"Jugband Blues" | ||||||||||||
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Song by Pink Floyd from the album A Saucerful of Secrets | ||||||||||||
Published | Magdalene Music | |||||||||||
Released | 29 June 1968 (UK) 27 July 1968 (U.S.) |
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Recorded | 19 October 1967 at De Lane Lea Studios, London | |||||||||||
Length | 3:01 | |||||||||||
Label |
EMI Columbia (UK) Tower (US) |
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Writer(s) | Syd Barrett | |||||||||||
Producer(s) | Norman Smith | |||||||||||
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26 tracks |
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"Jugband Blues" is a song by the English psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, and is featured on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, released in 1968. Written by Syd Barrett, it was his sole compositional contribution to the album, as well as his last published for the band. Barrett and Pink Floyd's management wanted the song to be released as a single, but were vetoed by the rest of the band and producer Norman Smith. "Jugband Blues" is directed towards anyone within Barrett's proximity.
"Jugband Blues" was written around the same time as "Vegetable Man". Both songs contain the same cynical humour, but while on "Vegetable Man" Barrett focuses his humour on himself, on "Jugband Blues" it is directed towards those around him. "Jugband Blues" was recorded on 19 October 1967 at De Lane Lea Studios. Barrett wanted a Salvation Army band to play on the track. He told them he wanted them to simply "play whatever they want" regardless of the rest of the group, while Norman Smith insisted on recorded parts. Eventually both versions were recorded and used. About The Salvation Army, band manager Andrew King said that Barrett "wanted a massive Salvation Army freak-out, but that's the only time I can remember Norman [Smith] putting his foot down." The song features a distinctive three-tiered structure: starting off in 3/4 meter, then into 2/4 and finishing off in 4/4.
The promotional video for the song was filmed in December 1967, for the Central Office of Information in London. The video was supposed to be about Britain, and was meant to be distributed in the US and Canada. The video features Barrett (shown with an acoustic guitar for the first time) and the group miming to the song in a more conventional stage setting, with psychedelic projections in the background. The original audio to the promo is lost, and most versions use the BBC recording from late 1967, consequently causing sync issues most evident as Barrett sings the opening verse. The original film was considered to be lost, until it was re-discovered in the Manchester Arts Lab in 1999. Barrett and Waters first watched the promo video during the second week of December 1967.