See Emily Play

It was released on 16 June 1967 on Columbia with The Scarecrow on the B-side, and it reached number 6 in Britain. In the United States Tower issued it on 24 July 1967 and it reached number 134. It was a non-album single, but it opens the American edition of the debut album, titled Pink Floyd. The song is also known as Games for May, after the free concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 12 May 1967, where the band first used a quadraphonic PA.

Norman Smith went back to Sound Techniques on 18 May 1967 because he could not get the sound of Arnold Layne at the more advanced Abbey Road. The recording used backwards tapes, echo and reverb, and the four-track master tape is lost. Barrett reportedly disliked the finished record. During the sessions Gilmour visited at Barrett's invitation and was shocked when Barrett did not seem to recognize him.

On stage and after

The band played it on Top of the Pops on 6, 13 and 27 July 1967. Before the last one Barrett complained that John Lennon did not have to do the show. This was the first sign of the erratic behavior that led to his leaving. The group avoided playing it live, and wrote a piece called Reaction in G as a response to promoters asking for it. The last documented performance was on 25 November 1967 in Blackpool. The last couplet of High Hopes recalls a line from it and inspired the title of The Endless River. David Bowie covered it on Pin Ups in 1973, and it is on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.