The WELL: deadsongs.vue.10: And We Bid You Goodnight

#12: Alex Allan (alexallan) Tue 8 Jun 04 06:08

Tue, 08 Jun 2004 06:08:00 PDT

I just stumbled across a 1935 Alan Lomax recording from the Bahamas of "I Bid You Goodnight." It doesn't have the "Lay down my dear brother" section, and the verses are almost incomprehensible. But it has the same "I bid you goodnight, goonight" refrain after each line.

Of interest as an earlier Bahamas recording than the Joseph Spence/Pindar Family one which the Dead learned their version from. [Read entire topic]

#11: Christian Crumlish (xian) Mon 3 May 04 07:55

Mon, 03 May 2004 07:55:00 PDT

I sense that Richard Thompson has the "those folkies sold out and got rich" take on the Dead, and most of his teasing seems gentle and somewhat uninformed. I'ved often thought that Jerry might have been happier with Richard's career.

When I was in Liverpool in a graveyard I saw some lines etched in a headstone that were the bit about lay down and take your rest/we love thee, but Jesus loves thee best, which I gather was from the same source hymn that inspired the Bahamian variation ("Tell A for the Ark that wonderful boat," etc.) that inspired the incredible string band that inspired the dead, or whatever the provenance we just figured out upthread.

One of my Dead show going highlights was the '89 bid you goodnight at the Greek, nearly a capella and with Jerry singing all those Bahamian verses. [Read entire topic]

#10: Gary Burnett (jera) Wed 21 Apr 04 09:25

Wed, 21 Apr 2004 09:25:00 PDT

"more enthusiastic than accurate" has always been an apt description of the wonderful Incredible String Band! [Read entire topic]

#9: from TIM WHITE (tnf) Wed 21 Apr 04 08:52

Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:52:00 PDT

Tim White writes:

Hi The Incredible String Band (who are now incrediblestringband2004) still perform AWBYG - I saw them do it last night! It's part of a long loose suite of songs and tunes called "A Very Cellular Song". Some of the harmonies were more enthusiastic than accurate but it was a lot of fun. Peace Tim [Read entire topic]

#8: David Gans (tnf) Fri 16 Apr 04 07:43

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 07:43:00 PDT

(I've heard that Norma Waterson "Black Muddy River," and it is indeed a thing of beauty.)

(I've also heard through mutual friends that Richard Thompson is no fan of the GD; not sure abovut the Watersons and Carthys.) [Read entire topic]

#7: from TIM WHITE (tnf) Fri 16 Apr 04 07:42

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 07:42:00 PDT

Tim White writes:

Hi

W:C love to sing hymns like "Sleep On Beloved" and it is still in their repertoire. I saw them about a week before Christmas 2003 in a village hall, they played their usual 2 sets then treated us to another 45 minutes of unaccompanied Christmas songs, wish I had a tape of it to send you guys!

Another GOGD connection is Norma Waterson's version of "Black Muddy River" which will make you cry. It's on her self-titled album released on Hannibal 1996 and features Eliza and Martin Carthy and incredible guitar from Richard Thompson.

I always mean to ask them if they are Dead fans, I'll let you know sometime.

Tim [Read entire topic]

#6: David Dodd (ddodd) Tue 13 Apr 04 12:46

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:46:00 PDT

And my kids first heard it on a great Nicolette Larson children's tape called Sleep Baby Sleep, so now when it comes on the stereo sung by the Dead, they are really into it. Always loved the Any Old Time String Band's version! [Read entire topic]

#5: David Gans (tnf) Mon 12 Apr 04 12:41

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 12:41:00 PDT

Jody Stecher played his recording of the Pindar family for his ppals in Palo Alto, a group that included Jerry Garcia, Eric Thompson, Robert Hunter, et al. That;s how the song got into the Grateful Dead's heads. [Read entire topic]

#4: Alex Allan (alexallan) Mon 12 Apr 04 12:39

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 12:39:00 PDT

There's some interesting background in the liner notes to Waterson:Carthy

"In the 1960s, the Incredible String Band renamed a song called 'I Bid You Goodnight' which they learned from Jody Stecher's recordings of the great Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence and his family, the Pindar family, and the song became, for some folkies, one of those great standards. A year or two ago, John Howson visited Staithes to record the Fisherman's Choir, and was accompanied by Maggie Hunt who, at the same time, was interviewing the individuals involved. During conversations, Mr Willie Wright sung a snatch of the Sankey hymn 'Sleep On Beloved' which he described as a lowering down song at funerals, and which was clearly the same song as 'I Bid You Goodnight' but in an earlier form, and when Norma [Waterson] heard it she went to see Willie, who kindly provided her with the other verses. When we sang the song to Jody Stecher, he was enormously pleased, not least because its function as a funeral song in the Bahamian fishing community was identical to that in its North Yorkshire counterpart." [Read entire topic]

#3: David Dodd (ddodd) Mon 12 Apr 04 08:42

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 08:42:00 PDT

Wow! I'll have to find that! [Read entire topic]