10 Question Music Quiz: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | Music

Answer: Astronomy Dominé

The first track on Pink Floyd's debut album, like many of the others, was written by Syd Barrett, who was at the time in the process of undergoing the severe breakdown that would lead to his departure from the group. 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' was a showcase displaying his creative influence on the group in its early years.

The opening of 'Astronomy Dominé' is reminiscent of listening to an announcer over one of those dreadful PA systems found in train and bus stations of the times in which you could barely make out the names of the destination and stops being announced. The lyrics pick up on this planetary theme, and the fact that they could be said to be chanted more than sung is consistent with the use of the Latin word 'Domine' (Master, Lord), which is commonly featured in Gregorian chants.

Answer: Lucifer Sam

As the song indicates at the start, it is sort of about "Lucifer Sam, Siam cat", who is described as being something of a mystery, described as sitting on one side of the singer while Jennifer Gentle (understood to be a reference to his girlfriend at the time) is on the other. Such a domestic scene, so cryptically described! Clearly the singer is not totally at ease, however, as the girlfriend is described as a witch, and the cat is exhorted to go out and explore its potential ("Be a hip cat. Be a ship's cat. Somewhere. Anywhere.")

According to 'The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia' by Vernon Fitch, the song's working title was 'Percy the Rat Catcher'. This leaves me wondering what Syd's cat's name really was.

Answer: Matilda Mother

Although 'Matilda Mother' appears as the album's third track, it was actually the first to be recorded, and features Richard Wright performing most of the lead vocals. The song is written from the perspective of a child, clearly one whose mother is reading fairy tales, as indicated by the use of traditional fairy tale elements in the description of what has been started but left incomplete. The singer's request to his mother, "Tell me more, tell me more", reflects elements that are found in a number of other tracks on the album, about the wish to return to childhood and experience again the sense of wonderment in regarding the magical nature of the surrounding world.

This yearning for a return to childhood is also reflected in the album's name, which is the title of a chapter in Kenneth Graham's 'The Wind in the Willows' in which Rat and Mole spend the night searching for Otter's lost son, whom they eventually locate with the god Pan. The chapter is full of a sense of wonderment, enhanced by the music from Pan's pipes. Before sending the three animals back to resume their lives, Pan removes their memories of the details of the night, "lest the awful remembrance should remain and grow, and overshadow mirth and pleasure." They are left with only a vague memory and a sense of mystery.

Answer: Flaming

Once again, Syd Barrett's lyrics take the listeners back to childhood, to days of carefree exploration of the world and enjoyment of its beauty, mixing nature and imagination. When Pink Floyd originally performed it live, they used the title 'Snowing', which seems to me to fit better with the image of lying on an eiderdown (a douna, duvet, comforter, quilt - a fabric shell filled with insulating material for warmth, traditionally the feathers of a duck known as eiderdown, now more often a synthetic batting material). There appears to be some kind of game underway, as evinced by the lines "Yippee, you can't see me / But I can you" and "No fair, you can't hear me / But I can you". The name change is said to have been so it could reference an experience commonly described as part of the LSD experience, called flaming, in which the person who has taken the drug sees sparks coming out of their fingers (or other long thin objects).

'Flaming' was released as a single in the US, backed with 'The Gnome', but was never released in the UK. The credits for this song include some unusual instruments, including wind-up toys, which all four musicians are listed as "performing". I am unsure which of the various strange sounds came from them!

Answer: Pow R. Toc H.

This track is one of two instrumentals on the album (the first track on Side 2, 'Interstellar Overdrive' being the other) that are credited as being composed by the entire band. This is because they originated as improvisational pieces in live performance.

Since there are no lyrics with which to mystify us, the song title itself allows plenty of speculation. Apparently Toc H is a reference to Talbot House, an establishment originally founded in Belgium in 1915 as a R&R centre for enlisted men and officers alike. In 1920 a youth centre, originally Christian, later interdenominational, was set up in London, and eventually there was an international chain of these centres which encouraged young people to engage in social service. However, the relationship of Talbot House to the music and random vocalisations (Syd Barret is credited as providing vocal percussion, Roger Waters with screams, and Richard Wright with additional vocalisations) is less than clear. It has been suggested that Pow R. is meant to be read as the word power, and the title is in support of the institution; it has also been suggested that Pow should be read as Prisoners of War, and the title is cryptically critical of Talbot House.

