• https://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-weather-report-suite
    Greatest Stories Ever Told - "Weather Report Suite"

    By David Dodd

    Okay, so first off, before we get to this week’s song, I just want to say that today is my birthday. (You can send presents in the form of commenting on this post—that’s all I want for my birthday from y’all.) Being born on Valentine’s Day has been a mixed blessing over the years. It was embarrassing when I was in elementary school, but it came in handy a couple of times later in life, as in when I got down on bended knee and proposed to my sweetheart 19 years ago: she cemented a very romantic episode by saying yes, and gave me the best birthday present ever.

    In Grateful Dead land, I remember being very happy to note, early on in my fanaticism, that the Bear’s Choice album was partially recorded at a show on February 14, 1970. It is a special occurrence in our lives when we get to see a show on our birthday, and I was lucky enough to have that happen, twice! 1986 and 1988 at Kaiser. Anyone else have the chance to see a show on your birthday?

    Then there is the whole Valentine’s Day thing, which makes me think about romance and the Dead. I’ve had my share of romantic episodes at Dead or Dead-related concerts over the years, including one particular version of “Morning Dew” …well, maybe I shouldn’t go into detail. More comment fodder, perhaps.

    This week, by request, we’re looking at “Weather Report Suite,” (Prelude, Part 1, and Part 2). For a short time, the three pieces that comprise the Suite were played as such, but that was relatively short-lived by Grateful Dead standards.

    The Prelude debuted in November 1972, originally as a separate piece from its eventual companions. The Dead played it, according to DeadBase, four more times in the spring of 1973 before it was first matched up with Weather Report Suite Parts 1 & 2, in September of that year. It was played regularly through October of 1974, and then dropped from the repertoire. The instrumental “Prelude,” composed by Weir, sets the stage for the two pieces to follow. I think it’s one of the most beautiful little pieces of music I know—I have never once skipped through it over years of listening. I just let it wash over me and know that its simplicity and beauty are preparing me for the melancholy of Part 1, and the sometimes epic grandeur of Part 2.

    Part 1 is a song co-written with Eric Andersen, a well-known singer-songwriter who wrote the classic “Thirsty Boots.” He was on the Festival Express Tour (of “Might As Well” fame) across Canada along with the Dead, and I’m guessing that’s where Weir and he met and concocted this piece. Happy to be corrected on that by anyone who knows better. Andersen and Weir share the lyric credit, and the music is credited to Weir. Once it appeared in the rotation, in September 1973, it stayed in the repertoire only as long as the Prelude did, dropping entirely in October 1974.

    The song addresses the seasons, and their changing mirrors the the singer’s state of mind as he reflects on the coming of love, and maybe its going, too: a circle of seasons, and the blooming and fading of roses. I particularly like the line “And seasons will end in tumbled rhyme and little change, the wind and rain.” There’s something very hopeful buried in the song’s melancholy. Is that melancholy just a projection of mine? I think there’s something about Weir’s singing that gets at that emotion. Loss, and the hope that there might be new love.

    Weather Report Suite, Part 2 (“Let It Grow”) is a very different beast. It remained steadily in the rotation for the next 21 years after its debut, and the band played it 276 times. Its season of rarity was 1979, when it was played only three times, but otherwise, it was not far from the rotation. It could be stretched into a lengthy jamming tune (clocking at over 15 minutes several times), building to a thundering crescendo. And the “Weather Report” aspect of the song is what was really the most fun many times.

    I think many Deadheads have stories, shared experiences of times when it seemed like the music was making the weather, or vice-versa, as rain clouds piled up during outdoor shows, and occasionally cut loose. Would they play “Cold Rain and Snow” or “Looks Like Rain” or “Let it Grow”? Whatever, we would madly caper about in the downpour, reveling in the unity of the music and the environment. (The reverse was also true, when a hot and dusty day would give rise to a “Me and My Uncle” or a “Jack Straw.”)

    The song’s lyrics are almost over the top in their profundity: John Barlow, the theology student, outdoing himself in his invocation of several major doctrinal issues, such as the name of the divine—“What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?” The name, he points out, is on the earth, and in the thunder, that shouts its existence: “I am.” This is a direct biblical reference, of course, when Moses, wandering in the desert, asked the burning bush its name, and was answered “I am.” (Exodus 3:13-14).

