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.
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.
As one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for the band's entire 30-year career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), the Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way, the Garcia/Grisman and Garcia/Kahn acoustic duos, Legion of Mary, and New Riders of the Purple Sage (which he co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing, and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story in 2003. In the 2015 version of the list he was ranked at #46. In 2023, Garcia was ranked 34th by Rolling Stone.
Garcia was renowned for his musical and technical ability, particularly his ability to play a variety of instruments and sustain long improvisations. Garcia believed that improvisation took stress away from his playing and allowed him to make spur of the moment decisions that he would not have made intentionally. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Garcia noted that "my own preferences are for improvisation, for making it up as I go along. The idea of picking, of eliminating possibilities by deciding, that's difficult for me". Originating from the days of the "Acid Tests", these improvisations were a form of exploration rather than playing a song already written.
Later in life, Garcia struggled with diabetes. In 1986, he went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after the incident, he continued to struggle with obesity, smoking, and long-standing heroin and cocaine addictions. He was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995, at age 53.
Then again, sometimes when you try to ski like this you wipeout and end up slammed into a snow bank ...as it was often as well with the Dead.
I see so much of this sort of response in comments that I suppose it must come naturally to humans. But here goes:
If somebody else likes a song that you don't:
1. It does not mean there's something wrong with you.
2. It does not mean there's something wrong with the person who likes it.
3. It does not mean there's something wrong with the group/person who played it.
It just means you don't like it. And that's just fine. And that's why there's a "Play Something Different!" (PSD) button.
If you want to say why you don't like it, that's fine too: You don't like the voice, the arrangement, the playing style, whatever.
RP doesn't play junk, they just play a wide range of good music, not all of which any of us will like.
There are plenty of places where people are demeaned for their tastes and choices, let's not let this be one of them.
Wow. God bless you.
Really, folks: Bill and Rebecca likely went through a lot of work to get that PSD up and running (I'm guessing they must have had to create a separate stream and database to pull it off). Why not just use it instead of insulting the people who like the music you don't?
A few years ago, on a back road, a jerk in a Dodge Challenger going twice the posted speed limit in the opposite direction swerved into my lane. So far over that I was well into the ditch and he STILL hit my car.
At exactly the second line in this song, which I love so so much.
And then he fled the scene of the accident. Leaving me there listening to rest of this song in stunned terror.
Heard it again tonight here on RP and no flinch!
Many more strange and wondrous things happened that night.. I never knew what was in that pinner..On July 31st 1971 I
borrowed my Mom’s Chevy Malibu, picked up three or four friends and
drove to New Haven to see the Dead at Yale Bowl. As we were walking
through the gate I noticed a small leather drawstring bag on the
ground that somebody up ahead of us must have dropped. I scooped it
up and stuck it in my pocket and we went inside.
Halfway through the show I took out the bag and looked inside to find one
small joint, what we used to call a “pinner”. I laughed to
myself thinking it was way too small to do us any good but hey, it
was free so..I lit it and took a couple of hits and passed it down
the line.
About five minutes later, as the boys were doing “Not Fade Away” I
began to notice some strange things happening around me. There were
ripples of energy that seemed to go out from Jerry’s guitar and
radiate through the crowd. The people around me were all moving in
unison like some giant organism responding to an electromagnetic
field emanating from the band.
Yeah, yeah, I know, "Good story grandpa, now take your meds and lie down now, it's getting late."
Many more strange and wondrous things happened that night.. I never knew what was in that pinner..On July 31st 1971 I
borrowed my Mom’s Chevy Malibu, picked up three or four friends and
drove to New Haven to see the Dead at Yale Bowl. As we were walking
through the gate I noticed a small leather drawstring bag on the
ground that somebody up ahead of us must have dropped. I scooped it
up and stuck it in my pocket and we went inside.
Halfway through the show I took out the bag and looked inside to find one
small joint, what we used to call a “pinner”. I laughed to
myself thinking it was way too small to do us any good but hey, it
was free so..I lit it and took a couple of hits and passed it down
the line.
About five minutes later, as the boys were doing “Not Fade Away” I
began to notice some strange things happening around me. There were
ripples of energy that seemed to go out from Jerry’s guitar and
radiate through the crowd. The people around me were all moving in
unison like some giant organism responding to an electromagnetic
field emanating from the band.
Yeah, yeah, I know, "Good story grandpa, now take your meds and lie down now, it's getting late."
kcar wrote:
easmann wrote:
I see so much of this sort of response in comments that I suppose it must come naturally to humans. But here goes:
If somebody else likes a song that you don't:
1. It does not mean there's something wrong with you.
2. It does not mean there's something wrong with the person who likes it.
3. It does not mean there's something wrong with the group/person who played it.
It just means you don't like it. And that's just fine. And that's why there's a "Play Something Different!" (PSD) button.
If
you want to say why you don't like it, that's fine too: You don't like
the voice, the arrangement, the playing style, whatever.
RP doesn't play junk, they just play a wide range of good music, not all of which any of us will like.
There are plenty of places where people are demeaned for their tastes and choices, let's not let this be one of them.
Wow. God bless you.
Really, folks: Bill and Rebecca likely went through a lot of work to get that PSD up and running (I'm guessing they must have had to create a separate stream and database to pull it off). Why not just use it instead of insulting the people who like the music you don't?
YES!
To all of this.
Carl wrote:
So, you're, like, a fan. Great!
Agree re JG, and also Congratulations on maybe the longest RP post in many moons!
I agree with Inksam's statement:
So I just wanted to say that often times the singers and musicians and artists who are not "good" by traditional standards are the ones who stick with us the most, the ones who will be remembered for possibly the best reason to be remembered, as a human being.
Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin immediately come to mind. Jerry wasn't a great singer but he wasn't awful and I can't recall hearing him trying to reach for a note he couldn't pull off or sing something beyond his limitations.
I grew up with two older brothers who never had much time for the Dead and as a teenager I didn't listen to them closely when they were on the radio. As I've probably written elsewhere on RP, the Dead's music really wasn't that wild, dangerous, extreme or tradition-breaking. They had a reputation as being counter-culture hippie types but the most extreme aspects of the band as far as I can tell were the drug-taking and alternative lifestyles of their fans. The music itself is fairly sedate and fun when the band is performing well, but rarely even angry.
yawn. is it over yet?
It would be if you knew how to operate the PSD button. You just said more about your shortcomings than the songs.
The repeating of that hook...is like repeating a chant or prayer.
Imagine it when your're surrounded by a few thousand people...all on the same vibe.
Yeah...baby.
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/bird.html
Agreed. Especially in his younger years, I think Jerry's voice had a really moving sweetness to it. I would contend that the more appropriate word to describe it is "soulful," rather than "soul." While it's true that drug use, smoking, and age weakened and dulled his voice in later years, the same can be said of a lot of other singers, many of whose delivery lacked some of the candor and sincerity of Jerry's (even as he aged).
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/bird.html
That right there is worth a +1 (it's an 8 now) - thanks for the share, and Long Live RP and sharing info with others!!
What is this pic?
"Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the Charlatans, in 1967."
Put's you in a different world.