8-9-95 Jerry Garcia's Death

JzP

"All the years combined,
they melt into a dream.
A broken angel sings from a guitar.
In the end there's just a song...
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time,
Gonna make them shine.
Stella Blue."

Gotta pay respect to a great artist.

StillHere

R.I.P. Jerry....
In Remembrance of an Angel :angel:
August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the attics of my life, full of cloudy dreams unreal.
Full of tastes no tongue can know, and lights no eyes can see.
When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me.

I have spent my life seeking all that's still unsung.
Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see.
When there was no strings to play, you played to me.

In the book of love's own dream, where all the print is blood.
Where all the pages are my days, and all the lights grow old.
When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me, you flew to me.

In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed.
When the secrets all are told, and the petals all unfold.
When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me.

jedhead44

"Nothing's for certain, It could all go wrong Come in when it's raining, go out when it's gone We could have us a high time Living the good life Well, I know." RIP Jerry

Newch91

Don't like the Grateful Dead, but I give Jerry Garcia and the band props for sticking around for almost 30 years.

mookeywrench

I came across this a while back, it's from CNN online still frozen in 1995 html

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/Garcia/index.html

qontheboard

mookeywrench wrote:

I came across this a while back, it's from CNN online still frozen in 1995 html

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/Garcia/index.html

I love the Dead and thought Jerry was great but... shooting a speed-ball in rehab is just sad.

LloydXmas

Been listening to dicks picks vol 29 at the fox theater. Killer set.

CJMST3K

Fare you well, my honey, fare you well my only true one.
All the birds that were singing are flown, except you alone.

Im Going to leave this brokedown 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 going to take me, sing sweet and sleepy,
sing me sweet and sleepy all the way 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.

Going to plant a weeping willow,
By the bank's 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.

StillHere

CJMST3K wrote:

Fare you well, my honey, fare you well my only true one.
All the birds that were singing are flown, except you alone.

Im Going to leave this brokedown 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 going to take me, sing sweet and sleepy,
sing me sweet and sleepy all the way 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.

Going to plant a weeping willow,
By the bank's 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.

very appropriate
and one of MY very favorites too
missin' JG

fotd

Jerry is missed but not forgotten. Spending the day listening to his amazing playing on Dark Star and St. Stephen from the FIllmore West 1969 Complete Recordings.

StillHere

catching all the youtube videos of jerry that i can today.
saw a caption that read:

"sweetest voice and sweetest guitar i ever heard
even if he did forget some of the words once in a while..."

remind you of anyone else we hold near and dear?

god, i shudder to think what...nope, not going there, no way...strike that

StillHere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Q_XyHvUKc

When the last rose of summer pricks my finger,
And the hot sun chills me to the bone,
When I can't hear the song for the singer,
And I can't tell my pillow from a stone,
I will walk alone by the black muddy river,
And sing me a song of my own,
I will walk alone by the black muddy river,
And sing me a song of my own.

When the last bolt of sunshine hits the mountain,
And the stars start to splatter in the sky,
When the moon hits the southwest horizon,
With the scream of an eagle on the fly,
I will walk alone by the black muddy river,
And listen to the ripples as they moan,
I will walk alone by the black muddy river,
And sing me a song of my own.

Black muddy river, roll on forever,
I don't care how deep or wide, if you've got another side,
Roll muddy river, roll muddy river, black muddy river, roll.

When it seems like the night will last forever,
And there's nothing left to do but count the years,
When the strings of my heart begin to sever,
And stones fall from my eyes instead of tears,
I will walk alone, by the black muddy river,
And dream me a dream of my own,
I will walk alone, by the black muddy river,
And sing me a song of my own, sing me a song of my own


My Sweet Jerry...<3 ...I love you more than words can tell

helplessdancer

qontheboard wrote:

mookeywrench wrote:

I came across this a while back, it's from CNN online still frozen in 1995 html

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/Garcia/index.html

I love the Dead and thought Jerry was great but... shooting a speed-ball in rehab is just sad.

do you even know how he died?

helplessdancer

Robert Hunter's Eulogy and Letter to Jerry


Jerry, my friend,
you've done it again,
even in your silence
...the familiar pressure
comes to bear, demanding
I pull words from the air
with only this morning
and part of the afternoon
to compose an ode worthy
of one so particular
about every turn of phrase,
demanding it hit home
in a thousand ways
before making it his own,
and this I can't do alone.
Now that the singer is gone,
where shall I go for the song?