    The way I hear the song, Barlow invokes the earthly elements of water, earth, air, and fire and compares the lives of us who live on the planet to the significance of the totality. We won’t ever know what “the work of the day” will eventually signify, but we are a part of the big “I am,” too.

    Over the years, there’s been a lot of ink spilled, some of it wonderfully, on the question of the Grateful Dead and spirituality. There are Christian Deadheads, Buddhist Deadheads, Atheist Deadheads, and Deadheads of every other spiritual and religious stripe. (I myself am a Unitarian Universalist Deadhead.) We each have stories about how the band and the music have affected or been affected by our spiritual seeking and our choices. This might be a good place to share some of those stories, too.

    Your turn. Birthdays, love, spirituality, weather. Good topics for your comments.

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  • BroadBrookSpurs
    1 month 3 weeks ago
    WRS Naming Storms

    Always great to read these and Happy early Birthday!
    "What shall we say, shall we call it by a name"....I Always just think this is about the convention of naming hurricanes and other storms. It's so classic and deserves similar treatment as Terrapin Station

  • mkav
    6 years 11 months ago
    weather report
    this is another song that helped turn me onto GD all those years ago. i had not been to a concert, in fact they may have been on hiatus when I first started listening to "albums" in my buddy's dorm room in 1974. the music was different and cool...but a couple of the phrases really got me..."water bright as the sky from which it came"...who, I mean who, in rock bands cared about proper grammar??? I'm sure Barlow didn't care about it either, but it worked for the song, and I was impressed (Barlow wrote lyrics on this one, right?). The other was "Who could count the angels dancing on a pin?"...recalling a sanctimonious, yet ultimately pointless debate, from the learned leaders of the Church in the middle ages. not your silly little love song. I have always cherished the wordplay almost as much as the music...well,not really, but words DO matter...hmmmm, maybe someone should tell that to POTUS.
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    tommy2tone
    6 years 11 months ago
    Seasons of My Heart
    Thematically, Part One owes a lot to the great George Jones tune "Seasons of My Heart," which Bobby sang at the impromptu acoustic gig in NOLA following the "Truckin" bust. (2/2/70, maybe?) Here is George's tune: https://youtu.be/NUoLYv2JYZw
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By David Dodd

Okay, so first off, before we get to this week’s song, I just want to say that today is my birthday. (You can send presents in the form of commenting on this post—that’s all I want for my birthday from y’all.) Being born on Valentine’s Day has been a mixed blessing over the years. It was embarrassing when I was in elementary school, but it came in handy a couple of times later in life, as in when I got down on bended knee and proposed to my sweetheart 19 years ago: she cemented a very romantic episode by saying yes, and gave me the best birthday present ever.

In Grateful Dead land, I remember being very happy to note, early on in my fanaticism, that the Bear’s Choice album was partially recorded at a show on February 14, 1970. It is a special occurrence in our lives when we get to see a show on our birthday, and I was lucky enough to have that happen, twice! 1986 and 1988 at Kaiser. Anyone else have the chance to see a show on your birthday?

Then there is the whole Valentine’s Day thing, which makes me think about romance and the Dead. I’ve had my share of romantic episodes at Dead or Dead-related concerts over the years, including one particular version of “Morning Dew” …well, maybe I shouldn’t go into detail. More comment fodder, perhaps.

This week, by request, we’re looking at “Weather Report Suite,” (Prelude, Part 1, and Part 2). For a short time, the three pieces that comprise the Suite were played as such, but that was relatively short-lived by Grateful Dead standards.

The Prelude debuted in November 1972, originally as a separate piece from its eventual companions. The Dead played it, according to DeadBase, four more times in the spring of 1973 before it was first matched up with Weather Report Suite Parts 1 & 2, in September of that year. It was played regularly through October of 1974, and then dropped from the repertoire. The instrumental “Prelude,” composed by Weir, sets the stage for the two pieces to follow. I think it’s one of the most beautiful little pieces of music I know—I have never once skipped through it over years of listening. I just let it wash over me and know that its simplicity and beauty are preparing me for the melancholy of Part 1, and the sometimes epic grandeur of Part 2.

