Neal Cassady and the song Cassidy

[ERIC HUDSON]

I believe there is another angle to the song "Cassidy", so far not
mentioned here. The story I heard (unconfirmed) is this:

John Barlowe's wife was expecting a child, to be named Cassidy in honor
of their friend, Neal Cassady. Neal died the same week the child
was born. Thus the inspiration for a song celebrating BOTH Cass's.
The resulting theme is one of life from death:

"Quick beats in an icy heart
A catch colt pulls a coffin cart
Here he goes and now here she starts
Hear her cry..."

Does anyone know more about this? Is Cassidy Barlowe out there somewhere?

===============================

ERIC HUDSON "Tomorrow Never Knows"

HUD...@LBL.BITNET

[Brad S. Speierman]

I was bored and was flipping throught my copy of "Grateful Dead Family
Album" and ran across this the other day. It apparently is from an
article by Blair Jackson that was in The Golden Road originally.

Cassidy

"I don't know how many people were living at the ranch," Eileen Law
says. "People were in every room and out in the barn. You had to
have seniority to reach bedroom. I'd sleep in haystacks sometimes,
with the horses and all these other animals."
Eventually, Mickey decided he wanted his ranch back and asked most of
those living there to leave, so Eileen moved in with Bob Weir and his
lady friend, Frankie, in a small house in the tiny West Marin town of
Nicasio.
"That's where Cassidy was born," she says of her daughter, whose father
was Rex Jackson, a Grateful Dead crew member until his death in a car
crash in 1976. "Weir wrote the song at the house during that period.
I lived in a tent behind Weir's and I'd go out there and practice my
breathing exercises. I'd hear Weir playing these beautiful riffs in
the house. Later I think he asked Hunter to write some words for the
tune, and he was going to write something about a card game, and I
said, 'No, no, that's not what that tune is about.' Around that time,
John Barlow came out here on his motorcycle, and the next thing I
knew, he and Weir had this song, which was about my daughter, Cassidy,
and had parts about Neal Cassady, too." Ironically, Cassidy wasn't
named after Cowboy Neal at all, but after the caracter in the popular
film of that year, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. "I decided on
it before Cassidy was even born because I thought it sounded good for
either a boy or a girl. I don't think she's ever really liked the
name, though."
Cassidy began going to Dead shows from birth. "I took her as a newborn,"
Eileen says. "Like the other kids, she sometimes would sleep wrapped
in blankets in equipment crates druing the shows. Other times I'd
hold her all night and then not be able to move my arms the next day."

-Blair Jackson
(The Golden Road)

Now you know!
Brad

--
Brad Speierman (410)684-3569 Internet Email - bss...@sed.csc.com
Alternate Email - bss...@analytics.com

"If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind"

[Jeff Lester]

Eric Hudson writes:

|I believe there is another angle to the song "Cassidy", so far not
|mentioned here. The story I heard (unconfirmed) is this:
|
|John Barlowe's wife was expecting a child, to be named Cassidy in honor
|of their friend, Neal Cassady. Neal died the same week the child
|was born. Thus the inspiration for a song celebrating BOTH Cass's.
|The resulting theme is one of life from death:

|"Quick beats in an icy heart
|A catch colt pulls a coffin cart
|Here he goes and now here she starts
|Hear her cry..."

|Does anyone know more about this? Is Cassidy Barlowe out there somewhere?

This was discussed here very recently. You're close, but not quite there.
John Barlow (no 'e') was not the father, the late Rex Jackson was. The
mother was Eileen Law of the Grateful Dead office (the voice you hear on
the hotline, I believe). Cassidy Law is now about 20 years old and also (??)
works for the GD organization.

-Jeff