Pink Floyd's Catalog Sale: A New Era In this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Michigan explores the rich history of the Grateful Dead's music, focusing on a specific concert from 1980. He discusses the significance of various songs, including 'Iko Iko' and 'Me and Bobby McGee', while also reflecting on the impact of Chris Christopherson's songwriting. The conversation shifts to current events in the music and cannabis industries, including Pink Floyd's catalog sale and the ongoing challenges faced by the hemp industry. Larry emphasizes the importance of medical marijuana legalization and shares insights on how cannabis enhances the music experience. He concludes with personal strain recommendations and highlights record sales in legal marijuana states.
Pink Floyd's Catalog Sale: A New Era
In this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Michigan explores the rich history of the Grateful Dead's music, focusing on a specific concert from 1980. He discusses the significance of various songs, including 'Iko Iko' and 'Me and Bobby McGee', while also reflecting on the impact of Chris Christopherson's songwriting. The conversation shifts to current events in the music and cannabis industries, including Pink Floyd's catalog sale and the ongoing challenges faced by the hemp industry. Larry emphasizes the importance of medical marijuana legalization and shares insights on how cannabis enhances the music experience. He concludes with personal strain recommendations and highlights record sales in legal marijuana states.
Takeaways
The Grateful Dead's acoustic sets were a significant part of their live performances.
Audience tapes capture the energy of live shows better than soundboard recordings.
Chris Christopherson's 'Me and Bobby McGee' remains a classic, showcasing the intersection of music and storytelling.
Pink Floyd's recent catalog sale reflects the changing dynamics in the music industry.
The Betty Boards represent a pivotal moment in Grateful Dead tape trading history.
The hemp industry faces legal challenges that could impact small businesses.
A majority of chronic pain patients support the legalization of medical marijuana.
Cannabis enhances the enjoyment of music, as confirmed by recent studies.
Record sales in legal marijuana states are reaching new heights, indicating a thriving market.
Personal strain recommendations can enhance the cannabis experience for users.
Chapters
00:00Introduction and Context of the Grateful Dead's Music
04:50Exploring 'Iko Iko' and Audience Tapes
10:42The Significance of 'Monkey and the Engineer'
15:24Remembering Chris Christopherson and 'Me and Bobby McGee'
22:31Pink Floyd's Catalog Sale to Sony Music
28:15The Mystery of the Betty Boards
54:16Current Issues in the Hemp Industry
01:08:10Support for Medical Marijuana Legalization
01:15:50The Impact of Marijuana on Music Enjoyment
01:21:09Record Sales in Legal Marijuana States
01:25:53Strain Recommendations and Personal Experiences
Grateful Dead
October 7, 1980 (44 years ago)
Warfield Theater
San Francisco, CA
Part of 23 show run in late September to the end of October, 1980 split between the Warfield (September 27th – October 14th) and Radio City Music Hall in NYC (October 22 – 31st) Each show opened with an acoustic set followed by two full electric sets. These were the last shows where the Dead played acoustic sets. Songs from all of these concerts were pulled for the two related Dead double album releases, Reckoning (acoustic music, released April 1, 1981- the Band’s sixth live album and 17th overall) and Dead Set (electric music, released August 26, 1981, the Band’s seventh live album and 18th overall).
Today’s episode is broken up into three acoustic numbers from this show and then three electric numbers.
INTRO: Iko Iko
Track #1
0:00 – 1:37
"Iko Iko" (/ˈaɪkoʊˈaɪkoʊ/) is a much-coveredNew Orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two tribes of Mardi Gras Indians and the traditional confrontation. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written and released in 1953 as a single by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford and his Cane Cutters but it failed to make the charts.
The song first became popular in 1965 by the girl groupthe Dixie Cups, who scored an international hit with "Iko Iko" released in March, 1965. In 1967, as part of a lawsuit settlement between Crawford and the Dixie Cups, the trio were given part songwriting credit for the song.
