Richard Wright Dies

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"Remember a day before today
A day when you were young.
Free to play alone with time
Evening never came.
Sing a song that can't be sung
Without the morning's kiss
Queen — you shall be it if you wish
Look for your king
Why can't we play today
Why can't we stay that way
Climb your favorite apple tree
Try to catch the sun
Hide from your little brother's gun
Dream yourself away
Why can't we reach the sun
Why can't we blow the years away
Blow away
Blow away
Remember
Remember."

Richard Wright
("Remember A Day")
from Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets"

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Nearly 21 years ago, when I was living in Little Rock, Ark., my brother told me he wanted to treat the two of us to a Pink Floyd concert. The concert was going to be in Reunion Arena in Dallas sometime around my 28th birthday.

My brother was living in Dallas at the time, and he said he could get tickets easily.

Sure, I said. I'd like to see Pink Floyd. And I made arrangements to take some time off from work and drive to Dallas for the concert.

Mind you, this was in the days when Pink Floyd and songwriter/bass guitarist Roger Waters were going through a rather messy, public split.

Waters actually left the band two years earlier, in late 1985, saying it was a "spent force," and he focused his attention on a solo career. The remaining members of the band were working on a new album, though, prompting a legal dispute over Waters' claim that the band's name shouldn't be used. The matter was eventually settled out of court.

Anyway, in November 1987, I found myself in Reunion Arena with my brother, watching Pink Floyd perform. As we were walking through the parking lot to the arena, I saw several cars and vans with the words "Roger Who?" sprayed on the windows.

It's safe to say emotions were running high on both sides in those days.

Keyboardist Richard Wright played that night, as he always did at every Pink Floyd concert since the band was formed in the 1960s. Wright was a founding member of Pink Floyd, although he probably wasn't as well known as his band mates.

If you missed seeing him perform that night — or any other night — you've run out of chances to see him, I'm sorry to say.

Wright passed away from cancer at his home in Britain today. He was 65.

The Times of London reported that one of Wright's band mates, David Gilmour, wrote this about Wright on his blog: "No one can replace Richard. He was my musical partner and my friend. I have never played with anyone quite like him."

As BBC so aptly put it, "with Wright's passing, a hugely important chapter in the story of British music has closed."