"Arnold Layne" is the debut single released by the English rock band Pink Floyd on 10 March 1967, written by Syd Barrett.
Lyrics
The song's title character is a transvestite whose strange hobby is stealing women's clothes and undergarments from washing lines. According to Roger Waters, "Arnold Layne" was actually based on a real person: "Both my mother and Syd's mother had students as lodgers because there was a girls' college up the road so there were constantly great lines of bras and knickers on our washing lines and 'Arnold' or whoever he was, had bits off our washing lines."
Recording and production
In January, Pink Floyd went to Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea. Here, the band recorded "Arnold Layne" and a few other songs: "Matilda Mother", "Chapter 24", "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Let's Roll Another One". Nick Mason said of why "Arnold Layne" was chosen over the other songs: "We knew we wanted to be rock'n'roll stars and we wanted to make singles, so it seemed the most suitable song to condense into 3 minutes without losing too much". The band had tried to re-record "Arnold Layne" after signing up with EMI, but the Joe Boyd version from January was released instead. The song would be Boyd's last production for Pink Floyd. Boyd mentioned in several interviews over the years that "Arnold Layne" regularly ran for ten to fifteen minutes in concert, but the band knew that it had to be shortened for use as a single. He has also said it was a complex recording involving some tricky editing, recalling that the middle instrumental section with Richard Wright's organ solo was recorded as an edit piece and spliced into the song for the final mix. Both "Arnold Layne" and "Candy and a Currant Bun" were mixed into mono for the single. Neither have ever been given a stereo mix, although the four-track master tapes still exist in the EMI tape archive.
Music videos
A black and white promotional film of "Arnold Layne" was made in late February 1967, directed by Derek Nice and featuring members of Pink Floyd dressing up a mannequin before showing it around a beach in East Wittering, West Sussex. This promo, made for £2,000, was meant to be screened on 3 April 1967 for the BBC's Top of the Pops show, but cancelled when the single dropped down the chart. Another promotional film was recorded for the song, this time filmed on 29 April near St Michael's Church in Highgate. It is the only known footage of Barrett lip-synching to the song. It was shot in the spring of 1967, around the time that his mental deterioration began.
Release
The single was released on 10 March 1967 in the UK, backed by "Candy and a Currant Bun". The band's management, Blackhill Enterprises, had paid to boost the single's chart position, as manager Andrew King stated: "We spent a couple of hundred quid, trying to buy it into the charts. The management did that, not EMI." However, despite reaching number 20 in the UK singles chart, the song's unusual transvestism theme attracted the ire of pirate radio stationRadio London, which deemed the song was too far removed from "normal" society for its listeners, before eventually banning it from radio airplay altogether. The song later appeared on the budget 1971 compilation albumRelics, their 1983 compilation album Works and their 2001 retrospective best-of, . Both sides of the single appear on the first volume 1965–1967: Cambridge St/ation in the 2016 Early Yearsbox set, and on a replica seven inch single also included in the set.
Track listing
All tracks written by Syd Barrett, excluding Interstellar Overdrive which was written by Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick Wright. and Nick Mason.
, during his solo tour promoting On an Island, unexpectedly added the song to the setlist near the end of the American tour on show of 17 April 2006 at the Oakland Paramount Theatre. This version of the song was sung by Richard Wright and remained in the setlist until 31 May. On 26 December 2006, two live recordings of the song, from Gilmour's On an Island shows at the Royal Albert Hall were released as a live single, which peaked at No. 19 on the UK singles chart. One version had guest vocals by David Bowie. Both versions are featured on Gilmour's DVD/BD, Remember That Night.
Track listing
All tracks written by Syd Barrett.
"Arnold Layne" – 3:30
"Arnold Layne" – 3:23
"Dark Globe" – 2:23
Personnel
David Gilmour – Fender Telecaster electric guitar, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, lead vocals
David Bowie - lead vocals
Richard Wright – organ, lead vocals, backing vocals
Jon Carin – keyboards, backing vocals
Phil Manzanera – guitar, backing vocals
Steve DiStanislao – drums
Guy Pratt – bass guitar, backing vocals
Pink Floyd 2007 performance
On 10 May 2007, Pink Floyd, featuring Gilmour, Mason and Wright performed for what was to be Wright's and the band's final live performance, at The Barbican, London, for The Madcap's Last Laugh, a tribute show for Syd Barrett organised by Joe Boyd. At the end of the show, they were introduced as surprise guests and Wright sang his band's first single one final time. This also saw the final performance by Pink Floyd with Gilmour now concentrating on his solo career, Mason on his motor racing, while Wright died in September 2008.
