Home Jambase Happy Birthday Brent Mydland: Watch Grateful Dead Performing Brent Originals

Happy Birthday Brent Mydland: Watch Grateful Dead Performing Brent Originals

October 21, 2020

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grateful-dead-we-can-run-1990-1200x675-1

Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland was born on this date in 1952. The longest-tenured keyboard player in the legendary band, Mydland was a member of the Dead between 1979 though his untimely death in 1990 at age 37.

The Brent era was marked by both Mydland’s evolving sonic palette as he explored new keyboard and synthesized sounds as well as his signature raspy vocals that added a soulful grittiness and expanded the band’s harmonic scope. Mydland’s contributions to the band’s sound also came in the form of originals — and some covers — he brought to the Grateful Dead’s live repertoire.

In honor of what would have been Brent Mydland’s 69th birthday, below are several examples of the Grateful Dead performing his original songs via the JamBase Live Video Archive. Clicking each video below will start with the highlighted Brent Mydland original.

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Far From Me

While “Hell In A Bucket,” which Mydland co-wrote with Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir (who sang lead) and lyricist John Perry Barlow, was played the most by the band, “Far From Me” was the most frequently played song Brent wrote that also featured the keyboardist on lead vocals. The song appeared on the band’s 1980 studio album, Go To Heaven and made its live debut on March 30, 1980. This video from October 2, 1987, at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California features “Far From Me,” as well as Mydland vehicles “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)” and “Gimmie Some Lovin’” along with other favorites.

Cold Rain and Snow	00:00:18
Little Red Rooster	00:07:20
Stagger Lee	00:16:16
Me And My Uncle	00:23:05
Mexicali Blues	00:26:11
Row Jimmy	00:32:08
Far From Me	00:42:50
Let It Grow	00:47:36
China Cat Sunflower	01:00:00
I Know You Rider	01:05:00
Man Smart (Woman Smarter)	01:11:34
Ship Of Fools	01:19:40
Truckin’	01:27:36
Drums > Space	01:37:05
The Wheel	01:52:40
Gimme Some Lovin’	01:57:36
All Along The Watchtower	02:02:35
Don’t Ease Me In	02:08:54
Black Muddy River	02:12:55

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Channel	Grateful Dead (See 114 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

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Easy To Love You

Mydland and Barlow co-wrote “Easy To Love You,” which also appeared on Go To Heaven. The Dead first played “Easy To Love You” at their concert on August 14, 1979, and continued playing the song with regularity through 1980. A decade later, “Easy To Love You” re-entered the Dead’s live repertoire, appearing in setlists in the spring and again on Brent’s final tour. One of the final performances of “Easy To Love You” can be seen in the above video from Cal Expo Amphitheater in Sacramento, California.

Cold Rain and Snow	00:00:53
Walking Blues	00:07:37
Easy To Love You	00:14:08
Jack-a-Roe	00:19:47
Queen Jane Approximately	00:24:45
High Time	00:31:50
It’s All Over Now	00:39:40
Bird Song	00:46:39
Uncle John’s Band	00:59:20
China Cat Sunflower	01:08:18
I Know You Rider	01:13:33
Estimated Prophet	01:19:40
Foolish Heart	01:29:50

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Channel	Kevin Tobin (See 334 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

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Never Trust A Woman

“Never Trust A Woman” (also known as “Good Times” in Deadbase and “Good Time Blues” elsewhere) made its live debut on August 28, 1981 and stayed in regular rotation through an appearance at Mydland’s final show on July 23, 1990 in Tinley Park, Illinois. The title “Never Trust A Woman” was how the Mydland composition was labeled on the posthumously released 2001 live album, Nightfall Of Diamonds. Brent can be seen leading the Dead through “Never Trust A Woman” on December 27, 1989 at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California.

