When I was a kid I had the Chieftains album with Shady Grove & Raggle Taggle Gypsy on it. Those two songs especially always whip me up into a frenzy. I was so excited when I came across the Mudcrutch albums & found them doing this song! Tom & any of his friends / bands can do anything they want & do it justice.
you can see by Tom's facial expressions how much pain he was in...but a testament to his dedication to the music and fans he smiled and performed right through it. RIP Tom Petty...you are missed!
Priceless & Timeless performance considering I agree. His hip joint pain would have been excruciating here make no error. How come you may ask. Got my one good right leg [I'm a trauma hemipelvectomy - entire left leg amputated at the highest level hip and pelvis amputated as a result of my near-death motorcycle accident here in New Zealand in 1990 when I was 26] hip joint replaced in 2010 as it was totally worn out and I can now clearly easily recall the pain I was in at the time but I was only 45 whereas Tom would have been 65 here so that's 20 more years older, and the older we become the more we tend to feel pain. While I'm on the subject of pain, ever since my motorcycle accident and becoming a complete left leg amputee I have suffered from chronic group nerve [neuromas] pain around the stump area - even though there isn't a stump. Let me inform you of the intensity and type of pain it is - well lets take the doctor scale pain meter - 'on a scale of 1 - 10' what would you say your level of pain is? Well on occasions I have been rolling on the floor reeling in nerve pain and screaming out in pain...so I'd say the level would have been 11. Only a decent 10mg shot of morphine would ease it and on the subject of morphine, well all the time I was in the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] of 2 hospitals after my motorcycle accident so that's about 3 weeks, my body was infused with the maximum amount of morphine my body could 'manage' for pain relief. So I believe I have a slight indication of what intense pain feels like. So in that aspect I totally take my hat off and bow down to Tom Petty here because he delivered as professional as it could get performance here when he could have easily delivered a 'juiced out - stoned out of his tree - what I am doing here completely incoherent' level of performance. And that is what defined Tom Petty for me. A man who fought for his rights his entire life. Make no error - there was no 'bed of roses' lifestyle for Tom Petty. He defied the odds. He could have given up easily and become 'an also ran' musician when record companies attempted to bankrupt him back in the day. But that was never ever going to be Tom Petty. Instead he FOUGHT BACK. Do you know how difficult that would have been? Small time musician up against a multi mega million dollar record company? That's how and why Tom wrote his song; 'I Won't Back Down' from; 'Full Moon Fever' in 1989 because he had guts and a farking lot of it. Tom Petty kind of gave the impression a decent strong southerly wind would blow him over pretty easily...but that's totally the opposite to his true persona. Which is why I fell head over heels in love with his music ever since first hearing 'Refugee' on New Zealand radio around October 1979 - when I was 15/16. I was hooked & addicted to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers from the first time I heard 'Refugee'. Ok Ok this is supposed to be about Mudcrutch. Well it was only after first listening to a live version of 'Crystal River' that got me on to it/them. That live version of 'Crystal River' meeeeeeelllllllooooooows me out sooo gooood. It's about as potent as it can get for relaxation for me. I don't even need a toke anymore to help me mellow out. Just crank out the live version of 'Crystal River' and away I float....down the river....
Rock legends kicking butt on a classic old-timey song.... And killing it!!! Usually hate crossover covers, but these guys are wise enough to use their talent on a great song without trying to "personalize" it.
