The song, which Syd Barrett barely finished writing in 1967, was later released by Pink Floyd

When Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd in April 1968, he had songs he had partially finished including “I Never Lied to You,” “I Get Stoned” and more, including one he had originally recorded a rough demo of in 1967 as a follow-up to the band’s second single “See Emily Play”, which was never officially released.

Vegetable Man was considered as the band’s second album A saucer full of secrets but never made it. At one point, “Vegetable Man” was also planned to be released as a single, the B-side of another unreleased track, “Scream Thy Last Scream”, but the band’s label considered it incomplete and therefore was never released.

“I always thought they should be published, so I had my copies heard,” said former Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner in Nicholas Schaffer’s 1991 book Saucer Full of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey. “I knew that, Roger [Waters] would never let her out, would Dave [Gilmour]. Somehow they felt a bit indecent, like publishing nude pictures of a famous actress: it just wasn’t cricket. But I thought they were good songs and great works of art.”

He added: “They’re disturbing and not particularly fun, but they’re some of Syd’s best work – although God knows I wouldn’t want anyone to have to go through what he went through to get to these songs .”You’re like Van Gogh.”

[Pink Floyd Made Their ‘Top of the Pops’ Debut With “See Emily Play” Before it was Erased]

“Where are you?”

Jenner, who thought “Vegetable Man” was “too dark,” said that Barrett wrote the song at the manager’s house and describes himself in that moment. “He had to go out and record,” Jenner recalls, “and because a song was needed, he just wrote a description of what he was wearing at the time and put in a chorus that went, ‘Vegetable Man, where are you ?’ ”

In yellow shoes I get the shade of blue
Even though I walk the streets with my plastic feet
My blue velvet pants make me feel pink
Blue velvet trousers have a certain smell
I look like an idiot in my paisley shirt
And my turquoise vest is completely out of sight
But uh oh, my haircut looks so bad
Vegetable man, where are you?

So I changed my equipment and find my knees
And I have them covered with the latest cut
And my pants and socks are all in a box
They don’t last long with my nylon socks
The clock, black clock
My watch with a black dial
And a big pin, a small hole
And everything is what I have
It’s what I wear, it’s what you see
It has to be me, it is what I am
Vegetable man

I looked everywhere for a place for myself
But it’s nowhere, it’s just nowhere
Vegetable man, vegetable man
He’s that type of person

On December 20, 1967, the band performed “Vegetable Man” live for a BBC radio broadcast, but never played it live again. “Vegetable Man” was bootlegged for decades until the band released it on the box set in 2016 The early years 1965–1972.

Saucer full of secrets

Floyd drummer Nick Mason continues to play Saucerful of Secrets. “It’s kind of extraordinary. “It’s kind of a work in progress, actually,” Mason said. “It’s about whether you should put more into it or whatever. But in a way it’s a nice little cameo of what Syd did. One of the strange things when looking at Syd’s work is the variety of musical styles. Because I think some people refer to Vegetable Man as kind of an early punk thing, and it is.”