|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 12, 2024 19:24:09 GMT
never really was a huge GFR fanboy but this song has always moved me. an epic song. to me, a near perfect blending of melody and lyrics. [any political implications are just in my head?]
:^)
I'M YOUR CAPTAIN / CLOSER TO MY HOME--WRITTEN BY BAND MEMBER MARK FARNER
mitchfit
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 14, 2024 21:43:12 GMT
^^^^ well, that aged like old milk. perhaps this'n instead, another old seafaring shanty.
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter first met each other through one of Hunter's ex-girlfriends long before the Grateful Dead band was formed.
it is rumored that the first time he was actually paid for his writing skills was at the Mk Ultra funded study on the effects of mind altering drugs at Stanford University in 1962. there the paid lab rats were given drugs and wrote about the experience afterward. in that same year him and Garcia were actually next door neighbors who lived in abandoned automobiles sitting next to each other in an abandoned parking lot. Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg were also said to also be members of the "graduating class"...
Hunter was a non-member of the "Dead" who wrote many of their song lyrics including, uncle john's band, casey jones, cumberland blues, box of rain, st stephen, sugar magnolia, truckin', dark star, friend of the devil, and the below ship of fools. and still more Dead songs that are not not listed here. he also co-wrote songs with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jim Lauderdale, Bruce Hornsby, Elvis Costello and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos.
i searched long and hard to find a quote from Garcia i read way back in the day to no avail where he said [paraphrase] he felt the reason he was born was to sing "ship of fools". i'd guess he liked the song too. in that long web search a wise quote arose from him that was authenticated:
"Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil."
GRATEFUL DEAD--SHIP OF FOOLS--SONG BY JERRY GARCIA AND LYRICS BY ROBERT HUNTER:
went to see the captain, strangest i could find laid my proposition down, laid it on the line i won't slave for beggar's pay, likewise gold and jewels but i would slave to learn the way to sink your ship of fools
ship of fools on a cruel sea ship of fools sail away from me it was later than i thought when i first believed you but now i can not share your laughter ship of fools
saw your first ship sink and drown from rocking of the boat and all that could not sink or swim were just left there to float i won't leave you drifting down but whoa it makes me wild with thirty years upon my head to have you call me child
the bottle stands as empty now as they were filled before time there was and plenty but from that cup no more though i could not caution all, i still might warn a few don't lend a hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools
mitchfit
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 16, 2024 17:16:23 GMT
Jerry Garcia in a bluegrass band? liveforlivemusic.com/news/recently-discovered-recordings-jerry-garcias-hart-valley-drifters-released-first-track-listen/"Sittin' on Top of the World". yet another hit written by the reclusive artist, Mr. Traditional Music. [Verse 1] Was in the summer One early fall Just tryin' to find my Little all and all Now she's gone And I don't worry Lord, I'm sitting on top of the world [Verse 2] Was in the spring One summer's day Just when she left me She gone to stay Now she's gone And I don't worry Lord, I'm sitting on top of the world [Verse 3] Now don't come running Holding up your hand Can get me a woman Quick as you can get a man Now she's gone And I don't worry Lord, I'm sitting on top of the world [Verse 4] Happen for days Didn't know your name Why should I worry Or crave you in vain? Now she's gone I don't worry Lord, I'm sitting on top of the world [Verse 5] Went to the station Down in the yard Gonna get me a freight train Work's done got hard Now she's gone And I don't worry Lord, I'm sitting on top of the world [Verse 6] The lonesome days They have gone by Why should I beg you? You said goodbye Now she's gone I don't worry Lord, I'm sitting on top of the world mitchfit
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 16, 2024 17:41:29 GMT
above mentioned "New Riders OF The Purple Sage" when Jerry Garcia was in a country AND western band? wonders where he learned to play pedal steel?
song written by band member Peter Rowan.
[CHORUS] Panama Red, Panama Red, He'll steal your woman then he'll rob your head. Panama Red, Panama Red, On his white horse Mescalito, he comes breezin' through town. Bet your woman's up in bed with ol' Panama Red.
The Judge don't know when Red's in town, he keeps well hidden underground. Everybody's gettin' lazy fallin' out 'n' hangin' round. My woman said, "Hey Pedro, you're actin' crazy like a clown." Nobody feels like workin' Panama Red is back in town.
[CHORUS] Everybody's lookin' out for him cause they know Red satisfies. Little girls love to listen to him sing & tell sweet lies. But when things get confusin' honey, you're better off in bed. Cause I'll be searchin' all the joints in town for Panama Red.