A permanent part of the Dead’s repertoire since first played in May, 1977 in St. Louis, almost by accident out of and back into a Not Fade Away. The intro, one verse and back to NFA. Overtime, became a tune that was not frequently played, usually once, maybe twice, a tour, but whenever it was played it created a party atmosphere out of whatever the mood had been prior to its playing.
Perfect song for Jerry with the call and response chorus that everyone joined in on. The song that “fastened my seatbelt on the bus” when I saw it for the first time at my second show ever in Syracuse in 1982 with good buddy Mikey. Once you hear it live, you are always looking for it at future shows.
I love this song as do many Deadheads. But getting to hear it played acoustically is a real treat and a great way to open this “hometown” show. Jerry played it right up until the end.
Played: 185 times
First: May 15, 1977 at St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, MO, USA
Last: July 5, 1995 at Riverport Amphitheatre, Maryland Heights, MO, USA
SHOW No. 1: Monkey And The Engineer
Track #4
0:48 – 2:25
Jesse Fuller tune
Jesse Fuller (March 12, 1896 – January 29, 1976) was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues". Starting in the 1950’s after a number of non-music related jobs, Fuller began to compose songs, many of them based on his experiences on the railroads, and also reworked older pieces, playing them in his syncopated style. His one-man band act began when he had difficulty finding reliable musicians to work with: hence, he became known as "The Lone Cat". Starting locally, in clubs and bars in San Francisco and across the bay in Oakland and Berkeley, Fuller became more widely known when he performed on television in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
In 1958, at the age of 62, he recorded an album, released by Good Time Jazz Records.[3] Fuller's instruments included 6-string guitar (an instrument which he had abandoned before the beginning of his one-man band career), 12-string guitar, harmonica, kazoo, cymbal (high-hat) and fotdella. He could play several instruments simultaneously, particularly with the use of a headpiece to hold a harmonica, kazoo, and microphone.
In the summer of 1959 he was playing in the Exodus Gallery Bar in Denver. Bob Dylan spent several weeks in Denver that summer, and picked up his technique of playing the harmonica by using a neck-brace from Fuller.[
Monkey And The Engineer was played by the pre-Dead group Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in 1964. The song was performed by the Grateful Dead in acoustic sets in 1969, 1970, 1980 and 1981. Also performed by Bob Weir with Kingfish.
A fun tune that is perfect for kids as well. Good one to get them hooked into the Dead on!
Played: 38 times
First: December 19, 1969 at Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, USA
Last: February 12, 1989 at Great Western Forum, Inglewood, CA, USA
MUSIC NEWS:
Intro Music: Me and Bobby McGee
Kris Kristofferson - Me And Bobby McGee (1979) (youtube.com)
0:00 – 1:27
"Me and Bobby McGee" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and originally performed by Roger Miller. Fred Foster shares the writing credit, as Kristofferson wrote the song based on a suggestion from Foster.[1] Foster had a bit of a crush on Barbara "Bobbie" McKee who was a secretary on Nashville's music row. When he pitched the title to Kristofferson, he misheard the name as "Me and Bobby McGee," and the name stuck. Kristofferson found inspiration for his lyrics from a film, 'La Strada,' by Fellini, and a scene where Anthony Quinn is going around on this motorcycle and Giulietta Masina is the feeble-minded girl with him, playing the trombone. He got to the point where he couldn't put up with her anymore and left her by the side of the road while she was sleeping," Kristofferson said.
A posthumously released version by Janis Joplin topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released No. 1 single in U.S. chart history after "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. Gordon Lightfoot released a version that reached number 1 on the Canadian country charts in 1970. Jerry Lee Lewis released a version that was number 1 on the country charts in December 1971/January 1972 as the "B" side of "Would You Take Another Chance on Me". Billboard ranked Joplin's version as the No. 11 song for 1971.
