This song always conjures the strangest images in my mind: girls I've broken up with, friends I never see anymore, the fall of Saddam Hussein. The song is both cowardly and powerful, in some ways optimistic in others negligent, it is contemplative and yet arrogant. Like all the best Dead songs, it can become the soundtrack to your life - on your best days and your worst.
You're phawkin phunky righteousness. Looks.waht it jah.conjiured I Man no hear.no crazy.no crying shed no.tears.phor I Man.. just love you bridda Jah love I Walk with i.talk.wid I I shall.walk down through the valley of the shadow of.death don't hav no mercy I Jah. phear nuh.evil spread.the light.and lay da love down thick and phat. One.step.forward, two step backwards and then.we.die . remember the.ancients.ancestors.indigenous brother.sister mother.father Gaia friends we have Lost.and good.friends we have. Okay now I.glad trod on trod along
Hands down, my absolute favourite version of Sugaree ....it's recorded and performed just perfectly!! And I thought that Jerry's first solo was.....oh man!....then I heard where he went with the 2nd solo.....
Jerry's Sugaree solo from Egypt '78 is my choice of choices...... when he picks on that one note for 2 minutes straight and then bends up even higher..... really love that!
Indeed that’s what I did here, I remember the sound on the radio simultaneous with the picture on BBC2. Then about 15 years later I found a pirated VHS tape with horrible sound. After another ten years I found some more of the footage on the net, spliced them together and then replaced the sound with my original cassette recordings that had spent most of their lives in the glove compartment of various cars. Had to adjust the speed of the film faster to sync with the soundtrack, so it’s not perfect. But not bad either, at the time. However you can now find the whole show on YT with pretty good sound.
I may be mistaken, but I don’t think TV was broadcast in stereo in the UK until about 1986. In any event, I was staying with my parents that night and they certainly never had anything stereo for another twenty years. So I watched it on their TV and also had a ghetto blaster the size of a suitcase which included a stereo tuner and cassette recording. Probably I connected the line out socket straight to the mic socket, I really can’t remember. Anyway, that’s what you’re listening to here.
me too, it was on the tv for an hour or so. then an all night jam with bob marley and the who. was the first time i heard them live. went to the show in edinburgh in sept on their opening night of the next leg. tripping my tits off with the most beautiful woman in scotland we hitched from aberdeen and a bunch of mates were there.. a night to remember. show can be found on internet archives.
We were lucky people. I am a self described fake dead head who saw them 35 times. This music got me through some REAL REAL tough years. Through all the turmoil, sickness, death --and just the regular shit that life throws at us. It just brought me "up" Gave me something to look forward to. Isn't that what we all need ? Just something simple to look forward to ? Well --THEY were it for me. Still are.....
wuss81 Yes! The music of the Grateful Dead is uplifting even though the lyrics are often melancholic and the mournful at times. Jerry's upbeat, resilient and non-judgmental spirit resonates with us.
Dennis Campbell Yes, many of the themes in their songs are dark, yet the music is somehow uplifting. A good example is Morning Dew, Friend of the Devil and Sugaree. All great mournful songs!
+Edmund Carrington I KNOW!!! man alive is he ever ROCKING on this one! i loved his first solo, but then came along the second one and it just blew me away!! so damn lovely!
This is a great version. For those so inclined, GD 5 19 77 is outstanding, as is JGB 12 21 79. The whole shows are some of the best and the sugarees are exceptional.
The loss is so great. No words can express that sorrow, but still your simple words expresses it. I’m sorry. Live on, I think she would’ve wanted that. And when our time comes for whoever goes on first I hope I can heed my own words. May God bless you in your sorrow and keep you tight
Top 5 version, hands down. Jerry is all over it. The drummers are also really locked in here, and also throughout the whole show. This is the top show of 1981, which is a supremely underrated year (for me personally, it's the best post-1977, pre-1989-90 year).
My dear friend of 41 years just shared this with me. We saw the Dead 41 years ago, Spring of 1980. I love being teleported back to that beautiful Summer. I was blessed to make a friend for life!
My first time i heard the dead in rockpallast more than 35 jears ago and addictit to this song and band forever. Heard it now more than 1000 times and cant get enough of it. What a band and jerry forever in my memories ❤
Me too, but it’s with Perpetual Groove that make the magic happen whilst playing. I dig the Dead, but us youngsters associate more with Perpetual Groove and their ability to keep everything LIT!
Often, I'll find myself coming back to these songs of Freedom that are played by Jerry and his friends. They're not anything special, maybe written during particularly great days or sung through moments of desperation. Although, whenever I hear them, I'm reminded of how quietly momentous our each and every decision can be in order to see our lives blossom. Confined only by our wildest and boundless desires...(Nick, 5/11/2024)
1981 was a fine year overall. The more i hear the more exceptional it is. Jerry really dug in on solos and the whole band seemed to follow. Saw them in 1979 but then missed these years and by 90s these long explorations were over. Still great music but nothing like 1981...or this Sugaree! ⚘🎸✌
Best Sugaree ever goes to Hartford CT , 7/80 at the Bushnell . Hard to find , but well worth the effort . Blows this away , and that's saying something !
had to visit today this site in honor of the last shows in Chicago and the band I spent a lot of time being entertained by the GD vinyl albums and hours of playing along stealing Jerry's licks and a few shows not always the best technically, but still a major musical and social influence.
You can say I am a old deadhead saw Jerry's last show in Chicago. Which was amazing I have had some of the best times of my life at there concerts with all my friends it will be a time I will never forget. I feel I was so blessed to see the dead in there prime Just want to say thank you for such great music that I still enjoy
We are lucky we had Jerry as long as we did,he could of gone sooner like Janice,Jimi Hendrix,on and on,Godbless the Dead got me through many hard days.Thank You ❤️ peace ✌🏻 balloons 🎈 🐻 long strange trip.
I think this is the best Sugaree with a close #2 at the Sportatorium in Florida. Nothing beats JG's solo's on this..sheesh the whole band was feeling that Gestalt linkage during the 2nd solo. To have the best Althea and Sugaree in one show though? Amazing!
In 2012 I was occupying the Federal Courthouse with some other activists and every day for 55 days I went to the library and listened to this song for 8-10 hours constantly for 55 days in a row.
First Heard it done by Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi which they did a amazing rendition at their live shows which brought me over to where the Dead did the original which was on a solo album Jerry Garcia released in 1972.
This was a old favorite of mine & my HS sweetheart,, we would kick back , lay back after school & listening to this song & others off this Grateful Dead Lp.. a million times & more..I will never forget this..& we had some of the best memories together in the 70’s… listening to music wherever l were.💕🎶💕🎶
Jerry at some of his finest guitar/vocal work. This is the stuff that made him a legend. Better than Hendrix. Better than Clapton. Better than anybody as far as I'm concerned. Still my go to man even though he's been dead 20 years. Great hair and beard style too. Bobby (Weir) does a very nice complimentary job too. Good all of them, sober, early 80's. Red rocks '82, '83. Auditorium theatre, Chicago, Stella blue, you coulda' heard a pin drop. Lock.
I would say far from sober here but still awesome. Im sure they were flying high for this show. They played super fast that night. Also the who was there so they definitely partied.
Hard to say this is the best version of Sugaree, but I cant say its not either. I go into a flowing floating hypnosis when I listen to this version and dont want it to come to an end.
