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New Potato Caboose

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Caleb Kennedy

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Aug 25, 2008, 5:32:42 AM8/25/08
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By the time they recorded their first album, the Dead had few 'jam-songs' of
the kind they would become known for, and all those were covers - Viola Lee,
Dancing in the Streets, Midnight Hour, Same Thing.... Through 1966 they'd
focused mostly on doing covers, and I think Cream Puff War was the only
original song they used to take off into a long Garcia solo. But by the time
their album was released, they were already unhappy with it as being
out-of-date (as Garcia and Lesh said on an April '67 radio show, "it was
something we did, it's all over with, the next one certainly won't be like
that in any way", and they were already talking about spending much longer
in the studio to get well-engineered sounds as well as recording live sets
at the Fillmore to capture the live sound they couldn't get in the studio).
With constant practice they were getting musically tighter all the time and
were eager to try material that was stranger, more complex, more
'psychedelic', and gave more room for jamming. As a result 1967 saw a huge
burst of creativity within the Dead: within a seven-month period they
started playing Alligator, Lovelight, the Other One suite, Dark Star, China
Cat Sunflower, The Eleven, the 'Spanish jam'....and New Potato Caboose.
New Potato is one of the more mellow pieces they did that year, with its
wandering pace, the melodic opening guitar riff (only used as the intro),
Garcia's sweet fills, Weir's spacy vocals, and the meditative jam. It's
unusual for a Dead-song in being a collaboration between Lesh and his
beat-poet friend Bobby Petersen (their only one until Mars Hotel), and they
seem to have taken pains to make it as weird as they could. I think in late
'67 Lesh took a big creative role in the Dead's music; with his background
in classical, jazz, and electronic music, he had the strongest impulse to
push the music into a more avant-garde direction and create more difficult,
challenging pieces to play. The Anthem of the Sun album has Lesh's
fingerprints all over it, more so than any other Dead album. As for New
Potato, Garcia talked about it in an interview:
"It's a very long thing and it doesn't have a form, in that it doesn't have
a verse-chorus form. It has two or three recurring elements, but it doesn't
have a recurring pattern; it just changes continually, off of itself and
through itself in lots of different ways - rhythmically, the tonality of it,
and the chord relationships. There's lots of surprises in it, a lot of fast,
difficult transitions. And there are transitions that musically are real
awkward. They're not the kind of thing that flows at all, but we're trying
to make this happen by taking something that's jarring and making it
unjarring. Making it so that it happens without anybody losing their minds
when it happens. And just to see if we can do it. As it is, it's a little
stilted, cause it's all so utterly odd. But it has its points and I think
that's one direction that we'll be able to move successfully in."
The lyrics offer a strange, awkward poetry that Robert Hunter was also
exploring in his early Dead songs. But they're arranged in an interesting
way: Weir sings (or tries to), and it's a lot like one of his later songs in
being rhythmically odd and having unexpected changes in meter. Like Lesh's
later songs, it's definitely not a sing-along, and the harmony singing is
probably the most difficult thing for people to listen to today! But the
harmony shifts are interesting to hear - Lesh is arranging the voices as if
they were horns in an instrumental piece (which is the kind of music he'd
been composing before). The "all graceful instruments are known" line is
sung two different ways, almost medieval-fashion, as a kind of lyrical
refrain; the second time it transitions into a circular jam that stays
within the framework of the song, but has a soaring, open-ended feel until
it closes with some crunchy riffs and a mind-spinning repeated-note finish.

The earliest performance we have is from 8/4/67, and it's totally confident
and worked-out, without any hesitation in all the transitions; all the
instrumental parts are there, though the jam section is shorter than it
would become. Garcia plays a beautiful solo while Lesh slides all over in
support.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-08-04.sbd.hanno.16752.sbeok.shnf 6:40

On "5/5/67" New Potato comes out of Golden Road in a surprise segue. (Though
dated May, this show is probably from August/September, as you can tell from
comparing the Alligator to other shows.) The band sounds completely wasted
in their stage banter, so it's amazing how well they play; in fact their
jamming is extremely aggressive, so their many hours of 'acid-bonding' while
playing have clearly paid off. There's only one point in the jam where they
seem a bit confused, but they still blast their way to a note-perfect
ending. Lesh is really strong here, almost playing Jack Casady-style lead
bass in a duet with Garcia; Weir pretty much sticks to chordal backing.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-05-05.sbs.yerys.1595.sbeok.shnf 9:14