Part 1 is a song co-written with Eric Andersen, a well-known singer-songwriter who wrote the classic “Thirsty Boots.” He was on the Festival Express Tour (of “Might As Well” fame) across Canada along with the Dead, and I’m guessing that’s where Weir and he met and concocted this piece. Happy to be corrected on that by anyone who knows better. Andersen and Weir share the lyric credit, and the music is credited to Weir. Once it appeared in the rotation, in September 1973, it stayed in the repertoire only as long as the Prelude did, dropping entirely in October 1974.

The song addresses the seasons, and their changing mirrors the the singer’s state of mind as he reflects on the coming of love, and maybe its going, too: a circle of seasons, and the blooming and fading of roses. I particularly like the line “And seasons will end in tumbled rhyme and little change, the wind and rain.” There’s something very hopeful buried in the song’s melancholy. Is that melancholy just a projection of mine? I think there’s something about Weir’s singing that gets at that emotion. Loss, and the hope that there might be new love.

Weather Report Suite, Part 2 (“Let It Grow”) is a very different beast. It remained steadily in the rotation for the next 21 years after its debut, and the band played it 276 times. Its season of rarity was 1979, when it was played only three times, but otherwise, it was not far from the rotation. It could be stretched into a lengthy jamming tune (clocking at over 15 minutes several times), building to a thundering crescendo. And the “Weather Report” aspect of the song is what was really the most fun many times.

I think many Deadheads have stories, shared experiences of times when it seemed like the music was making the weather, or vice-versa, as rain clouds piled up during outdoor shows, and occasionally cut loose. Would they play “Cold Rain and Snow” or “Looks Like Rain” or “Let it Grow”? Whatever, we would madly caper about in the downpour, reveling in the unity of the music and the environment. (The reverse was also true, when a hot and dusty day would give rise to a “Me and My Uncle” or a “Jack Straw.”)

The song’s lyrics are almost over the top in their profundity: John Barlow, the theology student, outdoing himself in his invocation of several major doctrinal issues, such as the name of the divine—“What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?” The name, he points out, is on the earth, and in the thunder, that shouts its existence: “I am.” This is a direct biblical reference, of course, when Moses, wandering in the desert, asked the burning bush its name, and was answered “I am.” (Exodus 3:13-14).

The way I hear the song, Barlow invokes the earthly elements of water, earth, air, and fire and compares the lives of us who live on the planet to the significance of the totality. We won’t ever know what “the work of the day” will eventually signify, but we are a part of the big “I am,” too.

Over the years, there’s been a lot of ink spilled, some of it wonderfully, on the question of the Grateful Dead and spirituality. There are Christian Deadheads, Buddhist Deadheads, Atheist Deadheads, and Deadheads of every other spiritual and religious stripe. (I myself am a Unitarian Universalist Deadhead.) We each have stories about how the band and the music have affected or been affected by our spiritual seeking and our choices. This might be a good place to share some of those stories, too.

Your turn. Birthdays, love, spirituality, weather. Good topics for your comments.

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Okay, so first off, before we get to this week’s song, I just want to say that today is my birthday. (You can send presents in the form of commenting on this post—that’s all I want for my birthday from y’all.) Being born on Valentine’s Day has been a mixed blessing over the years. It was embarrassing when I was in elementary school, but it came in handy a couple of times later in life, as in when I got down on bended knee and proposed to my sweetheart 19 years ago: she cemented a very romantic episode by saying yes, and gave me the best birthday present ever.

