18 Mar 12 - 12:37 PM (#3324604) Subject: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: GUEST,Pat Blackman This week's Murder Ballad Monday post explores "Jack Straw" and its inspiration, from Steinbeck to Altamont. Introduction - Jack Straw Connections to _Of Mice and Men_ - There ain't a winner in this game... Connections to Altamont killing - Cut down a man in cold blood... (Also looks at "New Speedway Boogie" and "Mason's Children") Hope you enjoy! |
18 Mar 12 - 05:14 PM (#3324777) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: GUEST Murder Ballad Monday's Facebook Page |
18 Mar 12 - 05:37 PM (#3324788) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: michaelr Great stuff, Pat! Thanks for the link. |
18 Mar 12 - 09:04 PM (#3324873) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: GUEST,Pat Blackman Thanks Michael! |
18 Mar 12 - 09:37 PM (#3324879) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: pdq I was not familiar with Mason's Children so I checked the Dead reference sources. It was played live just 15 times and dropped in early 1970. Odd, but the remastered version of Workingman's Dead is not just done in HDCD but has a huge amount of new material including a live version of Mason's Children. Didn't have to think too long about this one. I went straight to eBay and ordered a copy. I can do a "mini review" in a week or so after the CD arrives. Nice to see anything on Mudcat about the Dead, America's greatest rock group, especially since they are essentially Folk. |
18 Mar 12 - 09:57 PM (#3324884) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: michaelr pdq, I haven't found much to agree with you on in the political discussions here on Mudcat, but I concur wholeheartedly with your take on the Grateful Dead. They are indeed essentially Folk where their musical background is concerned. They were also essentially, in cohort with their audiences, conducting pagan/dionysian ecstasy rituals in their concerts, the like of which has not been seen since. As drummer Mickey Hart said: "The Grateful Dead are not in the music business. We are in the transportation business." |
18 Mar 12 - 10:08 PM (#3324892) Subject: Lyr Add: JACK STRAW (Weir/Hunter) From: michaelr Of great interest is "The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics" by David Dodd. Jack Straw Words by Robert Hunter; music by Bob Weir Copyright Ice Nine Publishing We can share the women We can share the wine We can share what we got of yours 'Cause we done shared all of mine Keep a rolling Just a mile to go Keep on rolling, my old buddy You're moving much too slow I just jumped the watchman Right outside the fence Took his ring, four bucks in change Now ain't that heaven sent? Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon Burns my eyes to see Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon Might as well be me We used to play for silver Now we play for life One's for sport and one's for blood At the point of a knife Now the die is shaken Now the die must fall There ain't a winner in this game Who don't go home with all Not with all... Leaving Texas Fourth day of July Sun so hot, clouds so low The eagles filled the sky Catch the Detroit Lightning Out of Santa Fe Great Northern out of Cheyenne From sea to shining sea Gotta get to Tulsa First train we can ride Got to settle one old score And one small point of pride... Ain't no place a man can hide, Shannon Keep him from the sun Ain't no bed will give us rest, man, You keep us on the run Jack Straw from Wichita Cut his buddy down Dug for him a shallow grave And layed his body down Half a mile from Tucson By the morning light One man gone and another to go My old buddy you're moving much too slow We can share the women we can share the wine... |
18 Mar 12 - 11:42 PM (#3324920) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: GUEST,Pat Blackman @pdq check out the links to the Murder Ballad Monday discussions at the top of the thread if you take a notion - I make comment on the short number of times Mason's gets played, and New Speedway didn't last that long either (though reborn in '91, and now the post Dead lineups play Mason's sometimes.) I think, in a way, Jack Straw 'replaced' both of them, by digging at the themes in them much deeper and more universally. Mason's and Speedway deal with Altamont, but Jack Straw encompasses Altamont and much much more (or so I think, for what it's worth.) |
21 Mar 12 - 10:05 AM (#3326304) Subject: RE: Origins: The Dead's 'Jack Straw' as murder ballad From: GUEST,John Hertford Some really interesting discussion / analysis of this song which has long been a favourite of mine. The betrayal motif has lots in common with "Me and My Uncle". Although it's a John Phillips composition the Dead made it their own. |
24 Mar 12 - 05:37 PM (#3328311) Subject: Lyr Add: MASON'S CHILDREN (from Grateful Dead) From: pdq MASON'S CHILDREN Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia Copyright Ice Nine Publishing Mason died on Monday We bricked him in the wall All his children grew and grew They never grew so tall before They may never grow so tall again We dug him up on Tuesday He'd hardly aged a day Taught us all we ever knew We never knew so much before We may never know so much again Mason was a mighty man A mighty man was he All he said: when I'm dead and gone don't you weep for me The wall collapsed on Wednesday We chalked it up to fate All his children ran and hid We never hid so well before Swore we'd never show our face again Thursday came and Friday with fires tall and bright Mason's children cooked the stew and cleaned up when the feast was through Swore we'd never had such times before Take me to the Reaper Man to pay back what was loaned If he's in some other land write it off as stoned Mason was a mighty man A mighty man was he All he said: when I'm dead and gone don't you weep for me |