I remember being about 15 years old when I first heard Terrapin. Something inexplicable happened. The arrangement is honestly otherworldly in my opinion. Many people understand this, but most don’t.
Robert Hunter said it best in a letter he wrote to Garcia after his death. He said that when he was there this night and saw this performance of this song, for the first time in his life, he had a feeling that they were doing exactly what they were meant to be doing.
oh where forth art thou today Robert Hunter? think of you every day, every listen. otoh if you are enjoying from afar and want to experience our collective love stayin private, cheers!
Hunter toured not long ago and it was wonderful. He sounded wonderful. His playing and his singing were absolutely wonderful. He is a most special man. He has many poems and many journals up to read. It's nice to be able to read those things and his translation of Rilke. Peace and Love.
When I began learning this arrangement on guitar without singing, my wife was in the other room listening. She came in and asked "what is that? It sounds like you're telling a story on guitar" I said, "Funny you should say that. This song's lyrics are a story about a storyteller". Now that is good song writing. When the feeling of the music matches the feeling of the lyrics.
Just sublime. Phil on high Keith twinkling Billy straight and true, bobby feneekeelahinging, Donna praising appropriately and Jerry being the Master in story with aural and guitar, shedding improvisational majesty commencing a true legion for those of us waiting to board at the station.
Listen grateful dead is like listen a history of an old people whispering stories while you sleep, taking you to another world, creating sensations that you never felt.
I was at this show. The swing Auditorium in San Bernadino. Robert Hunter was there. He wore a black leather vest with long sleeve white shirt and leaned over the top of some speakers watching and listening. He was right on the edge of the stage. It was a pretty small venue. And let me tell you this, it was an outstanding, super high energy and amazingly tight Grateful Dead performance. Plus, the place was dosed up to the gills with LSD.
Hunter n Garcia wrote some of the deepest most poetic,transcendant music ever heard.. Jerry had the softest sweetest vocal,perfection. Spring 77 is where its at 4me.
I was at that show at the ol' Swing. This is the first time I've heard music from that show 37 years ago. Thanks for posting this. Brings back good memories.
This show had some great memories and some scary ones for me. Fantastic show but got held up at knifepoint in the parking lot after the show. The cops later caught all four kids who held up me and my buddy. We testified as witnesses at their trial and had them put away. Apparently they held up a few heads before the show at gunpoint which is how they got their tickets to the show. Luckily, they didn't have the guns after the show when they held us up. But, A GREAT SHOW
The Grateful Dead took 7 weeks off live shows while recording this album in the studio so when the band hits the stage this night they're ready to play the shit out this song.
Looking back I am so blessed to of been at the last show at Soldiers Field.Going to a show was one of the only things that kept me from falling apart.They were just amazing.You now what I mean!!! If only to go to one more show back when.Oh how I miss the people I met on the journey.Thanks for being part of that chapter in my life that will always be with me..Hope life is well with you my Brothers and Sisters!!!
I still have trouble imagining what it must’ve been like for serious Deadheads in the crowd that night...Just freakin’ try to imagine the sheer enormity of the moment..it must’ve been/ had to have been, one of the mightiest GD openers ever!!!
I was at a Dead & Company show on 6/1/19. I'm pretty sure that's what it was like to be at a spring 77 show. I will treasure the memory for the rest of my life.
@person of interest. I have been to 200+ Dead shows. Starting at 3 months old in 1981. Yes, the experience at the Dead and Co show was comparable. Obviously not a "real" Dead show with Jerry but similarly moving.
@@pumpkinking5174yes , but it's because of our age sometimes , I was just old enuf same year Jerry passed. So I saw Further and the other ones I mean yeah. And not dead andco cause I was broke I'm 45 now w 6 kids .... anyway I also followed max creek who had a SIMILAR scene, and played tons of dead sons. I got a little too messed up on the paper so then I quit and went to meetings (h) and then I "got saved " was only into gospel music for some years. Then I divorced rhe pastor and got back on the bus 😂anyway yes I wish I Cuda seen an actual Grateful Dead concert. But dead and company are frigan amazing.