Cold Rain and Snow	00:00:03
Greatest Story Ever Told	00:06:18
Never Trust A Woman	00:11:03
Althea	00:18:19
Me And My Uncle	00:27:47
Big River	00:31:00
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues	00:39:00
Bird Song	00:44:22
Promised Land	00:58:22
Iko Iko	01:03:53
Playing In The Band	01:12:04
Crazy Fingers	01:25:33
Uncle John’s Band	01:34:36
Drums > Space	01:43:40
The Wheel	02:03:57
I Need A Miracle	02:09:38
Morning Dew	02:13:36
Johnny B. Goode	02:26:39
Black Muddy River	02:30:44

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Channel	Kevin Tobin (See 334 videos)
Bands	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos) and Clarence Clemons (See 9 videos)

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I Will Take You Home

“I Will Take You Home” was also written with Barlow and first played at the Grateful Dead’s June 22, 1988 concert and on their final studio album, 1989’s Built To Last. As noted by the excellent Grateful Dead database Whitegum, Barlow commented on the song in his memoir Mother American Night, writing:

The song I wrote with Brent that I liked best is the lullaby “I Will Take You Home.” I wrote the whole thing – melody, words, the works – as I was going up the driveway of his house. Then I sat next to him at the piano as he played it for the first time. It was about his daughters and mine and a promise I needed to make for both of us. That whatever happened, we would be there to take them home. Only Brent didn’t live to do that.

Mydland led a touching performance of “I Will Take You Home” on September 15, 1988, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. As Mydland sang the line Daddy’s come ’round for his darlin’ again / Hold my hand with your little fingers / Daddy’s loving arms gonna gather you in, his daughter Jessica was placed on his piano bench and sat next to her father as he sang the remainder of the song.

Samson and Delilah	00:00:15
Crazy Fingers	00:08:00
Playing In The Band	00:16:24
Uncle John’s Band	00:23:07
Playing In The Band	00:30:49
Drums > Space	00:34:50
I Will Take You Home	00:48:52
All Along The Watchtower	00:52:44
Going Down The Road Feeling Bad	00:57:54
Turn On Your Love Light	01:03:52
U.S. Blues	01:12:18

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Channel	Kevin Tobin (See 334 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

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Tons Of Steel

“Tons Of Steel” was written by Mydland and recorded by the Grateful Dead for their 1987 album, In The Dark. The song made its first Dead setlist on December 28, 1984, and continued sporadically making setlists through a final rendition on September 23, 1987. One of the last “Tons Of Steel” played by the Dead can be seen in the above video from August 11, 1987, at Red Rocks outside Denver.

Cold Rain and Snow	00:00:06
Little Red Rooster	00:05:58
Tons of Steel	00:15:23
High Time	00:20:38
When I Paint My Masterpiece	00:28:40
When Push Comes To Shove	00:33:04
Let It Grow	00:38:20
Crazy Fingers	00:51:42
Samson and Delilah	00:59:44
Ship Of Fools	01:06:00
Playing In The Band	01:15:34
China Doll	01:23:36
Drums > Space	01:29:12
All Along The Watchtower	01:45:00
Going Down The Road Feeling Bad	01:49:51
Around and Around	01:56:17
Sugar Magnolia	02:00:02
Black Muddy River	02:09:49

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Channel	Kevin Tobin (See 334 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

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We Can Run & Blow Away

“We Can Run” was another Barlow/Mydland collaboration that was part of Built To Last. After making its debut on February 5, 1989, “We Can Run” was a staple of Dead shows that year, with a few additional performances coming in 1990.

“Blow Away” was also a Barlow/Mydland collab that the band recorded for Built To Last. Between its June 20, 1988 debut at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin and a final performance on July 16, 1990 at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, “All 23 versions [of “Blow Away”] feature something very special,” Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux said.

Both “We Can Run” and “Blow Away” can be viewed in the above video from Shoreline on September 29, 1989.