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The first ''Weather Report: Prelude'' I know of, was played during a little break in the first set of 5/24/72 in London. It was then repeated throughout the summer (see Download Series, Vol. 10 for one). I think the imagery of the song is very strong. I sometimes stop doing whatever it is I'm doing when I listen to the song, just to soak that feeling up. It's too bad they dropped the first two parts after little over a year, because it's such an epic set closer.
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I can't seem to find reference to it, but didn't Jerry play a 2/14 show (I thought it was '72, but apparently not) where he opened with 3 or 4 songs about love? That would have been a good one for you to be attending! And happy birthday, a day late! I always thought that for some reason Weir sings Let It Grow better than almost any other lyric. Maybe it fits his voice, but to me that is when his voice sounds the best. And I mean throughout GD history. I'm not talking about what range he can still reach today. Sorry, nothing really about the song's meaning...
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The best present I can give you is something for your ear. If you weren't already aware of this then you might enjoy it. From Dicks Picks 35, the beginning of The Other One, you can very briefly hear Bob Weir play a riff from the Prelude. So, its easy to say that he had been working on it for a long time. Which makes sense because it might be the most beautiful piece of music he ever wrote. I dont understand why they eventually dropped it and part one... I love all the lyrics in this song. After I read the annotated lyric book, I became fascinated with the line "as well to count the angels dancing on a pin." Brings an interesting image to my mind, at least.
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Weir played with the lick for years. You can hear him toying with it between songs on 4/5/69 (if memory serves). There are other early performances I have heard him quote in jams as well. It's cool to think about it as being inspired over several years just waiting to emerge in its final form.
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The Other One from 8/6/71 or Dicks picks 35, disc 4. You can hear Bob play part of the Prelude but it comes right after they come out of Me and My Uncle going back into The Other One.
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I was never at a birthday show, but I LOVE that the day I was born is a Dead DVD. Closing of Winterland, 12/31/78, is the day I was born!! As for WRS....it has long been my favorite Dead piece, when played in full. I love a good Let It Grow, but nothing can touch the full suite for it's pure majesty. Without the Prelude and Part 1....Part 2 just doesn't have the same power. Seeing the Dead after Jerry, 8/5/2003 in Indianpolis though, I was treated to a wonderful, beautiful WRS into The Eleven that was breath-taking. A combo never touched in GD times.
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I amwishing you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and a wonderfully happy new year. ----------------------(----@ For a gift... you get to pick how old you are this year and not your birth certificate. It's a fun thought, xo. I like your writing and I will try to stop in and leave a comment. -sherbear
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Strangely enough, I had a dream long ago which was brought about by "Let it Grow." I was well aware at the time of the "I am" christian thing, being brought up in that, to me, unfortunate mode. Anyway, the dream consisted of me on the top of some rocky tor, winds howling, thunder roaring and lighting everywhere. I stood there on this tiny peak, grabbing the lightning bolts which were coming towards me and I was grabbing every one and throwing them back skyward, defiantly roaring, "I am , too!" But now, I'm a buddhist and I realised I don't have to or want to yell. But I've met many people over the years who I thought really should have into the Dead but they weren't simply because of the all too numerous christian references in many songs. It really annoyed them. Often, me, too. Even now, when the lyric of 'big wheel turns by the grace of god" comes on, I turn the sound down. Love the song, hate the line. Peace!
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Would be the retiring of Lost Sailor. But only after a much longer road test. I personally loved the Weather Report Suite and would have liked to have seen it resurrected in it's entirety when they brought back Here comes Sunshine during Vince's time.
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Happy birthday, David. Thanks for your work regarding the lyrics.William Ruhlmann, in Relix v.12 no.2, Apr 1985 (whose article title I don't have handy), quotes Eric Andersen: "I lived out in Mill Valley, and I had done some tours--I had toured with the Byrds a little bit and I had toured with the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and I had met Garcia. Garcia had been a fan of mine, in a way. He loved some songs like 'Come to My Bedside' (from Today Is the Highway, 1965), and he knew them. I had seen him a couple of times, I'd play them and he could play them back to me. He was always very nice. "So I knew those guys and I had been to a couple of concerts--some of the extravaganzas in Denver and different places. And when I moved to Mill Valley, bought a house, I was seeing Bob Weir from time to time--they were all living out there. "He was working on this new song and he had tried to work with Garcia and it didn't work; he tried to work with Robert Hunter, that didn't work. So he called me! He said, 'Well, I've been trying it and I can't get it, could you come over and help me work on this? So, I just went over and we did it--spent a couple nights on it. I think they were in the midst of recording or just about to record, so he didn't have a lot of time."