Without your melody and taste
to lend an attitude of grace
a lyric is an orphan thing,
a hive with neither honey's taste
nor power to truly sting.

What choice have I but to dare and
call your muse who thought to rest
out of the thin blue air
that out of the field of shared time,
a line or two might chance to shine --

As ever when we called,
in hope if not in words,
the muse descends.

How should she desert us now?
Scars of battle on her brow,
bedraggled feathers on her wings,
and yet she sings, she sings!

May she bear thee to thy rest,
the ancient bower of flowers
beyond the solitude of days,
the tyranny of hours--
the wreath of shining laurel lie
upon your shaggy head
bestowing power to play the lyre
to legions of the dead

If some part of that music
is heard in deepest dream,
or on some breeze of Summer
a snatch of golden theme,
we'll know you live inside us
with love that never parts
our good old Jack O'Diamonds
become the King of Hearts.

I feel your silent laughter
at sentiments so bold
that dare to step across the line
to tell what must be told,
so I'll just say I love you,
which I never said before
and let it go at that old friend
the rest you may ignore.

StillHere

according to Bob Weir, Mr. Hunter has written new songs to be in honor of Jerry's legacy, and to help "Further" sound more like the original Grateful Dead.
Can't say I've listened to anything that was recorded after Jerry's demise...the Dead just isn't the Dead for me without Jerry.

qontheboard

shiningstar wrote:

qontheboard wrote:

mookeywrench wrote:

I came across this a while back, it's from CNN online still frozen in 1995 html

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/Garcia/index.html

I love the Dead and thought Jerry was great but... shooting a speed-ball in rehab is just sad.

do you even know how he died?

Hope I didn't offend anyone. I thought it was a heart attack brought on by a mixture of cocaine and heroine while in rehab. I watched one of those "the final hours of Jerry Garcia" TV shows years ago, and that was the conclusion they came to. I just thought it was sad.

q

StillHere

Jerry had become progressively sicker and sicker during the last years of his life. Years spent struggling with diabetes, drug addiction, weight problems, and sleep apnea, all contributed to his decline. His difficulties with uncontrolled diabetes included hospitalization with diabetic coma, and wore him down both physically and mentally. His use of cocaine, beginning around the time of the Grateful Dead Movie, and progressing to heroin, surely contributed to the exacerbation of his illnesses. However, there came a time when the band conducted an intervention, giving Jerry an ultimatum; The Band or the Drugs...Jerry chose the Music.

Irreparable damage had already been done though. Uncontrolled diabetes has an awful effect on the physical and mental state of a person, due to the damage done to tiny blood vessels that serve the brain, eyes and internal organs like the kidneys.

I'm not going to say that he didn't have temporary lapses later on in life, as it seems so. He even got to the point where he sometimes had to turn down his guitar on stage and would forget the words, or even what song he was playing. Whether that was drugs or the long term effects of a combination of past drug use and current medical problems, who can say for sure?

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 AM, Jerry was discovered unresponsive in his room at the rehabilitation clinic. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

The cause of death was determined to be a heart attack.

On August 10, Jerry was laid to rest at a funeral home in San Rafael, California. A private funeral was held on August 12 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere. In attendance were band members, family, friends (Bill Walton, Bob Dylan) and Jerry's widow Deborah Koons, who forbid either of his former two wives to attend services.

On August 13, a public memorial was held at the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. About twenty-five thousand people came together and brought flowers, gifts, drawings, paintings and other artwork, and even played a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" in remembrance.

Nearly three quarters of year later, on April 4, 1996, Bob Weir and Deborah Koons spread half of Jerry's ashes into the Ganges River at the holy city of Rishikesh, India, then, in accordance with Jerry's last wishes, the remaining ashes were deposited into the San Francisco Bay.

Does that answer your questions?
Sure Jerry did his fair share of drugs, and got into it pretty hard at times, surely contributing to his ill health, but in the end, it was most likely a combination of health problems that contributed to heart disease and a final myocardial infarction. Rest his soul.