I'm in a minority in this opinion, but "Terrapin Station" is my favorite Dead album. If they had recorded a double album of Hunter's complete lyrics, it would have been their finest creation. Thanks for the upload. I really like the New Years's Eve at Winterland version, too.
I like this version the best. It's not so sleepy or tired as later versions. It's got spunk. I like later versions, but this one seems to capture the truest spirit of the song.
BrainPolice5 definitely. This is the only one I go to. I will only do Cornell 77 row jimmy. These 2 songs I can only listen to those versions, the rest can be mixed up.
could u explain why those 2 versions are so special to you? I would argue that this one really gets me with the vocals and the crispness in tempo (and let's not forget about Keith's majestic keys in this one, maybe his finest work with that song live) does not contain jerry's signature first lick in his solo during the Lady with a fan part
The version from 3/18 is fantastic as well. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in attendance at the Swing Aud this night and experience this for the 1st time along with everyone else. :)
Check out Hunter's complete version of the Terrapin Suite on "Jack O' Roses". It features several additional musical and lyrical sequences (a second half really) that help flesh out themes in the first half, filled with different mythical characters meeting and pursuing and encountering each other in different situations through different incarnations over the ages. The Dead chose not to take it to this more ambitious place, and I think it must have been a disappointment to Hunter.
Would be interesting to know if this was the way he originally wrote it or if, like many artists, he built on it over time, perhaps some after it was released by the Dead.
I was in college in San Diego and my buddies and I drove up for the show...the Swing was a trip...looking at the stage, the venue was very wide but not very deep...I recall it also being pretty warm inside...definitely one of the best shows I ever saw...agree that this is one of the best Terrapins!
My favorites are the Hampton 3-24-87 out of the coma the energy is just SICK and the flawed but mighty Hershey Park 6-28-85 and Oxford , Maine 1988 I never realized at the time of the shows just how epic this song was oh I need a Time Machine miracle
This is the only recording of the Grateful Dead in my music collection. I randomly hit a live set on archive.org and got this concert. Cool to know it was the first performance. xD
I was saving up my money to buy Bee Gees 45’s in 77...10 years old and just months away from getting Led Zep1 on cassette from my Aunts weird boyfriend for my 11th birthday. Grateful Dead just entering my life now at 55 years old although I saw them on accident in 1982 (long story).
I was there with by running buddies Micky Rat , Zig and the Hobbit, also first "Estimated "that night and a killer Help>Slipnot>Franklins , we were all excited to see Mickey Hart back behind the kit with Bill!
wake of the flood, mars hotel, blues for allah, terrapin station, one monster album after another on an annual basis we thought we had found heaven on earth
let me start by saying terrapin is my favorite dead song. I am happy with the way this song has progressed. I think i like the way furthur does it the best. not hating. This original version is a little fast for my liking. awesome non the less. glad to hear where my favorite tune began.
1st posted comment ever and it's on the 1st, "Terrapin." Fitting. All-time favorite recording of my all-time favorite Dead song. "Inspiration move me brightly."
Thank you for the history lesson. So that's where Terrapin Station was born! Wow, it is as deeply rooted in folk music as Peggy-O! I just looked it up and posted the song and lyrics on Facebook's Grateful Dead Society.
Most of Terraoin is ripped off directly from several old folk tunes , verbatim .Line by line , word for word ripped . I love what they did with it , but I wish Hunter were more honest about this one . There's hardly a line in it that doesn't come directly from Lady of Carlysle and another I found in an old book '' TrADITIONAL fOLK sONGS OF nORTH aMERICA'' .
@Gary Daniel That's not such an old song . It's written by Allen Toussaint , who only recently died .I know what you're saying , but that particular tune isn't a good example .
@@jciazza1 To rip something off requires it being owned- and not just in the legal sense. Folks songs that have been done many times with many variations are not the compositions of any single person, and become part of the heritage of all. Verbatim is certainly not accurate .
I like this version better than every other version I've heard. I like how they kept it a little more loose; no structured guitar break, just Jerry playing.