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My sweet 16th, Providence Civic Center 4/26/84 was the only one I ever attended,but can't forget that the Dead played some hot shows over the years on 4/26(1969,1971,and 1972 spring to mind).
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I never saw the GD on Valentine's Day, but I've always been intrigued by the poster for 2-14-68 at the Carousel Ballroom, with its audacious reference to Light by LSD. I only caught the GD once on my birthday: 9-12-85 at the Kaiser. This was the third night of a three show run in which they used a liquid light show, and what do you know; there's video of that show available on youtube:
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Thanks to all for contributing your memories of birthday shows, and thoughts about the songs. I'm especially interested in all the good background about the Prelude! I didn't include the Prelude in the annotated lyrics book, because it lacks words, but now I think I will have to include it if I ever get to do a second edition. Thank you, sherbear, for the great idea about choosing my age this year. I do like my age, so I guess I'll stick with 56, but once in a while I do still feel like I'm somewhere between 18 and 28.
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thoughts are really broken, but i'll give it my best. june '93 soldier field; the last time i saw the band. sting was almost done with his spectacular set when the black skies opened up and absolutely poured. intense lightning, thunder and rain! the lightning in your pic above looks like it was from that storm. most folks cleared the infield due to the lightning, except me and about 8 other rain drenched loonies who finally got under a large, blue smoke filled tarp - thicker than london fog. :))))) . when the storm finally exited, everybody who stayed out was soaked to the bone and the guys came out and gave a performance worthy of mother nature's ominous intro. and their intrepid fans who embraced it. i do remember from the first set, looking around from the infield and seeing large,white puffy clouds moving across the top of soldier field as the sky started to clear and tens of thousands of psychedelic writhing bodies decorating my field of enhanced vision with the music of the dead playing.....live. ooohhhhhh. the weather that night added beautifully to the whole experience. i know that to many heads, '93 wasn't a banner year for the band, but that night, i sure couldn't tell it and i don't remember hearing any complaints. to this day, I feel extremely fortunate and blessed to have been able to experience the greatest traveling social / musical experiment / experience ever to grace this big blue ball. and i miss it. ** i can't believe that it will have been 20 years ago this june...... yikes!
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YeahI remember that one. Terrific summer storm showed up just at the right time- on cue. Think I was there with Jerry W., and Dale the Painter and some others including my middle kid. Soaked but dancing in the puddles. I recalled that someone has a long piece on the musicology of Prelude and Part 1 of WRS from 2010. Don't know if he ever completed the Part 2 section. http://gratefuldeadworld.blogspot.com/2010/11/weather-report-suiteprelu…
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Someone around here turned me on to an acoustic version of WRS. It's a studio acoustic demo from 8/4/73, and is included on the expanded Wake of the Flood cd.
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Well, this is a very interesting topic. The Dead have shown through the years to exhibit a bit of everything..Egyptian, Hebrew, Hindu, maybe some Babylonian, and even some Arabic philosphies..Hunter, Barlow, etc throw sprinkles of light, and leave no absolutes, almost the way Terrapin tells its story. But overall, they seem to take bible references and turn them into sublime extraterrestrial high falutin tales..which is utterly amazing!!!! They truly use shadow/light in pretty much everything, which is a whole "nother story. But like they always said, they try to create a new mythology every night they play. How lucky are we to be present with a band that has stretched these boundaries and broken through to other realms? There will never be another band like this playing wise, lyric wise, and conscious wise. Long live the Dead!!!
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hope u have a great one again ...shareing with merl is special WRS i dont think i missed a bay area WRS haveing grown up as they call it in the Bay Area... birthday shows are something very special to me my birthday is 5/5/55 so so so many great shows from the month of may Kezar 73 reno 74 ok not may but june 77 all the greeks from may and frost shows how lucky can a guy be !!!^#%$&^%(*&(*) well let me tell ya !! very lucky very very lucky in GD land the help slip on 5/5/90 carson great shows cal expo wow 5/5/91 h>s>f ........2nd set Eyes opener happy fin birthday buddy %$%$%#@#%$&^%$*&^(*&NEVER HAD SUCH A GOOD TIME thanks for the ramble and Happy Birthday steve
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It's a very psychedelic night during the last run before the hiatus, October '74 at Winterland. The first set ends with "Weather Report Suite." During Let it Grow, the thunder shouts "I AM." An intense jam builds up to a final chorus. Again the thunder shouts "I AM." From the balcony, I experience the entire crowd below, individually and collectively, psychically shouting "I AM" with the thunder, each person in the audience affirming his or her individual existence, while also affirming the collective existence of the group mind, which is also shouting "I AM." During the break, Ned Lagin and Phil Lesh take the stage for the "Seastones" segment. As the segment progresses, Jerry takes the stage, and Bobby, and Keith and Bill, and Seastones turns into Dark Star which turns into the most emotionally charged Morning Dew I've ever seen. And the second set was still to come! An amazing night in an amazing run.
