Fare You Well

Has it really been 13 years since Jerry checked out? Time really flies, but I'll never forget where I was working when the word came down...

I don't have much to say here that I haven't said before or intend to say in the future, so just enjoy a little splice I put together.

In keeping with some of their occasionally-predictable choice of songs, I have two songs often used to end a concert, run or tour to put a bookend on our annual celebration of the music of Jerry Garcia.

First up is Brokedown Palace, which wrapped up a four-show run at the Capital Center in Columbia, MD on 9-6-88, followed by And We Bid You Goodnight, the last song played at the Fillmore East on 4-29-71.

This mention of a detail clearly crosses the line into obsessiveness, but I chose this particular Brokedown because at the end, it's Jerry who bids the crowd adieu, rather than Bobby. I kind of liked that touch.

Thank you for a real good time...

"Brokedown Palace"
Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Fare you well my honey
Fare you well my only true one
All the birds that were singing
Have flown except you alone

Goin to leave this Broke-down Palace
On my hands and my knees I will roll roll roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time - in my time - I will roll roll roll

In a bed, in a bed
by the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

River gonna take me
Sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy
all the way back back home
It's a far gone lullaby
sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come
since I first left home

Goin home, goin home
by the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

Goin to plant a weeping willow
On the banks green edge it will grow grow grow
Sing a lullaby beside the water
Lovers come and go - the river roll roll roll

Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul