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Length: 4:46
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'Cause when life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door
Think this through with me
Let me know your mind
Whoa oh, what I want to know is are you kind?
It's a buck dancer's choice, my friends, better take my advice
You know all the rules by now and the fire from the ice
Will you come with me?
Won't you come with me?
Whoa oh, what I want to know: will you come with me?
God damn, well, I declare
Have you seen the like?
Their walls are built of cannon balls
Their motto is "don't tread on me"
Come hear Uncle John's Band
Playing to the tide
Come with me or go alone
He's come to take his children home
It's the same story the crow told me, it's the only one he knows
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go
Ain't no time to hate
Barely time to wait
Whoa oh, what I want to know: where does the time go?
I live in a silver mine and I call it Beggar's Tomb
I got me a violin and I beg you call the tune
Anybody's choice
I can hear your voice
Whoa oh, what I want to know: how does the song go?
Come hear Uncle John's Band
By the riverside
Got some things to talk about
Here beside the rising tide
Come hear Uncle John's Band
Playing to the tide
Come along or go alone
He's come to take his children home
Whoa oh, what I want to know: how does the song go?
Come hear Uncle John's Band
By the riverside
Got some things to talk about
Here beside the rising tide
Come hear Uncle John's Band
Playing to the tide
Come along or go alone
He's come to take his children home
I'm an American so please don't lump me in with all the other Deadhead Americans.
I'm evidently missing something here; I really don't understand what people see in this. I find myself wondering whether it just rides the coat-tails of some of their more interesting tracks, I just find it kind of feeble. This time around RP followed it with some Wilco and that simply made this GD track seem even less impressive.
So I've been listening to a lot of bluegrass, blues, and folk (now called singer-songwriter) over the weekend, and although I "got on the bus" 40+ years ago, and it's not entirely a new realization, the Dead fall right into that pocket - just throw in a little jazz (improv), some lightening fast guitar riffs, & world beat drums. What you think you are missing can't be heard in the song itself, it's felt in the heart (and in the feet). Martin Buber would call it an "I - Thou" relationship. Mostly what I took away from my experiences is an open appreciation for creativity - Dylan to deadmau5; Vangelis to Van Halen; Strauss to Radiohead.
Thanks, Bill!
Oh good, it's not a mix-up, mashup, remix (whatever the hell those are called) like some of the other GD stuff I hear on RP (and fast forward).
Would like everyone to get off your lawn now?
Way too many plays recently.
Physicists have said that's not possible.
Or maybe it was physicians, I get the two mixed up.
“We're like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.” ― Jerry Garcia I realy like licorice...
I love licorice
in the strangest of places, my friend.
Yes, this is the gateway drug (more broadly, I would say American Beauty and Workingman's Dead are the gateway medicine cabinet). But the Deadhead club has no membership dues or requirements. As Gary said in a pre-show for one of the (on-going) COVID-era Shakedown Stream Friday night broadcasts of celebrated shows, "if you want to be on the bus, you're on the bus." Yes, the vocal harmonies are not the tightest, and the collaborative improvs sometimes lose their way, but as you become familiar with more of their songs, you appreciate more the spaces between them. That's why the setlists (which draw from 160+ songs) often feature segues like Scarlet (Begonias) > Fire (On The Mountain). Or my fave: China > Rider.
Somehow it just doesn't bother me to hear Jerry's fragile voice break on "I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train...I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain".
Reminds me of a comment @BillG once made about Mick's "miss" in the opening line of Ruby Tuesday.
You know you got nothin' better to do this Friday. Tune in to Shakedown Stream.
It's for a good cause. So is Radio Paradise.
American Beauty was the "gateway" for myself and my whole group of friends. Lots of great memories associated with this!
They have better songs but overall I always thought deadheads were the forerunners of computer nerds.
Actually .... based on info from highly reliable InterWeb sources --- when Dead Heads procreated, their offspring matured into Phish Heads! This must be true!
up there with dylan, joni, beatles, van, steely
“We're like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.” ― Jerry Garcia I realy like licorice...
Well put!
It probably is something like that. They take me back to the 1970s in the western states, sunshine and good times. I was just a kid back then but there's something in that music that puts me in that happy space. For others it's about the weed and the touring scene, I kind of get that too.