Janis Joplin recorded the song for inclusion on her Pearl album only a few days before her death in October 1970. Singer Bob Neuwirth taught it to her while Kristofferson was in Peru filming The Last Movie with Dennis Hopper.[5] Kristofferson did not know she had recorded the song until after her death. The first time he heard her recording of it was the day after she died.[6]Record World called it a "perfect matching of performer and material."[7] Joplin's version topped the charts to become her only number one single; her version was later ranked No. 148 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In 2002, the 1971 version of the song by Janis Joplin on Columbia Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song is the story of two drifters, the narrator and Bobby McGee. The pair hitch a ride from a truck driver and sing as they drive through the American South before making their way westward. They visit California and then part ways, with the song's narrator expressing sadness afterwards. Due to the singer's name never being mentioned and the name "Bobby" being gender-neutral (especially in America), the song has been recorded by both male and female singers with only minor differences in the lyrical content.
Me And Bobby McGee was first performed by the Grateful Dead in November 1970. It was then played well over 100 times through to October 1974. The song returned to the repertoire for three performances in 1981 after which it was dropped for good. Sung by Weir.
Kris Kristofferson, the iconic country music singer-songwriter and accomplished Hollywood actor, passed away peacefully at his home in Maui, Hawaii, at the age of 88. The family has not disclosed the cause of death. It was confirmed that Kristofferson was surrounded by loved ones during his final moments.
In a statement, the family shared: "It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 28 at home. We're all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he's smiling down at us all."
Tributes poured in from across the entertainment world and fans as the news of Kris Kristofferson’s death spread. Barbra Streisand, his co-star in A Star Is Born, praised him as a "special” and “charming" in a post on X. Dolly Parton, who collaborated with Kristofferson, shared on X, "What a great loss. I will always love you, Dolly."
Kristofferson's career was nothing short of extraordinary. He achieved stardom as both a country music artist and a successful actor. Throughout his prolific career, Kristofferson earned numerous accolades. These include three Grammy Awards and an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Additionally, he was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985 for Best Original Song for Songwriter.
In 1971, Janis Joplin, who had dated Kristofferson, had a number one hit with "Me and Bobby McGee" from her posthumous album Pearl. It stayed on the number-one spot on the charts for weeks.
In 2021, after releasing his final album, The Cedar Creek Sessions, in 2016, Kristofferson announced his retirement from music. His legacy as a musician, actor, and cultural icon leaves a profound impact on both industries. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, his children, and his grandchildren.
After years of in-fighting and near-agreements, Pink Floyd have finally reached a deal to sell the rights to their recorded music catalog to Sony Music, according to the Financial Times.
The deal is reported to be worth around $400 million and also includes the rights to the band’s name and likenesses. That means, along with gaining full control over Pink Floyd’s music, Sony will have the crucial rights for most things Pink Floyd-related, from merch to movies.
A rep for Sony Music declined to comment. A source confirmed the veracity of the details to Rolling Stone.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in August, Gilmour confirmed that the band was “in discussion” about a potential catalog sale, with the guitarist adding he was tired of the continued in-fighting and “veto system” that has resulted in animosity and delayed reissues over petty issues like liner notes.
“To be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going is my dream,” Gilmour said of a catalog sale. “If things were different… and I am not interested in that from a financial standpoint. I’m only interested in it from getting out of the mud bath that it has been for quite a while.”
With the Sony deal in place, the label — and not the band — will now bear the responsibility for the next Pink Floyd release, a 50th-anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here that is expected to arrive in 2025.
The Sony deal comes 18 months after Pink Floyd made traction on a $500 million agreement to sell their music, only for more bickering between band mates to make the deal “basically dead,” as sources told Variety in March 2023.
The Sony deal only includes Pink Floyd’s recorded music catalog, which allows for the band to keep its largely Waters-penned publishing catalog and retain ownership of now-apropos lyrics like “Money/It’s a crime/Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie” and “We call it riding the gravy train.”
In May 1986, a storage auction took place in California’s Marin County that would altogether change the nature of Grateful Dead tape trading, the group’s distribution of its live recordings and, ultimately, the Dead’s place in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. An advertisement in a local paper drew in a few dozen curious parties anticipating the range of memorabilia and household items that typically become available through the auction of lockers that had fallen into arrears due to lack of payments.
Among the items up for auction that day were hundreds of reel-to-reel soundboard tapes of the Grateful Dead originally recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson during a golden age between 1971-80.
