How Richard Wright's 'Paint Box' Became an Early Floyd Solo Song and Why His Sadness Mattered

In 1967, Pink Floyd’s singles were mostly Barrett or Waters/Gilmour affairs, but the B-side to “Apples and Oranges” was pure Rick Wright. “Paint Box” is one of the first Pink Floyd songs written and sung entirely by Wright, and its existence shows how the quiet keyboardist was already staking out a softer, more melancholic corner of the band’s sound while Syd was still around.

The lyrics are unusually downbeat for a psychedelic pop single: “I’m full of sad regret / Through my tears I still see / The paint box that you gave to me.” Wright later said the song was about a failed relationship, but the image of the paint box — a gift that becomes a symbol of loss — hints at a songwriter more interested in fragile emotional states than cosmic weirdness. It’s not the druggy whimsy or space-rock abstraction that defined early Floyd. Instead, it’s a small, personal ache. That melancholic streak would resurface on “Remember a Day” and later define his best work with the band, from “Us and Them” to his solo album Wet Dream. “Paint Box” is the first proof that Wright wasn’t just the band’s gentle voice — he was the one willing to write about ordinary sadness.