Amazing what time does...about 7 years ago I rated this low because I wasn't a GD fan. I hear this now and am refreshed. I suppose I'm growing up. Yay me!
Nah. You're not old. Just took you a little longer to get on the bus. And just in time for the recent psilocybin renaissance! Welcome.
Truly the black licorice of music...even the smell makes me gag...
Interesting that you should put it like that :)
Truly the black licorice of music...even the smell makes me gag...
are you nuts?
Black licorice from the Netherlands is almost therapuetic
The single salt is better than the double
Judging from the comments for this song, I don't think most people know The GD started out intentionally playing a "jug band*" sound. Being a little off with the tune and/or harmony was part of the shtick.
...
When I saw Sparks in the mid-70's they were supported by some oddballs called Strange Fruit, who thought playing jugs was entertaining. They were, sadly, booed off the stage in a very embarrassing manner. They were not related to the fictional band in the movie "Still Crazy".
This kind of stuff isn't for everyone.
The Hippies, and the Yippies, in San Fransico in the '60s loved it. It was the fresh, organic alternative to the processed beats on everyone's transistor radio, e.g., British Invasion, Wall of Sound, Motown, Surf, the Wreaking Crew, etc.
*Jerry Garcia's first band after getting out of the Army in 1960 was called, "Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions"
this is so amateurish ...
One of THE albums to come out of the 60s-70s strangeness. I gave this song a 10, so BITE ME!
I bought my first copy of the Electric Koolaid Acid Test in San Francisco Dec '81; I was 21. Read it on the bus cross country back to Toronto. I'd been Tripping to the likes of Floyd and Hawkwind for a few years by that point and mentally projected that keyboard and screaming guitar approach onto what I was reading about the Dead and the acid tests. Couldn't wait to get home and score some! I was more than a tad taken aback when I bought this album - forst, realizing I actually knew a couple tracks, just unaware they were by the Dead, and secondly by the folky laid back tunes... this was ACID music?! Took me a while to get and appreciate the California Mellow vibe (versus the British "sonic attack" approach). I've collected most of their music over the years and doggone I declare this remains a favourite album.
That's how it starts, lol :)
I heard somewhere, the Dead "took some lessons" from CSNY on harmonizing.
Crosby denies this. I don't have the full quote in front of me, but paraphrased he explained it as simple cross-pollination. They were all playing with each other, going to each others shows, jamming in side-projects, etc. He said the Dead were always good harmonizers, and if they maybe started doing it more because they were hearing what CSNY was doing, it wasn't anything more involved than that.
I think you mean Owsley? And his LSD?
I wonder what his stuff would go for these days...
c.
Maybe Wikipedia can help you further
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_John's_Band
and
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/uncle.html
I heard somewhere, the Dead "took some lessons" from CSNY on harmonizing.
I think their harmonies suck! Plain awful noise. But then I can't stand cilantro either.
I heard somewhere, the Dead "took some lessons" from CSNY on harmonizing.
jamesat43 wrote:
Yes, this is the gateway drug (more broadly, I would say American Beauty and Workingman's Dead are the gateway medicine cabinet). But the Deadhead club has no membership dues or requirements. As Gary said in a pre-show for one of the (on-going) COVID-era Shakedown Stream Friday night broadcasts of celebrated shows, "if you want to be on the bus, you're on the bus." Yes, the vocal harmonies are not the tightest, and the collaborative improvs sometimes lose their way, but as you become familiar with more of their songs, you appreciate more the spaces between them. That's why the setlists (which draw from 160+ songs) often feature segues like Scarlet (Begonias) > Fire (On The Mountain). Or my fave: China > Rider.
Somehow it just doesn't bother me to hear Jerry's fragile voice break on "I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train...I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain".
Reminds me of a comment @BillG once made about Mick's "miss" in the opening line of Ruby Tuesday.
You know you got nothin' better to do this Friday. Tune in to Shakedown Stream.
It's for a good cause. So is Radio Paradise.
Yes, this is the gateway drug (more broadly, I would say American Beauty and Workingman's Dead are the gateway medicine cabinet). But the Deadhead club has no membership dues or requirements. As Gary said in a pre-show for one of the (on-going) COVID-era Shakedown Stream Friday night broadcasts of celebrated shows, "if you want to be on the bus, you're on the bus." Yes, the vocal harmonies are not the tightest, and the collaborative improvs sometimes lose their way, but as you become familiar with more of their songs, you appreciate more the spaces between them. That's why the setlists (which draw from 160+ songs) often feature segues like Scarlet (Begonias) > Fire (On The Mountain). Or my fave: China > Rider.
