As a little bonus, here are the Dead with I Know You Rider. At 2 minutes 20 seconds Garcia seems hugely amused at singing the line I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train. I must be missing something here. There is an annotated Dead lyrics thing that may cast light on this (as it were) but I'm not putting my electronic finger on it. Anyone know? Here are the lyrics in full (it's traditional in origin so versions vary)..
I know you rider, gonna miss me when I'm gone
I know you rider, gonna miss me when I'm gone
Gonna miss your baby, from rolling in your arms
Lay down last night, Lord, I could not take my rest
Lay down last night, Lord, I could not take my rest
My mind was wandering like the wild geese in the West
The sun will shine in my back door some day
The sun will shine in my back door some day
March winds will blow all my troubles away
I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train
I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train
I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado rain
9 comments:
I always thought he was smiling b/c he knew/anticipated that the crowd was going to go crazy when he really belted out the 2nd "WISH I WAS A HEADLIGHT, ON A NORTHBOUND TRAAAAINNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!" Cause that was always good for a huge cheer from us. I mean that was when they were at their most 'Dead', jammin out a killer China Rider.
PS When they played like that it used to give me chills even on the hottest summer night at a steamy east coast stadium show.
not being a dead head, i don't know that i ever heard them sing this. if i did, i was probably not sober, but that's probably TMI. if it's from a traditional blues or gospel song might it be referring to going north out of slavery? this is fascinating, i might have to give y'all an assist on this one, darlin! xoxoxo
Dont Spoil The Mystery By Giving The Answer!
To My Sadness I Never Saw The Dead Live.But I did see Bob Weir in Manchester in 2005 [photos]
JoJo - I'm sure you're right. I Know You Rider always seems to elide out of 'China Cat Sunflower' like 'Lady with a fan' follows 'Terrapin Station'. Still havingf trouble accessing your blog btw.
Savannah - I think you may be absolutely spot on. Clever you! It's described as 'traditional' and the song odr fragments of it appear in lost of very old blues stuff, researches reveal.
Tony - The trouble was that they played so little in Europe. I did get to see them live at Wembley Arena so I made it in the end! Theer is a photo of me somewhere on the back row of the gallery smoking a... Oh never mind ;) Thanks for the Bob Weir pictures. I always thought he'd made some sort of Dorian Gray pact but then suddenly he seemed to catch up on his ageing at a rate of knots.
yeah!
and thats all i have to say about that.
http://tahomabeadworks.blogspot.com/
Should be there; I haven't had any trouble w/ it.
Mr Thoughts - Quite so...
JoJo - This is very weird. tried again to no avail. I keep trying!
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