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Jack Straw (song)
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Wikipedia article
'"Jack Straw"' is a rock song written by Bob Weir and Robert Hunter. The track appeared on the album 'Europe '72' by the Grateful Dead, who frequently performed it live.
The song was first performed in concert on October 19, 1971, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at new keyboardist Keith Godchaux's first appearance with the band. In the song's earliest performances (c. 197172), Weir sang all of the vocals. On the Europe 72 Tour at The Olympia Theater in Paris on 5-03-72, Weir and Jerry Garcia began switching up the vocals.. The song appeared in both the first and second sets until the band's short hiatus in 1974-1975. After re-forming, the song almost exclusively appeared in the first set. After Brent Mydland joined the band in 1979, the song almost exclusively opened the band's first set. The band also often extended the jam after the second verse after Mydland's joining, often extending the song to over six minutes. Dead and Company have also further extended the song, often adding an abstract opening jam prior to the song's first verse.
Bob Weir stated in a 2004 interview that the song's lyrics were partly based on John Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men'. The song's themes include riding the rails, the Great Depression, and hobo (homeless) camps of the era. Jack Straw is alsoperhaps coincidentallythe name of the original plantation owner, who lived controversially with his gay lover, Peter Ochello, in Tennessee Williams's play 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'.
The Grateful Dead tribute album 'Deadicated' contains a rendition of "Jack Straw" recorded by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.
References
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=wFuE229iBwkC Weiner, Robert G.(1999). 'Perspectives on the Grateful Dead: Critical Writings'. Greenwood Publishing Group, 20, 150.] .
*[http://www.setlists.net/?show_id=0728 setlists.net]
*[http://singout.org/2012/03/12/jack-straw/ Murder Ballad Monday's introduction to "Jack Straw"]
*[https://www.sparknotes.com/drama/cat/section1/page/3/]
*[https://www.setlist.fm/song/grateful-dead/jack-straw-33d62081.html]
Category:Grateful Dead songs
Category:1971 songs
Category:Songs with lyrics by Robert Hunter (lyricist)
Category:Songs written by Bob Weir
Category:Murder ballads
Category:Songs about trains
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