"Octopus" (originally recorded as "Clowns and Jugglers" and also known as "The Madcap Laughs") is a song by

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

, released as his debut solo single in November 1969. In January 1970, it appeared on his first solo album ''

The Madcap Laughs ''The Madcap Laughs'' is the debut solo album by the English singer-songwriter Syd Barrett. It was recorded after Barrett had left Pink Floyd in April 1968. The album had a lengthy recording history, with work beginning in May 1968, but the bul ...

''.

Writing

Barrett reflected on the song's writing: "Octopus" directly quotes a section from "Rilloby-Rill" by English poet Sir

Henry Newbolt Sir Henry John Newbolt, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (6 June 1862 – 19 April 1938) was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps ...

(1862–1938). The song also features a variety of other influences.

Recording

Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd in April 1968, along with their manager Peter Jenner. Jenner led Barrett into EMI Studios to record some tracks in May, that would later be released on Barrett's first solo album. During the May sessions, Jenner failed to record, properly, any vocals at all for several tracks, including "Clown and Jugglers". Sessions stopped once Barrett was in psychiatric care, apparently after a drive around Britain in his Mini. After New Year 1969, a somewhat recovered Barrett decided upon returning to a musical career; Barrett contacted EMI, and was passed on to Malcolm Jones, the then-head of EMI's new prog rock label,

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

. Barrett wanted to recover the Jenner-produced sessions recordings; several tracks, including "Clowns and Jugglers", were improved upon. An early version of the song, recorded with the band

Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...

, was released on the Barrett rarities album ''

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

'' (1988) under the title "Clowns and Jugglers". The 1993 re-releases of ''

'' and ''Opel'' contain alternate versions of "Octopus" and "Clowns and Jugglers" respectively, as bonus tracks.

Release

The album's title came about as a result of co-producer

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

mishearing a line from this song (''"Well, the mad cat laughed at the man on the border..."'' - although the word "madcap" does figure in another of the song's lyrics, ''"To a madcap galloping chase"''). "Octopus" is known for being Barrett's only single as a solo artist. It was released on 14 November 1969, two months before the release of ''The Madcap Laughs''. In France, the single gained a picture sleeve, which had the drawing of an octopus on it. A very scarce exemplar of this single has been auctioned for 10,500 euros on 19 June 2016 (Lot 284) during an 8000 vinyl records sale organized by the "Discothèque de Radio France". It was included on the multi-artist Harvest compilation '' A Breath of Fresh Air – A Harvest Records Anthology 1969–1974'' in 2007. For later release in 2010, on '' An Introduction to Syd Barrett'', David Gilmour added bass to one track, "Here I Go". In 2011, as part of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

Black Friday, a limited edition tin-set featuring a replica of the "Octopus" single yellow vinyl, with a 120-page book of photos of Barrett by photographer, Mick Rock, was released in the US.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, acoustic and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s, producer *

– bass guitar, drums, co-producer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Octopus (Song) 1968 songs 1969 debut singles Syd Barrett songs Songs written by Syd Barrett Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Harvest Records singles Songs based on poems