Un genio o un disastro? Di sicuro negli anni della fama un genio assoluto. Nessuno saprà mai se effettivamente è stato David Gilmour a copiare da lui, o viceversa, ma è innegabile che nel fondare i Pink Floyd ha indelebilmente segnato la storia della musica (senza poter dimenticare il grandioso "The Piper At The Gates of Dawn" album di inizio del gruppo inglese).

Ci lasci, forse in pochi ti ricorderanno, tra questi il sottoscritto. Ti lascio con le parole di David Bowie:

I can’t tell you how sad I feel. Syd was a major inspiration for me. The few times I saw him perform in London at UFO and the Marquee clubs during the sixties will forever be etched in my mind. He was so charismatic and such a startlingly original songwriter.

Also, along with Anthony Newley, he was the first guy I’d heard to sing pop or rock with a British accent. His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed

Ma soprattutto ti lascio con la canzone che i tuoi stessi compagni di avventura ti dedicarono nel lontano ‘75:

 
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.

Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now theres a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

You were caught on the crossfire of childhood
and stardom, blown on the Steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, You martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon,
you cried for the moon.

Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light. Shine on you crazy diamond.

Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the Steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, You prisoner, and shine!