The Polka Floyd Show - See Emily Play (Pink Floyd Cover)

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From '' The Polka Floyd Show ''
Label: Static Network & Records – SNR 1027-2
Format: CD, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 2007

Tracklist
1. See Emily Play
2. One of These Days...
3. Breathe/Time
4. Have a Cigar
5. Pigs on the Wing
6. Hey You
7. Outside the Wall

Notes
Packaged in 2 fold digipak.
Barcode: 710073102722

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"See Emily Play" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released as their second single on 16 June 1967 on the Columbia label.
Written by original frontman Syd Barrett, it was released as a non-album single, but appeared as the opening track of Pink Floyd, the US edition of the band's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967).

The song was written by Barrett following the Games for May concert, and became a top 10 hit when released in the UK the following month.
The group appeared three times on Top of the Pops, where Barrett started showing signs of erratic behaviour, which ultimately led to him leaving the group in early 1968.
Although Pink Floyd seldom performed the song live, it has been recorded subsequently by a number of diverse artists and regarded as a classic psychedelic pop single.

Writing

"See Emily Play" is also known as "Games for May", named after a free concert on 12 May 1967 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank, in which Pink Floyd performed.
It was the first show where the group set up a quadraphonic PA system, which would be a regular feature of future gigs.

The song was reportedly about a girl named Emily, who Barrett claimed to have seen while sleeping in the woods after taking a psychedelic drug.
According to A Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, by Nicholas Schaffner, Emily is the Honourable Emily Young, daughter of Wayland Young, 2nd Baron Kennet and nicknamed "the psychedelic schoolgirl" at the UFO Club. Barrett's then-girlfriend, Libby Gausden, disputes this theory – she said that she and Syd had discussed marriage, and that "Emily" was going to be the name of their first child. Bassist Roger Waters later said the woods mentioned in the song were based next to the Gog Magog Hills near Cambridge.

It has been suggested by some that the slide guitar effect was produced by Barrett using a Zippo lighter, but elsewhere that he used a plastic ruler.

The train depicted on the single's sleeve was drawn by Barrett.

Recording

Producer Norman Smith attempted to duplicate the sound of their first single, "Arnold Layne", which was produced by Joe Boyd, by returning to Sound Techniques studios in London on 18 May 1967 because he was not able to get the same sound at the more advanced Abbey Road Studios.
The exact recording details are unclear because of a lack of paperwork in the EMI archive.
Engineer Jeff Jarrett recalls that it was recorded in a much longer form, which was then edited down for the single release.
The recording involved backward tapes and much use of echo and reverb; the first piano bridge between the first chorus and second verse was recorded at a slow pace then sped up for the final master.
The four-track master tape was wiped or misplaced.
It no longer exists and has never been mixed into true stereo; it was reprocessed for Duophonic stereo on the 1971 Relics compilation album.

Legacy

Part of the vocal melody was played on a Minimoog by Rick Wright at the very end of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)" at the end of 1975's Wish You Were Here, as a tribute to Barrett.

The final couplet from 1994's "High Hopes" ("The endless river/Forever and ever") recalls a line from "See Emily Play," ("Float on a river/Forever and ever"), and inspired the name of the band's final studio album, The Endless River, released in 2014.

The song was played by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in 2018.

"See Emily Play" has been covered by David Bowie, for his Pin Ups album in 1973; Japanese new wave/rock group Salon Music, for their 1984 album La Paloma Show; The Grapes of Wrath, as a B-side on the 1991 CD single "I Am Here"; Arjen Anthony Lucassen, on his 1997 album Strange Hobby; Judy Dyble, for her album Spindle; Martha Wainwright, on her 2008 album I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too; and by 3, on the 2008 re-release of their album The End Is Begun.
John Frusciante has played it live.
All About Eve played the song live at The Marquee club on 18 September 1992 and recorded a demo, which was not released until 2006 as part of the Keepsakes compilation.

"See Emily Play" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" list.

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