![]() It was not then performed again until 1990 after which time it was played between 6 and 12 times in each of the following years through to 1995.”) gave rise to an attempt, when the song reappeared in 1990, to use a fairly extensive reworking of the lyrics. The song was played over 70 times in 1972 and then just under 20 times in each of 19. I don’t think Barlow was satisfied with the lyric, or maybe Weir wasn’t, because of the fact that the song’s extremely uneven performance history (from The Grateful Dead Family Discography: “‘Black Throated Wind’ was first performed by the Grateful Dead in March 1972. Louis, thinking that he may have misbehaved, and maybe he should head on back there, possibly to grovel and ask to be taken back. So, the singer is stuck in the middle of nowhere, having left his lover in St. But, you know, it’s a lesson I seem to need to learn over and over: people will hear in these songs what they need to hear. The meaning seems obvious to me: “done better by me” means “treated me better.” For some reason, some people insist on reading it as “you’ve gotten the better of me,” which is just sort of exactly the opposite of what is being said. I’ve gotten into a number of disputes, over the years, about the lines I felt like a million dollars I was adventuring in the crazy American night." A California home I hid in the grapevines, digging it all. "The stars bent over the little roof smoke poked from the stovepipe chimney. ![]() It’s also been suggested that this is a double nod, and includes the ultimate icon of being on the road, Jack Kerouac, who wrote these lines in On the Road: John Barlow, in this early lyric written for Weir, which appeared on his “solo album,” Ace, in 1972, makes passing nodes to several icons, including, I would say, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., with his line containing the phrase “Ah, Mother American Night,” (caps Barlow’s) which brings to mind Vonnegut’s novel Mother Night. I apologize for any incoherence in advance.)Īlso, as a former hitchhiker, I have to ask: did anyone ever get picked up by a commercial trucker? I know this happens in “Me and Bobby McGee,” but.really? And then in “Pride of Cucamonga,” there’s a hitchhiker getting on board a Diesel Mack-another commercial truck. (It has been a long several days, frankly, and I’m winging it here. This gets complicated, this stuff about the Dead and songs about being on the road or jumping onto buses or not being picked up by buses. He’s out on the edge of an empty highway…no wait-that’s the other one…no, not The Other One. He is, it seems, running away from a situation in which he did not get the better deal. In the case of this particular song, the singer is reminiscing about a failed relationship while trying, unsuccessfully, to hitch a ride-but the cars, the buses, and the semis won’t pick him up. Get your hitchhiking stories ready-there are bound to be some good ones out there. ) Does anyone hitchhike anymore? I have a ton of memories about this mode of transportation, dating mostly from the late 1970s when it was the only way, in some cases, to get from point A to point B. (The others I’m thinking of are …? Your responses welcome. Here’s one of at least three hitchhiker songs in the Dead repertoire. Seems like a good time to take a look at “Black-Throated Wind,” if ever there was one. ![]() Happy birthday, Bob Weir! (October 16.) Cue up “Beat It On Down the Line” with an insane number of opening drumbeats. (I’ll consider requests for particular songs-just private message me!) Therefore, the best part, I would hope, would not be anything in particular that I might have to say, but rather, the conversation that may happen via the comments over the course of time-and since all the posts will stay up, you can feel free to weigh in any time on any of the songs! With Grateful Dead lyrics, there’s always a new and different take on what they bring up for each listener, it seems. Here’s the plan-each week, I will blog about a different song, focusing, usually, on the lyrics, but also on some other aspects of the song, including its overall impact-a truly subjective thing.
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