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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 3:56am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Pigpen |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_aX1Z_pHBQ (Hard to Handle 7-3-70)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa9kWiiuV_s (Easy Wind 7-1-70)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V752p6IMWjw (Hurts Me Too 4-17-72)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8B_YY327Pk (Next Time You See Me 4-17-72)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwhr_S4gAc (Chinatown Shuffle 4-17-72)
Phil Lesh:
"He cultivated a biker image, but he was more the Marlon Brando Wild Ones sensitive, brooding type. But funkier, way funkier - he had a leather shirt that I saw him wear every day I knew him. Never was Pigpen more at home than with a bottle of wine and a guitar, at home or at some party, improvising epic lues rant lyrics, playing Lightnin' Hopkins songs, and doing Lord Buckley routines. For him, joining the Mother McCree's jug band with Bob and Jerry was just a small step away from what he did anyway. Garcia told me it was Pigpen's idea to turn Mother McCree's into an electric blues band. When the band turned into the Grateful Dead, Pig became our keel, our roots, our fundamental tone. Pig was the perfect front man for the Dead: intense, commanding, comforting; but I don't think he enjoyed doing that quite as much as sitting on a couch with a guitar and a jug."
Jerry Garcia:
"Pigpen was the only guy in the band who had any talent when we were starting out. He was genuinely talented. He also had no discipline, but he had reams of talent. And he had that magical thing of being able to make stuff up as he went along. He also had great stage presence. The ironic thing was that he hated it - it really meant nothing to him; it wasn't what he liked. We had to browbeat him into being a performer. His best performances were one-on-one, sitting in a room with an acoustic guitar. That's where he was really at home and at his best.
"Out in front of the crowd he could work the band, and he'd really get the audience going. He always had more nerve than I could believe. He'd get the audience on his side, and he'd pick somebody out (like a heckler) and get on them... He was the guy who really sold the band, not me or Weir. Pigpen is what made the band work."
Mickey Hart:
"Pigpen was the musician in the Grateful Dead. When I first met the Grateful Dead, it was Pigpen and the boys. It was a blues band... Pigpen was a kind man. He looked so hard, but he was a kind, soft man. That's why he had to look so tough, because he was so kind, he would get stepped on... If there was one black chick in the audience, he'd always go home with her. Somehow he'd always have her up by his organ...by the end of the evening, she'd be up sitting on his stool. He just loved black women... He was the blues: he lived it, and he believed it, and he got caught in that web and he couldn't break out. And it killed him... He was just living the blues life: singing' the blues and drinkin' whiskey. That's what all blues guys did."
Tom Constanten:
"Pigpen's father was a blues DJ who went by the name 'Cool Breeze'. Pigpen had an encyclopedic knowledge of all the blues artists, and Pigpen was a remarkable blues singer. The world never got to see the full measure of Pigpen. He could do so many things - he was so deep, so broad. I used to room with him on the road and I shared a house with him in Novato. I mean you'd look at him and see this Hell's Angel sort of character who sings this narrow band of music, and he was really into so many more things. Pigpen had a different inner and outer image. While his outer image was kind of like Pirate Pete who would shoot his gun at your feet to make you dance, yet he was also the guy who brought a portable chess game along on the road because he liked to play."
Ned Lagin:
"I was very surprised at who Pigpen actually turned out to be, given what I had seen of him... I thought Pigpen would probably be on the opposite side of the planet from me, blues tough, but he turned out to be a very sweet person. To him, I was one of those whiz-kid rocket scientist genius kids that he always wanted to meet, but was on a different school bus going to a different place... But we could sit together and play piano together and hang out together. I think there was a great sensitivity in Pigpen that was the opposite of his down & dirty Lovelight personality."
Pigpen:
"Can't think what to write, but there's an ant hobbling around on this table. Absquatulate with the funds, will ya? Had any prune-tang lately? There's a broken helicopter outside the door, looking bum-tripped after having fallen down on Happy Land St. and belonging to the people who work in the hangar next door. Poot, still at a loss. I like fun and making people happy. Sue just loves my blue bow."
Bob Seidemann:
"It was obvious to everybody Pigpen was dying. I photographed him a few days before he died and he was so weak he had to be helped from the front door of his place to the car. I wanted to do one more picture of Pig with the Dead, so I picked him up and we drove out to Bolinas where they were rehearsing. I said, 'Look, I've got Pig here. Let's go outside and do a picture.' And everybody just said, 'Uh, no, Bob. Thumbs down.' So I put Pig back in the car and on the way back he said, 'Seidemann, will you take my picture?'... It was a sad moment when those cats wouldn't do it, and I had to drag Pig back to his apartment."
Here's one of Pigpen's last songs, called No Tomorrow. (Sorry about the poor quality.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2R03IDGo3E
And here's Robert Petersen's poem for Pigpen, written in 1973:
& pigpen died
my eyes tequila-tortured
4 days mourning
lost another fragment
of my own self
knowing
the same brutal
night-sweats & hungers
he knew
the same cold fist
that knocked him down
now clutching furiously
at my gut
shut my eyes
& see him standing
spread-legged
on the stage of the world
the boys prodding him
egging him on
he telling all he ever knew
or cared to know
mike hand cocked like
a boxer's
head throwed back
stale whiskey blues
many-peopled destinations
neon rainy streets
& wilderness of airports
thousands maybe millions
loved him
were fired instantly
into forty-five minutes of
midnight hour
but when he died
he was thin, sick, scared
and alone
like i said to laird
i just hope he didn't hurt
too much
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 8:14am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
Ironically, was listening to the DOORs boxed set from Felt Forum, 1/17-18/70 yesterday and struck by how in the lengthy songs, there is a real similarity between the Jim raps and the PP raps, except the former is generally about death and profanity, and law and order, and the latter is about sex...but, surprisingly similar overall effect achieved by both performers, though clearly neither of them woud appreciate the comparison!
