Soo many to listen to, so little time

[violanojblues]

On several occasions I felt like making a tape of just Bird Songs. Soo many good ones out there, never enough time to hear them all. Let me know what some of your favorites are and why.
One of mine has to be the '73 Watkins Glenn soundcheck. Billy is so on, very jazzy, giving Jerry a solid foundation for some beautiful soloing. Blissful.

[qiuniu]

Know you've probably heard it a hundred times, but the one on Reckoning just ripps!!!!!!!!!!! Hard pressed to think of one I like better.

[violanojblues]

I often overlook that one because of its popularity. It is very sweet . I think this song, in general, is the epitome of psychedellic cowboy rock. Any others?

[Mason Dixon]

Fantastic tune. If you want to hear a ton of versions, check out pretty much any Philly show. For some reason, they love(d) to play it here. Probably b/c we love to hear it. But when you play it, do you use a true E7? I usually play it acoustic in just plain ol' E.

But I think the epitome of cowboy psych rock is Loser (or Deal.... or Me and My Uncle) -- more card playin', drinkin', and gamblin'. I guess Birdsong was written in that 74-75 period, so it could slip right in.

[paul jacobs]

February 22, 1973 is otherworldly. Plus, the "They Love Each Other" that comes before sets it up perfectly. The intervening "El Paso" only slows you down a little!

[violanojblues]

I think that Deal and Loser are great cowboy rock songs, but they lack the extensive psychedelic exploratoration that makes Bird Song what it is. Some of the later Deals can get pretty crazy, but right from it's debut in 2/71 you could hear that Bird Song had something special. Even a year and a half after it debuted it had already become one of the prettiest pieces of music I've ever heard. Listen to the Veneta show (8/27/72). I agree with Mr. Paul Jacobs though, there's nothin' like those '73 Bird Songs. I know it's almost blasphemy saying this, but I often prefer Bird Song over Dark Star, but that's just my opinion.

[AugustWest]

The birdsong from 3/29/90 is a must have for me. It's got Branford Marsilis adding some of his magic along with some killer jerry leads. Whole show is great with him, but the birdsong and eyes from that show blow me away.

[nicolasalk]

11/30/80 is very very good, i love it, simply love it

[tigerstrat]

My favorite one to have seen live that holds up very well on playback is 12/28/88.

8/27/72! "Sleeeeep in the sun..."

[chinacat503]

my favorite is the Dp36 (9/21/72) version. breathtaking! bobby really kicks this one into another gear. just tremendous rhythm guitar playing.....jerry is also absolutely on fire...... actually this was the second song of the first set from that show! This show also contains my favorite Dark Star (the Morning Dew that it segues into is also up there)

[bodiddley]

Yes, DP 36 is a gem. One of my favorite "Birdsongs" is from 7-21-90 (BE WARNED: There is a feedback burst shortly into it that made my deaf and crippled dog jump to attention while he was sound asleep...I'm not kidding). Another one I dig is the New Years '87 show...they just wrap it up so tight after the jam...love it!

[nicolasalk]

8/27/72 Incredible I've never listened it before, overwelming


9/21/72 Very Good Too

[LazyLightnin]

the final bird song makes me wanna cry my eyes out

[nicolasalk]

Warfield 80's acoustic Bird Songs are really great, specially 9/29 , 10/3 , 10/13 and 10/14

In fact I'm thinking about making a record of all the good acoustics versions of Bird Song, Ripple and Cassidy that were played on the Warfield concerts.

[ker1227]

i always thought that bird song was the song that DSO does the best. Theres some good one from 74 if im not mistakin