1 Overlooked Gem Song From Every Pink Floyd Album
1. Lucifer Sam - The Piper At The Dates Of Dawn
Pink Floyd’s debut album is a very different beast to most of what followed. With the band led by Syd Barrett, the album is mostly off kilter acid pop gems and psychedelic freak outs powered by Barrett’s unique guitar playing. Lucifer Sam meanwhile is something different again.
The sinister descending riff that runs through Lucifer Sam sounds like is it could from the soundtrack to a swinging Sixties spy thriller. Admittedly it suggests a slightly trippy spy thriller, like if Michael Caine dropped a tab of LSD in the first act of The Ipcress File.
Although fans have speculated the titular Sam(“a Siam cat”) was a man involved with Barrett’s then girlfriend Jenny Spires, the more prosaic reality is that the song was named for Syd’s actual Siamese cat.
While often played as an encore in 1967 the band never played the song live after that year, though Nick Mason returned to it for his solo shows as recently as 2018. If Mason thinks the track is worth a revisit who are we to disagree?
Pink Floyd Quiz: Can You Name The Song From One Lyric?
