Grateful Dead Music Forum

did Jerry ever sing this tune w/ JGB or was it strictly a Bob tune? Id love to hear Jerry sing it. song is long as hell though

I've only ever heard Bob singing it, and although I'm not sure, Jerry may have "co-sung it" with Dylan when he played with the boys back in '87.

I think you answered your own question---it's a long song. Jerry would never have remembered all the lyrics to that. ;)

Seriously though, I don't think he ever did it. You can check here for a list of songs that Jerry performed (non-Dead):

http://www.thejerrysite.com/new-index.jsp

how come bob would nail desolation, but fuck up truckin'?

Jerry once commented that he found it easier to remember lyrics to cover tunes than Dead tunes.

strumminsix wrote:how come bob would nail desolation, but fuck up truckin'?

Because Truckin' tends to get tongue-twisty: "Typicalcityinvolvedinatypicaldaydream", and especially "Mostofthecatsthatyoumeetonthestreetspeakoftruelove"

But to be fair to ol' Jer, he did pretty well with even the pre-teleprompter versions of Visions of Johanna (I learned the lyrics many years ago off of the Hampton '86 one), which has many verses, although they go by a little more slowly.

Also, JG would harmonize on the penultimate line of some of the later verses in DRow sometimes. There's a spectacular one from Alpine 89.

I think part of a possible explanation for him having a harder time remembering GD songs, is that the musical arrangements were frequently quite complex, with elusive groove pockets and often flirting with the edge of technical limitations. At least that's when I begin to screw up words I've had running thru my head for decades!!

strumminsix wrote:how come bob would nail desolation, but fuck up truckin'?

I bet he would space out in that tune since hes sang it hundreds of times before