fly through the night

The spotlighted show over at the Dead archive is a Fillmore East concert from September 19th, 1970 -- the day after Hendrix died. It was only the day after Hendrix passed away that the band got the terrible news. They dedicated that night’s set to Jimi. Besides being capped by a "Lovelight" with Pigpen giving everyone some frank and important instructions, there is the matter of the Dark Star. With this version they certainly did justice to Jimi. A glowing Star all the way through, with a let-the-sunshine-in groove to ride-out the song, the utterly transfixing sonic landscape -- with a brilliant use of silence -- starting around the 8 minute mark is to this fella’s ears one of the Dead's most sublime moments.


(The second song is Dark Star.)

In his history of the band, Dennis McNally notes that:

Hendrix’s loss was all the more poignant because they had never jammed with him; on the one occasion that he’d come to a show, ax in hand, the Dead had gotten so high on LSD and so deep in their music that when Mickey Hart finally remembered to signal for him to join them, it was hours later and he’d departed.

That’s the Good Ol’ Grateful Dead, folks. But while they might have missed him that particular day, on the 19th Hendrix was playing in the band.

Horribly, less than a month later, Janis would fly away. On the day Jerry died (14 years ago today), McNally was on NPR talking about Garcia. The song he chose to play was this jazzy accoustic version of “Bird Song” -- a Robert Hunter tune dedicated to Joplin -- from the band’s 1981 album Reckoning. What a sad day that was.

If you hear that same sweet song again, will you know why?
Anyone who sings a tune so sweet is passin' by,
Laugh in the sunshine, sing, cry in the dark, fly through the night.

Grateful Dead - Bird Song [buy]