The Annotated "Tennessee Jed"

Lyrics omitted. The annotations below are reproduced by permission of David Dodd; the song lyrics themselves are copyrighted and are not reproduced here. Read them at the official source: dead.net/songs.

Recorded on

• Europe '72
  • This version included on What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been
• Dick's Picks, v. 6
• Terrapin Station [live album]
• Dick's Pick's, vol. 10

First performance: October 19, 1971 at Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. "Tennessee Jed" appeared in the first set, following "Cumberland Blues" and preceding "Black Peter." Other firsts in the show, which was Keith Godchaux's first with the band, included "One More Saturday Night," "Jack Straw," "Comes a Time," and "Ramble On Rose." The song remained in the repertoire from then on.

The rhyme and rhythm pattern of "Tennessee Jed" are very similar to "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum".

Hunter, in Box of Rain, says

"'Tennessee Jed' originated in Barcelona, Spain. Topped up on vino tinto, I composed it aloud to the sound of a jaw harp twanged between echoing building faces by someone strolling half a block ahead of me in the late summer twilight."

It's also worth noting that the New Lost City Ramblers recorded a song called "Way Down the Old Plank Road," which refers to wearing a ball and chain, and wanting to get back to Tennessee. (New Lost City Ramblers Song Book, p. 218.)

Tennessee Jed

Many thanks to Michael Ward, and to the Grateful Dead Hour, for bringing this to my attention.

Here's the item, a collection of five advertising cards/blotters, that was for sale:

This note from Alex Allan, creator of the "Grateful Dead Song and Lyric Finder" website:

-----Original Message----- From: Alex Allan [mailto:alex@whitegum.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 7:21 PM
Subject: Tennessee Jed

David

Tennessee Jed was a character in a Western radio show. [This corrects earlier info I had posted to the effect that he was a DJ]. See for example: http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Tennessee+Jed

There are some more images available at: http://jed.com/tennjedradio.htm

There are even some tapes available at http://www.people.memphis.edu/~mbensman/T-ZCatalog.html and http://www.sonic.net/~otrsteve/Frames_Version/Catalog_Alphabetical_HTML/T.html

Alex

won't you carry me back to Tennessee

Carry me back to old Virginia,
Back to my Clinch mountain home
Carry me back to old Virginia,
Back to my old mountain home.