The Betty Boards, as copies of these recordings became known, eventually found their way into the collections of longstanding Deadheads and newbies alike, ending some aspects of a tape-trading hierarchy by which certain individuals lorded over their collections, denying access to those who were unfamiliar with the secret handshake.
The appearance and subsequent dissemination of these recordings became a source of fascination and speculation for Deadheads in 1986 and the questions have only compounded over the years: How did the tapes fall into the auction? Who won them? How and why were they initially distributed? Are there more recordings that have yet to make it into circulation? And jumping ahead to the present, where are those tapes today? Just what has become of the Bettys?
What can be said with certainty is that a new cache of tapes has been unearthed and a plan is underway by Dark Star Orchestra guitarist Rob Eaton, who has painstakingly restored many of the boards, to complete the job and then facilitate their return to the band. Eaton hopes that a series of official releases might follow that will also yield a small royalty to the woman who recorded the reels and then lost them due to her own financial hardship, even if Deadheads owe her a debt of gratitude.
Before the auction, before the boards, there was Betty.
Betty Cantor was still in her teens when she began setting up mics and helping to record sound at San Francisco venues— first at the Avalon Ballroom and then, the Carousel (the latter during the Grateful Dead’s brief stab at venue management in 1968). She worked alongside Bob Matthews, initially assisting with setups during the recording of the Dead’s Anthem of the Sun. A true pioneer, as a woman staking her claim in a patriarchal business, she partnered with Matthews into the early 1970s to produce and engineer live multi- track recordings (she had a hand or two in Live/Dead) as well as studio efforts (Aoxomoxoa and Workingman’s Dead).
While she worked for other artists during this period, she maintained a close relationship with the Grateful Dead, catalyzed by her marriage to crew member Rex Jackson, who would die a few years later in an auto accident. (The philanthropic Rex Foundation is named in his honor.)
“My late husband started recording on the road when he was on the equipment crew,” Cantor Jackson explains. “He and I purchased our own gear and tape. I recorded whenever I could get to the gigs. I recorded the Grateful Dead frequently when they were at home venues, I recorded any and all Jerry Garcia Band gigs I could get to for years, in all its configurations, as well as other bands I liked whenever I could. In those days, bands were cool and happy about me getting a feed. Rex was killed in a car accident in ‘76. In ‘77 and ‘78, I was put on Grateful Dead road crew salary, taping and handling Bobby’s stage setup.”
She later began a romantic relationship with Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland but, after that ended, she sensed that she had been frozen out. “Brent and I split up after a few years, with the last year spent in the studio working on his solo project. This put me in the category of the dreaded ‘ex.’ I didn’t think that could apply to me, but he was a band member. Everyone was paranoid of me being around, so I no longer had access to my studio or the vault.”
Trying times followed. In 1986, she found herself in a dire financial predicament and forced out of her home. “All my things were moved to storage facilities.
Unable to foot the bill at the storage center, Cantor-Jackson forfeited the rights to her worldly possessions. She remembers contacting the Grateful Dead office to inform them of the situation, but the group took no action, resulting in a public auction of Cantor-Jackson’s personal assets, which included more than 1,000 reel-to-reel tapes—mostly Grateful Dead recordings, along with performances by Legion of Mary, Kingfish, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and In The Way, the Keith and Donna Band, and New Riders of The Purple Sage.
The majority of the 1,000-plus reels that have come to be known as the Betty Boards were acquired by three principals, none of whom were fervid Deadheads at the time. The first of these individuals set his tapes aside in a storage locker where they remain to this day. A second, who was more interested in the road cases that held the tapes, left them to rot in his barn for a decade. The final party was a couple with a particular interest in progressive rock, who nonetheless held an appreciation for the performances captured on tape.
So while some tapes unquestionably were scattered to the wind, following the four- hour event and a second auction for a final lot of tapes held a few weeks later, the three prime bidders each held hundreds of reels. While two of the winning bidders had no plans for the tapes, within a few months the couple decided that they would place the music in circulation.
