Week of June 10, 2002
A stellar acoustic set from one of those monumental nights at the Fillmore East, with acoustic and electric Dead and a New Riders set, too.
This date is one of first great tapes that I acquired when I got into collecting Grateful Dead music in the mid-'70s, but I don't think I had the whole show back in the day. (I think I have Ed Perlstein or Bob Menke to thank for this one, or it could have been Mike Dinhofer). Another recording surfaced in the '90s, although I don't remember the details. All I know is, this is a killer acoustic set.
"Long Black Limousine," written by (Vern Stovall, Bobby George) and famously covered by Elvis Presley, turned up on a live CD by the Flying Burrito Brothers in 2007, a pair of April 1969 sets in San Francisco in which the band was co-billed with the Grateful Dead. I asked Bob Weir if this is where he first heard the song, and he replied (via email):
Not really; we'd been into that stuff since the beginning (Buck Owens, George Jones...) and it was just gonna come out sooner or later. Jerry and I had a bunch of country and gospel tunes we had worked up on days off on the road for fun, and when the Burritos came out, I think we were already doing these tunes in an an acoustic set here or there. That was why it seemed to us that they would be a good pairing with us.
"Jordan," aka "Cold Jordan," is one of those great bluegrass gospel numbers favored by Garcia and his pals and probably gleaned from a Stanley Brothers album. According to the Grateful Dead Lyric and Song Finder, the song is credited to one Fred Rich. New Riders David Nelson joins in on mandolin, and that's John "Marmaduke" Dawson singing the bass part in the chorus.
Grateful Dead 5/15/70 Fillmore East, New York City
DON'T EASE ME IN
I KNOW YOU RIDER
THE RUB
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
LONG BLACK LIMOUSINE
CANDYMAN
CUMBERLAND BLUES
NEW SPEEDWAY BOOGIE
JORDAN
SILVER THREADS AND GOLDEN NEEDLES
Enjoy!
Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists - by song title, show date, guest name, etc - at gdhour.com or on the , and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.
Thanks for listening!
David Gans