Baby Lemonade

"Baby Lemonade" is the opening track to Syd Barrett's second studio album, Barrett. "Baby Lemonade", and another song, "Gigolo Aunt",[1] were recorded by Barrett playing and singing over a prerecorded backing track.[2] The solo was performed by Barrett, not David Gilmour as is often noted.[3] The intro was actually Barrett simply warming-up on guitar, that Gilmour had managed to record and placed it at the start of the album, making it seem like an intro to the song.[3] It was included on the multi-artist Harvest compilation, A Breath of Fresh Air – A Harvest Records Anthology 1969–1974 in 2007.[4]

For the band, see Baby Lemonade (band).

"Baby Lemonade"
Song by Syd Barrett
from the album Barrett
Released	14 November 1970
Recorded	26 February 1970
Length	4:10
Label	Harvest/EMI Capitol (US)
Songwriter(s)	Syd Barrett
Producer(s)	David Gilmour

Live

The song was performed along with 4 other songs (3 songs that would later be recorded for Barrett, and one that was originally from The Madcap Laughs) and recorded for BBC Radio on 24 February 1970.[5][6] These five tracks were later released on The Peel Session,[5] and even later with 3 added songs (one being another version of "Baby Lemonade") from another BBC Radio show, as The Radio One Sessions.[7]

Personnel

• Syd Barrett – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
• David Gilmour – 12-string guitar, bass guitar, producer
• Richard Wright – Hammond organ, piano, producer
• Jerry Shirley – drums

Lyrics

A "baby" is archaic public-house slang for a half-size bottle of mixer. "Baby lemonade" would be understood by Victorian barmaids to mean a small bottle of lemonade.[8]

References

1. Barrett (booklet). Syd Barrett. Harvest, EMI. 2010. p. 1.CS1 maint: others (link)
2. Manning, Toby (2006). "Set the Controls". The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 72. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
3. Palacios, Julian (2010). "Within the Dark Globe". Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe (Rev. ed.). London: Plexus. p. 365. ISBN 0859654311.
4. "A Breath of Fresh Air: A Harvest Records Anthology, 1969-1974 - Various Artists : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
5. Unterberger, Richie. "Peel Sessions - Syd Barrett : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
6. Chapman, Rob (2010). "We Awful, Awful Crawl". Syd Barrett: A Very Irregular Head (Paperback ed.). London: Faber. pp. 268–269. ISBN 978-0-571-23855-2.
7. "Music - Review of Syd Barrett - The Radio One Sessions". BBC. 20 November 2002. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
8. Redding Ware, J. (1909). "A Dictionary of Victorian Slang". p. 13. Retrieved 6 July 2017.