This was our way of getting new material into circulation and also breaking the hierarchy of those collectors who held on to prime shows for themselves. Initially, we started transferring the tapes to VHS Hi-Fi on our own, but soon realized what a daunting task this was going to be. So we reached out to one of our trading buddies who we knew had connections in the Dead trading community. From there, he gathered together what was later to become known as the ‘Unindicted Co-conspirators,’ who put in a massive archiving effort to back up the tapes and distribute them.”
The individual they selected as their point person was Ken Genetti, a friend and longtime Deadhead. “I went into their house, and I opened up this closet and they had all the stuff arranged on a shelf in order,” Genetti reflects. “For me, it was like King Tut’s tomb. I knew immediately what they had when I looked in there. The first thing I saw was Port Chester, N.Y., Feb. 18, 1971, an incredible show which was Mickey [Hart]’s last concert for many years and I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Then I saw Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, Calif., ‘73, my favorite concert I ever went to. I pulled it out and I went, ‘Holy shit!’”
They explain: “We had sought to keep the operation as low key as possible because of the potential for a backlash. It wasn’t until someone contacted the Grateful Dead office and offered them a copy of the tapes that we knew it was only a matter of time before we would be hearing from their lawyers. When we did hear from them, there was a bit of back and forth between their lawyers and our lawyer, but the bottom line was we had purchased the tapes legally and owned them but didn’t own the rights to the music contained on them. Therefore, we could not sell the music on them, which was never our intent anyway. That pretty much left us at a stalemate and, not wanting to stir up any more issues with the Grateful Dead office, is also why we avoided re-digitizing the tapes.”
In late 1995, Eaton received a call from a high-school teacher who had purchased one of the lots predominantly for the road cases that held the tapes. The teacher now hoped to sell the reels and wanted Eaton to assess them. In a cluttered barn, Eaton discovered a grimy, mold-infested collection.
This might have been the end of the story, but the Betty Boards have proven to be the gift that keeps on giving. The teacher never found a buyer for the tapes—his asking price was a million dollars—and two years ago, facing monetary struggles and fearing that that the bank might foreclose on his home, he contacted Eaton once again to see if he would be willing to take custody of the tapes. The teacher also explained that he had discovered another 50 reels while cleaning out the barn.
Emboldened by success with this latest batch, Eaton set a new goal for himself: “I had this dream to try to reclaim all of this music and archive it properly so that it’s there for generations to come in the best possible form.”
Emboldened by success with this latest batch, Eaton set a new goal for himself: “I had this dream to try to reclaim all of this music and archive it properly so that it’s there for generations to come in the best possible form.” So through a chain of contacts, he eventually located the couple.
While completing his work on the couple’s reels, Eaton began researching the original auction, hoping to identify the third individual who had purchased the Bettys. He eventually found him, and in January 2014, the pair entered into discussions about this final batch of tapes, which Eaton hopes to restore.
What then? Eaton has a plan that he already has set in motion. “What I’d love to see done—in a perfect world—is I think all the tapes need to go back to the vault,” he says. “I think the people that have purchased these tapes should be compensated. I don’t think we’re talking huge sums of money but enough to make them relinquish the tapes back to the Grateful Dead. They should be part of the collection. Another thing that’s important is if these tapes do get back to the vault, Betty should get her production royalty on anything that gets released, which is completely reasonable. Those were her tapes; those weren’t the Dead’s tapes. I’d love to see Betty get her due.”
SHOW No. 2: Heaven Help The Fool
Track #6
1:30 – 3:10
Heaven Help the Fool is the second solo album by Grateful Deadrhythm guitaristBob Weir, released in 1978. It was recorded during time off from touring, in the summer of 1977, while Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart recovered from injuries sustained in a vehicular accident. Weir returned to the studio with Keith Olsen, having recorded Terrapin Station with the producer earlier in the year. Several well-known studio musicians were hired for the project, including widely used session player Waddy Wachtel and Toto members David Paich and Mike Porcaro.
