Dead Songs in Depth

    
New Potato Caboose
w: Petersen m: Lesh
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/newp.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/NEWPOTAT.HTM
  

    
New Potato Caboose 
Lyrics: Bobby Petersen
Music: Phil Lesh

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Last leaf fallen, bare earth where green was born
Above my doorknob, two eagles hang against a cloud
Sun comes up blood red
Wind yells among the stone
All graceful instruments are known

When the windows all are broken
And your love's become a toothless crone
When the voices of the storm sound
Like a crowd
Winter morning breaks, you're all alone

The eyes are blind
Blue visions are all a seer can see
And touching makes the flesh to cry out loud
This ground on which the seed of love is sown
All graceful instruments are known
  

    
An upcoming auction at Butterfield and Bonham's contains a handwritten
sheet of these lyrics in Pigpen's handwriting. Some variants, in
particular in the first verse, where Pigpen has completely different
words:

Here's the description from the catalog online (there's also an image
of the sheet, which I hope to post to the annotated lyrics site soon):

A Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan page of handwritten lyrics for The Grateful
Dead song, 'New Potato Caboose,' circa 1968

Penned on a single sheet of paper in blue ballpoint ink by Pig Pen
(though lyrics were conceived of by Bobby Petersen), piece reads in
full "Last leaf fallen, bare earth / Where green was, bone/ Above
Madonna two eagles hang / Against a cloud / Sun comes up blood red -
wind / Yells among the stone. / All graceful instruments are / known /
When the windows all are broken and / Your love's become a toothless
crone / When the voices of the storm sound / Like a crowd / Winter
morning breaks you're / All alone. / All G I A K --- / The eyes are
blind blue visions / All a seer can own / And touching makes the flesh
to cry / out loud - / This ground on which the seed of / Love is sewn /
All G - .0" (Please note paper is folded a number of times and is
yellowed due to age.)
11 x 8 1/2in

Estimate: $3,000 - 5,000 
  

    

Shoulda been "sown."
  

    
Right. But I like the alternatives in the first verse to what we've
been saying are the words. "Above my doorknob" and "Black Madonna" are
the two versions of the line given by Pigpen as "Above Madonna". And
having the earth be "bone" makes more sense than "born."

I hope this scrap of paper can wind up in the UCSC archive--I checked,
and they're interested in doing some bidding, but they don't have good
monetary resources yet. 

There's also a Vince Welnick archive of personal papers that should
REALLY go into the UCSC archive if they can swing it. Let the guitars
and posters and photos go elsewhere, but these handwritten pieces
belong in a library.
  

    
Yeah.
  

    
This is an important find, is there a process for feedback to Ice Nine
and ajudication?
  

    
Robin, are you suggesting that Ice Nine might have ownership rights to
Pigpen's original lyrics?  Owning and controlling a Copyright and
ownership of this artifact are not the same thing.  If Ice Nine (or
anyone else) wants to buy this artifact, then we have a different
issue, just as owning the artifact does not impart the publishing
benefits accrued through copyright.  

This said, finding a home for this item in the UCSC archives sounds
like a fine idea.
  

    
No, I'm suggesting that Ice Nine should update the copyrighted lyrics.
  

    
that makes sense
  

    
Also: not a Pigpen lyric! A Bobby Petersen lyric, in Pigpen's hand.
I've sent the news to Ice Nine, and suggested to UCSC that they try to
purchase this, and also Vince Welnick's papers, which are also in the
auction. They're short on cash, so both things will probably wind up in
private hands. Argh.
  

    
Thanks, David. 
  

    
Looking at the auction site last night, it appears that no one
purchased this item. Wonder what happens to it now? (No one seems to
have bought the Welnick archive, either. Hmmmm.)
  

    <scribbled by tnf Mon 10 Sep 12 16:50>
  

    

 Looking at the AGDL page and listening to several live performances, I have
 no idea where "Black Madonna" came from.  Bob clearly sings "above" - and
 sometimes is sounds like he's singing "my doorknob" and other times it
 sounds more like "Madonna."

 I would like to think Petersen would have written "Madonna," referring to Mt
 Madonna in central California.  But on 10/13/68, Weir sings "above my
 doorknob."  I remember Dan Healy saying that this was a reference to an ac-
 tual door at 710 Ashbury.
  

    

3/1/69: "Above my doorknob."
  

    
I always heard "above my doorknob" too--I think the "Black Madonna"
reference came from a printed version of teh song somewhere...I can
track it down I'm sure. (I'm sure....)
  

    
Don't trouble yourself on my account.  I've heard Bobby sing "above my
doorknob in nearly a dozen performances.
  

    
always my understanding, and a story about the stained glass on the
door too.
  

    
Yeah, but Bobby sings the wrong words frequently...
  

    
The songbook "Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 1" had the lyrics as
"Black Madonna ...", even though it doesn't appear Bobby ever sang
that.
  

    



Emily Foster writes:

<http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/blackmdn.html>

Very revealing, particularly when Benko states the relationship between;

earth is not only the source of fertility and new life.  It is also an agent
of death ... "everything comes from earth and returns to it."  This is
ultimately what lies behind the saying of Paul, "What you sow does not come
to life unless it dies."

so basically, I agree that the lyric is "black Madonna".
  

    

Bobby clearly sings "Above Madonna" in the '67 live shows.
  

    
does he pronounce it "Ma-doe-na"? I always here a long "o" in the
versions I've listened to, which is as strange a way to pronounce
Madonna as "nut-thatch" or "ci-cayda" are for their respective words.
  

    
More like MAD-donna in the early ones.