Answer: Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk

The last track on Side 1 is the only one written by Roger Waters. This does not make it any less cryptic than the rest of the album. The title appears to reference two familiar phrases from the Bible. In John 5:8 (in the King James version of the Bible), Jesus says, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk" to a lame man whom he healed on the Sabbath, much to the consternation of religious Jews.

In Luke 4:23 (KJV), Jesus is also quoted as saying, "Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, 'Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.'" The lyrics might be the semi-coherent words of a hospital patient in sever pain, begging for relief from the doctors; this might be considered to be an allegorical statement that can be interpreted as showing the human need for spiritual relief.

Answer: The Gnome

According to the Pink Floyd website, this song was inspired by Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings', which was very popular among members of the psychedelic community. As described in the lyrics, Grimble Grumble seems to be a cross between a traditional European gnome and a hobbit, which he resembles more closely than the Noldor who were called gnomes in the early versions of Tolkien's work. Like hobbits, "little gnomes stay in their homes / Eating, sleeping, drinking their wine", but Grimble Grumble "had a big adventure / Amidst the grass / Fresh air at last", much as was the case for Bilbo in 'The Hobbit', and the four hobbits featured in 'The Lord of the Rings'.

Then again, the same could be said for my garden gnome when we moved house.

Answer: Chapter 24

The 'I Ching' (in English, 'Book of Changes') was another popular resource for those who were involved with the use of psychedelic drugs in the late 1960s, and Syd Barrett was definitely there! Since the 'I Ching' was written in Mandarin, he obviously used an English translation, of which there were quite a number available. The book was used as a manual for philosophical contemplation and for divination - making predictions about the future - based on interpretation of hexagrams, six-lined figures made up of a combination of long and short bars. Each hexagram is given a name, and the 24th one in the traditional King Wen numbering is called Returning, or sometimes Returning (the turning point).

The song's opening line, "A movement is accomplished in six stages", is a reference to the first step of constructing a hexagram, in which the six lines (either one long bar or two short ones) are set up one at a time. Many of the rest of the lyrics are fragments from one or more translations of the explanation the 'I Ching' provides about the significance of the Returning hexagram.

Answer: The Scarecrow

Although the song opens with the statement, "The black and green scarecrow as everyone knows / Stood with a bird on his hat and straw everywhere", it is not clear exactly what scarecrow is the subject of this song. However, his existential angst is clear: "The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me / But now he's resigned to his fate". The lyrics to this song always remind me of the Scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz', whose awareness that he was made of straw and didn't have a brain led to a deep sense of inferiority and dissatisfaction. How many of us share a similar sense of our limitations?

The sound of horse's hooves (produced by coconuts? maybe I've been watching too much Monty Python; the credits list temple blocks, which are more likely) behind the song helps to bring the listener into the rural environment where the scarecrow can be seen. The significance of the barley in the field where he stands has been debated (of course - intentional ambiguity leaves it very open). The barley may be the source of his coming to accept his life, either through the consumption of beer made from barley, or from the psychotropic properties of the ergot that sometimes grows on barley. Or maybe that's just what the crop was.

Answer: Bike

The singer of this track is offering his girlfriend gifts (said to be the same Jenny as was mentioned in 'Lucifer Sam'). In the first verse he describes an attractive bike, which he has borrowed, so can only lend her if she wants. The second verse offers a torn red and black cloak, the third a homeless old mouse, and the fourth a batch of gingerbread men. Finally, he offers to show her "a room full of musical tunes. / Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork. / Let's go into the other room and make them work." The song, and the album, then ends with an extended passage of more or less random noises which some commentators have found to resemble the sound of bicycle gears. I don't hear it, myself.

Like many of the other tracks on the album, discussion about the "meaning" of this song has often focused on demonstrating how the words are intended to carry references to psychedelic drugs. (Which is quite probably the case, given what is known of Syd Barret's life at the time, but nevertheless unsubstantiated.) This song is said to reference the experience of Albert Hofmann in 1943, when he ingested a sample of the chemical he had synthesized to see if the reaction to an earlier accidental absorption was a typical response to LSD. He then rode home on his bicycle, while experiencing the first recorded LSD "trip". This event has come to be referred to as Bicycle Day, and is commemorated on or near April 19 every year.