[ad_1]
The long, strange journey of Robert Hunter is over. The principal lyricist of Grateful Dead died on September 23 at the age of 78, in his own bed, surrounded by family members, who have not yet revealed a cause. So peaceful, but with some unresolved mystery, just like Hunter's lyrics in other words.
Try to explain some of Hunter's first words with guitarist and lead singer Jerry Garcia, and very soon, in your exegesis, you will fall back on some kind of discussion about the principle "you must be there". Explain "China Cat Sunflower" or "Dark Star" is like explaining a trip with acid to someone who has never taken acid. No surprise to learn that Hunter wrote a lot of these first words while he was stumbling.
Of course, if you can write a song, any song, while you stumble, you will find yourself in front of most others. In this respect, it is useful to know that Hunter was not just a hippy-dippy poet (although he would have been Robert Burns' great-great-grandson). He was also a real musician – he was a partner of Garcia long before the formation of the Dead, when they were both part of California's bluegrass / coffeehouse scene and he did not know how the songs worked, Garcia was there to teach it. He was learning fast.
Even before the dead enter their phase of folklore / country with Workingman's DeadHunter wrote songs inspired by traditional music in the best possible way. "Dupree's Diamond Blues" does not display songs like "Frankie and Johnny," but Hunter had clearly integrated his era by absorbing old blues songs and folk songs that told stories of thieves, jellyrolls, lovers misplaced and betrayal. In the same way, "Mountains of the Moon", which is simply one of the most haunting and mysterious songs of the last century, turned his hat to the old English ballad, then in his own way. Hunter obviously liked the traditions, but he was not bound by them.
Cumberland Blues is probably the best example. Workingman's Dead. The story has been circulating for years about the kid who played the song for his grandfather, who did not like rock and roll, but who says the old traditional bluegrass song that the Dead played was the real deal, having no idea of the melody. an original Hunter / Garcia. (Extra bonus [no lyrical content]: listen to how the song played on electric instruments begins and turns into an acoustic version at the end of the song.)
As far as I know, Hunter has never appeared on stage with the Dead, but his lyrics are as much a part of their identity as anything actually played by other musicians. His words, which have managed to be both concrete and elliptical, force an auditor to become a partial collaborator: you finish what he started in your head. Your version is yours, and yet you are part of something bigger. Robert Hunter was the master to create extremely personal songs. and Community.
After Garcia's death in 1995, Hunter collaborates with many other songwriters, but none is as famous as Bob Dylan, who respected him so much that he is himself the writing partner to whom Dylan has changed things. "He knows how to use the words, and me too," said Dylan. Rolling stone. "We are both writing a different type of song than the one used today for writing songs." Indeed.
The Dead have never completely escaped their Haight Ashbury hippie origins, but anyone who has already listened closely knows that this is where it all began. There was always more in the music, a solid core that testifies to joy, intelligence and an absolute love for rock and roll, and no one was more attached to it than Hunter. Nothing he has written is anything sentimental or convincing (the new "New Speedway Boogie's" evoking Altamont and its spin-offs are as dark as the songs become). At his best, and he was most often at his best, he and Garcia wrote songs that sounded old as time and shone like a new dime. They hold you in the best possible way: you can not forget them and you would not want to, they will see you through life.
[ad_2]
Source link