Today (9/8) marks what would have been the 75th birthday of original Grateful Dead keyboardist and co-founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan who entered the world on September 8, 1945, in San Bruno, CA.
A true musical badass in every sense of the word, Pigpen, simply put, was the blues. He personified the timeless genre with a level of genuineness and brilliance that seemingly only comes along once a generation. As the Dead’s de facto leader throughout their primordial years, Pigpen was often relied upon as the stalwart anchor who was able to successfully guide the group back to calmer waters after some particularly explorative and psychedelically-enhanced sequences.
Pigpen ultimately made his mark with countless legendary live performances of R&B chestnuts such as Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Turn On Your Love Light” and Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle.” A natural showman, Pigpen often times used these numbers to deliver a musical sermon with the energy & fervor of a southern preacher as he pleaded with the audience to “take your hands out of your pockets and quit playin’ pocket pool!”
Although Pigpen passed away in 1973 at the age of 27 due to complications from liver disease after several years of heavy drinking, there is thankfully still a wealth of recorded material from the renowned musician. Join us as Glide takes a look at six under-the-radar tracks from Pigpen’s illustrious career:
“I Just Wanna Make Love to You” – This Willie Dixon gem is known to have appeared at one 1966 Dead show with Pigpen handling lead vocals before it was retired for eighteen years when Brent Mydland brought it back for a pair of 1984 concerts. Jerry Garcia then surprisingly broke it out for a single 1995 performance, giving this number the unique distinction of being the only song in the entire Grateful Dead catalog to feature three different lead vocalists.
“Pain in my Heart” – Originally based on the song “Ruler of My Heart” by Naomi Neville (a.k.a. Allen Touissant), this Otis Redding ballad was performed at a pair of 1966 shows.
“Tastebud” – This bluesy original lamenting a lost love underwent a few lyrical changes and featured a typically powerful vocal delivery from Pigpen during the handful of performances the song saw in 1966-67.
“Baby Please Don’t Go” & “That Freight Train Up in the Sky” – This pair of tracks from an unreleased solo project features Pigpen alone with just his harmonica as he soulfully channels his best inner-Muddy Waters.
“Bring Me My Shotgun” – Another track from Pigpen’s unreleased solo project, this recording of the Lightning Hopkins song was mistakenly labeled as “Bring Me My Shotgun” by Pigpen (or his recording engineer) as it actually uses the lyrics to another similar, yet entirely different, Hopkins song “Shotgun Blues.”
“Sick and Tired” – Originally written in 1957 by Chris Kenner & Dave Bartholomew, and later popularized by Fats Domino the following year, the Dead performed this blues number at a handful of very early concerts.