Let the Good Times Roll	00:00:00
Feel Like A Stranger	00:04:20
Franklin’s Tower	00:11:36
Wang Dang Doodle	00:23:15
Jack-a-Roe	00:30:20
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again	00:35:55
We Can Run	00:46:00
Bird Song	00:52:22
Promised Land	01:04:50
China Cat Sunflower	01:09:45
I Know You Rider	01:15:28
Blow Away	01:22:31
Playing In The Band	01:31:55
Terrapin Station	01:40:50
Drums > Space	01:55:38
I Need A Miracle	02:13:01
Death Don’t Have No Mercy	02:17:58
Sugar Magnolia	02:24:30
Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)	02:30:24

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Channel	Grateful Dead (See 114 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

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Just A Little Light

“Just A Little Light” — the other Mydland/Barlow co-write on Built To Last — was detailed in Barlow’s Mother American Night, in which he wrote (via Whitegum):

Brent and I had afternoons where we wrote four or five songs together in his house in Martinez in the East Bay. It absolutely helped that he was a piano player, but I also had complete faith in his ability to take my lyrics and sing them in the melody I had in mind.
That was what happened on “Just A Little Light,” which is about the gloom that seemed to be gathering around Brent and Jerry [Garcia] and everything that was then going on backstage at Dead shows. I wanted people to know that there was also still a light left in the world. I was writing about what happens to everyone after a while. Like [Robert] Hunter’s line in “Scarlet Begonias,” “Once in a while you get shown the light / In the strangest of places if you look at it right.” Although I wasn’t consciously quoting that, it is one of my favorite Hunter lines.

The first Grateful Dead performance of “Just A Little Light” came on February 7, 1989. Its short-lived time in the Dead’s repertoire lasted until July 21, 1990, during the first of what became the final three shows with Brent in the band and only five days before his untimely death. That version is can be viewed in the above video from the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park that also features Brent and Jerry teaming up on a memorable cover of Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy.”

Touch Of Grey	00:00:00
Greatest Story Ever Told	00:07:03
Jack-a-Roe	00:12:29
Walking Blues	00:18:00
Friend Of The Devil	00:25:08
Just A Little Light	00:34:57
Queen Jane Approximately	00:41:25
Bird Song	00:50:00
Scarlet Begonias	01:06:16
Fire on the Mountain	01:16:02
Playing In The Band	01:30:34
He’s Gone	01:41:45
Drums > Space	01:54:38
I Need A Miracle	02:13:26
Crazy Fingers	02:18:17
Dear Mr. Fantasy	02:26:36
Playing In The Band	02:33:03
One More Saturday Night	02:35:31
Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)	02:42:05

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Channel	Grateful Dead (See 114 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

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Don’t Need Love

“Don’t Need Love,” a more scarcely-played Brent original than the others previously mentioned, the song was performed only 16 times between its debut on March 28, 1984, and final rendition on April 13, 1986 — one of just two performances in ’86. This video features the keyboardist leading the band through the rarity on November 20, 1985, at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland.

Jack Straw	00:01:22
Peggy-O	00:06:57
C.C. Rider	00:15:32
Stagger Lee	00:23:02
My Brother Esau	00:30:04
High Time	00:34:33
Beat It On Down The Line	00:42:33
Promised Land	00:45:43
Don’t Ease Me In	00:50:06
Iko Iko	00:53:12
Lost Sailor	01:00:01
Saint Of Circumstance	01:07:02
Terrapin Station	01:14:14
Don’t Need Love	01:31:57
Drums > Space	01:40:58
Stella Blue	01:53:07
Sugar Magnolia	02:00:02
U.S. Blues	02:08:19

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Channel	Kevin Tobin (See 334 videos)
Band	Grateful Dead (See 1,283 videos)

[Originally Published: October 21, 2020]

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Watch Grateful Dead’s Final ‘We Can Run’ Performance In 1990
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Grateful Dead ‘Dave’s Picks Volume 40’ Features Deer Creek 1990 Concerts
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Watch Grateful Dead Perform ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ Live In Foxboro 1989: Pro-Shot Video

Source: JamBase.com

Happy Birthday Brent Mydland: Watch Grateful Dead Performing Brent Originals

Far From Me

Easy To Love You

Never Trust A Woman

I Will Take You Home

Tons Of Steel

We Can Run & Blow Away

Just A Little Light

Don’t Need Love

Watch Grateful Dead’s Final ‘We Can Run’ Performance In 1990

Grateful Dead ‘Dave’s Picks Volume 40’ Features Deer Creek 1990 Concerts

Watch Grateful Dead Perform ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ Live In Foxboro 1989: Pro-Shot Video

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