On "1/27/67" the New Potato is incomplete and rather hard to listen to,
since Pigpen's keyboards are louder than anything else. No loss though; as
it happens, the Morning Dew and New Potato are from the same performance as
the 10/22/67 tape, surprisingly captured on two different recordings. (We
could probably date the show to late September/October anyway, since
Alligator has now picked up its drum intro; I'm not sure if 10/22 is the
right date either since Kreutzmann is the only drummer I hear.) In any case,
this New Potato is very trippy; Garcia delays his entrance into the jam so
his wailing notes have maximum impact when they float in. A couple times
Garcia plays the riff to end the song, but then keeps on going - they seem
to have practiced this since everyone is right there with him.
Pigpen is very upfront in the mix of all these '67 shows, so we can hear how
dominant his playing was in the band's sound. Between Pigpen's shrill organ
and Garcia's high-strung guitar, live tapes from this year sometimes have a
freewheeling circus-calliope atmosphere. Given Pigpen's limited work later
in '69-72, you wouldn't expect him to be playing through a difficult song
and jam like New Potato, but he sticks in there all the way through with a
well-defined part, and adds a lot to the song which might seem a little bare
without him.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1967-01-27.sbd.8762.shnf 8:25/
http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-10-22.sbd.miller.18101.sbeok.shnf 9:38

11/11/67 has a very laid-back New Potato. Some developments in the playing
are now standard in each performance: Garcia lays out for a while after the
verses while Lesh and Weir build the groove, then glides back in. The pace
is a bit slower as the band pokes around the jam; Weir seems to have
expanded the range of his guitar part. Again Garcia draws out the ending by
playing the closing riff a couple times, then adding a few more solo lines
(the effect is a bit like the way they'd wind up Eyes of the World with the
repeated synchronized riff in '73) - this part would become especially
lengthy later in 1968.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-11-11.sbd.sacks.1613.sbeok.shnf 10:55

The versions of New Potato on the Northwest Tour of 1968 are very similar to
each other. Surprisingly, they're not very exploratory - it's the nature of
a Dead tune to stretch out over time, but through the tour they seem to be
making an effort to keep New Potato within bounds, so it's a bit shorter
than it was in '67. (Probably they were thinking of the album length.) The
three guitars by now are more balanced, with Weir stepping up a lot more and
confidently filling in Garcia's leads. Garcia is more methodical with his
solos than in '67 - he starts out slowly and gradually climbs in intensity.
The performances generally get better with each show - on 1/17 New Potato
starts out a bit ragged, and on 1/22 it's relatively weak with Garcia going
nowhere in the jam. But the February versions, 2/3 and 2/14 are quite good;
the last one, 2/24 is more laid-back but has some amazing textures going on.

At the start of the tour New Potato shifted around in the set - on 1/17 it
opens a medley, and on 1/20 and 1/23 it comes out of Clementine; but in
every show thereafter Garcia starts it at the end of the Cryptical suite.
They liked the effect of the hypnotic guitar wash emerging from the frantic
breakdown of Cryptical, and kept it on the album. In all the shows, they
segue from the closing blast of New Potato to the starting bang of Born
Cross-Eyed (which they also kept for the album). Strangely, for all the
times they did it, they hardly ever got it right though it should have been
an easy match, and that segue often sounds clumsy with either a dead stop or
a little drum break or Phil nudge to help them re-synchronize at the start
of Born Cross-Eyed - finally on 2/14 (the last time) it's a smooth
transition.
1/17/68 - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-17.sbd.cotsman.11795.shnf
8:30
1/20/68 -
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-01-20.sbd.jools.19470.sbe-fixed.shnf
8:29
1/22/68 -
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-01-22.sbd.weiner.8583.sbeok.shnf 7:53
1/23/68 - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-23.sbd.finney.4528.shnf
8:14
2/3/68 -
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-02-03.sbd.jools.14987.sbeok.shnf 8:48
2/14/68 -
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-02-14.sbd.kaplan.15640.sbeok.shnf 8:37
2/24/68 - Dick's Pick 22 - 8:41
(A note: the New Potato that's track 6, disc 2 of the 1968 "mystery reels"
is actually a different mix of 2/3/68. Perhaps they aborted the segue into
Born Cross-Eyed that night?)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-xx-xx.sbd.vernon.9426.sbeok.shnf 8:41