Check the perfectly timed, rhythmic whistle at the 18 second mark. He timed it perfectly to the drums busting in which is pretty impressive considering this was the first time played!
This is one of the last GD shows I saw, there with many good friends from Az and LA. Looks of "WTF is this song?" were shared by many as Garcia started this song. Garcia played a Travis Bean guitar at this show.
Apparently they opened with Terrapin, Jerry couldnt wait to play it, having just written it with Hunter, based on having seen a rare Bay Area lightning storm which they had both witnessed independently.
I remember being about 15 years old when I first heard Terrapin. Something inexplicable happened. The arrangement is honestly otherworldly in my opinion. Many people understand this, but most don’t.
I first heard 2 26 77 as a freshman in college: Totally Otherworldly.... I couldn't agree more readily
Robert Hunter said it best in a letter he wrote to Garcia after his death. He said that when he was there this night and saw this performance of this song, for the first time in his life, he had a feeling that they were doing exactly what they were meant to be doing.
rm1133
oh where forth art thou today Robert Hunter? think of you every day, every listen. otoh if you are enjoying from afar and want to experience our collective love stayin private, cheers!
Hunter toured not long ago and it was wonderful. He sounded wonderful. His playing and his singing were absolutely wonderful. He is a most special man. He has many poems and many journals up to read. It's nice to be able to read those things and his translation of Rilke. Peace and Love.
❤🎶🎵🎼🔊❤❤❤😎🎼
Rest in Peace, Robert Hunter. This is his and Jerry's crowning achievement!
When I began learning this arrangement on guitar without singing, my wife was in the other room listening. She came in and asked "what is that? It sounds like you're telling a story on guitar" I said, "Funny you should say that. This song's lyrics are a story about a storyteller". Now that is good song writing. When the feeling of the music matches the feeling of the lyrics.
Ads in the middle?!?! May you be dosed with a million hits and sent to wander the great wilderness of darkness for a million lifetimes! Scariledge!!
😂😂😂
I was @ this concert & the tintinnabulation was mind blowing and earth shattering. Or, maybe it was the 500 mcg of White Lightning...💜
Probably just thunder on the mountain
i was born on this very day... today is my 37th birthday. happy 37th bday terrapin station and estimated prophet
No birthday show for Feb 28, 1994 :(
@@AustinCurtis 10/17/96 :c i feel ya buddy. though you were closer. long live the dead
Richard The Lion Hearted
Yours too.
This show was recorded on my seventh birthday 2/26/77. Didn't get on the bus till 10 years later and I've never gotten off since!🤣😘
Happy belated.
Just sublime. Phil on high Keith twinkling Billy straight and true, bobby feneekeelahinging, Donna praising appropriately and Jerry being the Master in story with aural and guitar, shedding improvisational majesty commencing a true legion for those of us waiting to board at the station.
Best Terrapin- it’s so humble and played to such precision, it’s the best
Listen grateful dead is like listen a history of an old people whispering stories while you sleep, taking you to another world, creating sensations that you never felt.
I felt those sensations at the time, so I must be that old person telling the stories.
Light the song with sense and color, hold away despair!
whitman and e e cummings roar in the pines, i quake with the aspens
I catch myself crying with tears of joy when I hear the GD. The music is so beautiful and powerful.
The Crickets and Cicadas sing a rare and different tune... Terrapin Station... Bless man... what a song!
"....his job is to shed light, not to master"
I think Jerry managed both!
I was at this show. The swing Auditorium in San Bernadino. Robert Hunter was there. He wore a black leather vest with long sleeve white shirt and leaned over the top of some speakers watching and listening. He was right on the edge of the stage. It was a pretty small venue. And let me tell you this, it was an outstanding, super high energy and amazingly tight Grateful Dead performance. Plus, the place was dosed up to the gills with LSD.
My favorite Dead song.
Hearing that first cord at shows was probably the most uplifting moment I remember. It still gets me high to this day.
Hunter n Garcia wrote some of the deepest most poetic,transcendant music ever heard.. Jerry had the softest sweetest vocal,perfection. Spring 77 is where its at 4me.