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I think what's really remarkable about "Weather Report Suite" is the way that the lyrics of Part 1 (Anderson and Weir) and Part II (Barlow) mesh so well. Part I begins with a first-person (singular) speaker ("Winter rain, now tell me why"), but shifts to first-person plural for the last stanza ("We'll see summer come again"), while Part II begins with a more remote third-person perspective ("Morning comes, she follows the path to the river shore"), but then shifts to first-person plural in the penultimate stanza ("What shall we say, shall we call it by a name?"). But this variety of perspectives is neatly unified by certain images that are invoked by each point of view, in particular, the circle motif ("Circle songs and sands of time" and the cycle of seasons in "Darkness fall and seasons change" and "We'll see summer come again") that is established in Part I and elaborated upon in Part I ("Round and round, the cut of the plow in the furrowed field" and "As he dances the circular track of the plow"). And there's also more elemental concerns that unify the two parts: rain, and its role in the seasons of living and dying, is one example. But all this aside, I'm curious about which came first; Part I or Part II? It seems like it was written in the order that we've come to know; Barlow's first line, "Morning comes, she follows the path to the river shore", seems to be an awakening following the dreamier consciousness of the speaker in Part I, but maybe it was the other way around. Anybody know?
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1987, August. Three Red Rocks shows, 8-11--13, then off to Telluride. My birthday is the 13th, front row center WITH A TRIPOD, the boys are lookin right at me while I snap pic after pic. Super psyched! Take film for developing. Bummer...had exposure all wrong. Great color, all blurry. Bet the guy at Skaggs wondered what the hell all these photos were doing in the rack, never picked up. Another birthday-not mine. Saw the Hamilton shows in 90 on my (now) ex-wifes bday. Big surprise that union didn't last, eh? Also at the Rocks, always a good rain venue. 82 and 84, super soaked and lovin it. Also slid down the hill at Alpine in I think 89, really wet. Favorite may have been 94 at Eugene, when damn near every song had a rain reference. Fuggin miss it. Lookin forward to FURTHUR on Sunday though. Hasta!
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Can't forget the "sausage on a stick" in Telluride!! How about taking pics at town park and Jerry posing with a ear-to-ear grin!! Standing behind Brent at the bar and trying to build up the stones to talk to him while Robbie Taylor is giving us the stink eye, sending a message of "don't do it boys."
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Nice! You mentioned sliding in the rain in Alpine 89....crazy..1988 was the "Dust Bowl" and 89 was a flood zone. Great times, remember 'bathing' in the Lake in town (not sure name of town...about 8 miles down a country road)..heads everywhere, many of them trying to get the 1/4" of dust off their bodies!! Great times in Wisconsin. Also remember the sun coming up at like 5am...longest days of the year..nothing worse than 'cooking' in your tent,,,,the heat and light waking you up at 5-6am dehydrated from the night before...wow! But worth every second of it.
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uh, I think that would be Lake Geneva!
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Is definitely one of the Grateful Dead's top 5 compositions. It had an eerie power onto itself. It could be extended and played by an orchestra and as easily divorced from every other part of the show except perhaps for Here Comes Sunshine. I never had the opportunity to hear it in person (even, as I have learned in this thread, that it was partially played by The Dead in 2003) and I feel more bummed about that than missing such tunes as Doin' That Rag or Cosmic Charlie, A stellar version should have been put in the National Archives rather than the Cornell show. Or maybe as the encore or PS. It was and still is a beautiful composition that is a pleasure to hear and let your mind drift along with and glean incites from. Alas, I never figured out how many angels dance on the head of a pin....
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Lake Geneva= cool clear water with magical rejuvenating and restorative powers. I saw one show on my birthday, an acoustic Garcia/Hunter gig in Rochester. Had a nasty cold and felt lousy but I went anyway. Traveling down the pike we were passed by a little black sportscar with plates that equated to 'SEE ME FLY'... and he did. Furthur does a real nice job with WRS by the way... they opened the second set with it at 'the Eleven' show in Syracuse.
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Never went to a show on my birthday, but I love WRS. The version on the bonus disc of the Grateful Dead movie gets a lot of play. I've even loaned it to a few friends, telling them "watch and listen. If you still don't like the Dead, I'll never mention them again" Some convert, some still don't get it, but its a good test.
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I think Prelude is the best Bobby ever composed. Never get tired of this, interesting that it was retired so quickly. Was nice to hear him play it again with Furthur, still sounds freaking sweet.Birthday show = Serendipity