Only "Salt Lake City" and the title track were played live by the Grateful Dead, the former in its namesake location on February 21, 1995,[1] and the latter in an instrumental arrangement during their 1980 acoustic sets.[2] Despite this, Weir has continued to consistently play tracks from the album with other bands of his, including RatDog and Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros. "Bombs Away" was released as a single and peaked at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his only solo song to make the chart.[3] The album itself stalled at number 69, one spot behind his previous album, Ace.
The title track was written by Bobby and John Barlow. While a staple at Bob shows with the Midnights, Rob Wasserman, Rat Dog, Wolf Bros., etc., the Dead only played it during these Warfield/Radio City and only as an instrumental arrangement.
Played: 17 times
First: September 29, 1980 at The Warfield, San Francisco, CA, USA
Last: October 31, 1980 at Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY, USA
Now the electric tunes from today’s show:
SHOW No. 3: Cold, Rain & Snow
Track #10
0:00 – 1:30
"Rain and Snow", also known as "Cold Rain and Snow" (Roud 3634),[1] is an American folksong and in some variants a murder ballad.[2] The song first appeared in print in Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil Sharp's 1917 compilation English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, which relates that it was collected from Mrs. Tom Rice in Big Laurel, North Carolina in 1916. The melody is pentatonic.
Campbell and Sharp's version collected only a single verse:
Lord, I married me a wife,
She gave me trouble all my life,
Made me work in the cold rain and snow.
Rain and snow, rain and snow,
Made me work in the cold rain and snow.
In 1965, Dillard Chandler recorded a graphic murder ballad version of the song that ends with the wife being shot by the husband. According to the liner notes on Chandler's album, Chandler learned the song from Berzilla Wallin, who said that the song related to a murder that had occurred in Madison County, North Carolina:
Well, I learned it from an old lady which says she was at the hanging of – which was supposed to be the hanging, but they didn't hang him. They give him 99 long years for the killing of his wife... I heard the song from her in 1911. She was in her 50s at that time. It did happen in her girlhood... when she was a young girl... She lived right here around in Madison County. It happened here between Marshall and Burnsville; that's where they did their hanging at that time – at Burnsville, North Carolina. That's all I know, except they didn't hang the man.'[2]
Subsequent performances have elaborated a variety of additional verses and variants beyond the single verse presented by Campbell and Sharp. Several verses consistently appear. Some sources for lyrics that appear in some later versions may be from Dock Boggs's 1927 song "Sugar Baby" (Roud 5731),[1] another lament of a henpecked husband, which may have contributed a line about "red apple juice".[4] A British folksong, The Sporting Bachelors (Roud 5556),[1] contains similar themes, but was collected in the 1950s.[2][5] Earlier possible precursors include a series of broadside ballads on the general subject of "Woeful Marriage"; one frequently reprinted nineteenth-century example begins with the words "On Monday night I married a wife", (Roud 1692).[1][6]
These British antecedents mostly share common themes and inspirations; the song originated in the local tradition of Big Laurel, Madison County, and relate to a nameless murderer who committed the crime at some time between the end of the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century. A recent origin is also suggested by the relatively limited number of variations on the tune; most performances use the Campbell-Sharp melody as written.[2]
Despite the apparent violence of the lyrics, women feature prominently in the oral tradition of the song. It was collected from "Mrs. Tom Rice", and sung by Berzilla Wallin, who learned it from "an old lady" who remembered the murder trial the song was about.
The song is closely associated with the Grateful Dead; a studio version appeared on their first album The Grateful Dead (1967), and the song was a standard part of the Dead's repertoire throughout their career. They would often open with the song, or perform it early in the first set.[2] Unlike Chandler's recording, in the Dead's version of the lyrics the husband generally laments his mistreatment at his greedy wife's hands, but does not kill her. The lyrics from the Grateful Dead's version were adapted from an earlier recording by Obray Ramsey.
