"Grateful Dead's Notable Tracks from 1977 plus a cure for Female Orgasmic Disorder"
Larry Mishkin covers the Grateful Dead show from March 18th, 1977, at the Winterland arena in San Francisco, showcasing notable performances of songs like "Sugaree" and "Peggy-O." He delves into the history and significance of these songs within the Grateful Dead repertoire. Additionally, the discussion extends to the cannabis industry, highlighting the financial strategies of marijuana companies to minimize tax obligations under Section 280E of the IRS Code. He also touches on the opening of Nevada's first legal marijuana consumption lounge, signaling a shift in cannabis regulations in the state. Finally, Larry addresses the proposal to add Female Orgasmic Disorder (FOD) as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana use in Illinois, reflecting evolving perspectives on cannabis as a therapeutic option for various health conditions.
Grateful Dead
March 18, 1977 (47 years ago)
Winterland, S.F.
Grateful Dead Live at Winterland Arena on 1977-03-18 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive
TITLE: 1977 Winterland: The Dead Bust Out Fire On The Mountain and Take Their One and Only Attempt At Terrapin Flyer.
Just a month after the Swing Auditorium show that we previewed a few weeks ago, Dead went home to Winterland for a string of shows. This one stands out for a few reasons that we will get to as the show goes on.
INTRO: Sugaree
Track #4
7:25 – 9:05
"Sugaree" is a song with lyrics by long-time Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and music by guitaristJerry Garcia.[1] It was written for Jerry Garcia's first solo album Garcia, which was released on January 20, 1972. As with the songs on the rest of the album, Garcia plays every instrument himself except drums, played by Bill Kreutzmann, including acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and an electric guitar played through a Leslie speaker. Released as a single from the Garcia album, "Sugaree" peaked at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1972 and was Garcia's only single ever on that chart.
Elizabeth Cotten, a North Carolinafolksinger, wrote and recorded a song called "Shake Sugaree" in 1966.[3] The chorus of Cotten's song is "Oh lordie me/Didn't I shake sugaree?" Hunter was aware of this song when he wrote "Sugaree."
The song was first performed live by the Grateful Dead on July 31, 1971, at the Yale Bowl at Yale University, as was the song "Mr. Charlie". The Dead played it 362 times in concert. Last played on July 8, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
A classic rocking Dead tune, usually a first set number, I’ve seen it as a show opener, first set closer, and encore. In this clip they really rock it but it’s only a small peak at this 15 minute version of the tune. Well worth pulling it down on Archive and checking out the entire number. You won’t be sorry.
SHOW No. 1: Peggy-O
Track #6
4:20 – 6:00
Traditional, credit for the Grateful Dead version generally go to Jerry but some say Bill had a hand in writing it.
This song derives from the earlier Scottish traditional song Bonnie Lass of Fyvie-o. Fyvie is thought to have been a staging post between Aberdeen and Fort George in Scotland. This song does occur with a number of title variations. It is possible that Fennario is a corruption of Fyvie-o.
Similar traditional songs also occurred in the UK; Handsome Polly O and Bonny Barbara O, though these are less similar to the modern Peggy-O song.
The title Peggy-O is used on Grateful Dead recordings. The version of Peggy-O that is included in the Jerry Garcia box set All Good Things is a previously unreleased studio recordings from Spring 1979 and is given the title Fennario. The Fennario title is also used on concert recordings of The Dead and Phil Lesh & Friends.
Although not released on a Dead studio album, the song was included on the remastered recordings of both Terrapin Station and Go To Heaven.
The Grateful Dead first performed Peggy-O in December 10, 1973 at the Charlotte Coliseum in N.C.. It was then played in every year through to 1995 usually no more than a dozen times each year though it was played more regularly during the 1977 to 1981 period. Played a total of 265 times. The last performance was on July 5, 1995 at the Riverport Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, MO (just outside of St. Louis).
In this clip, I really enjoy Jerry’s strong voice, the solid jamming and some stealth piano contributions from Keith.
SHOW No. 2: Fire On The Mountain
Track # 9
1:46 – 3:30
Hunter/Hart (not Jerry!)
Released on Shakedown Street on November 8, 1978, last song on first side of album.
First time ever played – one of the reasons I chose this show over a number of other great shows on this date – others include a smokin “early” Dead show in 1967 at Winterland and 1971 at the Fox Theater in St. Louis coming fast on the heels of the Dead’s epic six night Capitol Theater run in Port Chester in late February.
This is another of those songs with a long and complicated genesis story, perhaps not worth getting into too much detail about here, but the rough outlines at least are important to note. The lyrics, according to Robert Hunter in Box of Rain, were “Written at Mickey Hart's ranch in heated inspiration as the surrounding hills blazed and the fire approached the recording studio where we were working.”
Hart, credited with the music for the song, recorded a proto-rap version of the song for an unreleased album entitled Area Code 415, recorded in 1972 and 1973. It was also included on a Mickey Hart album entitled Fire on the Mountain, recorded in 1973-74. It appeared as an instrumental entitled “Happiness is Drumming” on Hart’s 1976 studio album, Diga. And it finally began showing up in the Grateful Dead repertoire, sung by Jerry Garcia, in 1977, undergoing a number of variants of the lyrics until it settled into the form that was eventually recorded and released on Shakedown Street, in November 1978. There’s a lot of other detail I haven’t mentioned—possibly worthy of some historian taking it apart piece by piece, but you get the rough idea.
