Dead Songs in Depth

    
Tennessee Jed
w: Hunter m: Garcia
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/tjed.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/TENNESSE.HTM
  

    
Tennessee Jed 
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

Cold iron shackles, ball and chain
Listen to the whistle of the evening train
You know you bound to wind up dead
If you don't head back to Tennessee Jed

Rich man step on my poor head
When you get back you better butter my bread
Well you know it's like I said
You better head back to Tennessee Jed

Chorus
Tennessee, Tennessee
There ain't no place I'd rather be
Baby won't you carry me
Back to Tennessee

Drank all day and rock all night
The law come to get you if you don't walk right
Got a letter this morning, baby, and all it read
You better head back to Tennessee Jed

I dropped four flights and cracked my spine
Buddy come quick with the iodine
Catch a few winks, baby, under the bed
Then you head back to Tennessee Jed

[chorus]

I ran into Charlie Phogg
Blacked my eye and he kicked my dog
My doggie turned to me and he said
Let's head back to Tennessee Jed

I woke up feeling mean
I went down to play the slot machine
The wheels turned around and the letters read
You better head back to Tennessee Jed

[chorus]
  

    <scribbled>
  

    
Picture of my Dad's 1949 high school senior yearbook...

http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/42936/2000387191616030224_rs.jpg
  

    
so there was a concept of a "Tennessee Jed" in 1949?


also... Frank "Longdong" Leingang?
  

    
Yes, I think the annotation for this song gives a pretty good
background on the Tennessee Jed character--it was a radio show in the
40's, or thereabouts--geez, who created that annotated website, anyway?
It doesn't give a date for the show!
http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/tjed.html#jedbread
  

    
cool site - i'll have to check it out!


:P
  

    

Tim, did you know he was Tennessee Jed before, or is this new news?
  

    
The first I knew about it was a few years ago when my sister found the
yearbook at a garage sale.  He passed away when I was 11 so the
subject never came up.  My mom was still alive when we found the
yearbook and I asked her about it, but she couldn't recall the reason
they called him that.  It was then I started googling it and I found
out about the old radio show.
  

    

Interesting.
  

    
I'm listening to "Dock Boggs radio" and a tune by Uncle Dave Macon,
"Governor Al Smith," with the line "The law's gonna get you if you get
tight."  I found a link that says it was recorded in 1928.
  

    
Fantastic! 
  

    
Tennessee Bar-B-Que Joints:
This is a re-post from my Dead.net comment on this topic:
Living in St. Louis, MO, for my first Grateful Dead show in 1968, I
always thought the band or Hunter drove around St. Louis and saw the
aforementioned Bar-B-Que joints scattered around and therefore, the
character of Tennessee Jed was implanted...now, it occurs to me that
the Bar-B-Que joints could have been named after the radio show since,
in 1968, these joints looked well-aged...FWIW
  

    
David's Annotated Lyrics book has a note to "cold iron shackles,
ball and chain" referring to an Uncle Dave Macon song "Old Plank
Road". I've just come across a recording that shows Hunter knew this
song. On 2002-08-07 he sings a fragment:

     "[Knoxville] is a pretty place, Memphis is a beauty
      But if you want your biscuits baked, go to Chatanoogie"

(slightly amended lyrics but clearly the same song)

It's followed by a medley of Beedle Um Bum ("Down in Memphis
Tennessee") and Crazy Words Crazy Tune.
  

    
cool thanks!
  

    
So great! Excellent detective work, Alex. And I am loving your daily
lyric pointers. 
  

    
Daily lyric pointers?
  

    
On Facebook. 
  

    
Thanks. 

Not enough to get me to access Facebook.
  

    
I'm with you Robin, but it's getting lonely out in the cold.
  

    
Maybe we could add a "Daily Lyrics Pointers from Alex" topic to
Deadsongs, linked to Deadlit, GD, etc. Alex--are you reading this?
  

    
Messaged Alex to ask....
  

    
Will do
  

    
I'm also posting on Twitter: @alexallan
  

    
Thank you, Alex!
  

    
Newspaper coupon ad showing the aforementioned Tennessee Jed
restaurants <icenine> remembers around St. Louis...

https://preview.redd.it/obxv9r9hzte81.jpg?width=546&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b
ab4087227b2362f012af00e5217ab78b28f951