Jersey City University Professor Roddy Bogawa Directs New Pink Floyd Documentary
Prof. Roddy Bogawa, who has taught at Jersey City University for the last 31 years, has directed a new documentary, Have You Got It Yet? The Story Of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. It is the first film to delve into the tragic story of Pink Floyd’s original leader, Syd Barrett, who became an acid casualty. Did LSD hamper his vision? Or was he always mentally ill? After writing their biggest hit at that time “See Emily Play,” as well as singing lead and writing most of the songs on their 1967 The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn debut, plus fan favorites “Astronomy Domine” and “Arnold Layne,” he totally zoned out, oftentimes ruining gigs, and had to be fired.
Pink Floyd’s 1975 “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”—with the lines “when you were young, you’d shine like the sun/Now there’s a look in your eye, like black holes in the sky”—was written for him. Eerily enough, he showed up unannounced at the session. Nobody recognized him…at first. Roger Waters is said to have cried when he left.
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When reached, Prof. Bogawa told The Jersey Sound, “I've been into music since high school so not much changed on that front. I would say this...that one of my worries about teaching was that my productions would peter out but in fact my students pushed me year after year with 'what are you working on now?' so I ended up doing quite a lot of films while teaching full time.”