Cassidy – Today’s classic song and a beautiful cover. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #TheGratefulDead #BobWeir #JohnPerryBarlow #SuzzaneVega

Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by it’s own design.
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I’m done with mine.

John Perry Barlow

Who is John Perry Barlow?

There are many intriguing characters that exist within the Grateful Dead orbit. Today’s post is about a man who may be a constellation unto himself. John Perry Barlow was a truly fascinating man who operated on several planes. The world where I was first introduced to his work was as an extraordinary lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Essentially, he wrote together with Bob Weir while Robert Hunter wrote with Jerry Garcia.

Today’s feature song is the Weir/Barlow composition ‘Cassidy’. It is a beautiful piece of music. The version I shared above is from Bob Weir’s first solo album, ‘Ace’. The closing passage quoted in today’s introduction is one that resonates with many fans of this band. It will serve as an epitaph for countless people who consider themselves part of this special community.

‘Cassidy’ draws from a few sources of inspiration. It was written in 1971 in a burst of creativity that was born out of necessity. Bob Weir had plans to record his own solo album, but he was struggling with material and he had managed to alienate himself on a professional level with Robert Hunter because he had a bad habit of running fast and loose with Hunter’s lyrics. This trait drove Hunter crazy, to the point that the lyricist told John Barlow “take Weir…he’s yours.” Barlow had been hanging around the Dead scene for a short period and expressed an interest in the lyrical process. He took this opportunity and ran with it. Fortunately, Weir and Barlow had struck a bond that would last a lifetime and the music they collaborated on is still among the highlights within the Grateful Dead library. One of their earliest writing sessions produced ‘Black Throated Wind’, ‘Mexicali Blues’ and ‘today’s feature. ‘Cassidy’. The song would would appear on the solo album I mentioned above called ‘Ace’. It was initially inspired by Cassidy Law, who was the daughter of Grateful Dead crew member Rex Jackson and Weir’s former housemate in Haight Ashbury, Ellen Law. There are also references to the larger than life beat generation figure Neal Cassady scattered throughout the song; literally ‘like lost words’. It is truly a transcendental piece. Barlow is even on record as saying portions reference his own father.

The Weir/Barlow magic extended right through to the end of the Grateful Dead’s studio work and creative output. Keyboard player Brent Mydland was also intrigued by Barlow’s masterful ability and he also wrote several strong songs with the lyricist in the mid to late ‘80s before Mydland’s sudden and untimely death in 1990.  

Cassidy is a magical song, no matter how the Grateful Dead chose to present it. Here is the acoustic version from 1980’s ‘Reckoning album. It was part of the band’s 1980 Radio City Music Hall tenure.

‘Cassidy’ is still a favourite today as Dead and Company continue to tour with original members Bob Weir on rhythm guitar and Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann on drums along with John Mayer on guitar, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and Oteil Burbridge on bass.

As mentioned at the outset, there is way more to John Perry Barlow than being an occasional lyricist for an iconic rock band. From this point we venture off into several different directions. I will be as brief as possible without failing to convey the depth of his character. In order to do this I will revert to point form, mostly out of necessity. There is just so much.

• His paternal ancestors were Mormon pioneers and he grew up on a 22,000 acre ranch in Wyoming
• He was educated in a one room school house while being raised as a devout Mormon.
• He was prohibited from watching television until grade six and then he was only allowed to watch televangelists with instructions to absorb their message. Yikes!
• Barlow met Bob Weir when he was 15, when the two were enrolled at Fountain Valley High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Weir had been sent there from his native California to pursue learning opportunities that would help him overcome his dyslexia. Barlow was there to get a little bit more worldly.
• In a twist of fate emanating from his upbringing in the obscurity of Wyoming he was fortunate enough to get his pick of eastern U.S universities, despite not having the best of academic records. It seems, in the name of diversity these schools were looking to draw from a cross section of U.S. states.
• Barlow graduated with high honours from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
• He was president of that school’s student body.
• While enrolled at Wesleyan, Barlow visited Timothy Leary’s facility in Millbrook, New York and was introduced to LSD.
• The transformative powers of the psychedelic experience drew Barlow from Mormonism, toward a life of open-minded awareness.
• Barlow was instrumental in introducing Timothy Leary to the Grateful Dead. The parties considered themselves kindred spirits.
• Due to family struggles both health related and financial related, Barlow turned his focus from hanging out with the Dead to animal husbandry. This life balance would continue for two decades.
• Barlow was even a bit of a society player. In the ‘70s he formed a friendship with Jackie Kennedy-Onassis and during this time her son John Jr. was struggling so he brought him to his ranch in Wyoming to be a wrangler in order to mentor the young Kennedy. In the ‘80s Barlow and his girlfriend at the time, Cynthia would go on double dates with Kennedy Jr. and his girlfriend Daryl Hannah.
• Politically speaking John Barlow was a complex man. In the late ‘70s he was the chairman of his county’s Republican Party association. He was also the western Wyoming campaign coordinator for Dick Cheney’s bid for Congress in 1978.
• At one time he praised Cheney for being the most intelligent man he ever knew with the exception of Bill Gates. By the late ‘90s he saw through the ruse and declared “he has the least interest in human beings of anyone I have ever met.” Barlow was also appalled by Cheney’s record on environmental issues and civil rights matters.
• By the end of his life John Barlow was a reluctant Republican with occasional Democrat sympathies. He considered the Republican movement as “obsessed, aggressive and greedy.” By the time Donald Trump came around he had given up all hope. He characterized this train wreck of a human being as “a thorough creep” and a “toxic asshole”.
• In 1990 Barlow founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation which is considered the leading edge of ethics within the cyber-space community. This was truly revolutionary.
• Many of the rights that Americans enjoy related to cyber -space are as a result of John Perry Barlow’s work. He was determined to create protections for individuals from territorial government and the U.S government who continue to make noise about accessing individuals on line behavior.
• As an offshoot of EFF Barlow became devoted to the African economy and he began extensive travels throughout the continent aimed toward expanding internet access across the continent. In his words “Before I left I believed Africans could proceed directly from the agricultural epoch into an information economy without having to submit to the dreary indignities and social pathologies of industrialization.”
• Closer to home, Barlow became one of the founders of the Freedom of the Press Foundation and in his later years he worked the circuit as a lecturer about civil rights, freedom of speech, the state of the internet. If you search Ted Talks or Youtube you will find his work. He is both engaging, fascinating and he does not talk above his audience.
• If this wasn’t enough he served on advisory councils for the legalization of marijuana and as Vice President of a Nevada based company focused on novel methods of creating water energy and treating wastewater in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
• Somehow, he managed to find time to appear in several films and television shows and he was even an ordained minister performing baptisms and weddings.
• He died after a three year period of poor health on February 7^, 2017. He was 70 years old.
• His memoir ‘Mother American Night: My Life in Crazy Times’ was released just after his death.

This is just a brief summary of the life of John Perry Barlow. This only skims the surface of what he did. He packed a lot of living in his seventy years. Truly a revolutionary. A modern day pioneer.

“Ah child of countless trees, ah child of boundless seas.

What you are, and what you’re meant to be.”

John Perry Barlow

For today’s cover version I am referring back to the Grateful tribute CD ‘Deadicated’ and a version of ‘Cassidy’ by Suzzane Vega. Her voice is just so soothing. It has always been a favourite of mine, so I will share it on this post today with a bonus rendition featuring ‘China Doll’. Just beautiful.

Have a grateful day!