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Poster: | elbow1126 | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 8:41am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-05-01.sbd.miller.95683.sbeok.flac16
I agree about the raps. I don't think they aged real well. I am sure if you were there it might have been fun but they don't do much for me as someone who is just listening to the music.
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 9:03am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | whirlwind dreamer 65-95 | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 6:59am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | bluestones | Date: | Jun 28, 2010 4:49pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | elbow1126 | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 8:05am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
I really enjoy listening to it when I am not in the mood for some acoustic blues. Thanks to Arbuthnot for bringing this one to my attention a few months back. It is what I am listening to this morning.
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Poster: | Jobygoob | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 6:05am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
This post was modified by Jobygoob on 2010-03-08 14:05:04
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Poster: | dead-head_Monte | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 11:20am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
thanks for the bus ride, Pigpen |
R. I. P. |
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Poster: | dead-head_Monte | Date: | Apr 22, 2011 8:59am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
Thank you Light into Ashes.
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Poster: | RBNW....new and improved! | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 4:43am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | portmcgroin | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 10:03am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 12:58pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
This post was modified by light into ashes on 2010-03-08 20:58:41
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Poster: | Jobygoob | Date: | Mar 9, 2010 8:10am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 1:17pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | elbow1126 | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 1:22pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=165725
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Poster: | portmcgroin | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 3:34pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | bigwind | Date: | Mar 8, 2010 4:45am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | ghostofpig | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 6:47am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
His organ playing was up front in the mix and the dynamic. Musically, he was almost as noticeable as Garcia as well. I recall them doing Cold Rain and Snow in which Pig duets with Jerry in the middle of the tune--you know the riff. And Schoolgirl--well, that was downright truckin'! Viola Lee Blues? Who do you think chased Jerry? Phil AND Pig.
As the band grew musically, it left Pig somewhat in the dust. He still added his flourishes here and there, but it was his showmanship that served the band. While there are those who say that they fast forward through his raps, I say that I fast forward through almost every post 1973 jam--they, too, just wander on with nothing new to say. Yeah, his raps could get predictable, and I can see the label "tiresome" being planted on them, but this was a visual experience--like SEEING
a southern preacher speak in tongues. Pig owned the audience with his gusto, his presence, and, yes, his shtick.
But rumbling under, around, and through the raps was some of the best jamming the band ever did. Remember--the Lovelight "formula" was rap/jam/rap. And don't forget Caution--mostly jam--as was Alligator. And those Smokestack Lightnings--really some of the finest music the band played. Hard to Handle!
But as the sixties gave way to the seventies, it became more and more obvious that Pig was getting ill. By 1971, he was thin and gaunt. His presence diminished as his liver began to fail. By the April Fillmore East shows, he looked like hell. At Gaelic Park in August, he was really pushing it to stand up through HtoH and Lovelight. Listen to Empty Pages--he's singing his own blues now. At the Felt Forum shows, things were worse. Listen to the moaning in the second night's Smokestack Lightning: "I've been gone too long," he laments--knowing that he wasn't the Pig he used to be (great version though--as they all were). At the Academy shows in March, he rarely left his keyboard seat to sing. Hard to Handle had been dropped, and there weren't any nightly raves. He looked worse than the fall.
But he clearly rallied for the Europe tour. It was as if he knew it were his last and that he had to give what he had left--which he did. Here, the Good Lovin's open up to let him rap his greasy raps, and The Stranger shows the deep sadness within. I think the greatest performance he ever did occurred on April 14: Good Lovin'--Caution--Who Do You Love--Caution--Good Lovin.' They resurrected Caution for this tour and played a few long versions of it with great Pig raps. But this one's the keeper. As I've written before--it is the apex of the Grateful Dead's music--a true high point. Pig's rap is different, and the tone is mournfully raunchy. The power that he calls up from his muse is intense as his sexually charged rap digs deeper and deeper into the center of his unquenchable desire. But it's not just this rap: it's the way that all of the musician's are there with him. The six of them become one voice as the band members create a series of waves for him to surf on. Listen to Jerry--beyond amazing--and listen to Keith--who astounds me here. Phil ain't no lightweight either, and Bobby's unique twangs fill in the gaps. All of this propelled by Billy's massively subtle drumming.
Don't take my word for it: it's on the reissue of Europe '72 sans overdubs.
I'll end with this: while the band was clearly moving away from its sixties roots, and Pig was becoming the odd man out--his contributions are as important and strong as anyone's. He was the boiler room on the train, the capper to a long night of ethereal jamming. Listen to the way that the DS--SS--11--Lovelight suites move from in your head to on your feet. Amazing stuff.
But listen to that Copenhagen jam--it's the stuff of miracles--a sonic epiphany in which it ALL comes together. This is the best of the Dead--better--if only for 40 minutes--than 68 or 69.
And it's testament to the testifier, the primal ooze.
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Poster: | direwolf0701 | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 7:15am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
a southern preacher speak in tongues. Pig owned the audience with his gusto, his presence, and, yes, his shtick. "
not being a Pig fan - i CAN agree that that was the case. If he was relying on his VERY pedestrian vocals, no one would be talking about him.
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 7:24am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | direwolf0701 | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 7:27am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | robthewordsmith | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 7:38am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | direwolf0701 | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 7:46am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | robthewordsmith | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 8:00am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | direwolf0701 | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 8:13am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
sorry - i thought you were implying the thread was going downhill due to my inane posting (as usually happens when i post).
still laughing as a type this :)
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 8:24am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |
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Poster: | mickmac | Date: | Mar 10, 2010 7:03am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Pigpen |