Somehow it just doesn't bother me to hear Jerry's fragile voice break on "I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train...I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain".
Reminds me of a comment @BillG once made about Mick's "miss" in the opening line of Ruby Tuesday.
You know you got nothin' better to do this Friday. Tune in to Shakedown Stream.
It's for a good cause. So is Radio Paradise.
To each their own.. The big question is... are you kind... you said sorry... you felt the groove and just don't want to admit it.
c.
Real simple. It's the music. It's the vibe. All about space and time.
number7 wrote:
Agree but I "skip" anyway
So, this morning I decided to play this song because it randomly popped up on my iTunes window as I was scrolling through something to select for my early morning "pick me up". After it finished playing, I thought of RP.... which is where I think I had first heard it playing a while back for the first time in probably 40 years, so I put RP on. Then Bam! the second song you played, Bill, was this! Are you listening in?
Mmmm, double salt licorice from Belgium.
timmywilson wrote:
― Jerry Garcia
I realy like licorice...
Mine too.
junebaby65 wrote:
Ha!
Now that's funny!
Ha!
Going to see a GD "cover band" tomorrow night at a venue (like last rime) that is very conducive to vibes, grooves, dancing people, and those funny clouds of smoke.
I think he is now an assistant bank manager in Milwaukee. 2 kids, a dog, 9-5.
The culture was BS. The BS music remains. In false dreams of the past................
How is your job flipping burgers 5-9 and judging others 24-7 going?
this is just foolish, need to clean ya ears out
baylees wrote:
I think he is now an assistant bank manager in Milwaukee. 2 kids, a dog, 9-5.
The culture was BS. The BS music remains. In false dreams of the past................
Such a beautiful, trippy, little song.
The lyrics are provocative, fun, but also cryptic.
The musicianship, as always with the GD, is top notch.
And you can sing along and do a groovy, GD kind of dance to it...you know...the way people dance at their shows. A cross between ballet and a train wreck.
treatment_bound wrote:
Actually, this is the *only* GD song I like!
The out-of-tune singing is what's kept me from being a Dead fan ... great tunes and I'm willing to believe they do great live performances, but dang they can't carry a tune! Hurts my ears.
I think, this is a great song for/with several parts, it has a high complexity. It's real complicated to sing in parts with crossing melody lines (please try it with a friend and send me your yt-link!). Of course, in this song not in all cases everything went really really fine, but I'm sure GD won't stupidly sing the line of the guitar alltogether! I think this fakt makes the real difference to boring songs like "happy birthday" etc. =B-)
The out-of-tune singing is what's kept me from being a Dead fan ... great tunes and I'm willing to believe they do great live performances, but dang they can't carry a tune! Hurts my ears.
American Idol is for you.
Perfection is overated.
It certantly is.
The out-of-tune singing is what's kept me from being a Dead fan ... great tunes and I'm willing to believe they do great live performances, but dang they can't carry a tune! Hurts my ears.
Perfection is overated.
The out-of-tune singing is what's kept me from being a Dead fan ... great tunes and I'm willing to believe they do great live performances, but dang they can't carry a tune! Hurts my ears.
BTW, this entire album is a keeper
Still love it... time flies when we're having fun...
Just a beauitiful record and song. Not a deadhead and understand the reluctance of many to endure a dead show, but here you can feel the making of a truly great track. The lyrics are awesome.
I personally helped Robert Hunter with the lyrics. Over a session of quaaludes, cocaine, and a case of vodka. He was suffering from writer's block at the time.
It may be a little soon but I want to bump this comment up anyway. Thanks IW!
Just a beauitiful record and song. Not a deadhead and understand the reluctance of many to endure a dead show, but here you can feel the making of a truly great track. The lyrics are awesome.
This is their best album and this may be their song.
Beautiful, happy, thoughtful, joyful.
And just like that....it's gone.
It may be a little soon but I want to bump this comment up anyway. Thanks IW!
This is their best album and this may be their song.
Beautiful, happy, thoughtful, joyful.
And just like that....it's gone.
Thanks so much for this!
johnjconn wrote:
Ain't no time to hate...