[CHORUS 2x]
mitchfit
|
|
iggie
MM Forum Member
Posts: 4
|
Post by iggie on Aug 16, 2024 21:36:07 GMT
Jerry started out as bluegrass banjo picker. I recently watched a documentary on the Jerry Garcia exhibit at the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in Kentucky. It is very worthwhile to see.
iggie
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Aug 16, 2024 22:26:02 GMT
I was never into the Grateful Dead, I think I was a bit young and their music was over my head. Hearing them now I hear it as psychedelic country and bluegrass mixed up with rock.
Thank goodness they did what they did, or we would never have had Ben & Jerry’s Fish Food ice cream!
Shine On Michael
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 17, 2024 4:56:53 GMT
^^^^ they even had an ice cream flavor called "cherry garcia"...
another sweet pedal steel demonstration by Garcia.
PRIDE OF CUCAMONGA--GRATEFUL DEAD--WRITTEN BY PHIL LESH AND ROBERT PETERSON:
Out on the edge of an empty highway, howling at the blood on the moon, A diesel Mack come rolling down my way, can't hit that border too soon. Running hard out of Muskrat Flats, it was sixty days or double life, Hail on my back like a shotgun blast, high wind chimes in the night. Oh, oh the Pride of Cucamonga, oh, oh bitter olives in the sun, Oh, oh I had me some lovin', and I done some time.
Since I came down from Oregon, there's a lesson or two I have learned By standing in the road alone, standing watching the fires burn. The northern sky it stinks with greed, you can smell it for miles around, Good ole boys in the Greystone Hotel, sitting doing that gettin' on down. Oh, oh the Pride of Cucamonga, oh, oh silver apples in the sun, Oh, oh I had me some lovin', and I done some time.
[instrumental break]
I see your silver shining town, but I know I can't go there -- Your streets run deep with poisoned wine, your doorways crawl with fear. So I think I'll drift on where it's at, where the weed grows green and fine And wrap myself around a bush of that bright, whoa, whoa, Oaxaca vine.
Yes, it's me, I'm the Pride of Cucamonga, I can see golden forests in the sun. Oh, oh I had me some lovin', and I done some time.
mitchfit
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Aug 17, 2024 7:16:09 GMT
Cherry Garcia is a great tasting ice cream!
He was also a fine songwriter
Shine On Michael
|
|
|
Post by zimmharpo23 on Aug 17, 2024 14:01:42 GMT
This is a good acoustic album by Jerry and the boys: Unfortunately, they are so prolific that I can’t afford to become a fan! ‘Reckoning’ is very country and folk/blues flavoured and features some nice picking by Jerry and Bob Weir. I saw Robert Hunter perform a rare solo set on the main stage at Glastonbury in 1981 (when the festival was much smaller) and whilst my 19 year old self didn’t really appreciate his craft at the time, he’s certainly written some good tunes with the band. Actually I’m kicking myself for not being able to remember much about his set. I’d gone to see Roy Harper primarily and he was on after……
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 17, 2024 19:54:48 GMT
back to the bluegrass roots, in 1973 Garcia [PLAYING BANJO] was performing with Peter Rowan again along with Vassar Celments, David Grisman, John Kahn and when band was forming up John Hartford.
recorded live at The Boarding House [San Francisco, CA] in 1973.
LAND OF THE NAVAJO--OLD AND IN THE WAY--WRITTEN BY PETER ROWAN:
Oh the wind blows cold On the trail of the buffalo Oh the wind blows cold In the land of the Navajo In the land of the Navajo
A hundred miles from nowhere out on the desert sand One Eyed Jack the trader held some turquoise in his hand By his side sat Running Elk his longtime Indian friend He vowed that he would stay by Jack until the bitter end
Jack had gambled everything he owned to lead this wandering life He might have had a happy home and a tender loving wife But his hunger was for trading trapper's furs for turquoise stones Anything that the Indians had Jack wanted for his own
[CHORUS] Oh the wind blows cold On the trail of the buffalo Oh the wind blows cold In the land of the Navajo In the land of the Navajo
Said Jack to Running Elk "I'll gamble all my precious stones Before I leave my body here among these bleaching bones Though now my time is drawing near and I'm filled with dark regrets My spirit longs to journey as the sun begins to set"
"We raped and killed we stole your land We rule with guns and knives Added whiskey to your waters While we stole away your wives."
