Roll Away…

Full lyrics available at The Annotated Grateful Dead, HERE.

Grateful Resources

 Three sources to torrent legal copies of Grateful Dead concerts:

• bt.etree.org
• The Trader's Den
• Lossless Legs (requires registration)

And for looking up lyrics, I recommend The Annotated Grateful Dead.

The Moon

 

(Clicking Imbiggens, image via Provocative Proclivities)

 

And that reminded me of this:

 

Full lyrics available at The Annotated Grateful Dead, HERE.

An Uncluttered Life

 

Shines Through

 

"Where do you begin?  There's so much to say about him.  He was a benign, lovable guy and he was also a magic man, a shaman.  There was a feeling of going out in the world with kindness that Jerry Garcia represented.  That shines through beyond all the other stuff."  ~Mickey Hart

Art, the Universe, and Everything

"I think everything in life is art.  What you do.  How you dress.  The way you love someone, and how you talk.  Your smile and your personality.  What you believe in, and all your dreams.  The way you drink your tea.  How you decorate your home.  Or party.  Your grocery list.  The food you make.  How your writing looks.  And the way you feel.  Life is art."  ~Helena Bonham Carter

I got to see an art exhibit from ancient Egypt, mostly things plundered from tombs, and what struck me at the time was how many things being venerated as objects of art were really just fairly ordinary objects-- combs, stools, inkwells-- that someone had spent just a little more effort creating.

It was about the same time that I was becoming intrigued with Andy Warhol's works.  

Both carried the same message:  anything can be "art," if you look at it right.

Which leads to this:

Full lyrics HERE.

Throw out the Lifeline

I love the way he took a gospel standard and made it personal.

Unexpectedly, Jerry Garcia offers a more traditional version:

Full lyrics HERE.

He's Here

 

"I see him in my dreams all the time.  I hear him when I'm on stage.  I would say I can't talk to him, but I can.  I don't miss him, he's here with me."  ~Bob Weir, on Jerry Garcia

I'm glad he has a connection that endured beyond death.  But I'm envious.

The people I've lost are just gone.  I don't feel their presence, they don't visit me in my dreams.

And I wish they did.

Big Smile

 

(click to imbiggen)

Donna onstage dates this to between 1971 and 1979.  I love seeing the big smile on Jerry's face!

Picture via MrGratefulDean

Let There Be Songs To Fill The Air

 And that, of course, reminded me of this:

Full lyrics HERE.

Their Kindness, The Way Their Eyes Sparkle…

 

 From Theresa "Trixie" Garcia:
 

I'm no Jerry Garcia expert, I'm just his kid, born right into this scene and still trying to figure it out.  When I was younger, it was natural to rebel away from the Grateful Dead.  Now I have a very honest appreciation for it and have set out to learn more.  Mark Pincus of Rhino Records helped explain Jerry's significance to me one day:  "Your dad deserves to be one of the faces on the Mount Rushmore of rock & roll."  For some reason, this explanation laid it all out for me in a way that the seas of hippies hadn't.  Jerry Garcia is a great American musician whose legacy will endure long past my own lifetime.
 
As far as I can tell, Jerry fans all have one thing in common besides their kindness, the way their eyes sparkle and their generally freedom-loving tendencies:  They all share a story about how their lives truly began the day the saw my dad play, how a particular show or moment introduced them into a whole new perspective on life.  I don't know how, but it's true:  music heals, and good vibes are better for you than bad.  There is now science behind these truths the hippies rediscovered in the 60s.
 
The band may have said "Fare thee well," but what Jerry built isn't going anywhere.  It's a monolith of a thing that no one can ever tear down or shut off.

Tell you what I'll do:

 "You're my woman" is one of those phrases that didn't age well, but in the context of the times it's actually a pretty sweet little song.

Jerry didn't like to perform this song live because he didn't think there were many possibilities for improvisation, but the current Dead lineup has put it back in play.

Full lyrics HERE.

Crimson, White, and Indigo

 

A beautiful rendition of a beautiful song.  I love the interaction between Phil and Jerry (bass and guitar) at the end.

Full lyrics available at The Annotated Grateful Dead, HERE.

Wham Bam

 

The country/rock band "Silver" never released a studio album.  This single, a hit for them in 1976, is their only claim to fame.

Their keyboardist, Brent Midland, went on to become the longest-tenured keyboardist for the Grateful Dead.

So Many Roads

 

One More Saturday Night

[embed]https://youtu.be/njbJ_DcA11o[/embed]

Bobby is having fun being a rock star.  Donna is having fun doing whatever that is that she's doing.

And I am having fun watching and listening.

If happiness had a sound track…

[embed]https://youtu.be/pxN_jWbXpj0[/embed]

 

You Are Part of Everything

[embed]https://youtu.be/n8lYGRVNRWY[/embed]

"Dear Prudence" is one of my favorite Beatles' songs, and it turns out to have been a favorite of Jerry Garcia, too.

Full lyrics HERE.

"He just didn't know any other way."

Steve Parish was a roadie for the Grateful Dead and manager for the Jerry Garcia Band.  His 2003 autobiography, Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road With the Grateful Dead, is about his own life and experiences.  It's not a tell-all by any means, but of course his story overlaps with theirs.

His stories about losing Jerry Garcia to addiction are heartbreaking.  The first excerpt below is about the aftermath of Parish losing his wife and children in a car crash; the second comes years later, as it became clear Garcia was nearing the end of his life:

That first night, when I got to the show, Jerry approached me backstage and gave me a hug. He seemed so sad, so moved by my loss. And then, in a twisted but genuinely loving gesture, he did something that astounded me.

"Hey, man," he said, his eyes brimming with tears. "You want some heroin? It'll kill the pain."

I thanked him but declined the offer. "If I did anything right now-- one snort, one drink-- I'd never stop."

He nodded and told me again how sorry he was. In that instant I felt more pity for Jerry than I did for myself, because he really was trying to help. He just didn't know any other way.

•

There is nothing quite as sad and painful as living with a junkie. You watch him die, inch by inch, and there's nothing you can do about it.

A Bunch of Atoms

"I want to make it clear we are not a cult. Jerry Garcia was not the messiah. We weren't gods. We were there every night for the same reason the Deadheads were. We wanted the music to take us to a place of transcendence and elegance. We wanted to reach that group consciousness so we could realize that there was something that was bigger than us-- and whatever it was, we all were an equal part of it, from the guys sweating it out onstage to the girls in line for the bathroom. We are all the same and we are all just a bunch of atoms." ~Bill Kreutzmann