THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

992-Pink Floyd-See Emily Play.

1967-Number 6 single.

Best Bit-At 2.03. I am a great believer in that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.

Pink Floyd (see also best songs 280) were formed in London, England, in 1965, by Syd Barrett, (1946-2006) (guitar, and lead vocals) Nick Mason, (drums) Roger Waters, (bass) and Richard Wright (1943-2008) (keyboards) these were the four personnel who played on this song, and also the groups debut studio Album ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ in 1967. The only other person to be a member of Pink Floyd is Dave Gilmour, (guitar) who joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of Syd Barrett. At the time of writing the band are still active with only Mason and Gilmour as official members.

The discography of Pink Floyd includes 15 studio Albums released between 1967-2014, and 27 singles issued between 1967-2022. There are also a further four live Albums, 12 official compilation Albums, and five box sets, in total it is estimated that Pink Floyd have sold in excess of 250 million records worldwide, making them easily one of the best selling artists of all time, especially when you consider that the majority of their sales are Albums. Three of the bands Albums appear on the list of the best selling Albums of all time,’The Dark Side of the Moon,’ (1973) is currently the fourth best seller ever, with sales in excess of 24 million copies, while ‘The Wall,’ (1979) sits in 28th place, with estimated sales in excess of 18 million copies, and ‘Wish You Were Here’ (1975) is currently the 77th best seller, with sales around 9 million copies.

‘See Emily Play’ was written by Syd Barrett, who was born Roger Keith Barrett, on January 6th, 1946, in Cambridge, England, he died on July 7th, 2006, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 60. There are two different versions as to how he acquired the name ‘Syd.’ One was that he took it from a local Cambridge Jazz musician called ‘Sid ‘the beat’ Barrett,’ and the other is that when he was 13 his schoolmates named him ‘Syd’ after he attended a scout meeting in a flat cap instead of a scout beret, because ‘Syd’ was considered a working class name. In the early days of Pink Floyd it was Barrett who led them musically, with a blend of ‘Psychedelic Pop,’ and ‘Experimental Rock,’ it was Barrett who wrote, or co-wrote the majority of the songs on Pink Floyd’s debut Album ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.’ Barrett had started to experiment with ‘LSD’ during 1965, and as the months past his habit caused his personality to change to the point where the other band members realised that they could not work with him anymore, and he was dismissed from the band, with Roger Waters taking over as the bands main lyricist in 1968. After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett took a year out before returning to music in 1970 when he released both of his solo studio Albums, before giving up music for good, and retreating from the spotlight. Barrett is critically acclaimed for his work in pushing the boundaries of ‘Rock Music,’ with all time greats such as Paul McCartney, and Pete Townsend acknowledging him as an influence on their work.

‘See Emily Play’ was produced by Norman ‘Hurricane’ Smith, who also produced Pink Floyd’s debut Album. Smith was born on February 22nd, 1923, in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, he died on March 3rd, 2008, at the age of 85. Prior to teaming up with Pink Floyd, Smith had worked as an engineer, notably working with the Beatles, whom he engineered the sound for almost 100 of their songs. John Lennon (1940-1980) gave him the nickname ‘Normal,’ as a humorous reference to Smith’s unhurried, unflappable, and amiable nature. Smith also had a successful career as a singer, achieving three top 40 hit singles in the UK, including with his own composition ‘Oh Babe What Would You Say?’ (UK Number 4, and Billboard Number 3, in 1972.)

‘See Emily Play’ was released as a non Album single, but did appear as the opening track on the U.S. edition of ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ Album. The song was written by Syd Barrett following Pink Floyd’s appearance at the free ‘Games of May’ Rock concert in May 1967. ‘See Emily Play’ is about a girl named Emily, who Barrett claimed to have seen while sleeping in the woods after taking a psychedelic drug. The ‘Emily’ in question is probably Emily Young, the Honourable Emily Young, who was 15 years old at the time, and would attend concerts, where she acquired the nickname ‘The psychedelic girl.’ Emily would go on to become a world renowned sculptor, and is acknowledged as ‘Britain’s greatest stone sculptor.’ According to Roger Waters the woods that are mentioned in the song were based next to the ‘Gog Mahog Hills,’ near Barrett’s home town of Cambridge. Emily Young has said,’On Friday night at the Saints Hall, the regular band was the Pink Floyd Sound. I was more into R&B, so their dreamy hippie thing wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but it was interesting. and the light show was wonderful, and I liked to get stoned and dance. After playing, we’d sit around on grey sofas and pass around joints, I was quite pretty and word got out that I was a lord’s daughter, and apparently the guys in the band called me the ‘psychedelic schoolgirl.’

‘Emily tries but misunderstands, ah ooh. She’s often inclined to borrow somebody’s dreams till tomorrow. There is no other day, let’s try it another way, you’ll lose your mind and play, free games for May. See Emily play.’