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Alone one late afternoon in Chaco Canyon, back when I actually had the Suite semi-down.....rolling on past the "will not speak but stand inside the rain" line, I stumble a bit, maybe add a half-measure or so to the solo run through the changes....and on into "listening to the thunder shouting..." with JUST enough error-lag so that, you guessed it, my cry of "I am" lined up "just exactly perfect" with the roar of the sky-father's thunder-crack. Ah, I get tingly just thinking about it!
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Is this the largest organism in the world? This 2,400-acre (9.7 km2) site in eastern Oregon had a contiguous growth of mycelium before logging roads cut through it. Estimated at 1,665 football fields in size and 2,200 years old, this one fungus has killed the forest above it several times over, and in so doing has built deeper soil layers that allow the growth of ever-larger stands of trees. Mushroom-forming forest fungi are unique in that their mycelial mats can achieve such massive proportions.
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9 years 11 months
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Has anyone noticed the Prelude tease in the down time between Deal and Me and My Uncle on 5/24/72?
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16 years 9 months
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What's funny is the very first comment on this article talks about the possible very first appearance of Prelude during a break at a show in London on 5/24/72 - it was buried under four pages and over a year of comments - but in answer to your question, "Yes" :-)
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16 years 9 months
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After reading your comment I thought to myself, "wasn't Bobby was toying with that theme in '71"...? So, I cracked open the 'ol Deadbase and, alas, they did...8-6-71 Hollywood (DP 35)! For all I know, there could be others as well...hopefully on some yet-to-be unearthed June to November 1970 tape! :)
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16 years 9 months
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2/14/61 I also proposed on my birthday, but it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. But she said yes and that was 25 years ago, so it worked out (although I didn't believe her at the time, due to the awkward fact that she had a boyfriend, but she held me to it). I definitely agree about the Valentines Birthday being a mixed bag.
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10 years 5 months
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Wilfred, Bobby also teased WRS on 12-1-71 in the second part of The Other One, it sounds beautiful and is clear as day. That whole second set is sick!
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15 years 2 months
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I saw shows on my birthday (September 24) in 1987 and '88 and I also saw that Valentines show at the Kaiser in 1988.
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16 years 6 months
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Saw Furthur play Let It Grow at the Bill Graham Civic, close to the stage. After it finished I made my way back upstairs to my seat. There, on the second or third step sat John Barlow. Dozens of Deadheads trudging up the stairs with no idea they were passing the author of the song just finished. I paused and said, "Hey, I love your work!" He raised his head slightly and answered, "Thanks!" Gracious guy. I hope he is feeling better soon.
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7 years 9 months
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love hearing this. always wondering if he and Hunter share with us to music never stopping. Echo smooth speedy recovery wishes to Barlow October 2016.
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8 years 6 months
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Thematically, Part One owes a lot to the great George Jones tune "Seasons of My Heart," which Bobby sang at the impromptu acoustic gig in NOLA following the "Truckin" bust. (2/2/70, maybe?) Here is George's tune: https://youtu.be/NUoLYv2JYZw
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16 years 8 months
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this is another song that helped turn me onto GD all those years ago. i had not been to a concert, in fact they may have been on hiatus when I first started listening to "albums" in my buddy's dorm room in 1974. the music was different and cool...but a couple of the phrases really got me..."water bright as the sky from which it came"...who, I mean who, in rock bands cared about proper grammar??? I'm sure Barlow didn't care about it either, but it worked for the song, and I was impressed (Barlow wrote lyrics on this one, right?). The other was "Who could count the angels dancing on a pin?"...recalling a sanctimonious, yet ultimately pointless debate, from the learned leaders of the Church in the middle ages. not your silly little love song. I have always cherished the wordplay almost as much as the music...well,not really, but words DO matter...hmmmm, maybe someone should tell that to POTUS.
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5 years 6 months
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Always great to read these and Happy early Birthday!
"What shall we say, shall we call it by a name"....I Always just think this is about the convention of naming hurricanes and other storms. It's so classic and deserves similar treatment as Terrapin Station