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A perhaps stupid question, but I can’t figure out how to search for an answer to it.
I have heard two versions thus far of Going Down the Road Feeling Bad where Garcia plays a Southern-sounding theme toward the end of the song. He plays the theme twice through, and it is a sweet little thing that sounds like a quote from a Civil War-era folk tune or maybe a bluegrass melody. Kind of like something Duane Allman or Dickey Betts would work into an Allman Brothers song back in the day.
One example is in the MSG Felt Forum show 1971-12-05, the other, and better example, is 1971-08-26, my Gaelic Park show, about 5:25 into the track. The Gaelic version features some amazing Phil Lesh bass alongside Garcia’s playing.
Can anyone help?
Key to my introduction to the Grateful Dead has been the intro point provided by Beat It on Down the Line and Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, two boogies fronted by, respectively, Weir and Garcia as lead vocalists. The 1971 Gaelic Park show features both tunes, and the songs appear to me as bookmarks in that their provenance (Jesse Fuller and a traditional, respectively), similar lonely laments and general musical attitude are similar but with different vocalists.
Both performances feature sprightly rhythm guitar from Weir, and nice lead work by Jerry in a clear two-guitar configuration of the time. The appearance of one or both of these tunes in a show provide me with a benchmark or baseline against which to measure the likely energy and inventiveness of the rest of the performance around them. Both songs also provide a showcase for the Dead Sound in a very traditional context. Whether an outsider will like the Dead or not might well come down to the enjoyment they get from these songs, before venturing into more proprietary creations of the band further afield musically.
The way the performance of these songs mutated from 1971 to 1973 mirrors the changes happening during those years. It’s easy to forget just how much happened in the music world in that three year span.
I came across a brilliant piece of video of the band performing Beat It on Down the Line on European TV. While I might already be able to point to a couple of even better versions in my small but growing collection, it would be difficult to find clearer video or sound from 1972. Check out Pigpen and Keith Godchaux both tinkling the keys. I love Jerry’s facial expressiveness from behind all the hair, even when it’s a stone cold poker face. I’ve watched it seven times already.
And if that doesn’t rock you, try One More Saturday Night, from the same TV broadcast. Another song in the same boogie vein, which could be a traditional or a cover of an old tune atmospherically, but which Bob Weir wrote solo. Although there is an interesting story that Robert Hunter actually started the song, and disavowed it after Weir rewrote his lyrics. Hunter cost himself some royalties there.
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