Lucifer Sam
Pink Floyd song
"Lucifer Sam" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, featured on the band's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967).
Music and lyrics
The song is built around a descending riff with the dominant instrument being composer Syd Barrett's electric guitar, fed through an echo machine. The resultant sound has been likened to a "sinister" Duane Eddy. This is augmented by bowed bass and increasingly agitated organ and percussion effects.
Although the lyric frequently refers to Lucifer Sam as a cat, some speculation has arisen as to whether this was in fact slang ("a hip cat") for a man, real or imagined, in some type of relationship with Barrett's then-girlfriend, Jenny Spires (referred to in the song as "Jennifer Gentle"). However, Sam was simply Barrett's Siamese cat (and is referred to as such in the first line: "Lucifer Sam, Siam cat"), the track was originally called "Percy the Rat Catcher" during the recording sessions, which took place between April and June 1967.
Personnel
Pink Floyd
Syd Barrett – vocals, guitar, slide guitar
Richard Wright – Farfisa organ, Hammond organ, piano
Roger Waters – bass guitar, bowed bass
Nick Mason – drums, maracas, timpani
Live and cover versions
"Lucifer Sam" was only performed live by Pink Floyd in 1967 and featured as an encore during many performances, most notably at the Games for May concert.
Barrett later performed the song with his 1972 band Stars.
Lightning Seeds covered the song as a B-side, and it appeared on their 2006 best of collection.
The track has also been covered by the Black Crowes, Electric Hellfire Club, the Minders, the Flaming Lips, True West, Jay Farrar, Love and Rockets, Shockabilly, the Sadies, the Three O'Clock, MGMT, Spirits in the Sky, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Obits (with different lyrics, as "Widow of my Dreams"), Cat's Eyes, Bauhaus, Southern Culture on the Skids, The Horrors and Chris & Cosey.
“Lucifer Sam” enters the record as pink Floyd song. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lucifer, Pink and Floyd can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lucifer Sam” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lucifer, Pink and Floyd provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1072677. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1967, 1972 and 2006.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lucifer Sam”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lucifer Sam primary sources, Lucifer Sam archive and Lucifer research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Lucifer Sam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.