles

And staring at the sun

They envisioned a new society based on love and peace

The inmate claimed that the drugs had blown his mind

And he could not cope with the pressures of the job

He was thrown out of the band

And lost all his money over time

All the other members of the band became rich

But he spent his time being moved from institution to institution

I don’t know if there is any truth in his story

He didn’t seem like a rock star

Although he could be pretty wild at times

When he started to rant

And quoted all that psychedelic nonsense

The other inmates called him Psychedelic Syd

“Shine on you crazy diamond”