The last Anthem-era New Potato we have is from 3/29/68, one of a series of
beautiful audience recordings made at the Carousel (the taper seems to have
gone back on several nights, but mostly only caught parts of the shows).
It's a gentle, langorous version, the ballroom echo suiting the song well
and Garcia's sinuous guitar up-front; it's much like the Northwest
performances though he is starting to stretch his solo out at the end a
little more. He extends the repeated distorted-chimes figure that was used
more briefly before, but would become a climactic highlight of later
performances.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-03-29.aud.vernon.9473.sbeok.shnf 9:21

On Anthem of the Sun, the Dead decided to blend studio and live recordings
of New Potato - the 'song' part is entirely studio-recorded which allows
them to treat it differently than in a live show. They emphasize the musical
emergence from chaos by turning the close of Cryptical into a Constanten
piano-noise disintegration, and prolonging the opening riff of New Potato.
(As Constanten put it, he was to whip the music "into a greater frenzy,
ultimately causing it to explode, and out of the rubble of the explosion and
the smoke and the ashes and everything would come the delicious sounds of
New Potato Caboose." It never sounded quite like that at live shows.) The
vocals are sung somewhat differently; the bass wanders in and out; there are
many more instruments, including harpsichord, celesta, and a piano or two as
well as organ, chimes, and several guitar dubs including an acoustic. But
when they reach the 'jam' it switches to a continuous live version (or
several edited together), without extra effects except Garcia is sometimes
playing two guitars at once. 8:26

Our next New Potato comes from an undated 'mystery show', probably from May
'68 (though it has also circulated as 4/3/68). Most noted for having a
brutally brief fragment of the earliest-known St Stephen, this show also
features a major innovation in the New Potato. Garcia starts the song after
easing Cryptical into a quiet, graceful finish (which sounds very mature for
the early date). Rather than going into the usual post-lyrics New Potato
jam, Lesh starts a pumping bass solo right away that turns into a familiar
classical motif, often labeled the jam in thirteens. Unfortunately I can't
identify the classical piece he is doing, would appreciate if someone could
name it. (The Compendium says it's Chopin's Minute Waltz, but it's not.)
Weir joins him with a few chords, but after a couple minutes they end it and
the regular New Potato solo starts. Garcia, however, is not very flowing at
this show - he didn't add anything to the thirteens jam, and his solo seems
disjointed.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-xx-xx.sbd.vernon.9426.sbeok.shnf 10:46
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-05-00.sbd.currier.5427.sbeok.shnf
(alternate)

Mid-1968 is almost a black hole for Dead recordings, so the next versions
are from a few months later, at the monstrous August shows. In 8/22/68 an
amazing New Potato comes out of a slow, lovely Cryptical jam; Phil has
really expanded his solo so it goes for several minutes, supported by some
chimes from Garcia and Pigpen and nice feedback waves from Weir. When the
classical theme starts, everyone lifts it up with great staccato rhythmic
chords, turning it into one of the Dead's most exhilarating moments; Weir in
particular stands out, doubling Lesh's lines. They take it down for Garcia's
solo - he seems quiet and laid-back at first, but they carefully build up
into two more outstanding climaxes that are new to the song, climbing to a
roar and then dropping down again, before the usual grand finish.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-08-22.sbd.cotsman.14915.sbeok.shnf 14:18

The 8/24/68 New Potato emerges again from a very sweet Cryptical jam. The
song is nearly identical to 8/22, except that the Dead are more energized so
it has even more drive. Lesh is booming in his solo, and teases the
classical theme for a little while as the rest of the band drops in delicate
noises and feedback; when they finally lock into it the effect is joyous.
Garcia's jam ebbs and swells, the band swerving with him as he blazes into
his cascading climaxes. This is the most transcendental version. (It's also
unusual for going into Lovelight at the end, instead of Alligator as was
common in this period.)
I might add that by now, Pigpen's style has changed - he's a lot more
subdued on keyboards, or perhaps just sounds like it since he's now low in
the mix, but his tone is different, blending in more with the others, and he
seems to be playing a few notes at a time rather than the huge chords he was
blasting a year earlier. (This is our last New Potato in which he plays at
all.)
Two From The Vault 14:16

