Good blog on retired songs

[John A]

Wow does this blog contain loads of detail.

If only Phil would have listened to himself when he uttered this now infamous quote in 1981 while referring to Box Of Rain:

Quote

I never did that much lead singing, ‘cause I never felt comfortable with it, especially live. For some people it’s easy, but for me to play the bass and sing – almost impossible.

http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2015/07/abandoned-songs-1967-1974.html

[Dancin' Fool]

Great link John! Had loads of fun cherry picking thru it last nite. Thanks!

 

 

I knew there were a few songs I wasn't familiar with...

[helpfrankslip]

Not sure if this fits in during the thread but does anyone hear had been at some of revived or bust out shows,I've recently saw a you tube vid of that first Reuben and cherish and as soon as the aud figured what it was it was pandemonium. so I like to hear yours

[Dead duck]

The first reuben was awesome for crowd reaction. There is a video of the loose lucy reimmergence i really like also. Also not sure of the show but the first st stephen after the long hiatus was sweet. Unfortunately all were unattended by me just found later

[Rude]

Great blog.  Great insight into why the dead stopped playing many songs.  But what gets me is why Mountains never made a comeback on those 80s 3 set shows.  Garcia, 1971: “‘Mountains of the Moon’ is really a lovely tune. It’s still one of my favorites of the ones I’ve ever written. I thought it came off like a little gem.” (Signpost to New Space)

Most of the songs they stopped playing had negative quotes about them but Mountains was thought of fondly.  Maybe in 1980 Jerry thought his voice couldn't do what he felt he needed to do to sing that.  I mean there's no doubt that it couldn't live up to the emotion he poured into it in 69, but would have been nice to hear a later version of that.

At least DSO doesnt feel the same way about many of these songs and can do them justice.

[helpfrankslip]

13 minutes ago, Dead duck said:

The first reuben was awesome for crowd reaction. There is a video of the loose lucy reimmergence i really like also. Also not sure of the show but the first st stephen after the long hiatus was sweet. Unfortunately all were unattended by me just found later

I am pretty sure in 83 they broke Stephen 3 times one was MSG can't remember the other east coast 1 then west coat Berkeley 

[gr8fulpair]

I was at the 86 Hampton show when Box of Rain came back from a long hiatus. Didn't take long cause as soon as Phil stepped to the mic, the place went bananas. That was way back when people wanted to hear Phil sing, cause they had never heard him sing anything other than box, unbroken or Tom thumbs. 

[ducats]

I caught one of the Walking the Dog's and the first Desolation Row.

[Tom Banjo]

Blog was a great read but Jerry was definitely one of his harshest critics. Called many songs failed or incomplete that I find to be some of his best work. 

[acududeman]

13 hours ago, gr8fulpair said:

I was at the 86 Hampton show when Box of Rain came back from a long hiatus. Didn't take long cause as soon as Phil stepped to the mic, the place went bananas. That was way back when people wanted to hear Phil sing, cause they had never heard him sing anything other than box, unbroken or Tom thumbs. 

I was at that 86 Hampton show too......remember the crowd roar?........could barely hear the band!

[Mojo Hand]

I saw two major breakouts. The summer 1992 return of Casey Jones at RFK was pure joy. The giant train whistle that mickey used to start the song was classic. It was a gorgeous summer day and somehow we had a spot on the grass, near the stage with a ton of dancing room. The crowd was euphoric. I never had a huge connection to the song. Nonetheless, I will always remember it as one of the best moments in the summer of my life. I feel like the whole crowd starting doing cartwheels. Smile smile smile. 

I also saw the unbroken chain breakout on philly a few years later. Again, not a song I had a big connection to. The crowd went berserk.  The execution of the song was poor. They never got it quite right that spring. But cool moment anyway. 

 

[Island Bro]

5 hours ago, Mojo Hand said:

I saw two major breakouts. The summer 1992 return of Casey Jones at RFK was pure joy. The giant train whistle that mickey used to start the song was classic. It was a gorgeous summer day and somehow we had a spot on the grass, near the stage with a ton of dancing room. The crowd was euphoric. I never had a huge connection to the song. Nonetheless, I will always remember it as one of the best moments in the summer of my life. I feel like the whole crowd starting doing cartwheels. Smile smile smile. 

I also saw the unbroken chain breakout on philly a few years later. Again, not a song I had a big connection to. The crowd went berserk.  The execution of the song was poor. They never got it quite right that spring. But cool moment anyway. 

 

This got me curious about Casey Jones stats and I discovered that (if my sources were correct) GD played CJ 304 times total,,

and 234 of those were '70-'73

And dso has played CJ 122 times (through 11/19/2016 so a few added now)

 

[John A]

Mojo,

Sadly by the time Unbroken came out Garcia had no chance to play it right.  His guitar work on the fast bridge section was non existent.  Also, while the RFK Casey Jones no doubt brought huge energy from the crowd (and the train whistle was awesome!) the version, IMHO, was pretty flaccid.  Check out 12/16/92 for a good late era Casey.

I think that for pure crowd energy the '86 Hampton Box is hard to top.  Although the '89 Hampton Dark Star is up there.

[Mojo Hand]

The unbroken chain was about the only thing that gave the philly show any excitement, even though it sucked. They did not do themselves any favors trying to execute that song in an era where they were struggling. 

The quality of the playing in Casey Jones really had nothing to do with that summer day in dc. It was all smiles on a perfect day......for me.  Love the Hampton breakout of box of rain.  Wasn't there so I can't really compare..... And not sure your comparative of the experience is necessary or even possible though.  I remember turning around and watching the crowd for a few moments. I've never seen anything like it in my life. A giant mass of people in a football stadium on a perfect day. It was a dancing rainbow of joy. I am sure you have had a surreal experience or two when you watched the crowd at a dead show in awe of the experience.  This happens to be one I'll never forget. It was complete euphoria, as opposed to transcendence through music and dance which is my description of how it feels when the quality of music is right. What a day, even though we heard rumors of it being sound checked all week if i remember correctly. 

[PoetryGirl]

Wow - I never knew they played "Empty Pages"!!! I am going to check that OUT !!  My top five all time non GD favorite song along with "Moonlight Sonata", "Amber Gris" and "Riffin Ed"by MMW. Still waiting on number five lol- right now it is Steely Dan's "Fire in the Hole"- subject to change. 

[helpfrankslip]

On 3/11/2017 at 4:36 AM, acududeman said:

I was at that 86 Hampton show too......remember the crowd roar?........could barely hear the band!

I've heard that after that box between sets there were long lines at all the payphones cause of people calling their friends who weren't their 

[Tea]

If you didn't get it whjile on tour, there was always 1-900-LIVE-DEAD