How Sweet It Is To listen to Some Jerry Garcia

Hey now it's me, Sugarmag. It's been a good day, my children and I are taking a weird sort of mini vacation because I finished the semester (it was actually a couple of weeks ago), my son's last day of preschool was last week, and my daughter has a low grade fever which makes her too sick to go to school but she is not that sick, so we have been lounging around in our pajamas watching cartoons and listening to Jerry Garcia. It's kind of nice!

The other thing I am happy about is that I had to replace the hard drive on my computer and I installed the most recent version of the Ubuntu operating system (Jaunty Jackalope-I love that name!) on it and anything using macro media flash player, which means anything that uses videos, animation, or streaming did not work. Apparently a lot of people have had this problem with Jaunty because there is a lot of discussion about it, but I figured it out and I got it to work. I am so happy! Would you believe that when my ex husband and I split up last July I did not know how to put music on my mp3 player? Now I kind of like it when things break because I get a lot of satisfaction from fixing them. So any way, if you are using Jaunty and need help getting macromedia flash to work, contact me and I will save you a couple of days' work.

This is the show I have been listening to...

Jerry Garcia Band March 19, 1978 Stanley Theatre Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1st Set
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Catfish John,
Cats Under The Stars, Simple Twist Of Fate, Tore Up Over You,
Gomorrah, Mystery Train, The Harder They Come

Set 2
Mission In The Rain, Love In The Afternoon, Let Me Roll It,
I Second That Emotion, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,
I'll Be With Thee, Midnight Moonlight

Encore: Palm Sunday

How Sweet It Is

I chose this show because I wanted to listen to some Jerry Garcia Band and I didn't know which show to listen to so I went over to Lost Sailor's Pub to look for a recommendation and someone over there mentioned that they really liked this one.

How Sweet It Is (you can listen to it by clicking above), is easily one of my favorite Jerry songs and this is a nice one. My first thought listening to it was what an amazing bassist John Kahn was. His thump thump thump sounds great layered under Jerry's guitar, and he just continues that way for the whole show. Come to think of it, the first song gives a nice taste of the whole show and not just John's part in it. The one thing that was missing (as far as I was concerned) was that great organ sound that Melvin Seals provides but of course he did not even start playing with Jerry Garcia Band until two years after this night. Keith was still Jerry's keyboardist in 1978 and he played piano. His playing was actually really good and I appreciated it a lot more the second time through. How Sweet It Is has such a sweet energy to it that really builds toward the end. Donna singing back up vocals sounds really nice, too. Donna sounds good when she can hear herself in what must have been a smaller venue like this.

Catfish John was really good and had a nice jam near the end. Cats Under the Stars is a good song and I really dig it but have you ever thought about what a weird song it is? "Time is a stripper doing it just for you?" What the hell does that mean? I want to spend some time reading those lyrics and thinking about it but I am too tired right now.

Simple Twist of Fate is one of the highlights of this show, it starts out so sweetly and beautifully and then as the song progresses Jerry just explodes and Keith is right there with him. This is what I love about Jerry Garcia.

This whole show is so good and it seems like not mentioning each one does it an injustice! One of the highlights from the second set was Let Me Roll It. Check it out:

Let Me Roll It


Ok here's the next song only because I don't know where to stop...

I Second That Emotion (check out John Kahn's bass!)



I always like The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. It's an interesting song because it's about the Civil War. Here it is if you want to listen to it...

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

And here are the lyrics...

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of sixty-five
We were hungry just barely alive
By May tenth Richmond had fell
It was a time I remember oh so well

Chorus
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing, they went
La la la la la la, la la la la la la la la, la

Like my father before me I am a peaceful man
And like my brother above me who took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave
When a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
You can't raise a Cain back up when he's in defeat

[chorus]

Back with my wife in Tennessee when one day she called to me
Virgil, quick come see, there goes Robert E Lee
Now I don't mind choppin' wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
You take what you need and you keep the rest
But they should never have taken the very best

The Civil War is fascinating and I have such mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, what it was really about was whether or not the enslavement of human beings should be allowed to continue yet most of those who fought for the South were not slave holders. How did those in power manage to convince everyone else that fighting for the South meant fighting for freedom from Yankee oppression? And do you think that most of the Union soldiers cared about slavery one way or another? The part that appalls me the most is that those who opposed the enslavement of human beings were considered radical. How could that be? Slavery is such an ugly part of our nation's history and yet the antebellum South is so romanticized. Anyway, I like the song, I really do, and I can't help feel sad when I think of not only those who died but those they left behind.

One last thing about this show, I really like the gospel songs, especially I'll Be With Thee. Good stuff! Here it is, you can download it if you want. I hope you dig. The sound quality is excellent but the last minute and a half of Mystery Train is cut, which bites.

Source: Soundboard> Cassette Master> Cassette> DAT> CDR> (shnid=4440) Audio Quality:	Jerry Garcia Band 3/19/78 @ Archive.org: as of May 27, 2009, there's still NO Garcia at The Archive.
Download The Show Right Here JGB - 3/19/78 - Part 1 -- -- Part 2 - JGB - 3/19/78 Jerry Band - 3/19/78 - Part III

SBD mp3 320 kbps (not lossless FLAC or SHN) 3-19-78 aka 03-19-78 aka 3/19/78 aka 03/19/78 aka 78-03-19