Arnold Layne

"Arnold Layne" is a song by English rock bandPink Floyd. Released on 10 March 1967, it was the band's first single and  was written bySyd Barrett.
The song is about a man whose strange hobby is stealing women's lingerie from washing lines.According toRoger 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."
In January Pink Floyd went toSound Techniquesstudio in Chelsea,where they had previously recorded two songs forTonite Let's All Make Love in London.Here, the band recorded "Arnold Layne"and a few other songs: "Matilda Mother", "Chapter 24", "Interstellar Overdrive"and "Let's Roll Another One" (which was renamed to "Candy and a Currant Bun", at the lead of Waters).
Nick Masonsaid 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 withEMI, but theJoe Boydversion from January was released instead.The song would be Boyd's last production for the band.
Boyd mentioned in several interviews over the years that "Arnold Layne" regularly ran for ten to fifteen minutes in concert (with extended instrumental passages), 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 withRichard Wright's organ solo was recorded as an edit piece and spliced into the song for the final mix.
The backing track for "Arnold Layne" was recorded in multiple takes on4-track tape, the third take being the best. Drums and bass were recorded on track one, electric guitar on track two, keyboard on track three, and acoustic guitar on track four. It was then bounced onto one track on another 4-track reel so vocals could be overdubbed. This was done across multiple takes where take seven became the master.
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.
A black and white promotional film of "Arnold Layne" was made in late February 1967, directed by Derek Nice and featuring members of the band dressing up, dismembering and carrying around a mannequin on a beach, filmed atEast Wittering, West Sussex.One sequence employsreverse motion. This promo, made for £2,000,was meant to be screened on 3 April 1967 for theBBC'sTop of the Popsshow, but was cancelled when the single dropped down the chart.Another promotional film was recorded for the song, this time filmed on 29 April 1967, nearSt Michael's ChurchinHighgate.The film is the only known footage of Barrett lip-synching to the song.
The single was released on 10 March 1967 in the UK, backed by "Candy and a Currant Bun".The band is credited as "The Pink Floyd" on the single, although the determinerthewould be dropped for subsequent releases. The band's management,Blackhill Enterprises, had paid to boost the single's chart position,as managerAndrew Kingstated: "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 albumWorksand their 2001 retrospective best-of,Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.Both sides of the single appear on the first volume 1965–1967: Cambridge St/ation in the 2016Early Yearsbox set, and on a replica seven-inch single also included in the set.
All tracks written bySyd Barrett, excludingInterstellar Overdrivewhich was written by Syd Barrett,Roger Waters,Rick WrightandNick Mason.
David Gilmour, during his solo tour promotingOn an Island, unexpectedly added the song to the setlist near the end of the American tour on 17 April 2006 at the Oakland Paramount Theatre. This version of the song was sung byRichard Wrightand remained in the setlist until 31 May.
On 26 December 2006, two live recordings of the song, from Gilmour'sOn an Islandshows at theRoyal Albert Hallwere released as a live single, which peaked at No. 19 on the UK singles chart.One version had guest vocals byDavid Bowie. Both versions are featured on Gilmour's DVD/BD,Remember That Night(Bowie's version on disc one and Wright's version as a bonus on disc two).
All tracks written by Syd Barrett.
On 10 May 2007, Pink Floyd, featuring Gilmour (guitar and backing vocals), Mason (drums) and Wright (lead vocals and keyboards), augmented byJon Carin(keyboards, vocals) andAndy Bellfrom Ride/Oasis (bass guitar) performed for what was the band's final live performance, atThe Barbican, London, forThe 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 Wright, who died in September 2008.