3/23/02 Austin Show with Jerry Jeff Walker

[conched]

I also saw the show. In fact I was at all three of Jerry Jeff's shows for Birthday Bash...and it truly was a bash.

The 4th song by Jerry Jeff was "To The Artist." It is a beautiful song and JJ said it was about Fred Neil. Here are the words.

To The Artist

This song is a letter sung to a special friend of mine

One who stopped his singing somewhere back along the line

I wondered if he'd had enough of the rip-offs and the jive

Or did he sing his song one night and lose the will to write


It never was a business deal, this thing with your guitar

It always seemed more a dance done deep inside your heart

Tonight I wonder if it's true, like we felt it at the start

That an artist truly does it best when he does it from the heart


It seems to be much more than an art when the art you sell is you

Be careful how you play the game or else the game plays you


In the old days we'd stay up nights and laugh until we cried
You said songs don't belong to us we just bring some thoughts to light

The rule of thumb is never give the truth away to rhyme
And a man can't lie when he tries to sing it betrays him every time
We really write to understand more about ourselves
And if we're lucky maybe then we touch someone else

Well, I just got back from Europe friend where they hung on every word
It made me feel a little better about my chosen line of work
They asked me if I knew you wrote a lot these days
I told 'em all I know is that you rarely ever play

We start out singing what we like and just give it all away
And wind up hating what we play and sit begging to be paid
So let me say in closing friend, I want you to know
I understand how hard it was to let your music go

An artist must decide which parts to leave in and take out
And if he no longer plays the game that's what the game's about

[conched]

This was really the tear jerker at the show.
A Little Bit of Rain
The words seem so simple, yet the song is so profound. Jerry Jeff did a beautiful job singing it.

Here is an obituary I found for Fred Neil.

Fred Neil, 64, died of cancer on July 7 at home in Summerland Key, Florida. A master of the 12-string guitar, Neil wrote "Everybody's Talkin'", made famous by Harry Nilsson as theme song for the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, and wrote other hits including "A Little Bit of Rain," "Other Side of This Life," "The Dolphins," and "Ba-De-Da," but lost interest in music after cofounding The Dolphin Project in 1970 with Ric O'Barry, and last performed in 1977. Neil arranged benefit concerts for The Dolphin Project by Jimmy Buffett, David Crosby and Stephen Stills, Dion, Phil Everly, Richie Havens, Joni Mitchell, John Sebastian, and Jerry Jeff Walker. "Fred was my best friend," said O'Barry, who was in Guatemala returning two ex-traveling show dolphins to the wild when Neil passed away.

The Dolphin Project video is beautiful
http://www.dolphinproject.org/



Fred Neil
Lyrics:

If I should leave you
Try to remember the good times
Warm days filled with sunshine
And just a little bit of rain
And just a little bit of rain

And if you look back
Try to forget all the bad times
Lonely blue and sad times
And just a little bit of rain
And just a little bit of rain

And if I look back
I'll remember all the good times
Warm days filled with sunshine
And just a little bit of rain
And just a little bit of rain

If I should leave you
Try to remember all the good times
Warm days filled with sunshine
And just a little bit of rain
And just a little bit of rain

[SCParrotHead]

For those who are interested, I got a good recording on the show (minus the final interview with Jimmy), but have not broken it down into tracks yet. I should be able to get the show on CDs by the end of this week if you can stand to wait a few days.

Email me if you're interested and hopefully we can work out a trade.

***If anyone has a recording of the final interview, please let me know. I'd like to be able to include that with the rest of the show.

[SCParrotHead]

In regards to my last message about having a good recording, I may have to take that back.

I *know* I listened to parts of each set track yesterday before I posted the message to make sure I did in fact have a good recording, but now I can't seem to find it. I'm going to take a break from the computer for awhile now and hope I come up with a bright idea for what I did and how to get it back later this evening.
Sorry to get anyone's hopes up-believe me, if I don't manage to find the files again I'll be beating myself up too.

[Fool Button]

If you are interested, there are some great photos from this show at:

http://centraltxparrotheads.com/jjw/jerryjeff.html

Check 'em out!