How do you celebrate the soul of the Dead, Jerry Garcia? Sunshine Daydream celebrates Jerry's life and music with their 21st annual Jerry Garcia Birthday Bash Aug 4-5 in Terra Alta, WV. Jerry was born on August 1, 1942.
No matter what song I post in memory of Jerry, I will certainly hear otherwise from fans. So since I am celebrating Jerry's birthday in audience with David Bromberg tomorrow night at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma, I thought I would give props to both with this clip of an informal jam from Woodstock 1969 featuring Jerry and Mimi Farina singing "If I Could Be The Rain." If you watch closely at the end, you will see a very young David Bromberg on bottleneck!
Often referred to as a "musician's musician," Bromberg was sideman to Bob Dylan and Jerry Jeff Walker, and fronted his own band for quite a while (discography here). The 'iconic and eclectic string master' - he plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, fiddle - is a graduate of the Kenneth Warren School of Violin Making in Chicago, and bought a violin shop in Wilmington DE in 2002. The city requested that Mr Bromberg revitalize the local arts community, and he holds twice-a-week jams at the local cafe - lucky Wilmington!
Lyrics here
If I could be the rain, I'd wash down to the sea;
If I could be the wind, there'd be no more of me;
If I could hide the way I feel I'd never sing again;
Sometimes I wish that I could be the rain.
And now that I've heard the clip (i have a faster computer at work), i can tell you that it is Rosalie Sorrels singing, not Mimi and Richard Farina.
At this time, 1969, Sorrells was just hitting the folk festival circuit (I heard her that year at Mariposa) and she was introducing Philips' songs with great enthusiasm. She always referred to him as "U. Utah Philips, Golden Voice of the Great Southwest." It is the title song on her solo album for Folk-Legacy Records (CD31) at http://www.folk-legacy.com/store/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=61
Posted by: Hal Davis | August 15, 2006 at 04:38 PM
The song is by Bruce Philips, and it's beautiful.
Posted by: Hal Davis | August 14, 2006 at 10:32 PM