The WELL: deadsongs.vue.23: Black Peter

#26: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Tue 5 Feb 08 09:12

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:12:00 PST

Another 17 years leaves room for plenty more digestion, believe me. [Read entire topic]

#25: Anthony W. Correll (anthonycorrell) Mon 4 Feb 08 17:46

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:46:00 PST

I feel the same, during my first Dead show, that moment hit me like a ton of bricks, and it was all there, courtesy of Hunter, right from the beginning: the "now" is the most important thing, but it's just the same as any other "now" (that's ever been). I've been trying to digest it for 20 years, best just to try to remember. [Read entire topic]

#24: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Mon 4 Feb 08 10:54

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:54:00 PST

Oh yeah, spellcheck! [Read entire topic]

#23: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Mon 4 Feb 08 10:54

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:54:00 PST

Even so, Peter wants "a friend or two ... at hand". The whole lyric is a fine balance of contracdictions. The one that really gets to me is:

See here how everything Lead up to this day And it's just like any other day That's ever been

This really does capture aspects of my psychedelic experience, the simultaneous sense of being at the centre of things and of being a molecular component. [Read entire topic]

#22: Scott MacFarlane (s-macfarlane) Mon 4 Feb 08 05:17

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:17:00 PST

Back by request, this is from the "people sure are nice around here" topic <gd2356> that welcomed <billybaggs> to The Well:

<masonskids> asks what the story is behind "Black Peter"

This is my response:

The people might know, but the people dont care, That a man can be as poor as me. Take a look at poor peter, hes lying in pain, Now lets come run and see, run and see, Run and see, run, run and see, and see.

It's interesting how this mostly first person deathbed song shifts its Point-of-View in the last stanza. There's the feeling that Peter thinks no one cares--despite the fact that all of his friends had come to see him the night before--to the POV of the town kids turning Black Peter's plight into one of a spectacle. Hunter does a great job with these vacillations of mood and POV of capturing a feverish, delusional state.

<jstrahl>, in the same topic responded that he didn't think there was any contradiction between Black Peter talking about how no one cared in the last stanza and the first stanza when he had to endure his friends who came to see him. They, too, were just there to gawk and Annie Bonneau only wants to talk about the weather being just fine while he is burning up with fever.

<jera> agrees with this interpretation by <jstrahl>

To this, I responded: That does make sense! And amplified by the neighbor kids at the end. "Black Peter" is a great vignette. [Read entire topic]

#21: from MARK L. REID (tnf) Thu 1 Sep 05 11:30

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:30:00 PDT

Mark L. Reid writes:

Could Hunters reference to Saint Angel be somehow connected to the Saint Angel castle of Rome? No idea who Annie would be though. Her last name is of French decent obviously. There is a town in Auvergne France named Saint Angel.

http://www.alovelyworld.com/webitaly/htmgb/rome.htm

The imposing Saint Angel castle was in the beginning a grandiose mausoleum, from Etruscan inspiration, designed by the Hadrian emperor for itself and its successors (130-139). The funeral urns of all the emperors, from Hadrian to Septime Severe (211), were deposited there.

Sincerely, Mark L. Reid [Read entire topic]

#20: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Tue 29 Mar 05 07:14

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:14:00 PST

OK, another plump for Mexico! [Read entire topic]

#19: from PETE GRILL (tnf) Mon 28 Mar 05 21:10

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 21:10:00 PST

Pete Grill writes:

> A PBS documentary on Frida Kahlo may have indirectly shed light on the > somewhat obscure whereabouts of Annie Beauneu, immortalized friend of Black > Peter. Kahlo and Diego Rivera both lived and worked in the town of San An- > gel, in Mexico City. This would corroborate Annie Beauneu's assessment of, > "the weather down here so fine." -PG [Read entire topic]

#18: from PAUL KENISTON (tnf) Sat 26 Mar 05 18:12

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:12:00 PST

Greetings,

This is my first post after enjoying my first plunge into The Well.

Regarding " but who can the weather command?"

Before answering the question, let's consider it's impetus. " Just then the wind came squalling through the door"

This resonates in me with the third chapter of John's Gospel. v. 8 " the wind bloweth where it listeh, and thou hearest the sound thererof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit "

The wind alludes to the spirit of life whose presence can be ignored, or resisted, but never avoided.

For poor Peter the question is of the utmost importance. His ability to have any command of the spirit of his life is in vain. Now he must lay it down and let the spirit command him.

Paul Keniston Dallas, Texas [Read entire topic]

#17: Lightning in a Box (unkljohn) Sat 19 Mar 05 14:43

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:43:00 PST

Nice. Thanks. [Read entire topic]