New Potato had found its permanent place following the Cryptical suite in a
medley; but while Cryptical continued to grow (doubling in size in '68), New
Potato had reached its farthest limit. The next few versions from the fall
are disappointing. 10/12/68 is one of the best shows of '68, but does not
have a top New Potato. The drummers are going wild with crashing cymbals,
but there's some hesitation before Lesh starts his solo, and they only jam
on it for three minutes - it's fast, delicious and dense and shows how
strongly they must have been performing it in those months, but it rapidly
breaks down for some reason into a drum solo, and they return with a great
Caution-type jam.
By a cruel quirk of fate, the New Potato jams on both 10/13 and 11/1 are
obliterated by tapecuts. 11/22 has a nice version - Lesh's solo is a
standout, though Garcia's is shortened - but the distant, muffled audience
tape is a challenge to listen to or enjoy.
10/12/68 - http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-10-12.sbd.eD.10909.sbeok.shnf
6:39
10/13/68 - http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-10-13.sbd.eD.10910.sbeok.shnf
2:58/
11/1/68 -
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-11-01.sbd.cotsman.18100.sbeok.shnf 2:20/
11/22/68 -
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-11-22.aud.cotsman.10088.sbeok.shnf 11:43

12/7/68 has some standout performances in spite of the sound problems they
were having, and features another classic New Potato along with the only
live Rosemary. Cryptical winds down delicately into an energetic Caboose.
There's a new, dramatic entry into the jam: after the vocals everybody sings
"whooaaa!" (first heard on 10/12), which remains a neat part of the song in
the following versions. Lesh's solo is exciting and fast-paced, and a bit
more sloppy than in August as the others don't always stay in synch.
Garcia's solo is beautiful, as he's starting to play his lines in a
different way (including one short volume-swell section), and he lingers on
the Viola Lee-style spiraling climax. He drops out for a bit as new player
Tom Constanten takes a brief solo spot; but though New Potato seems ideally
suited for Constanten to add his baroque decorations, he never contributed
to this song, perhaps feeling there wasn't room for him.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-12-07.sbd.naines.16944.sbeok.shnf 14:10

While New Potato had been a constant in the setlists of '67 and '68, in 1969
we only have three known performances. On 1/24/69 the Cryptical drops down
to quietness before Garcia decides to start New Potato - it's a bit
tentative in spots, so Lesh bludgeons his way into a sloppy solo. The
measured grace this section had in August has gone missing, as the band
offers only indifferent support, Weir really stumbling around at the end of
the solo. Garcia's section is still performed well though, as he coaxes the
band into a nice spiraling climax. Note how different New Potato sounds now
that Pigpen's not playing and the song is guitars-only - Constanten is
barely audible.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-01-24.sbd.kaplan.7922.sbeok.shnf 13:21

On 3/1/69 they played an intense set, but the New Potato is still rusty,
showing how rarely they were playing it then. Check out, for instance, how
slow the band are in backing the classical theme; Weir screws up again at
the end of Lesh's solo, finally giving up on even finding the right notes.
Garcia's solo is pretty short this time, and he seems in a hurry to end it,
catching the band unprepared when he starts the closing riff. The spiraling
climax is still very cool though, especially the way they come out of it.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-03-01.sbd.16track.kaplan.4030.sbeok.shnf
(reviews only) 11:37

The first set of 6/8/69 is a remarkable, unique medley of Dancing in the
Streets>He Was A Friend of Mine>China Cat Sunflower>New Potato Caboose. One
would think that the final New Potato would be a shambles as the band tried
to remember this dusty song - far from it, they must have played it
recently, for it's a really good version, carefully performed. The band
backs Lesh's solo perfectly this time; Garcia enters his solo triumphantly,
and takes it to some interesting places; he hangs on for an intensely long
climax, and the band swaggers to a joyful finish. It's too bad, after this
almost note-perfect rendition, that the band would abandon New Potato; but
they were returning in mid-'69 to simpler, more folksy material, and may
have felt that this psychedelic piece with its complicated harmonies, tempo
changes and demanding structure was no longer as enjoyable to play.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-06-08.sbd.cotsman.19285.sbeok.shnf 13:15


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Olompali4

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Aug 25, 2008, 7:23:05 AM8/25/08
to
NPC is easily one of the GD's most embarrassing compositions on
record.
Maybe a step above What's Become of the Baby. Live, one is compelled
to FF the "song" and head for the instrumental jams.
It isn't worthy of such a lengthy analysis.

Thank God for Hunter.

James....@gmail.com

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Aug 25, 2008, 8:47:04 AM8/25/08
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Here are the lyrics:


Last leaf fallen bare earth where green was born,
Above my doorknob two eagles hang against a cloud,
Sun comes up blood red wind yells among the stone,
All graceful instruments are known.

