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Who Will Win The Grateful Dead Covers Tournament Championship ‘Me & My Uncle’ or ‘Morning Dew?’

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jambase 2023 march madness v001 round 1 1200x675 1
jambase 2023 march madness v001 round 1 1200x675 1

JamBase’s 2023 March Madness Top Grateful Dead Covers Tournament Championship round will decide which song gets named the winner. The final two competitors are “Me And My Uncle” by John Phillips and “Morning Dew” by Bonnie Dobson.

As a refresher, it was an upset-filled opening round that set up a closely contested Elite 8 and an even closer Final Four.

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2023 Grateful Dead Covers Tournament
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Like in the previous round, No. 1 overall “Me And My Uncle” barely edged out its competition, this time squeaking past 13th seed “Dear Mr. Fantasy” to end the Traffic cover’s cinderella run. After dominating the first three rounds, the third seed “Not Fade Away”/”Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad” was upset in a runaway by the 10th seed “Morning Dew.” It’s now a cover sung by Jerry Garcia facing off against a cover sung by Bob Weir in the finals.

This year’s March Madness Covers Tournament featured songs covered by the Grateful Dead going head-to-head in a typical single-elimination tournament. The Team JamBase Tournament Selection Committee chose the 16 covers based on several criteria. Seeding was ranked by the number of times each song was performed in concert by the Dead, with the most played getting the No. 1 seed.

The selection process assured that band members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh, Donna Jean Godchaux, Brent Mydland and Vince Welnick each sang lead on at least one song. Along with varied lead singers, with the exception of the all-encompassing “Traditional” credit, no songwriter was covered more than once. In nearly every instance, the selected songs were ones not just covered by the Grateful Dead but that became fully engrained in the band’s live repertoire.

Championship voting is open between now and 11:59 p.m. PT next Monday, April 3.

Now Go Vote On Live Music!

Championship

1. Me And My Uncle vs. 10. Morning Dew

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1. Me And My Uncle – John Phillips

  • Original Artist/Songwriter: John Phillips
  • Grateful Dead Live Performances: 638
  • Lead Singer: Bob Weir
  • First Time Played: November 29, 1966
  • Last Time Played: July 6, 1995

Notes: Sung by Bob Weir, “Me And My Uncle” was the song covered most frequently by the Grateful Dead. Written by the notorious John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, the mythology around the song is that he spontaneously wrote it during a drunken jam session and only realized he was its composer when Judy Collins, who heard the original drunken performance, included it on a 1964 live album. The mythology surrounding the genesis of the song has been disputed over the years, with contradictory details about when and where it might have happened.

Collins recently recalled the circumstances of her learning the song from Phillips in New York City during her first acid trip in an interview with Jesse Jarnow for the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcast. Jarnow also investigated Bob Weir’s claim that “he learned the song from ‘a hippie named Curly Jim.’” Weir was referring to Curly Jim Stalarow, who was close with the Grateful Dead and their extended family and claimed to have been taught the song directly by Phillips (learn more about Curly Jim from Jarnow here).

Weir brought it to the Grateful Dead’s live repertoire in November 1966. They played it three times in 1967 but then not at all in 1968. Once it came back in 1969, mostly remained in regular rotation — it was not played in 1976 — while becoming the most-played cover song in the band’s canon. The recording above comes from the Dead’s April 24, 1978 concert in Bloomington, Illinois, which was preceded by a brief “Stayin’ Alive” tease.

Vs.

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10. Morning Dew – Bonnie Dobson

  • Original Artist/Songwriter: Bonnie Dobson
  • Lead Singer: Jerry Garcia
  • Grateful Dead Live Performances: 278
  • First Time Played: March 18, 1967
  • Last Time Played: June 21, 1995

Notes: Toronto native Bonnie Dobson wrote “Morning Dew” and recorded it for her 1962 album, At Folk City. Folk singer Fred Neil recorded the song with Vince Martin for their 1964 album, Tear Down The Walls. In 1966, Neil performed with members of The Buzzy Linhart Trio and participated in regular jam sessions at the loft of the group’s drummer Serge Katzan on the Lower East Side of New York City. Among the others believed to have attended the loft jam sessions include Mississippi John Hurt, Donovan, David Crosby, Gram Parsons and Jerry Garcia.

According to longtime Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally in his book, Long Strange Trip, it was Laird Grant — Garcia’s childhood friend and an among the earliest members of the band’s crew — who in 1966 introduced Garcia to Neil’s version of “Morning Dew.” Soon after Garcia and the Dead were mesmerizing audiences with powerful performances of the poignant song. Above is another stellar version of “Morning Dew” from the highly regarded May 8, 1977, Dead show at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

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[Many thanks to Jerrybase.com, Whitegum.com, Deaddisc.com, Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast and Archive.org for data, media, song information and other resources.]


Source: JamBase.com