Barton Hall! Yes
Well….THIS song was written by Robert Hunter!
Holy shit Phil is going at it!!
I was at that show at the ol' Swing. This is the first time I've heard music from that show 37 years ago. Thanks for posting this. Brings back good memories.
my town
What are your memories of that historic night?
This show had some great memories and some scary ones for me. Fantastic show but got held up at knifepoint in the parking lot after the show. The cops later caught all four kids who held up me and my buddy. We testified as witnesses at their trial and had them put away. Apparently they held up a few heads before the show at gunpoint which is how they got their tickets to the show. Luckily, they didn't have the guns after the show when they held us up. But, A GREAT SHOW
if they were true deadheads they wouldn't have done such an atrocious thing! but glad you were not harmed!
Bummer but hey that’s a solid memory to have!
They pulled a gun on someone thn wentto a several hour show? - Truly bizarre
@@jg8678 Yes, they hid the gun in the bushes outside the show. True story
Totally Bizarre move imo. Sorry they didn't get caught before they saw you. Poor logic & life choices - sounds like that train didn't go far
The Grateful Dead took 7 weeks off live shows while recording this album in the studio so when the band hits the stage this night they're ready to play the shit out this song.
Looking back I am so blessed to of been at the last show at Soldiers Field.Going to a show was one of the only things that kept me from falling apart.They were just amazing.You now what I mean!!! If only to go to one more show back when.Oh how I miss the people I met on the journey.Thanks for being part of that chapter in my life that will always be with me..Hope life is well with you my Brothers and Sisters!!!
Be well brother
I still have trouble imagining what it must’ve been like for serious Deadheads in the crowd that night...Just freakin’ try to imagine the sheer enormity of the moment..it must’ve been/ had to have been, one of the mightiest GD openers ever!!!
I was at a Dead & Company show on 6/1/19. I'm pretty sure that's what it was like to be at a spring 77 show. I will treasure the memory for the rest of my life.
@@captntrps Comparing Dead and Co to the real thing is absurd.
@person of interest. I have been to 200+ Dead shows. Starting at 3 months old in 1981. Yes, the experience at the Dead and Co show was comparable. Obviously not a "real" Dead show with Jerry but similarly moving.
@@pumpkinking5174
Some folks never got to see Jerry but still love the music. Try not being a piece of dog shit.
@@pumpkinking5174yes , but it's because of our age sometimes , I was just old enuf same year Jerry passed. So I saw Further and the other ones I mean yeah. And not dead andco cause I was broke I'm 45 now w 6 kids .... anyway I also followed max creek who had a SIMILAR scene, and played tons of dead sons. I got a little too messed up on the paper so then I quit and went to meetings (h) and then I "got saved " was only into gospel music for some years. Then I divorced rhe pastor and got back on the bus 😂anyway yes I wish I Cuda seen an actual Grateful Dead concert. But dead and company are frigan amazing.
To a better time and a simpler 🕥
Happy 42nd birthday to this Progressive Rock Masterpiece
Yeah it does kinda transcend into progressive rock
I'm in a minority in this opinion, but "Terrapin Station" is my favorite Dead album. If they had recorded a double album of Hunter's complete lyrics, it would have been their finest creation. Thanks for the upload. I really like the New Years's Eve at Winterland version, too.
I like this version the best. It's not so sleepy or tired as later versions. It's got spunk. I like later versions, but this one seems to capture the truest spirit of the song.
BrainPolice5 definitely. This is the only one I go to. I will only do Cornell 77 row jimmy. These 2 songs I can only listen to those versions, the rest can be mixed up.