Said Running Elk, "What's done is done; You white men rule this land So lay the cards face up and play Your last broken hearted hand
When your dealing cards with death the joker's wild the ace is high Jack bet the Mississippi River; Running Elk raised him the sky Jack saw him with the sun and moon, and upped him with the stars Running Elk bet the Rocky Mountains, Jupiter, and Mars
The sun was sinking in the west when Jack drew the ace of spades Running Elk just rolled his eyes and smiled and passed away Jack picked up his turquoise stones and cast them to the sky He stared into the setting sun and made the mournful cry
mitchfit
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 23, 2024 19:41:43 GMT
a Paul Simon song intro for a Tim Buckley song. (?)
"i knew a man, his brain so small he couldn't think of nothing at all he's not the same as you and me he doesn't dig poetry he's so unhip that when you say Dylan he thinks you're talking about Dylan Thomas whoever he was."
GOODBYE AND HELLO--WRITTEN BY TIM BUCKLEY AND LARRY BECKETT--SANG BY BY TIM BUCKLEY
the antique people are down in the dungeons run by machines and afraid of the tax their heads in the grave and their hands on their eyes hauling their hearts around circular tracks pretending forever their masquerade towers are not really riddled with widening cracks and i wave goodbye to iron and smile hello to the air
oh the new children dance i am young all around the balloons i will live swaying by chance i am strong to the breeze from the moon i can give painting the sky you the strange with the colors of sun seed of day freely they fly feel the change as all become one know the way
the velocity addicts explode on the highways ignoring the journey and moving so fast their nerves fall apart and they gasp but can't breathe they run from the cops of the skeleton past petrified by tradition in a nightmare they stagger into nowhere at all and then look up aghast and i wave goodbye to speed and smile hello to a rose
oh the new children play i am young under the juniper trees i will live sky blue or gray i am strong they continue at ease i can give moving so slow you the strange that serenely they can seed of day gracefully grow feel the change and yes still understand know the way
the king and the queen in their castle of billboards sleepwalk down the hallways dragging behind all their possessions and transient treasures as they go to worship the electronic shrine on which is playing the late late commercial that hollowest house of the opulent blind and i wave goodbye to mammon and smile hello to a stream
oh the new children buy i am young all the world for a song i will live without a dime i am strong to which they belong i can give nobody owns you the strange anything anywhere seed of day everyone's grown feel the change up so big they can share know the way
the vaudeville generals cavort on the stage and shatter their audience with sub-machine guns and freedom and violence the acrobat clowns do a balancing act on the graves of our sons while the tap dancing emperor sings war is peace and love the magician disappears in the fun and i wave goodbye to murder and smile hello to the rain
oh the new children can't i am young tell a foe from a friend i will live quick to enchant i am strong and so glad to extend i can give hand fulls of dawn you the strange to kaleidoscope men seed of day come from beyond feel the change the great wall of skin know the way
the bloodless husbands are jesters who listen like sheep to the shrieks and commands of their wives and the men who aren't men leave the women alone see them all faking love on a bed made of knives afraid to discover or trust in their bodies and in secret divorce they will never survive and i wave goodbye to ashes and smile hello to a girl
oh the new children kiss i am young they are so proud to learn i will live woman wood bliss i am strong and the man fire that burns i can give knowing no fear you the strange they take off their clothes seed of day honest and clear feel the change as a river that flows know the way know the way know the way
the antique people are fading out slowly like newspapers flaming in mind suicide godless and sexless directionless loons their sham sandcastles dissolve in the tide they put on their death masks and compromise daily the new people will live for their elders have died
and i wave goodbye to america and smile hello to the world
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Aug 23, 2024 20:09:52 GMT
I am very fond of Tim Buckley's music. Such a great writer and performer.
Greetings From LA is a favourite album of mine. Damn....it's 52 years old.
You don't need these lyrics typed out, they just sound great coming from a very high Tim.
Shine On Michael
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 23, 2024 22:12:53 GMT
^^^^ he was a great loss, RIP 1975. what gets me is that song was released when they were both 20 years old. couldda been written when they were 19, so much insight for that age. may also explain his 5 octave vocal range.
mitchfit
PS--[added three hours later. note complex lyric structure includes three separate tunes. 1, main verse. 2 and 3 entirely different songs combined for chorus]
|
|
|
Post by mitchfit on Aug 25, 2024 18:49:49 GMT
mitchfit
|
|
|
Post by Michael Messer on Aug 25, 2024 19:41:27 GMT
Marvin Gaye and the Funk Brothers recorded What’s Going On in 1971 .... When it comes to soul music, it doesn't get much better than this. And the lyrics of both songs are superb. But then we get this one from Marvin Gaye. Not written by him, it was written by Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong, I think for gladys Knight, and recorded by Marvin in 1967 it became a hit in '68. Such a great record. A masterpiece in every way. Shine On Michael
|
|