When the windows all are broken and your love's become a toothless
crone,
When the voices of the storm sound like a crowd,
Winter morning breaks, you're all alone.

The eyes are blind, blue visions, all a seer can own,
And touching makes the flesh to cry out loud
This ground on which the seed of love is sown,
All graceful instruments are known.


If there's a problem with the song, I think it's in the arrangement.
The lyric itself is chock-full of compelling images -- some of which
rival anything Hunter ever produced. (The only bad line here is the
"above my doorknob, two eagles hang against a cloud" line... It's
nonsense and does not fit with the other imagery in the text.)

I like the dissonance produced by the "all graceful instruments" line
as it follows the imagery of the blood-red sun, the wind among the
rocks, the pained flesh, etc. I like the way images of seed and earth
bookend the opening and closing.

pbuzb...@yahoo.com

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Aug 25, 2008, 9:03:48 AM8/25/08
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On Aug 25, 4:32 am, "Caleb Kennedy" <thehor...@earthlink.net> wrote:

> On Anthem of the Sun, the Dead decided to blend studio and live recordings
> of New Potato - the 'song' part is entirely studio-recorded which allows
> them to treat it differently than in a live show. They emphasize the musical
> emergence from chaos by turning the close of Cryptical into a Constanten
> piano-noise disintegration, and prolonging the opening riff of New Potato.
> (As Constanten put it, he was to whip the music "into a greater frenzy,
> ultimately causing it to explode, and out of the rubble of the explosion and
> the smoke and the ashes and everything would come the delicious sounds of
> New Potato Caboose." It never sounded quite like that at live shows.) The
> vocals are sung somewhat differently; the bass wanders in and out; there are
> many more instruments, including harpsichord, celesta, and a piano or two as
> well as organ, chimes, and several guitar dubs including an acoustic. But
> when they reach the 'jam' it switches to a continuous live version (or
> several edited together), without extra effects except Garcia is sometimes
> playing two guitars at once.  8:26

The first half of the jam on the Anthem version is from the show
included in the official downloads series (3/16/68, IIRC). At the
repeated C-D-F#-D lick it crossfades into another version from a non-
circulating show.

Pat Buzby
Chicago, IL

JerryS

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Aug 25, 2008, 1:04:16 PM8/25/08
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Actually if I remember right, according to Weir, It's "Black Madonna"
and not "above my doorknob". The same thing happened with The Other
One where the line is "escaping through the lily fields and not "while
skipping through the lily fields". These mistakes started when the
Grateful Dead Anthology songbook came out in early 1979.

Andrew Murawa

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Aug 25, 2008, 1:18:46 PM8/25/08
to

Really? Different strokes, apparently... This "one" has never been
compelled to skip New Potato Caboose...

Bzl.

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Aug 25, 2008, 1:45:23 PM8/25/08
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"Andrew Murawa" <amu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b4051186-2421-4ad8...@w24g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

-------------------------------------------------

Same here. BTW, this is another tune that the current Phil band does great.
Here's a great-sounding one from Richmond, VA

http://www.archive.org/details/paf2008-06-17.bk4022.davis.92353.flac16


Olompali4

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Aug 25, 2008, 2:32:08 PM8/25/08
to
On Aug 25, 12:18 pm, Andrew Murawa <amur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 25, 4:23 am, Olompali4 <olompa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > NPC is easily one of the GD's most embarrassing compositions on
> > record.
> > Maybe a step above What's Become of the Baby. Live, one is compelled
> > to FF the "song" and head for the instrumental jams.
> > It isn't worthy of such a lengthy analysis.
>
> Really?, apparently... This "one" has never been

> compelled to skip New Potato Caboose...

Different strokes?
You can have Lesh/Peterson.
I'll take Hunter/Garcia.
Everytime.


My bet the various divisions between Weir and Phil begins here.. with
this tune.

I did like the novelty of seeing Modern Phil play it but still enjoyed
where it went much more than the actual song being sung which is
atrocious by its very nature.

I've never been big on awkward arrangements, ie. Jerry's Stagger is
unwieldy vs. Hunter's straightaway.
One man's awkward can be another man's inventive.
~Sweet Oaxacan Vine~LOL!
Indeed!!