BrainPolice5 spunk galore Red Rocks '78!
could u explain why those 2 versions are so special to you? I would argue that this one really gets me with the vocals and the crispness in tempo (and let's not forget about Keith's majestic keys in this one, maybe his finest work with that song live) does not contain jerry's signature first lick in his solo during the Lady with a fan part
Bobby has some highlights in this one but really you should check out 5/17/77 WOW
The version from 3/18 is fantastic as well. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in attendance at the Swing Aud this night and experience this for the 1st time along with everyone else. :)
Check out Hunter's complete version of the Terrapin Suite on "Jack O' Roses". It features several additional musical and lyrical sequences (a second half really) that help flesh out themes in the first half, filled with different mythical characters meeting and pursuing and encountering each other in different situations through different incarnations over the ages. The Dead chose not to take it to this more ambitious place, and I think it must have been a disappointment to Hunter.
yeah man jack o roses was the deal
Would be interesting to know if this was the way he originally wrote it or if, like many artists, he built on it over time, perhaps some after it was released by the Dead.
a rare and different tune! Love ya Jerry!!
I was in college in San Diego and my buddies and I drove up for the show...the Swing was a trip...looking at the stage, the venue was very wide but not very deep...I recall it also being pretty warm inside...definitely one of the best shows I ever saw...agree that this is one of the best Terrapins!
This sounds almost exact to the studio version and i'm using Bose Headphones so i can hear the bass guitar and everything else really well
I love listening to dead with nice/mixing headphones...Bobby in one ear, Jerry in the other, and Phil thumping all around
My favorites are the Hampton 3-24-87 out of the coma the energy is just SICK and the flawed but mighty Hershey Park 6-28-85 and Oxford , Maine 1988 I never realized at the time of the shows just how epic this song was oh I need a Time Machine miracle
Hampton 88 is my favorite show. 3/27/88 Hampton
Only saw them twice but then again I got to see them twice. Still one of my favorite bands, impossible to get tired of the Dead.
This is the only recording of the Grateful Dead in my music collection. I randomly hit a live set on archive.org and got this concert. Cool to know it was the first performance. xD
Two days before my Birthday I was there on the rail @ my second show. Marvelous!
This is such an inspired piece of music. And the lyrics are amongst the best ever written by Hunter.
Love hearing the 'firsts' and hear how the song evolves/changes/morphs over time
Peaceful journey, Hunter. RIP
RIP Robert
I luv this version...so fast and bouncy...Phil goes off too...😻
I like turtles
turtles are awesome
Yay
You and that kid...😏
🐢
Me too man, me too
I cannot stop listening to this recording!!! Thanks for posting and love the images too :D
Far and away my favorite playing of Terrapin Station. Jerry's guitar tone was never quite the same after this debut.
Same as what?
I also am one of those old persons...and so grateful
Wow!! Badass sounding!! Phil dropping mad bombs!!
The live version debuted on my birthday, how cool is that?
I was saving up my money to buy Bee Gees 45’s in 77...10 years old and just months away from getting Led Zep1 on cassette from my Aunts weird boyfriend for my 11th birthday. Grateful Dead just entering my life now at 55 years old although I saw them on accident in 1982 (long story).
Thanks Chris i also am taping a ton of 1977, you are very right great shows. Thanks for all you help!
SOOOO BEAUTIFUL these were the days ahhhhh Jerry and his sweet sweet smile,i CLOSE MY EYES and I am so there!!!
Hey Karen! ;) NFA
And I know we'll be there soon...
I was there with by running buddies Micky Rat , Zig and the Hobbit, also first "Estimated "that night and a killer Help>Slipnot>Franklins , we were all excited to see Mickey Hart back behind the kit with Bill!
Nice. I've heard this show was an epic scene. Absolutely a fantastic performance.
Nice. Jerry Love You and Your Music Lives for Eternity 💯🎸🤠🎶♥️💪
This show was on my seventh birthday 2/26/77!😝Didn't get on the bus till 10 years later!😎😂
Beautiful
Yes!!!! Damn I wish I could have seen you alive Jerry!
wake of the flood, mars hotel, blues for allah, terrapin station, one monster album after another on an annual basis we thought we had found heaven on earth
I feel ashamed I didn't revel enough in their celebration of music at the time when we had them
my favorite run of albums too!
wow thanks for the upload, this is incredible
Every new Hunter Garcia song was incredible fresh out the gate. Like listen to the first Ramble on Rose etc
The story teller makes his choice ..... soon you will not hear his voice
Jeeeeeesus...the first time? So so ripping... Wish I could have been there.. At 8yrs.. One of my favorite versions ever..
