Dead Songs in Depth

    
I used to live in Pittsburgh, and spent much time in the wilds of
rural West Virginia, and trips to eastern KY and TN. This is the land
of verticality, there is nor horizontal land anywhere (or so it seems).

A real life experience is driving down some of those rural roads. I
had several instances of being greeted by a gun. My fave was finding
ourselves in the middle of several farms that raised Cocks for
fighting, humm, us mountain bikers be moving on now, suh..
  

    
Adventure travel right here in the US of A!
  

    
I used to spend considerable time in extremely rural parts of West
Virginia, and never had a bad experience with the locals.  Got invited
to supper a few times, and that was back in my longhair days.
  

    
You do have to be careful wandering around.  Don't want to stumble
into someone's mary-juh-wanna patch.  And lots of folks are *very*
suspicious of men in ties, "You ain't from the guv'ment now, are you
boy?"
  

    
I was once with a group paying a visit to a surface coal mine
operator. Fortunately, we had the (late) Ray Mansfield, an ex-steeler,
huh "stiller",  with us. We pulled up the road, and three guys came
out, shotguns drawn, ready to pull the trigger. They hollered at us
"Who are you?". We started to tell them, so Ray, wearing his NFL Alumni
jacket, bright blue, just opens the door and gets out. They put their
guns down (I thought they might drop to their knees and start worship).
They were worried we were either from the guv-ment, or "dem damn
unions". They don't like either.

You have to watch yourself in some of these areas, regardless of your
hair. Not just their green patches, but their stills, meth labs, cock
fighting, etc..
  

    
just wanted to mention that a discussion of this song takes place in
'around the fire'.
  

    
Can you give us a sense of the gist of that discussion?
  

    
i'll need some help.
there was a famousish b actor (stephen tobolowsky)playing an acid
dealer who asked questions about the song (who wrote it, etc.) and
played a live tape. The hero answered his questions and they kicked
around some interpretation of one of the lyrics. the dealer had had
some sort of revelation that didn't seem to make sense to me is all
that i remember.
  

    
This song is, I think, the quintessential example of Garcia's (and to
some extent Hunter's) ability to write truly great bridges - bridges
that are so good they could hold up as great songs. IMO, few artists in
rock music have been able to accomplish that, which why I think
Garcia's ability to write great bridges should be placed up there with
any of his other transcendent talents. One songwriter that has this
talent is Elvis Costello, and for some reason the bridge in "Tears
Before Bedtime" has always immediately reminded me of the bridge in
"Brown Eyed Women." I'm amazed by the startling, *perfect* key change
and the sudden sense of emotional importance that mesh well with the
bulk of the song while creating a dark, unique sidebar that definitely
makes the song what it is. In both songs, I think without the bridge
they're still *good* songs, but with the bridge they are something more
interesting, enticing and complete. 

On the other hand, Bob Dylan's songs almost never have bridges....
  

    
I think that is very true on this song, Adam.  The bridge makes this
song for me. In fact, sometimes I forget how much I like this song
*until* I get to the bridge.
  

    
Another one is Friend of the Devil. Without that bridge...
  

    
And "Ramble On Rose"
  

    
And "He's Gone"

And "St. Stephen"

And And And....


:-)
  

    
see deadlit 420
  

    
For those of you reading this and unable to "see deadlit 420", you should
know that this was a topic in the Deadlit conference on the WELL which dealt
extensively with the role of bridges in GD songs...and it contains some fine
conversation, as do many many deadlit topics.
  

    


Tim White writes:



"Delilah Jones went to meet her God
And the old man never was the same again"

I am always amused by an ambiguity about who "the old man" is here. Is it
Delilah's husband (the narrator's father) or God?

Just discovered this board, fascinating stuff. Hi to you all from Wales!
Tim
  

    
I've always loved the ambiguity in those lines.  I think it is the
narrator's father, but the language does leave open the other
possibility.
  

    
What a fun thought! God was never the same once Delilah arrived...
  

    
Heh! Now, there is a thought. I've never been the same since she
crossed my path. Why wouldn't a G-d htat supposedly made me in his
image be more unassailbe to her charms?

Caling Buddha to the Saffron Courtresy Phone. Please answer.
  

    
Posting this message from a reader:

Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:01:56 -0400
From: Tom Peterson <thomas_wolfe_@hotmail.com>
To: ddodd@well.com
Subject: Re: BE Women

you certainly have my permission.  Thanks again for your time and efforts.

------------------------------------------
From: David Dodd <ddodd@well.com>
To: Tom Peterson <thomas_wolfe_@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: BE Women
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 08:55:39 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the kind words.
Hmmm. Not too sure about the idea of BE Women applying directly to
Garcia's life, but you make an interesting point about the loss of a
parent. With your permission, I'd like to post your comment to
deadsongs.vue, a conference on the WELL (linked to from the top of the
home page of the annotated lyrics site: http://www.well.com/deadsongs/
There's a topic for each song, and your comment might set off some
interesting discussion. Thanks!
--David

-------------------------------------------
On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Tom Peterson wrote:



First Off, I wanted to say that I have thoroughly appreciated "The
Annotated GD Lyrics" site, the essays posted, the interpretation of lyrics
and so forth.  It has added new dimensions and understanding to the music
that has so richly enhanced so much of my life, so thank you for that.

Furthermore, I wanted to ask a question and hope it does not fall   into the
"What does x song mean?" category.

Brown Eyed Women.  Interesting lyrics & story.  I am curious if there is any
evidence to this being subject matter close to Garcia himself, with the
death of a parent included in the song.  Also the use of "gently Jack Jones"
and "John Jerome 'Jerry'" seem to be very coincidental.  Is there any
literature you are aware of on any of this?  Or perhaps there is somewhere I
have not yet looked where Hunter or Garcia comment on the song.

Any input is greatly appreciated.  Thanks again for all your time and
effort.

Grateful,

tom peterson
  

    
In the version on DP35 (24 Aug 1971 - one of the first performances),
Jerry sang "Thirteen children, only I turned bad" not "Raised eight
boys ..."

A few other small differences in the lyrics too.
  

    


Troy Krier writes:


yo man i think that is stupid as hell you charge people...good idea  to start
this  bad idea to capitalize of of stuff that isnt your own work..........by
the way bigfoot county is in montana...(brown eyed woman) noone seems to know
that on your website
  

    
um, that the Well charges people?
  

    



Troy Krier writes:


i called monatana historical society to find out if there was ever a bigfoot
county. she replied no so forget my last email about  it.........i could of
swore i read before in annotated lyrics book......excuse me while i pull foot
from my mouth:) thank god its not a bigfoot................
  

    
When Beth and I were at the GD reunion in Alpine in 2002, the guy next to 
us got all excited when they played BEW. He said the county that Alpine is 
in was called Bigfoot County. I got the sense that maybe it isn't actually 
named that but that was nicknamed that. Can't find anything on Google at 
the moment.