Plus ca chang

Andrew Murawa

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Aug 25, 2008, 2:58:21 PM8/25/08
to
On Aug 25, 11:32 am, Olompali4 <olompa...@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Aug 25, 12:18 pm, Andrew Murawa <amur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Aug 25, 4:23 am, Olompali4 <olompa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > > NPC is easily one of the GD's most embarrassing compositions on
> > > record.
> > > Maybe a step above What's Become of the Baby. Live, one is compelled
> > > to FF the "song" and head for the instrumental jams.
> > > It isn't worthy of such a lengthy analysis.
>
> > Really?, apparently... This "one" has never been
> > compelled to skip New Potato Caboose...
>
>  Different strokes?
> You can have Lesh/Peterson.
> I'll take Hunter/Garcia.
> Everytime.

I wasn't aware it was an either/or decision...

> My bet the various divisions between Weir and Phil begins here.. with
> this tune.
>
> I did like the novelty of seeing Modern Phil play it but still enjoyed
> where it went much more than the actual song being sung which is
> atrocious by its very nature.

Yes. An atrocity. Quite literally, eh? Hiroshima? That was pretty bad,
but that New Potato Caboose is a friggin' atrocity.

Olompali4

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Aug 25, 2008, 3:56:03 PM8/25/08
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On Aug 25, 1:58 pm, Andrew Murawa <amur...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Yes. An atrocity. Quite literally, eh? Hiroshima? That was pretty bad,
> but that New Potato Caboose is a friggin' atrocity.

In the context of songcraft...NPC is an atrocity.
The kind of creativity people use to describe the crap that LSD makes
"special."
In the context of world events, not so much an atrocity as an annoying
trifle.

Caleb Kennedy

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Aug 25, 2008, 4:15:35 PM8/25/08
to
Oops - forgot the 3/17/68 show on the Download Series - pardon me!

The line in the lyrics is "black Madonna"....the weird lyrics and awkward
arrangement do take some getting used to, but I think Garcia's comment
indicates they were trying to make it as strange as they could. The fruit of
a thousand acid trips.....


Neil X.

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Aug 26, 2008, 4:23:11 PM8/26/08
to


Huh. You really think the lyrics to New Potato Caboose are any worse
than Hunter's lyrics to China Cat Sunflower? They're both essentially
meaningless word strings that sound good set to music. And I love the
music of New Potato Caboose. I'd never consider skipping it. I might
skip other tracks to get to it, though.......

Peace,
Neil X.

Andrew

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Aug 26, 2008, 4:56:51 PM8/26/08
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Neil X. wrote:
> On Aug 25, 3:56 pm, Olompali4 <olompa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> On Aug 25, 1:58 pm, Andrew Murawa <amur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes. An atrocity. Quite literally, eh? Hiroshima? That was pretty bad,
>>> but that New Potato Caboose is a friggin' atrocity.
>> In the context of songcraft...NPC is an atrocity.
>> The kind of creativity people use to describe the crap that LSD makes
>> "special."
>> In the context of world events, not so much an atrocity as an annoying
>> trifle.
>
>
> Huh. You really think the lyrics to New Potato Caboose are any worse
> than Hunter's lyrics to China Cat Sunflower? They're both essentially
> meaningless word strings that sound good set to music.

Personally, I don't think either song is a bad lyric at all. If you're
looking for a literal linear story-song, you're in the wrong spot, but
each song (and particularly NPC IMO) feature great images. And, of
course, I think both songs are totally compelling musically, although I
will admit that China Cat is probably more successful on that front,
which is more of a compliment to China Cat than a denigration of New
Potato...

> And I love the
> music of New Potato Caboose. I'd never consider skipping it. I might
> skip other tracks to get to it, though.......

Right. The odds of me skipping over NPC are effectively zero.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Pepe Papon

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Aug 26, 2008, 6:30:48 PM8/26/08
to
On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:32:08 -0700 (PDT), Olompali4
<olom...@comcast.net> wrote:

>I did like the novelty of seeing Modern Phil play it but still enjoyed
>where it went much more than the actual song being sung which is
>atrocious by its very nature.

This is true if you define "atrocious" to mean "grerat".

MalcolmO

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Aug 29, 2008, 5:31:36 PM8/29/08
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> In the context of songcraft...NPC is an atrocity.

No way! I LOVE NPC! One of my fave Dead tunes!

Edwin Hurwitz

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Sep 7, 2008, 2:33:00 PM9/7/08
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In article
<b46716c9-45ae-4fe5...@2g2000hsn.googlegroups.com>,
Olompali4 <olom...@comcast.net> wrote:

I love both of those songs.


Edwin
--
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your
enemies.
-Moshe Dayan

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