I didn't realize terrapin was introduced so late
james curry me neither I was surprised too
The dead were closer to 40 when this came out amazing timee
The Help/Slip/Franklin’s from this show is utter cosmic, eruptive, spontaneous, bouncy, make-you-dance perfection.
This version was just mentioned on the reddit page and I had to check it out.
nice… my first Dead show, hitchhiked to was May 77 in Bama…where they played this….
let me start by saying terrapin is my favorite dead song. I am happy with the way this song has progressed. I think i like the way furthur does it the best. not hating. This original version is a little fast for my liking. awesome non the less. glad to hear where my favorite tune began.
They also played the very 1st Estimated Prophet at this show
This is great, thank you Chase.
nice, thanks for sharing, this is one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs
1st posted comment ever and it's on the 1st, "Terrapin." Fitting. All-time favorite recording of my all-time favorite Dead song. "Inspiration move me brightly."
Thanks, finely done as expected.
thank you
Happy Fortieth Anniversary. coveted show that you are!
a band beyond description...!
(~);}
Inspiration !!
A touch of reverb, perfect
Jerry’s solo is on another level here. This one, in my opinion, is by far the best
Lady of Carlysle is an old English Folk song Check out Pentangle's version. Garcia had previously said they were his favorite English band
Thank you for the history lesson. So that's where Terrapin Station was born! Wow, it is as deeply rooted in folk music as Peggy-O! I just looked it up and posted the song and lyrics on Facebook's Grateful Dead Society.
Most of Terraoin is ripped off directly from several old folk tunes , verbatim .Line by line , word for word ripped . I love what they did with it , but I wish Hunter were more honest about this one . There's hardly a line in it that doesn't come directly from Lady of Carlysle and another I found in an old book '' TrADITIONAL fOLK sONGS OF nORTH aMERICA'' .
@Gary Daniel That's not such an old song . It's written by Allen Toussaint , who only recently died .I know what you're saying , but that particular tune isn't a good example .
@@jciazza1 To rip something off requires it being owned- and not just in the legal sense. Folks songs that have been done many times with many variations are not the compositions of any single person, and become part of the heritage of all. Verbatim is certainly not accurate .
This is the version collected by folklorist Cecil Sharpe.:www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-songs-with-chords/Lady%20Of%20Carlisle.htm
Inspiration.....still has that "new terrapin" smell....
LOL!!!! :D
It's the only moment in time when everything is completely perfect and beyond.
one of the best comments I've seen on TH-cam! Love it!
It stops all the bullshit of life. MS for a moment too. 🤣
Some of the best music
Cosa dire
.Fantastica
Fucking masterpiece.
Nuff said.
another week in my head
Groovy!
Far out man
This is one of those songs I can listen to in a loop for hours…
Undoubtablely _ one of the best
Keith is playing so good
still my favorite version
Nailed it
jerry garcia: genius
I heard it was actually the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, which is longer and more winding.
Looking for Cow Palace show 2/28/76. 150 people 90 Hells Angels, under Jerry's pedals...
Epicosity!!!
I like this version better than every other version I've heard. I like how they kept it a little more loose; no structured guitar break, just Jerry playing.
@bigtex9265 - hey friend, thank you so much for the feedback!
Check the perfectly timed, rhythmic whistle at the 18 second mark. He timed it perfectly to the drums busting in which is pretty impressive considering this was the first time played!
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
This is one of the last GD shows I saw, there with many good friends from Az and LA. Looks of "WTF is this song?" were shared by many as Garcia started this song. Garcia played a Travis Bean guitar at this show.
My favorite Terrapin.
1st Estimated as well, i believe. And this Help>Slip>Frank is the greatest also. And the EYES is insane.
Apparently they opened with Terrapin, Jerry couldnt wait to play it, having just written it with Hunter, based on having seen a rare Bay Area lightning storm which they had both witnessed independently.
They also played Mississippi half step for the first time at this concert
OH MY GOD
Memories......