Played: 249 times
First: May 5, 1965 at Magoo's Pizza Parlor, Menlo Park, CA, USA
Last: June 19, 1995 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
MJ NEWS:
SHOW No. 4: Loser
Track #12
4:13 – 6:13
David Dodd: The song seems covered in the Americana dust of so many songs from this period of Hunter’s and Garcia’s songwriting partnership. Abilene, whether in Texas or Kansas, is a dusty cowtown—at the time in which the song seems to be set, the cattle outnumbered the human inhabitants by a factor of tens. It’s easy to see the scene Hunter so casually sets, of a broken-down gambler in a saloon, with a dirt street outside full of armed cowpokes.
Appearing, as it does, on Garcia, the song seems to pair naturally with the other gambling song on the album, “Deal.” It could be sung by the same character on a different day, in fact. And it fits in, as I mentioned, with a whole suite of songs that might be set in the same generic America of the late 19th or early 20th centuries: “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Jack Straw,” “Mister Charlie,” “Tennessee Jed,” “Cumberland Blues,” “Candyman,” and others, as well as certain selected covers, such as “Me and My Uncle,” and “El Paso.”
Those songs share certain motifs, and among them are the various accoutrements of a gambler’s trade, whether dice or cards. Money plays a role—and, in the case of “Loser,” the particular money mentioned helps place the song chronologically. Gold dollar coins were minted from 1849 (the Gold Rush!) to 1889. They were tiny little coins. I have one, and it is amazingly small—between 13 and 15 mm in diameter. “All that I am asking for is ten gold dollars…” C’mon! They’re tiny little things. In fact, originally, the line was “one gold dollar,” but that changed at some point to the “ten”
The crowning glory of the song, as in many other Garcia/Hunter compositions, is the bridge.
The song culminates in this cry of hopefulness: “Last fair deal in the country, Sweet Susie, last fair deal in the town. Put your gold money where your love is, baby, before you let my deal go down—go down.”
(It’s noted that “Sweet Susie” was dropped at some point, but then, occasionally, brought back. I think it was an optional decoration to the line. Alex Allan, in his Grateful Dead Lyric and Song Finder site, notes that “Sweet Susie” rarely appears after 1972, but that it’s sung in performances in 1974 and 1979.)
Almost always played as a first set Jerry ballad.
This version might have been the high point of this show. So nicely played and sung by Jerry.
Played: 353
First: February 18, 1971 at Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, USA
Last: June 28, 1995 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, MI
OUTRO: Good Lovin’
Track #27
3:25 – 5:04
"Good Lovin'" is a song written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick that was a #1 hit single for the Young Rascals in 1966.
The song was first recorded by Lemme B. Good (stage name of singer Limmie Snell) in March 1965 and written by Rudy Clark. The following month it was recorded with different lyrics by R&B artists The Olympics, produced by Jerry Ragovoy; this version reached #81 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.
The tale has been told that Rascal Felix Cavaliere heard The Olympics' recording on a New York City radio station and the group added it to their concert repertoire, using the same lyrics and virtually the same arrangement as The Olympics' version. Co-producer Tom Dowd captured this live feel on their 1966 recording, even though the group did not think the performance held together well. "Good Lovin'" rose to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the spring of 1966 and represented the Young Rascals' first real hit.
"Good Lovin'" is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and was ranked #333 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.[4] Writer Dave Marsh placed it at #108 in his 1989 book The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, saying it is "the greatest example ever of a remake surpassing the quality of an original without changing a thing about the arrangement."
A popular version was by the Grateful Dead, who made it a workhorse of their concert rotation, appearing almost every year from 1969 on.[6] It was sung in their early years during the 1960s and early 1970s by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and later by Bob Weir. The Weir rendition was recorded for the group's 1978 Shakedown Street album and came in for a good amount of criticism: Rolling Stone said it "feature[d] aimless ensemble work and vocals that Bob Weir should never have attempted."[7] On November 11, 1978, the Grateful Dead performed it on Saturday Night Live.
Typically, at least by the time I started seeing them, usually played as a second set closer or late in the second set.
As good buddy AWell always said, “if they play Good Lovin, everyone leaves with a smile on their face.” Can’t argue with that.
Played: 442
First: May 5, 1965 at Magoo's Pizza Parlor, Menlo Park, CA, USA
Last: June 28, 1995 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI, USA
Easy fast on Yom Kippur