Early Singles
Arnold Layne/Candy and a Currant Bun
The song got banned by Radio London due to its lyrical content. (The song is about a man who steals women’s underwear from washing lines).
The flip side to Pink Floyd’s first single, “Arnold Layne,” was originally a song called “Let’s Roll Another One.” Now, the Floyd were already known to be heavily connected with the drug-influenced psychedelic underground, but their record company wasn’t about to release anything with such a blatant drug reference. So they had them change the song.
The original version has since surfaced on a variety of ROIOs, the changes between the official version and the original version are small, and in both cases the line Candy and a Currant Bun is in the same place, and there is no reference in the lyrics to the phrase “Let’s roll another one.” Another version that can be found on older ROIOs is purely instrumental, and sounds at times more like white noise than like a Floyd song.
See Emily Play/Scarecrow
This was Pink Floyd’s second single, backed with The Scarecrow. The single featured a cover drawing by Syd Barrett.
Promo singles were made with a gatefold picture sleeve, and are selling for huge amounts of money if in mint condition.
Apples and Oranges/Paintbox
Pink Floyd’s third single was a commercial disaster. Paintbox is the first single track not written by Syd Barrett.
The exact recording date for Apples and Oranges is still a topic of discussion. It’s either 30oct, 1nov 1967 (Malcolm Jones notes EMI tape logs for A&O on this date) or oct 20 and 21 1967 at the De Lane Lea studios (in which case the tape logs are a reference to Norman Smiths mixing sessions, and not to the bands actual recording sessions).
If anyone knows how to get access to the De Lane Lea studio logs, please contact the FAQ maintainers.
Where can I find them ?
The early singles are sometimes sold at record fairs, and go for large amounts of money. If you are only looking for the music, a CD (aptly titled “The First 3″) was released in 1997. It was meant to accompany the 30th anniversary Piper reissue, but is available separately as well. The Shine On box set comes with a bonus CD called “The Early Singles”, which features the first five Floyd singles (the other two being It Would Be So Nice/Julia Dream and Point Me At The Sky/Careful With That Axe, Eugene).
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