In November 1967 put out their third single, . Compared to previous releases and it was rather slight, although frontman seemed happy enough. "It's unlike anything we've ever done before," said Syd.
"It's a new sound. Got a lot of guitar in it. It's a happy song, and it's got a touch of Christmas.
It's about a girl who I saw just walking around town, in Richmond. The apples and oranges bit is the refrain in the middle." Promotional duties came a-calling, so Floyd flew to California to begin a US tour and to appear on television.
The trip kicked off with a show at Winterland in San Francisco before they travelled south for two shows at the Cheetah Club in Santa Monica, where were the de facto house band. The musicians lived together is a house in Venice Beach, and invited Floyd to stay while they were in the area. Syd Barrett, it appears, made quite the impression.
During breakfast, . And that wasn't all. "He never talked," guitarist Glenn Buxton told in 1977.
"But we’d be sitting at dinner and all of a sudden I’d pick up the sugar and pass it to him, and he’d shake his head like ‘Yeah, thanks.’ It was like I heard him say ‘Pass the sugar.’ "It’s like telepathy, it really was.
It was very weird. You would find yourself right in the middle of doing something, as you were passing the sugar or whatever, and you’d think ‘Well, damn, I didn’t hear anybody say anything!’ That was the first time in my life I’d ever met anybody that could actually do that fre.