Television Personalities - I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
Time for some twee. I honestly can't tell you about when self-consciously twee pop records started to appear, but I know it was a lot earlier than the post-c86 Sarah Records boom. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for this song about the late recluse and drug casualty, and took delight in its faux-innocence and playfulness. I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives may have existed in a world of saccharine nostalgia, but it was a well-constructed and intricate one. In looking for some information on this song, I discover that the Television Personalities toured with Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour in 1984. After performing this song, lead singer Dan Treacy then went on to read out Syd's full postal address to the audience. What a cunt. Needless to say, the band were immediately off the tour.

Still, for all I know that could be just as much a legend as the time Syd turned up unannounced at a Floyd recording session in the '70s, and told the band that he'd "come to do his bit". Or the fact that Syd's fridge was always full of pork pies. A figure as reclusive and mysterious as Syd Barrett was always going generate myths. Somehow, it seems appropriate that they were such twee ones.

Television Personalities - I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives