Today would have been Jerry Garcia's 70th birthday. . .if only. Here is a photo from the last time I saw him, with the Grateful Dead, at Seattle's Memorial Stadium on May 26, 1995. He died two months later, at the age of 53.
I am a fan of both Etta James and The Grateful Dead, but never knew they had performed together on New Year's Eve in 1982. It's not something that fans on either side of the equation would expect. And then for a horn section, throw in Tower of Power, well, now we're talking!
Sadly, Etta James is suffering from terminal leukemia right now, and I don't think I'll ever get to see her play again.
On 3/27/11, at Radio City Music Hall,Elvis Costello and his wife Diane Krall, sat in with Furthur (the Dead) and sang “Tennessee Jed,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Ship of Fools” > “Must’ve Been the Roses” > “Ship of Fools.” In the same show, Larry Campbell sings The Band’s “Chest Fever” and plays guitar and violin on a number of tunes.
Diana Krall, sings “Ripple” to end the first set and in the second set sings (and plays piano on) “Chest Fever” in the encore. Campbell’s wife, Teresa Williams, sings “Sunrise” in a second set that also includes “Uncle John’s,” “St. Stephen,” “Unbroken Chain,” “Morning Dew” and, to end the evening, “Attics of My Life” (with Teresa and Elvis in the chorus).
This is one of my favorite photographs of Jerry Garcia, from the last time I (or anyone) saw him in Seattle, (May 26, 1995). They played their hearts out that night and sounded great. The Dead would only play twenty more shows after this.
...and the soundboard MP3s are just fantastic. The show sounds even better on this recording that it did live. It was the greatest latter day incarnation of the Grateful Dead yet (sorry Mickey and Billy)...
I don't know what the story is with this video...it was obviously shot with just one camera (but they clearly got their audio from the soundboard), focused mainly on Bobby. The camera never actually shows the drummers, Phil, or Bruce. Hornsby is easy to find in the mix...listen for the Steinway; Vince Welnick was playing the other keys. Branford, unlike, some of his other Dead performances over the years, was very understated on this tune with just his sporadic and most tasty fills.
Fifteen years ago, Jerry Garcia passed away. We got to see him a couple of times on his last tour with the dead, in Seattle in May, 1995. The photo below is from that show, I still miss the man and the music.
A few Garcia quotes:
"Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. "
"For me, the lame part of the Sixties was the political part, the social part. The real part was the spiritual part. "
"I'm shopping around for something to do that no one will like. "
"Nobody stopped thinking about those psychedelic experiences. Once you've been to some of those places, you think, 'How can I get back there again but make it a little easier on myself?' "
"Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us. "
"It's pretty clear now that what looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is, in reality, just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness. "
"I read somewhere that 77 per cent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I'm more intrigued by the 23 per cent who are apparently doing quite well for themselves."
"What we do is as American as lynch mobs. America has always been a complex place. " ---o0o---
I have been watching Treme, David Simon's (The Wire) new show about New Orleans, and Iko Iko was one of the songs last week. I've always liked this tune, since hearing the Grateful Dead perform it in the 80's. I have heard at least ten other versions, including Dr John's.
"Iko Iko" is a New Orleans tune about two tribes of painted up Mardi Gras "Indians" colliding in a Fat Tuesday parade. The lyrics come from Indian chants and local catchphrases. The song, "Jock-A-Mo", was written in 1954 by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford in New Orleans, but people almost always think it is a much older folk song. I know I did, until I looked it up today. According to Wikipedia, "the main melody bears a strong resemblance to the guitar riff in "Son de la Loma" recorded by the Trio Matamoros. "Son de la Loma" was written by Miguel Matamoros sometime before May 8, 1925."
Iko Iko
My grandma and your grandma
Sitting by the fire
My grandma says to your grandma
"I'm gonna set your flag on fire"
Talkin' 'bout
Hey now
Hey now
Iko iko an nay
Jockomo feena ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay
Look at my king all dressed in red
Iko iko an nay
I bet you five dollars he'll kill you dead
Jockomo feena nay
CHORUS:
Talkin' 'bout
Hey now (hey now)
Hey now (hey now)
Iko iko an nay (whoah-oh)
Jockomo feena ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay
My flag boy and your flag boy
Sitting by the fire
My flag boy says to your flag boy
"I'm gonna set your flag on fire"
This is a touchingly fragile 1994 video clip of a long time staple. Jerry tune . .as it turned out, Jerry would barely live another year. Here he is, halting in his vocals, and tentative on the guitar--which actually turns out to be a rambling, and elusive, but great, solo. Maybe this video means more to people who watched the entire arc of his career, but I think it stands on its own, fandom and cultural baggage aside, as a great American musician playing a roots folk song...
Unbroken Chain [1] is one of my favorite Dead songs. It was written by their bass player and occasional singer Phil Lesh (check out his autobiography Searching For The Sound, whose title comes from this tune) and his friend Bobby Peterson. They never performed the song live until their last few months on the road--21 years after recording it. [2]
[1] The concept of an "unbroken chain" usually applies to the theory of transmission of authority down across the generations, often used in the sense of religious authority, which fits in well with the song. Religious scholars speak of the "unbroken chain of Moses, Jesus, Paul, Augustine, etc..." (Tenywa, Francis: The Hebraic Tradition.... [dissertation]). An essay on the concept of authority in Dictionary of the History of Ideas: studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas states "The idea of church authority...juxtaposed ideas of authorized power, ... of unbroken binding tradition..." (v. 1, p. 147)
[2] From chill@omni.voicenet.com Date: Mon, 20 MAR 1995 07:22:18 -0500 From: Craig Hillwig World Wide Web: http://www.voicenet.com/voicenet/homepages/chill/index.html Subject: Unbroken Chain - How it went down I thought I'd try to fill you in on how the UC went down. NOT trying to rub it in or anything. I don't usually review shows because I find it's subjective. But for those who missed it: [Some stuff deleted...]
Don't Ease was also a surprise -- 5th song into the set at about 0:35 into it. I thought, "Man!! Short set. I'll be pissed if they walk off the stage after this."
The band stayed on the stage with the lights down after the Don't Ease, and then we knew that SOMETHING was going to happen. All of the band members were looking at each other somewhat anxiously.
Then the opening chords started wafting through quietly, a nervousness and heightened sense of urgency started rushing through the crowd. Isolated shouts of "Unbroken Chain!" could be heard, and then everyone looked at each other as if, "Can it be?" The cheers became louder, swelling as more and more heads realized what was happening, and by the time the first verse rolled around, the place was going absolutely nuts -- bolts of energy flying through the Spectrum.
Band pulls out of the intro, and all four (non-drummers) step up to the mikes, "Blue light rain" Phil with the spotlight, "whoa unbroken chain . . . ." Devastating -- people just screaming their heads off for about 6 seconds, until, almost simultaneously, everyone decided to quiet down and listen.
The jamming part of the song was the highlight, with Jerry all over the fretboard.
Put it this way. It certainly could have been played better, and it will get better with some playing. But you always remember your first.
Of course, the band left the stage to an extended standing ovation. When the house lights went up, everyone sorta looked at each other and then, in a moment of mutual recognition, the whole placed erupted again, lotsa cheering, hugging.
When the band came out for the second set, Phil did a sweeping bow, and of course, the place erupted once again.
Well, that kinda captures it, I think.
_________________________________
Unbroken Chain Lyrics: Bobby Petersen Music: Phil Lesh
Blue light rain, whoa unbroken chain, Looking for familiar faces in an empty window pane.
Listening for the secret, searching for the sound But I could only hear the preacher and the baying of his hounds.
Willow sky, whoa, I walk and wonder why, They say love your brother, but you will catch it when you try.
Roll you down the line boy, drop you for a loss, Ride you out on a cold railroad and nail you to a cross.
November and more, as I wait for the score, They're telling me forgiveness is the key to every door. A slow winter day a night like forever, Sink like a stone, float like a feather.
(guitar break)
Lilac rain, unbroken chain, song of the sawhet owl. Out on the mountain, it'll drive you insane, listening to the winds howl
Unbroken chain of sorrow and pearls, unbroken chain of sky and sea. ---o0o---
Attics of my Life Bertha Bird Song Black Muddy River Black Throated Wind Box of Rain Brokedown Palace Brown Eyed Women Built To Last Cassidy China Cat Sunflower Cold Rain and Snow Dark Star Dire Wolf Eyes of the World Fire On The Mountain Foolish Heart Franklin's Tower Friend of the Devil From the Heart of Me Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad Help on the Way Here Comes Sunshine He's Gone I Know You Rider Infrared Roses Jack Straw Liberty Looks Like rain Lost Sailor Magnesium Night Light Mexicali Blues Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodle-oo Ripple Riverside Rhapsody Saint of Circumstance Scarlet Begonias Shakedown Street Silver Apples Of The Moon Slipknot St. Stephen Stagger Lee Standing On The Moon Stella Blue Tennessee Jed Terrapin Station The Eleven The Golden Road To Unlimited Devotion The Monkey and the Engineer The Promised Land The Wheel Throwin' Stones Tons of Steel Touch of Grey Unbroken Chain Uncle John's Band Walk Me Out in the Morning Dew Wharf Rat ---o0o---
Here is a truncated YouTube video of Phil Lesh and Friends performing at the Warfield in San Francisco in 2006. This incarnation of Phil and Friends includes Phil on bass and vocals, John Scofield (!) and Larry Campbell on guitars, Rob Barraco on keyboards, John Molo on drums and Greg Osby on reeds. Oh yeah, and Joan Osborne, one of my favorite singers and a total Deadhead and awesome Dead interpreter.
One of the best Dead shows I've seen featured her on many vocals...this was a post-Jerry incarnations of the band known as The Dead. I saw them at The Gorge with my perennial show buddies Dave Hokit and Dean Ericksen, and Mary Curran, who I believe was pregnant with twins at the moment. Joan Osborne's joy of performing is always palpable and wonderful. I love this woman! And Phil too.
In this video, the Dead perform their great song Fire On The Mountain, interspersed with clips of the Merry Prankster George Walker planting a "Steal Your Face" flag on top of the Great Pyramid. Ken Kesey looks on the scene, wearing a 1972 "Field Trip - Oregon Dead" T-Shirt. Bonus content: Ken Kesey (a high school wrestler) contemplates training an Egyptian Olympic wrestling team.
The Grateful Dead perform Birdsong at Radio City Music Hall in 1980. Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia wrote this song about Janis Joplin—not long after her death. I'll put the lyrics following the video.
Bird Song
By Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter
All I know is something like a bird within her sang, All I know she sang a little while and then flew on, Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain.
If you hear that same sweet song again, will you know why? Anyone who sings a tune so sweet is passin' by, Laugh in the sunshine, sing, cry in the dark, fly through the night.
Don't cry now, don't you cry, don't you cry anymore. Sleep in the stars, don't you cry, dry your eyes on the wind.
All I know is something like a bird within her sang, All I know she sang a little while and then flew off, Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain. __________________________
Fourteen years later, in Las Vegas, on 6-26-94, the Dead perform Peggy O a/k/a Fennario. Jerry's voice is fragile, but he plays an excellent solo on this moving tune, and even his delivery adds to the tenderness of the song.
Peggy O - American folk song
As we rode out to fennario, as we rode on to Fennario Our captain fell in love with a lady like a dove And called her by a name, pretty Peggy-O.
Will you marry me pretty Peggy-O, will you marry me pretty Peggy-O If you will marry me, I'll set your cities free And free all the ladies in the are_-O.
I would marry you sweet William-O, I would marry you sweet William-O I would marry you but your guineas are too few And I fear my mama would be angry-O.
What would your mama think pretty Peggy-O, What would your mama think pretty Peggy-O, What would your mama think if she heard my guineas clink Saw me marching at the head of my soldiers.
If ever I return pretty Peggy-O, if ever I return pretty Peggy-O If ever I return your cities I will burn Destroy all the ladies in the area-O.
Come steppin' down the stairs pretty Peggy-O, Come steppin' down the stairs pretty Peggy-O, Come steppin' down the stairs combin' back your yellow hair Bid a last farewell to your William-O.
Sweet William he is dead pretty peggy-O, sweet William he is dead pretty Peggy-O, Sweet William he is dead and he died for a maid And he's buried in the Louisiana country-O.
As we rode out to fennario, as we rode out to Fennario Our captain fell in love with a lady like a dove, And called her by a name, pretty Peggy-O _______________________________________
The Dead perform Eyes Of The World at Giants Stadium 0n 6-17-91, almost a year after Brent Mydland's death. Bruce Hornsby joined the band for the next year or so, helping to break the new pianist Vince Welnick (R.I.P.) in. The breaking in never worked, but it was always wonderful to see Bruce in the band, and many of their late shows became great due to the interaction between Hornsby and Garcia. Bruce knew his way around the Steinway.
Eyes of the World by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter
Right outside this lazy summer home you ain't got time to call your soul a critic no. Right outside the lazy gate of winter's summer home, wond'rin' where the nut-thatch winters, wings a mile long just carried the bird away.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world, the heart has it's beaches, it's homeland and thoughts of it's own. Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin' brings, But the heart has it's seasons, it's evenin's and songs of it's own.
There comes a redeemer, and he slowly too fades away, And there follows his wagon behind him that's loaded with clay. And the seeds that were silent all burst into bloom, and decay, and night comes so quiet, it's close on the heels of the day.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world, the heart has it's beaches, it's homeland and thoughts of it's own. Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin' brings, But the heart has it's seasons, it's evenin's and songs of it's own.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own, And sometimes we visit your country and live in your home, sometimes we ride on your horses, sometimes we walk alone, sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world, the heart has it's beaches, it's homeland and thoughts of it's own. Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin' brings, But the heart has it's seasons, it's evenin's and songs of it's own ---o0o---