Customer Reviews

Rough But Pleasing, Vol. 2

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Proud Mary
(John Fogerty, 1969; N/A)
This was the first song I ever learned on guitar, back in 1977. Creedence Clearwater Revival always reminds me of my youth in Oklahoma, with that swampy Southern sound. Knowing Fogerty is from Berkeley California is interesting but irrelevant. According to dead.net, "John Fogerty sang this with the Dead on 3 November 1991 at the memorial concert for Bill Graham."

All Along the Watchtower
(Bob Dylan, 1967; "Dylan And The Dead," 1988)
A fuller description is with the other version, in Vol. 4. This version was an alternate take; I was unsatisfied with the other version and wanted to try a very different approach. Eventually I got the other version to work well, but liked this one too much to let it go. My guitar/vocal tracks are one unedited take.

Stella Blue
(Garcia/Hunter, 1972; "Wake of The Flood," 1973)
The haunting chords are what hooked me to this song. The slow pace is a strong vocal challenge for me, but it turned out fine as a one-take solo, with Tom Clarke's solo overdubbed.

Tangled Up in Blue
(Bob Dylan, 1974; "Jerry Garcia Band," 1991)
Not entirely by coincidence, I have placed two "Blue" songs back-to-back. More deliberately, this and the next two songs are for me about my brief first marriage in 1984-5 to Julie Wilson Forest, with whom I translated the family name from Lum to Forest and tacked it on the end. "Tangled Up in Blue" I learned after she threw me out, sitting in a 6'x8' bedroom I had in an apartment with three other guys. Thanks to Jerry Wolper for taking me in when I was tired and broken. There are a lot of vignettes from that time that this song reminds me of, and the bittersweetness of it all hangs in the air with each line, with each chord.

Me & Bobby McGee
(Kristofferson/Foster, 1970; "Skull & Roses" 1971)
Julie and I took a two month honeymoon, on the road from Boston to the American and Canadian Rockies, to Vancouver down to San Francisco, to the Smokies, then back to Boston. I played this song at Kentucky Lake, after making love with her in the lake, and the irony of that occasion haunted me after the breakup. I cry a little, mourning that lost love, every time I sing this song. The Janis Joplin version is definitive. Terry Robb's slide work is the gilding on the lily.

Scarlet Begonias
(Garcia/Hunter, 1974; "From the Mars Hotel," 1974)
The third song of my trilogy, this song reflects the way we met ("She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes"), as well as point at which though still hurt, I was ready to move on: "I had to learn the hard way to let her pass by."

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
(Gabriel/Habershon 1907; N/A)
According to dead.net, "This was played in a jam with the Allman Brothers on 10 May 1970." My favorite version, perhaps not by coincidence, is from Gregg Allman's 1973 "Laid Back" album. I played it live at my Grandma Drew's funeral in October 2002; the lyrics speak for themselves.

The Wheel
(Garcia/Hunter/Kreutzmann, 1972; "Garcia," 1972)
Soothing, yet an almost inscrutably abstract song, Jerry's arrangement gives it a lot of its power. I especially like the wordless vocal intro and outro, and the bass lines.

I Second that Emotion
(Smokey Robinson, 1967; "Ladies and Gentlemen ... The Grateful Dead," 2000)
The glissando into the "D" chord is an irresistible hook, and the lyrics are romantic yet grounded, with a light earnestness that I have striven for over the years with mixed success. The falsetto treatment was an experiment, but it was fun and works well enough for me.

Shelter from the Storm
(Bob Dylan, 1975; N/A)
Another Dylan epic about love lost, with a wistful regret much like "Tangled up in Blue," this one rings less true for me in its details, but suffers no loss of its emotional power. I get goosebumps listening to this version, having exceeded my own expectations. "Shelter from the Storm was performed once by the Grateful Dead with Bob Dylan during the Dylan and the Dead tour in July 1987"

Ripple
(Garcia/Hunter, 1970; "American Beauty," 1970)
This was the song that turned me on to the Grateful Dead. In my Oklahoma days, ending in 1973, the Dead had too much of the pedal steel sound I identified (and disliked) with Country music prevalent in the area. The lyrics I found to be reassuring in the face of doubt, comforting in the midst of uncertainty, and supportive despite failure and loss, at a time when I sorely needed all three. I have continued to need those things at varying times and in varying intensities since then, so "Ripple" has become an evergreen song for me.