On March 18, 1977 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco. "Fire" appeared for the first time, closing the first set, following its eternal partner, "Scarlet Begonias." This combination of tunes, which frequently enclosed some wonderful jamming, came to be known as "Scarlet Fire." There were a handful of occasions on which “Fire” appeared without “Scarlet Begonias,” but not many. approx 15 out of the total 253 performances. It remained steadily in the repertoire from then on, and was played for the final time on July 2, 1995, at the Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana.
This clip being the song’s first live performance and almost a year and half before it’s commercial release, there are noticeable differences between this version and the one we al know and love. But they go there very quickly as only two months later on May 8, 1977 the Dead played the Barton Hall show that many declare to be the best Dead show ever. While that may or may not be true, what is true is that the version of Scarlet Fire is awesome and certainly befitting a show many do consider to be the finest Dead show of them all.
Many more were to follow and the lucky ones who were in Winterland this night got to witness how it all started.
SHOW No. 3: Terrapin Flyer
Alhambra
Track # 17
:53 – end
INTO
Drums
Track # 18
Start – 0:44
This is another reason I chose this show for today’s episode. This represents the only known instance of the Dead playing the Terrapin Flyer part of the full Terrapin Suite from the Album (released on July 27, 1977) out of the traditional parts. Although Jerry does not sing the lyrics from this part of the suite, he jams the very distinctive melody. Interestingly, this is only a few weeks after the debut of Terrapin at the Swing Auditorium on Feb. 26, 1977. Here, the Dead were trying out this sixth of seven parts of the suite and for whatever reason did not like what they heard or didn’t enjoy playing it or, more likely, practicing it, so it was dropped from live performances even though the primary and opening parts of the suite, Lady with a Fan into Terrapin Station, were played a total of 303 times.
These are the fun little discoveries that even after 40+ years of listening to, following and learning about the band keep it fun, interesting and amazing.
As for the recording of the entire suite, Keith Olsen was chosen to produce and the band temporarily moved to Los Angeles, as Olsen preferred to work at Sound City, where he had recently achieved success producing Fleetwood Mac's 1975 comeback album.
Olsen had a method for reining in the Dead: "During the cutting of the basic tracks it was pretty hard to get every member of the band in the studio at the same time ... so [Steve] Parish went out to the hardware store and got these giant nails and a great big hammer and as soon as everybody was in, he hammered the door shut from the inside ... we didn't have drifters from the other studios coming in to listen. We didn't have people leaving to go screw around elsewhere. We started getting work done."[18] With Fleetwood Mac, Olsen had a hands-on approach, orchestrating the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and influencing song choice, arrangements and sequencing. He entered the Grateful Dead project with similar expectations, imagining a concept album or song cycle. Olsen said that Davis told him "I need a commercial record out of them."[18] This caused some friction during the sessions as well as with the end results. Kreutzmann said "He'd have us play the same thing over and over again, and we're not really the type of band that can put up with that. ... Our very identity is based on the opposite principle."[
SHOW No. 4: Not Fade Away
Track # 19
14:00 – 15:40
Written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty. Holly and the Crickets recorded the song in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957, and it was released as a single (B side to “Oh Boy”) on October 27, 1957 on the Brunswick label. The rhythmic pattern of "Not Fade Away" is a variant of the Bo Diddley beat, with the second stress occurring on the second rather than third beat of the first measure, which was an update of the "hambone" rhythm, or patted juba from West Africa. Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, pounded out the beat on a cardboard box.[3] Allison, Holly's best friend, wrote some of the lyrics, though his name never appeared in the songwriting credits. Joe Mauldin played the double bass on this recording. It is likely that the backing vocalists were Holly, Allison, and Niki Sullivan, but this is not known for certain.
First played by the Dead on February 19, 1969 at the Fillmore West in S.F., it was played by the band a total of 561 times and last played on July 5, 1995 at the Riverport Amphitheatre outside of St. Louis.
This is an absolutely ripping version of this tune so much so that I featured only the jam – everyone knows the lyrics, but the jam in this 20 minute version is better than any singing I could have featured.
OUTRO: Around and Around
Track 21
4:59 – 6:46
Very appropriate to end on a Chuck Berry tune given that today is the seventh anniversary of Chuck’s death in 2017 at the age of 90.
"Around and Around" is a 1958 rock song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry. It originally appeared under the name "Around & Around" as the B-side to the single "Johnny B. Goode". Release on March 31, 1958 on Chicago’s own Chess Records checking in at a brisk 2:20.
Many bands have covered the song including, most famously, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, and, of course the Dead who played it 418 times, first on November 8, 1970 at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY and lastly on July 6, 1995 at the Riverport Amphitheatre outside of St. Louis – very appropriate since Chuck was born in St. Louis and died in Wentzville, just outside of the city.
This is one of the better version of the tune that I have heard. It checks in at over 8 minutes and the boys just jam it out, throw in a few false endings and finally wrap it up, followed only by Uncle John’s Band before the boys say goodnight to the Winterland crazies and head home for a rare post show night in their own beds.
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Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-show
Larry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin
Rob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt
Jay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesberg
Sound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/
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