In his book The Making of the Madcap Laughs, Jones states that "when Dave came to me and said that Syd wanted him and Roger to do the remaining parts of the album, I acquiesced". Roger Waters and David Gilmour were in the process of completing Pink Floyd's Ummagumma album when they got involved with The Madcap Laughs that July and helped Barrett finish his album − "in a two-day sprint", according to Pink Floyd biographer Rick Sanders. "We had very little time," Gilmour recalled in a May 2003 interview. "Syd was very difficult, we got that very frustrated feeling: Look, it's your fucking career, mate. Why don't you get your finger out and do something? The guy was in trouble, and was a close friend for many years before then, so it really was the least one could do."
