[Tim Murphy]

I read a very good essay arguing that my two favorite rock songs were tributes to St. John the Baptist. It is a tragedy that we lost Jerry Garcia to early death, but we still have Brian Wilson, and you can youtube both songs. Tim

[Simon Hunt]

Can we work "Johnny B.Goode" in here? He never did learn to read or write so well, but he can play that guitar just like RINGING A BELL. Think about it.

[Lightning Bug]

Tim,

I don't know about the John the Baptist references, but in "Take a Walk on the Wild Side," I think there is a clear tribute to Salome in the line, "She always did keep her head,/even when she was given a head".

b

[john savoie]

I haven't seen the article, but I am fond of both John the Baptist and the Dead song, and yet I've never sensed even the slightest connection between the two. More likely John here is just a twist upon Jerry (Garcia) for a host of reasons (cf. Julian, Jules, Lennon's first son, as the inspiration for "Hey Jude"), yielding not an identification but an artistic suggestion.

from another John

[David Rosenthal]

Those kinds of things are always interesting and fun, but it sounds like a stretch to me. Robert Hunter, who wrote the lyrics to "Uncle John's Band," -- Garcia wrote the music -- has acknowledged that it is a tribute to the New Lost City Ramblers. John Cohen was knicknamed "Uncle John." Many of the lines in the song supposedly refer to folk songs the NLCR were known for.

"Sloop John B." was an old Nassau folk song performed by many before the Beach Boys. It was brought to the Boys not by Wilson, but by Al Jardine who learned it from the Kingston Trio's version. In any case, the titular vessel was supposedly an actual, well-known craft. The boat may have been named for John the Baptist, though I doubt it, but the song is named for the boat, not the boat's namesake (whoever that may be).

David R.

[Tim Murphy]

I'll defer to you, David. It figures that a young guy from California would know more than an old guy from North Dakota. Just yesterday the Gospel was "He who comes after me, I am not fit to adjust the strap on his sandal." And I am persuaded that Uncle John's Band is a tribute to the saint. I have bingeing on The Dead. Jerry Garcia was such a genius, both as a guitarist and a tenor. Pity he died so young.

[Quincy Lehr]

My favorite rock songs are, as Jack Black says about Led Zeppelin, are "about love, about Vikings, and about Vikings making love."

[David Rosenthal]

Originally Posted by Quincy Lehr

My favorite rock songs are, as Jack Black says about Led Zeppelin, are "about love, about Vikings, and about Vikings making love."

I like rock songs about singing rock songs.